The new movie “Bumblebee” finally answers the question, “will there ever be a good Transformer movie, if so, how will that happen?” Bumblebee is actually a good movie and after about 5 very bad Transformer movies the solution was to eliminate Michael Bay from the equation. Bumblebee actually has a good story, is not all about special effects, there is evidence of acting. All of these are never seen before concepts in over 10+ hours of 5 horrendous Transformer movies that have preceded Bumblebee.

This movie stars Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie, who is the young woman who discovers Bumblebee and John Cena as the US agent who tries to find him. This movie is far from perfect and some of the story line is far fetched. The ending represents a series of events, including climbing an alien high tower to cut wires that was ridiculous and a young girl of 17 would never do. But the need for story ending high drama includes adding scenes like this far too often. The Rotten Tomatoes reviews for this movie are extremely high, currently 93% and my rating is a solid 80%. I recommend Bumblebee, however some of the fight scenes might be too intense for young children.

There are a number of things that did not make sense with the new movie “The Favourite”. The first is, why are two Academy Award Winning actresses, Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz in this horrendous mess? How could they have read this bad script and still taken this movie? Why is Rotten Tomatoes giving this bad movie, with no real story a 94% rating? This movie takes place in the 1800’s in France during the war with England, so it is known as a period piece, but who cares?

I have always wondered why the French use to wear those huge wigs during that time – never realizing how ridiculous they look; to say nothing of how hot it must have been to wear so much fake hair. Towards the end of this movie, there is an overweight naked French man with a long haired fake wig who is pelted with oranges and he suddenly appears in this strange scene with no buildup or explanation. He just suddenly appears out of nowhere, covering his privates with this hand, and people are throwing oranges at him. Why? This was never explained but how can you explain something this idiotic and random anyway? Its something they did in the 1800’s in France or a candid camera film editing stunt?

This is one of the few movies I can remember where I walked out before the end because I could not stand to waste the full 2 hours. This is one of the worst movies I have seen in a while and it should be missed. Do not be fooled by the critics, because they are wrong. Run from this embarrassing waste of 2 hours.

The new film “The Mule” is about a story that were it not true, the overall experience would not be as believable or as good as this movie is. Clint Eastwood both stars and directed this movie and one of his best in recent years, and a good comeback from the bad “The 15:17 to Paris” released in February. It is amazing to see Eastwood still going strong at age 88 and I am sure if anyone asked him how he feels about being 88 years old he would say that “he is too busy to care”.

The Mule is about money and what a 90 year old World War 2 Veteran Earl Stone does to keep his house from being foreclosed on. To get a new truck for himself and to survive another day. By chance he becomes a mule, smuggling drugs from Mexico to Indiana and at first it seems a simple job where he does what he is told and at the end of the trip he collects a great deal of money. Over time the value of the cargo he is carrying grows exponentially as does the danger he puts himself in. What everybody finds out eventually when they deal with criminals and murders who smuggle drugs, is that eventually you will get yourself into a great deal of trouble and if you one day want to walk away, you cant, they will just kill you. The side story of Stone’s wife, played by Dianne Wiest I thought was very well done and showed how Earl Stone ignored his family most of his life, concentrating instead on plants because of his job as of all things, a horticulturist.

I thought the acting throughout this movie was very good, including Andy Garcia as the drug kingpin in Mexico and Bradley Cooper as the DEA Agent. Unfortunately, the Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are an anemic 63%, which surprises me because I give this movie a solid 80%. I do recommend The Mule.