The newest Marvel movie,”Captain Marvel” starring Brie Larson, and once again Samuel L. Jackson – who seems to be in every Marvel movie lately – was good, but unfortunately not nearly as good as I thought it would be. The events that happen in different times that make time almost irrelevant was an interesting take on time travel and most of this film while on earth, takes place in the 1990s, where Blockbuster video and Radio Shack stores were prevalent.

The special effects were nothing that special, as all of us have seen action like this in super hero movies. I thought the acting was good, but the story dragged on too long in some areas. The presence of a very likable and cute tabby cat was a very good addition to this movie, most especially for cat lovers. I give Captain Marvel only a marginal recommendation.

The movie “Everybody Knows” stars husband and wife Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem in a story about Kidnapping that I thought was very well done. This is a foreign language movie with subtitles to alert those who do not like to read subtitles in any movie. Of all the Kidnapping movies I have seen the one that always comes to mind is “Ransom” that was released in 1996, starring Mel Gibson and Gary Sinise. Ransom, directed by Ron Howard, was a very good movie because it showed the extremely powerful emotions the parents of a kidnapped child have to endure when a tragedy like this happens to their child. This movie is a close second to Ransom as far as these powerful emotions, mainly because of the strong acting of Penélope Cruz who was the mother of a teenage girl who was abducted in a Spanish village and then held for a long period of time for ransom. Any situation that involves Kidnapping and ransom puts the subject of money in perspective. How much would any parent give to get their child back? Does money have any real meaning compared to the life of your child?

The Rotten Tomatoes for Everybody Knows are a solid 74% and I would give this movie an 80% rating. I give a strong recommendation to Everybody Knows.

The new movie “Greta” is another example of a solid idea, followed by a plot with a series of illogical scenes, then an ending that was absurd and yet another good story opportunity lost. Anybody who has ever tried to write a screenplay or has researched what it takes to write a screenplay knows that its not only extremely difficult but the process requires rewrites and in some cases many rewrites. The problem with Greta is that there is no common sense in the story and when common sense is lacking, the whole movie goes down the drain. The entire story plays like it was the first draft of an idea that was plausible, “a lonely older woman leaves purses around New York City, hoping that some young woman will return the purse and they could become friends”, and then the entire conclusion is ruined by any sign of intelligence. The story of Greta is not only a very good and plausible idea, but it has probably happened in cities around the world.

A young woman Frances McCullen, played by Chloë Grace Moretz, is the main character in this story who on a New York Subway finds a purse and returns it to the owner, Greta Hideg played by Isabelle Huppert. I found horror and disgust misplaced when Frances finds other purses in Greta’s house by accident. This is because a person is more likely to show compassion rather than fear to an older woman so lonely that she would leave her purses around a city just to find someone to talk to. The entire act of leaving purses around a city to find a friend is more sad and pathetic than it is sinister.

Following the discovery of the purses is a series of repeated stalker scenes that we have all seen in movies before, nothing new here. The big problem is the very bad ending, that has some Hollywood formula flashback trickery and an idiotic conclusion that could have been completely avoided by any visit from 2 police officers. All this movie needed was probably two more rewrites of the ending and maybe it could have been saved.

The star of this movie Chloë Grace Moretz has one of the most likable faces of any bankable actress in the movie industry, unfortunately after reading this bad script and agreeing to perform in this bad film was not a good move for anyone interested in longevity as a movie actor.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for Greta are a low 58% and my rating would be only 40% mostly due to the nonsensical ending. Greta should be skipped.