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.

There was only one controversy in this years Oscars awards ceremony. Everybody was expecting the late Chadwick Boseman to win the Academy Award for best actor – becoming the 3rd posthumous award winner in Oscar history along with Peter Finch for “Network” in 1976 and Heath Ledger for “The Dark Knight” in 2008. Aside from this controversy, anyone who sees the great actor Anthony Hopkins play an older man suffering with dementia in “The Father” will have will immediately understand how Hopkins had to win best actor this year, and that would include Chadwick Boseman himself.

Even despite this horrendous year long Pandemic, I have been very surprised how difficult it has been to see a movie of the quality of The Father in the last few months. The Father has been in very few theaters and on demand in recent weeks. Nothing has been normal during with movie releases during the last year due to the Pandemic and we can only hope that this will return to more normal soon.

There have been quite a few movies about Alzheimer’s and Dementia in the last few years, but The Father is the first one I have ever seen that tells the entire story of the suffering, frustration and terror from the victim’s perspective. Throughout this entire 2 hour story the main character Anthony, played brilliantly by Anthony Hopkins confuses one person with another, remembers events that never happened, forgets events that did happen, does not know if he is living in his own house or the house of his daughter. He also never remembers that his youngest daughter died in a car accident some years earlier. All of this is made more agonizing by the screenwriter, who thought to tell this story through Anthony’s eyes until he eventually has no idea what is happening – almost as if he was being put through the most cruel of all college pranks. The acting of Anthony Hopkins, most especially within a devastating scene at the end of this film is some of the best I have ever seen. Of all the horrendous diseases and afflictions humanity has had to endure – Dementia and Alzheimer’s are two of the very worst. This movie shows the ravages of this disease better than any movie I have seen.

The acting is outstanding by all the actors in this movie, including Olivia Colman, Olivia Williams and Imogen Poots. I agree with the 98% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and I highly recommend this movie.