Monthly Archives: November 2023

Movie Review: The Holdovers

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Considering all the movie ideas that have been tried and produced over many years, seeing a brand new story is more rare than it has ever been. One thing about the very good new movie “The Holdovers”, about a teacher and students held over the holidays at a wealthy private boys’ school is that this one is definitely something new.

The Holdovers stars Paul Giamatti as Paul Hunham, who is an unhappy history teacher at an all boys private school in the year 1970. Paul is disliked by just about all of his students and colleagues and is carrying around baggage from his personal and professional life that is bleeding into his relationship with just about everybody he works with.

Due to several unusual circumstances, 6 boys have to stay at the school for a few days after the holiday break and as Christmas approaches all the boys leave except for one, Angus Tully played by Dominic Sessa. It turns out that Tully’s parents are unreachable and he will have to remain at the school with Paul Hunham over Christmas and into the new year. The other person who stays at the school over the holidays is Mary Lamb played by Da’Vine Joy Randolph who is the head chef at the school.

What is most impressive about this film is not only the acting but the way, due to the growing friendships and relationships of these 3 very different people, what might be at first mundane or boring becomes interesting. As the story grows there is a great deal of transition as these 3 people learn about the pain of their personal lives, show empathy to each other, and change from 3 people who are mostly at odds and at the end of this story become friends.

As far as Paul Giamatti there is a high probability that he will receive his second Oscar nomination for this performance (his last was for his great performance in “Cinderella Man”, released in 2006).

I agree with the very high 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes for this great film about relationships, personal pain, holding down a job, and life. I give this movie my highest recommendation.

Movie Review: The Marvels

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When actress Brie Larson was chosen some years ago to play “Captain Marvel”, the original movie released in 2019, she signed a contract, obligating her to play this Marvel character x number of times. With the release of the latest Marvel movie, “The Marvels”, it is now obvious that Larson did not have the legal right to refuse to play this role if the script was bad. In this case, not only is the screenplay for The Marvels bad, but it could be one of the worst ever developed in the history of the movie industry. There is no story, no continuity, no explanation of what is going on, no logic. This film is nothing more than a haphazard collection of garbage action scenes, and an ongoing series of events and dialogue that makes zero sense.

The new movie The Marvels is so unbelievably bad, that there is danger that this film has caused serious damage to the Marvel franchise. It is impossible to understand, considering the millions of dollars involved with both the Captain Marvel and Marvel franchises, that a screenplay this horrendous, could ever be greenlighted to be made into an actual movie.

This film starts with three women, two of them Marvel super heroes and an ordinary person Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani and Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers played by Brie Larson and Monica Rambeau played by Teyonah Parris transporting from space, to a spaceship to an ordinary house, over and over again – totalling around 20 times – with no reason or explanation. There is some sort of a problem with two wrist bracelets that are causing a wormhole, in space. Around the time the 15th transport occurred, I was actually hoping I would be transported to a different movie, knowing that I was once again going to be tortured for another 2 hours..

There are other scenes that involve visiting other planets, one planet where the inhabitance communicate only through singing. There is an evil female antagonist Dar-Benn, played by Zawe Ashton, whose existence and why she is fighting are never defined or explained, degrading into another reason for ridiculous hand to hand combat and explosions.

While sitting through this horrendous mess, I was amazed that so many people, meetings, discussions, and millions of dollars could result in a movie so bad. This is another example where the wrong people in charge believe that costs can be cut and time can be saved, by forgoing a good story in favor of action scenes and relying on the Marvel name to bring people to the theater. This time around, this film will bomb at the box office, hopefully changing this throw anything at a wall laziness and something this bad will never be produced again.

I was amazed at the only 61% low ratings on Rotten Tomatoes for this disaster, with my rating of 10% and a run for your life never see this film in your life final opinion.

Movie Review: Priscilla

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The new movie “Priscilla” is directed by Sofia Coppola, based on the book by Priscilla Presley Elvis and Me about the relationship that started in the late 50’s between a young 14-year-old girl, Priscilla Beaulieu and 24-year-old Elvis Presley when he was stationed in Germany when he volunteered for the United States Army. Numerous questions come to mind while watching this film, starting with why Priscilla’s parents let their 14-year-old daughter become involved with Elvis Presley when she was way underage and he was an adult 24-year-old man, and world famous.

This entire movie is the story of the relationship between Elvis and Presley starting with their first date in Germany to Priscilla moving in with Elvis for years before they finally married. In the beginning, Elvis was extremely kind and respectful to his very young girlfriend, but over time, Elvis became so rude and cruel to Priscilla to the point where I wondered why she ever married him in the first place. Elvis also shared his prescription drugs with Priscilla, that included uppers to stay awake and downers to fall asleep, even when she was very young.

Elvis also had several well-publicized affairs with other famous actors while making his movies including Ann Margeret and Nancy Sinatra. Rather than apologize or try to hide his many affairs, Elvis became angry and Priscilla when she mentioned them and never apoligized for his cheating.

There are many scenes when Priscilla is required to just stay home for months, waiting for Elvis to return from a movie he is making or another tour. In so many scenes, seeing this very young woman around a chain-smoking Elvis and his entourage made up of 40-60-year-old men, was hard to watch because it was obvious she never fit in and had no business being in this life with a man who was both a drug addict and a serial cheater. Elvis even bought Priscilla several guns that matched her different outfits.

Towards the end of this story is the birth of Lisa Marie Presley and shortly thereafter Priscilla’s final realization that being married to Elvis Presley was not only impossible for her but for any woman. A marriage and relationship is difficult enough, but a life and career as insane as Elvis Presley during the peak of his fame was never going to work, especially with a woman who was so young.

The acting in this film is outstanding, with 25-year-old newcomer Cailee Spaeny, stealing this movie and receiving a major Oscar buzz for best actress. She has a perfect face for movies, and has without a doubt arrived as a bankable actress for future roles. Jacob Elordi, who plays Elvis Presley is also very good, although while he was excellent at capturing the way Elvis used to talk, his mumbling at times was very hard to understand.

I agree with the high ratings on Rotten Tomatoes for Priscilla and do recommend this movie.