In terms of well-done revenge movies, with a great opening idea, the new Jason Statham movie “The Beekeeper” is one of the best films of its kind I have ever seen and clearly the best action movie that Statham has ever starred with the lead role.
What draws you in, is the start of this movie, where an older woman Eloise Parker, played very well by Phylicia Rashad is at her laptop and like so many millions of us have seen, she receives a message on her screen that says, “call this number, your computer’s hard drive may be corrupted”. For those of us who have no real computer experience, calling the phone number is a natural thing that too many people would do, out of fear of losing important data on their computer. The other reason why so many call the number is that decent human beings can sometimes have a very hard time understanding just how disgusting the lowlife in this world can be. Who are these animals who prey on old people, try to scam, trick, and ultimately steal billions of dollars every year from so many good human beings. Life savings are stolen, representing years or decades of hard work. Too many victims commit suicide, realizing that their entire lives have been destroyed by the worst kind of criminal.
Adam Clay, played very well by Jason Statham is the neighbor and close friend of Eloise Parker, and once he finds out what happened to her, he embarks on a vendetta to destroy the entire organization that exists to collect data to find the right victims and steal money from millions of people, using technology and the internet. It turns out that Clay’s profession as a beekeeper was also his code name in a covert part of the CIA that gave Clay the highest level of Karate and hand-to-hand combat skills. What follows are the expected over-the-top and standard Statham Karate scenes, this time more violent and insane than some of Stathan’s previous movies. The ability of Adam Clay to kill so many, mostly FBI agents, and not be injured and killed himself is as crazy and implausible as any of the 4 John Wick movies. Regardless, the action scenes are as well done and impressive as I have seen in any Statham movie.
This film also stars Minnie Driver who plays Director Janet Harward of the FBI, in a surprisingly small role. Jeremy Irons plays Wallace Westwyld the CEO of a parent company that supports the many warehouses of criminals that spend all day preying on thousands of victims. I was surprised to see Irons in this movie because even though this movie is good, it is normally below the higher quality films that Irons has made in the past.
The only objection I had with this story is that the number of FBI agents that Adam Clay killed, seemed way out of proportion, considering that he was trying to wipe out a company comprised of the worst kind of criminals and the FBI agents were only trying to do their jobs.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings are once again wrong at 69%, with my rating a solid 85% for a very well-done action/revenge movie.
The new movie “American Fiction” is different and highly unusual. However, unlike the recent garbage movies “Poor Things”, “Eileen”, and last year’s horrific “Everything Everywhere All At Once” this film is different good, not different horrible.
Jeffrey Wright plays Monk Ellison who is a college professor and frustrated writer, who for years has failed to publish or make money as an author, despite the highly intelligent quality novels he has written. As a black author, Monk is frustrated because it seems that the wealthy white publishers that always reject his work, want a “black novel”. A book that has foul language and violent themes, or as they called it, “a black book”. Monk’s integrity as an author always prevented him from writing a book like this, just to make money, but due to recent financial issues with his mother, who now needs to live in an adult care center, as a joke, Monk writes a black book, filled with crime, murder, and bad language. Much to Monk’s surprise as well as his publisher Arthur played by John Ortiz, Monk’s book, written as a lark, becomes a huge hit with a publisher that always rejected his previous books. Monk writes this book with a fake name and even puts out a news report that he is an on-the-run fugitive, who committed a crime that was never revealed. This adds even more interest to this novel, which shows very well the insanity of social media and comparing anything that has great quality as opposed to something that is popular at the moment, and all about making money.
There are numerous side stories in this screenplay, including Monk’s sister Lisa Ellison, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, and his brother Clifford played by Sterling K. Brown. It was good to see Sterling K. Brown in arguably his first good movie role since the end of the outstanding TV series “This is Us”. Monk’s mother is played by singer/actor Leslie Uggams, who still has a prolific acting career at age 79.
This story has a very unusual ending, something never seen before, where alternate ideas are proposed to a movie producer Wiley Valdespino played by Adam Brody. Once again, in order to be different in any movie, there is no need to be completely insane, which unfortunately seems to be a new and idiotic trend with some recent bad movies.
The Rotten Tomatoes rating for American Fiction are a very high 93%, with my rating a high 88% and firm recommendation.
The only hope now to stop another disaster during the Oscars, with the possibility that the horrendous “Poor Things” might win for best picture is the movie Oppenheimer, which won Best Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes. Poor Things won for Musical or Comedy, with Emma Stone winning for Best Actress. Considering how bad Poor Things is, there is something seriously wrong with the movie industry.
The excellent series The Bear correctly won for Best Television Series along with the two lead actors Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri.
It was great to see Paul Giamatti winning for best actor for The Holdovers.
In my opinion the best picture this year was AIR, which was released in April, guaranteeing that there would be very little chance of winning the major awards this year.
Best Motion Picture, Drama
“Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures) “Killers of the Flower Moon” (Apple Original Films/Paramount Pictures) “Maestro” (Netflix) “Past Lives” (A24) “The Zone of Interest” (A24) “Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon)
Bradley Cooper — “Maestro” Greta Gerwig — “Barbie” Yorgos Lanthimos — “Poor Things” Christopher Nolan — “Oppenheimer” Martin Scorsese — “Killers of the Flower Moon” Celine Song — “Past Lives”
Best Screenplay, Motion Picture
“Barbie” — Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach “Poor Things” — Tony McNamara “Oppenheimer” — Christopher Nolan “Killers of the Flower Moon” — Eric Roth, Martin Scorsese “Past Lives” — Celine Song “Anatomy of a Fall” — Justine Triet, Arthur Harari
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Bradley Cooper — “Maestro” Cillian Murphy — “Oppenheimer” Leonardo DiCaprio — “Killers of the Flower Moon” Colman Domingo — “Rustin” Andrew Scott — “All of Us Strangers” Barry Keoghan — “Saltburn”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Lily Gladstone — “Killers of the Flower Moon” Carey Mulligan – “Maestro” Sandra Hüller – “Anatomy of a Fall” Annette Bening — “Nyad” Greta Lee — “Past Lives” Cailee Spaeny — “Priscilla”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Fantasia Barrino – “The Color Purple” Jennifer Lawrence – “No Hard Feelings” Natalie Portman – “May December” Alma Pöysti – “Fallen Leaves” Margot Robbie – “Barbie” Emma Stone – “Poor Things”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Nicolas Cage — “Dream Scenario” Timothée Chalamet — “Wonka” Matt Damon — “Air” Paul Giamatti — “The Holdovers” Joaquin Phoenix — “Beau Is Afraid” Jeffrey Wright — “American Fiction”
Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Willem Dafoe — “Poor Things” Robert De Niro — “Killers of the Flower Moon” Robert Downey Jr. — “Oppenheimer” Ryan Gosling — “Barbie” Charles Melton — “May December” Mark Ruffalo — “Poor Things”
Best Supporting Actress, Motion Picture
Emily Blunt — “Oppenheimer” Danielle Brooks — “The Color Purple” Jodie Foster — “Nyad” Julianne Moore — “May December” Rosamund Pike — “Saltburn” Da’Vine Joy Randolph — “The Holdovers”
Best Television Series, Drama
“1923” (Paramount+) “The Crown” (Netflix) “The Diplomat” (Netflix) “The Last of Us” (HBO) “The Morning Show” (Apple TV+) “Succession” (HBO)
Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy
“The Bear” (FX) “Ted Lasso” (Apple TV+) “Abbott Elementary” (ABC) “Jury Duty” (Amazon Freevee) “Only Murders in the Building” (Hulu) “Barry” (HBO)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama
Pedro Pascal — “The Last of Us” Kieran Culkin — “Succession” Jeremy Strong — “Succession” Brian Cox — “Succession” Gary Oldman — “Slow Horses” Dominic West — “The Crown”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series, Drama
Helen Mirren — “1923” Bella Ramsey — “The Last of Us” Keri Russell — “The Diplomat” Sarah Snook — “Succession” Imelda Staunton — “The Crown” Emma Stone — “The Curse”
Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy
Ayo Edebiri — “The Bear” Natasha Lyonne — “Poker Face” Quinta Brunson — “Abbott Elementary” Rachel Brosnahan — “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” Selena Gomez — “Only Murders in the Building” Elle Fanning – “The Great”
Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy
Bill Hader — “Barry” Steve Martin — “Only Murders in the Building” Martin Short — “Only Murders in the Building” Jason Segel — “Shrinking” Jason Sudeikis — “Ted Lasso” Jeremy Allen White — “The Bear”
Best Supporting Actor, Television
Billy Crudup — “The Morning Show” Matthew Macfadyen — “Succession” James Marsden — “Jury Duty” Ebon Moss-Bachrach — “The Bear” Alan Ruck — “Succession” Alexander Skarsgård — “Succession”
Best Supporting Actress, Television
Elizabeth Debicki — “The Crown” Abby Elliott — “The Bear” Christina Ricci — “Yellowjackets” J. Smith-Cameron — “Succession” Meryl Streep — “Only Murders in the Building” Hannah Waddingham — “Ted Lasso”
Best Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
“Beef” “Lessons in Chemistry” “Daisy Jones & the Six” “All the Light We Cannot See” “Fellow Travelers” “Fargo”
Best Performance by an Actor, Limited Series, Anthology Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Matt Bomer — “Fellow Travelers” Sam Claflin — “Daisy Jones & the Six” Jon Hamm — “Fargo” Woody Harrelson — “White House Plumbers” David Oyelowo — “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” Steven Yeun — “Beef”
Best Performance by an Actress, Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
Riley Keough — “Daisy Jones & the Six” Brie Larson — “Lessons in Chemistry” Elizabeth Olsen — “Love and Death” Juno Temple — “Fargo” Rachel Weisz — “Dead Ringers” Ali Wong — “Beef”
Best Original Score, Motion Picture
Ludwig Göransson — “Oppenheimer” Jerskin Fendrix — “Poor Things” Robbie Robertson — “Killers of the Flower Moon” Mica Levi — “The Zone of Interest” Daniel Pemberton — “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” Joe Hisaishi — “The Boy and the Heron”
Best Picture, Non-English Language
“Anatomy of a Fall” (Neon) — France “Fallen Leaves” (Mubi) — Finland “Io Capitano” (01 Distribution) — Italy “Past Lives” (A24) — United States “Society of the Snow” (Netflix) — Spain “The Zone of Interest” (A24) — United Kingdom
Best Original Song, Motion Picture
“Barbie” — “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas “Barbie” — “Dance the Night” by Caroline Ailin, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt “She Came to Me” — “Addicted to Romance” by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” — “Peaches” by Jack Black, Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, Eric Osmond, and John Spiker “Barbie” — “I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt “Rustin” — “Road to Freedom” by Lenny Kravitz
Best Motion Picture, Animated
“The Boy and the Heron” (GKids) “Elemental” (Disney) “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures) “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Universal Pictures) “Suzume” (Toho Co.) “Wish” (Disney)
Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy or Television
Ricky Gervais — “Ricky Gervais: Armageddon” Trevor Noah — “Trevor Noah: Where Was I” Chris Rock — “Chris Rock: Selective Outrage” Amy Schumer — “Amy Schumer: Emergency Contact” Sarah Silverman — “Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love” Wanda Sykes — “Wanda Sykes: I’m an Entertainer”
Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
“Barbie” (Warner Bros.) “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” (Disney) “John Wick: Chapter 4” (Lionsgate Films) “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” (Paramount Pictures) “Oppenheimer” (Universal Pictures) “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (Sony Pictures) “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (Universal Pictures) “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” (AMC Theatres)
A Screenwriters Perspective: Current and Past Movies. 