“Blaze” is a movie about a little known Country and Western singer, Blaze Foley. For me this movie was all about the very harsh realities of pursuing a life in show business – any show business. With the few who make it an any art form, we all see the end result of their success, we will never fully realize what they went through to become successful. If any of us who have thought about making it in Hollywood as an actor, comedian or writer, how many of us would be willing to pay the dues necessary to succeed in an impossible business?

The new movie Blaze is one of the very few stories I have ever seen where the lows of trying to make it as a Country singer in the south are depicted in such a real life and depressing way. I recognized no acting or movie magic in this film – with the entire two hours all about living in squalor, hitching rides to a gig, getting drunk and doing drugs to drown your sorrows, audiences who ignore you and a failing relationship, because what relationship could survive a precarious life like this one? It would be nice to know that at the end of many years of misery that you will finally make it one day – but the reality is, so many people try their whole lives because they just have to and they never know if they will ever make it. All of us have heard famous actors who talk about their lean years of bad jobs and waiting tables, many of them just days or weeks from giving up their dream. Most recently an actor, formerly famous on the Cosby show was disrespected because he had to work at Trader Joe’s. In life we have to make a living, despite our dreams and despite having to do things that we just do not want to do. How many of us would be willing to go through so much to achieve a dream that may never happen, even if they knew that in the end they would succeed.

The problems with this film are the depressing songs, because the lead actor who played Blaze, Ben Dickey – sang nothing but depressing songs the entire movie. On top of of this, he talks with such a mumble most of the time that very often you have no idea what he is saying. This film was hard to watch, mainly because of the squalor and the depressing real life we are seeing – as human being wants to be a singer so badly he is willing to risk everything for that one and only goal. This movie also includes many other named actors, including Steve Zahn, Sam Rockwell, Kris Kristofferson and Ethan Hawk who both co-wrote and directed this movie. While watching this film I had great respect for the work that must have been involved and all the hours of filming in run down depressing areas that show the harsh reality of trying to be a Country singer is all about.

The ratings for this movie on Rotten Tomatoes are a perfect 100% – a very rare mark for any movie and just might get this movie an Academy Award nomination for best picture. I thought this movie was very well done, but not at a rating of 100%. I recommend Blaze, but for anyone who decides to see this film, prepare for a dark depressing story about a little known but talented Country singer who was one of so many who paid so many dues for little or no payoff.

It has been said that screenwriting is the most difficult of all art forms. The reason is that there are so many moving parts to any screenplay and they all have to interact with each other and be understandable and make sense and conclude in a satisfying way. This is why most screenplays require so many re-writes. The new movie “A Simple Favor” attempts a very challenging and complex story with many movie parts. The story works mostly, but there were several holes in the logic that involved many different movie parts that made this film very far from perfect, but OK enough to recommend. There is one caveat that involves the constant showing of a painting this movie that I thought was in very bad taste – most especially they showed this painting way too many times. The good news is that at least there was no smoking.

This movie stars two well known actors, Blake Lively with Anna Kendrick getting by far the most screen time. Both are very good in their roles but this movie is not up to Oscar level caliber.

The Rotten Tomatoes ratings for this movie are a solid 82% and I agree with this rating. I do recommend A Simple Favor.

In 1987 screenwriter Shane Black came out of nowhere and created a 4 movie franchise when at only age 22 he wrote and then sold a groundbreaking screenplay called “Lethal Weapon”. This is the dream of all aspiring screenwriters, to sell that one different movie idea that becomes a huge hit.

For some reason Shane Black is now involved in the Predator franchise with the new movie “The Predator” that he both co-wrote and directed. Unfortunately, he just may have ended this franchise, because this movie is so bad. The screenplay is both fragmented and boring with a group of known actors in an attempt to use their name recognition to save a bad script. This never works in my experience as a movie-goer.

As far as the actors in this movie I was most surprised to see the great actor Sterling K. Brown in his second movie since he has become famous on the great TV show “This is Us”. His first movie “Hotel Artemis” was also a very bad movie and now with The Predator it is now clear that Brown is going for the big money rather than waiting for quality productions. While you cant blame Brown for wanting to cash in on his new fame after the huge dues he has paid as an actor, the problem is that if he keeps making bad movies like this one, he may never get the movie role that shows what a great actor he is. I was also surprised to see the actor Thomas Jane in this mess, who seems to have had a downhill ride in the movie business since he made the very good movie “The Punisher” in 2004. Jane plays an soldier who has of all things Tourette’s – in an obvious attempt by Shane Black to puff up a bad screenplay with some verbal outbursts created to surprise the audience before they doze off; and I did myself, twice. Olivia Munn also appears in this movie as a Biologist who also seems to be well trained with high level military firearms – how stupid is this? The Rotten Tomatoes for this film are a very low 34% and my rating is only about 10%.

There was a hint at the end of this bad movie about a new Predator creature and a possible sequel. If that happens, hopefully there will be a much better script next time. The Predator should be skipped and represents another great opportunity lost to create something new within the now 31 year old Predator film franchise.