Strays (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Strays (2023): Raunchy comedy about a pack of stray dogs. Humor is poop and dick jokes. Who is the audience? Its crude humor seems aimed at adolescent boys, but its R rating should keep kids out. Movie avoids an F because of its talented dogs. 95% of the scenes use real dogs, not CGI. D+

Napoleon (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Napoleon (2023): The subject is too big to capture in a biopic. 25 years of Napoleonic Wars stuffed in a 2.5 hr movie is too much. Only history buffs will understand it all. Joaquin Phoenix's performance is disappointing. He's a coiled spring that never snaps, too mechanical, lacking passion, in both war and love. Oddly, I still liked it. B-

Nyad (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Nyad (2023): Annette Bening plays the egocentric Diana Nyad, whose goal is to be the first to swim from Cuba to Florida w/o a shark cage. Jodie Foster plays her friend and trainer. Their outstanding performances raise this sports movie of inspiring tenacity (or unhealthy obsession) above cliché. B-

All the Light We Cannot See (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

All the Light We Cannot See (TV 2023): WWII draws together the stories of a blind French girl and an underage German radioman until they intersect in the last violent days of war. Plot relies on too many tropes, but teens won't know that. Regardless, this adult enjoyed the movie, too. B+

Cigarette Girl (TV 2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Cigarette Girl (TV 2023): Indonesian. A mystery. A romance. A tragedy. Dying man sets his son in search of a woman from his past. Old letters reveal family secrets dating back to the Indonesian mass killings of 1965. Everybody loves somebody, but nobody is married to whom they love. B-

A Thousand and One (2023)

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A Thousand and One (2023): Young, single mother gets out of prison and wants to get her young son out of foster care. A heart-wrenching drama with an arc that leads to a gut punch at the end. Excellent acting by Teyana Taylor. B-

Maggie Moore(s) (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Maggie Moore(s) (2023): A police procedural about a small town sheriff investigating the deaths of two women with the same name. A better than average black comedy with a romantic element with John Hamm and Tina Fey. Nick Mohammed brings the comedy as the sheriff's sidekick. An easy watch. B+

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023): Based on a true-crime nonfiction book, this is a multi-faceted story, as large as the Osage murders themselves and as intimate as the marriage between Ernest (Leo DeCaprio) and Mollie (Lily Gladstone). Scorsese succeeds in it all. A-

A Man Called Otto (2022)

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A Man Called Otto (2022): English-language remake of the 2015 Swedish film "A Man Called Uve," this time with Tom Hanks. Local curmudgeon and how he became one. He eventually becomes, not likable, but a little less unlikable. B-

The Black Book (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Black Book (2023): Nigeria. After his son is murdered by corrupt police, a deacon sets aside religious things to seek justice. Bodies pile up. Nameless bodies, not the lead characters. Not always clear who the sides are in this political thriller, but you can bet they are all bad. B-

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023): Former hitman gets back into the game. Lots of fighting with fists, knives, swords, guns, and cars. Dead bodies quickly pile up. All shown with great style. Didn't need movies 2-4. B-

Invasion - S01 (TV 2021)

Rotten Tomatoes

Invasion - S01 (TV 2021): Earth is invaded. The show follows four stories around the world. How these individuals respond to the spreading awareness of the invasion is the focus of the show. By midseason, when the aliens are finally shown, we are fully invested in these characters. B+

#VeryTardyReview

Flora and Son (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Flora and Son (2023): Ireland. Divorced woman with a rebellious son decides to learn guitar online from a failing LA musician. Romcom premise but it's more. Music ends up saving everyone's lives. The best musical dramedy since 2007's "Once" by the same director. Eve Hewson is terrific. B+

Reptile (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Reptile (2023): Benicio del Toro plays the Robert Mitchum part as a hardbitten detective solving a murder that gets closer to home the deeper he goes. He is excellent in this derivative murder mystery. The puzzling title simply means people shed their skins, revealing who they really are. C+

Poison (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Poison (2023): 17m short. Adaptation of Roald Dahl short story by Wes Anderson. More narration than dialog. Whether this works for you depends on liking the Wes Anderson style. B-

Rat Catcher (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Rat Catcher (2023): 17m short. Adaptation of Roald Dahl short story by Wes Anderson. More narration than dialog. Whether this works for you depends on liking the Wes Anderson style. B-

The Swan (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Swan (2023): 17m short. Adaptation by Wes Anderson of a Roald Dahl short story about an incident of boyhood bullying. An inspiring story of endurance and growth. More narration than dialog. Whether this works for you depends on liking the Wes Anderson style. B-

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023): 39m short. Adaptation by Wes Anderson of a Roald Dahl short story about a man who learns a yoga's skill at seeing through playing cards to make a fortune at blackjack. More narration than dialog. Whether this works for you depends on liking the Wes Anderson style. B-

The Creator (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

The Creator (2023): It's 2065. Humans are at war with robots and simulants. A mashup of Blade Runner, Apocalypse Now, 2001, and too many others. Morphs from an anti-AI film to something more complex, with an undercurrent of anti-imperialism. Looks great. Events sometime strain credulity. B-

Elemental (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes

Elemental (2023): In Element City, fire, water, earth, and air characters co-exist. Lessons about the immigrant experience and metaphoric ethnic tolerance abound. It's also a romcom (opposites attract), but with friendship more than romance and not much comedy. Still, it's Pixar and family-friendly. C+