As long as a horror movie franchise as popular as “Saw” has been, there will be more Saw movies and it does not matter that the last Saw movie ended the life of the main character. As long as movies like this make money – there will be more of them.

Spiral is a new variation with the same idea behind it. Someone (in this case police officers) have done something bad in their life and gotten away with it, and now it is payday. Unfortunately for the victims in these films, payday consists of a horrendous and painful death along with an equally painful decision they have to make (like sawing off an arm) to try and save their life. The question I have always had is, who are the people who think of the death and torture scenes in these Saw movies – is a documentary within itself. The sadistic imagination behind some of these scenes is in some cases rather unbelievable. Why do some of us like to see movies like this, at this extreme level of cruelty? If there were not so many millions of us who like movies like this, they would not exist in the first place.

So far there have been nine Saw movies with this one the first new variation from the original that was released in 2004. Obviously, there will be many more new variations of this same general idea. I remember the first Saw movie had an outstanding ending scene that caught everyone by surprise, but since that first solid firm, most of the movies that followed have been mostly about horrendous torture and death scenes.

For this film I was surprised to see Samuel L. Jackson in this movie as the father of the main character Detective Zeke Banks, played well by Chris Rock. Perhaps Jackson just wanted to work with Chris Rock and did not care about the quality of this movie. In the past few years and especially with his appearance in the latest television series based on the movie Fargo, Chris Rock has completed in some very impressive acting roles. Unfortunately the decision to make this movie was not a good one, mostly because the script was not strong enough to recommend.

I agree with the low 41% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and I do not recommend this film.

The new movie “Those Who Wish Me Dead” is now available in theaters and HBO Max. Angelina Jolie returns in an action movie where she plays a fire jumper/fighter. Based on the overall quality of the story, I am a bit surprised that Jolie took this role mainly because this film is nothing new and for the most part, very average. I can guess that this movie was made mainly because of the huge fires in California that have been in the news for the last few years – due to Global Warming.

This story about a forensic accountant and high level criminals who are out to kill him and his son. This eventually degrades into a shoot and chase film involving firefighters and a wooden tower that rises over a huge forest. Tyler Perry makes one of his rare and small cameo appearance in this film that I thought was surprising, mainly because how small his role was. The best part of the story is the bond between Hannah, played by Jolie and the boy which for the most part does work. Unfortunately the story is not strong enough to give this film any higher than an average rating.

This time around, I do agree with the critics on Rotten Tomatoes who give this film a 63% rating. I do not recommend Those Who Wish Me Dead. Also, considering the content of this movie, the title does not make much sense.

In the last few years, actor Tiffany Haddish has been in more movies than any other actor except maybe Liam Neeson. A detailed documentary should be made about Haddish’s life – because her path to show business fame required her to live for years in her car – a Geo Metro. A Geo Metro is a very small and dangerous car that for anyone who has driven one knows that this is barely even a car. Haddish shares this hard-life-road distinction with producer-actor-writer Tyler Perry, who also lived in a Geo Metro for several years. It is impossible not to be impressed with any human being, wanting something so badly that they are able to risk their lives to attain. How many of us would be strong enough or even crazy enough to live in a small car for years – all for the dream of fame and fortune in show business? How many other Tiffany Haddishes are out there right now, living in their car, hoping that their day in the sun might one day arrive but never will. The road to success in show business in almost all cases involves so much hardship that for most of us, it is not worth the risk. How many of us would have the staying power over years that both Tiffany Haddish and Tyler Perry had, knowing that at their lowest points, there is never any guarantee of any success? There is not a more challenging field to aspire to than one in show business. Even after you get your big break and hit it big, there is no guarantee of another great opportunity. The late actress Erin Moran of “Happy Days” is just one example of great success followed by nothing but failure.

The other thought I had while watching the new movie “Here Today” is how long did Billy Crystal and Alan Zweibel work on the script for Here Today, with re-writes, meetings, emails, more re-writes and then the waiting for the film to be released. All for an end end result of very low ratings of 48% and bad reviews on Rotten Tomatoes? Once again, the cruel critics are very wrong because Here Today is not a bad movie – it is a good movie about friendship and the onset of dementia. The reviews of this film have reminded me once again, how difficult the path to success in the art of screenwriting and movie-making can be – even for two writers with a known track record of writing and directing.

Here Today is another movie told well using flashbacks about the life of the main character, Charlie Berns, played by Billy Crystal – who is a head writer on a “Saturday Night Live” type show, slowly showing signs of mental deterioration caused by the onset of one of the many forms of dementia. Due to a Cameo-like raffle Charlie has lunch with Emma Payge, played by Tiffany Haddish and over time they develop a strong bond and friendship that I thought was very well developed. Over the course of this movie, the life of Charlie Berns slowly unfolds including both happy times and tragedy with his two children and his wife. As far as the comedy, some of the jokes and situations work, and some do not, but overall I thought this was a very well thought-out, well written and acted family-entertainment movie.

I do not agree with the very low 48% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes as this is more of a solid 75% – with a good story and solid message. I do recommend Here Today.