Conclave

 

     While a fictional drama about choosing a new Papal leader after the death of the last Pope, the Conclave portrayed in the film seems realistically accurate and becomes quite tense as the various Cardinals continue to vote until a consensus is reached.

      Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence, the Cardinal that leads the Conclave, which becomes a political potboiler as various nominees jockey for position and secrets are revealed. Also starring is Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Bellini, a progressive Cardinal who says he is not interested in the position but obvious is. John Lithgow, Sergio Castellitto, Lucian Msamati, Carlos Diehz, and Merab Nindze all play other Cardinals. Brian F. O'Byrne plays the assistant to Cardinal Lawrence and Isabella Rossellini plays Sister Agnes, the Cardinal's head caterer and housekeeper.

      The film is directed by Edward Berger, who's camera seems to take the audience directly into the inner circles of the Vatican. The score, by Volker Bertelmann, plays an important part in raising the tension and keeping it high. The cinematography, by Stephanie Fontaine, is outstanding especially in certain scenes staged by Mr. Berger.

      The film is a serious drama with a great cast and obvious Oscar aspirations, marred only by a controversial final twist that is so incredible, it devalues everything that has come before it. 

Venom: The Last Dance

 

          Tom Hardy returns for a third outing as Eddie Brock/Venom in what is being called "The Last Dance", the conclusion to the Venom story line. The film was written and directed by Kelly Marcel, heading up a tremendous team of animators and CGI artists.

           Read no further if you haven't seen the other two films or have no interest in this Marvel anti-hero. If you are indeed familiar with the character and a fan, you will thoroughly enjoy yourself. It is a fun filled ride loaded with action packed mayhem and some great dialog between Eddie and Venom, the alien symbiote that shares his body.

           The film co-stars Juno Temple, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Clark Backo and Stephen Graham. Additionally, Christo Fernandez returns as the bartender from "Spider-Man: No Way Home". We also get a quick glimpse of Andy Serkis as "Knull" during a mid-credit scene.

           The special effects are fun and Mr. Hardy seems to really enjoy playing Eddie Brock. While the film is being called the conclusion to the trilogy, anyone familiar with the Marvel Universe knows anything can happen. Pay close attention to the final post credit scene.

Smile 2

 

       The first film had a original take on an evil entity possessing people. It became a hit and now we have the sequel. Writer and director Parker Finn keeps things fresh with a new cast and a new setting but that pesky entity is still keeping victims smiling and dying.

       Naomi Scott stars as Skye Riley and she is simply terrific. She is in almost every scene playing a pop star who has inadvertently inherited the evil spirit from the first film. She does her own singing and dancing in certain scenes and in others registers paranoia, fear, and absolute terror as the spirit slowly consumes her. It is a star making performance. Co-starring with Ms. Scott are Rosemary DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Peter Jacobson. 

      Mr. Finn expertly turns up the suspense and scares as the story builds. He is a master of the "jump scare" and the film contains many of them. It's a standard horror technique but he still manages to make it surprising and keeps the audience constantly off balance.

       Everything about this sequel is ramped up from the original. It starts days after the first film ended, takes off like a shot and works brilliantly. Looking forward to the inevitable "Smile 3". 

Joker: Folie a Deux

 

       Less a sequel and more like a continuation, this film picks up directly after the events of the first film. It starts with a terrific animated sequence that soon dissolves to the prison where Arthur Fleck is awaiting a psychiatric evaluation before he can stand trail for multiple murders. The film rotates between the prison and the courtroom, interspersed with musical numbers in Arthur's delusional imagination.

        The film, of course, stars Joaquin Phoenix returning as Arthur Fleck. In inspired casting, Lady Gaga plays Harleen (Lee) Quinzel, Artur's love interest. The two have great chemistry and their scenes together are electric (even if Mr. Phoenix is not the best singer). Mr. Phoenix's acting, however, is exceptional. He is amazing a s fleck. It's a shame the script doesn't do him justice.

         Co-written and directed by Todd Phillips, This is an unnecessary film that has no real plot and blends drama and music in a ridiculous way. It ultimately goes nowhere and if not for the performances of it's two stars, it's not worth your time (wait for streaming if you must see it). 

        The film co-stars Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Harry Lawtey, and Bill Smitrovich.

         As with the first film, while taking place in Gotham City, it has no Batman or Commissioner Gordon. It has a Joker, Harley Quinn, and even a Harvey Dent but otherwise exists outside of the usual DC universe. It's a strange mix that fails to capture the magic of the first film.

      

        

Saturday Night

 

    Co-written and directed by Jason Reitman (who interviewed surviving cast and crew members), this is a nostalgic look at recreating the premiere episode of Saturday Night Live, fifty years ago.

     Mr. Reitman assembles a talented group of actors, who, while not perfect replicas of the original cast, certainly capture their essence. The film stars Cory Michael Smith as Chevy Chase, Ella Hunt as Gilda Radner, Dylan O'Brien as Dan Aykroyd, Emily Fairn as Lorraine Newman, Matt Wood as John Belushi, Lamorne Morris as Garrett Morris, Kim Matula as Jane Curtin and Tommy Dewey as Michael O'Donoghue.

      Also starring as Lorne Michaels is Gabriel LaBelle and Rachel Sennotti as Rosie Shuster.  In addition, the film features Finn Wolfhard, Nicholas Braun (as Andy Kaufman and Jim Henson), Cooper Hoffman, Matthew Rhys, Willem Dafoe, Jon Batiste and J.K. Simmons.

      It's a great cast and Mr. Reitman captures the insanity of what it must have been like putting the first episode together when the concept was new and nobody knew what to expect. While we may never know exactly what really happened that night, one can only imagine it's probably close to the truth.

Terrifier 3

 

     If you haven't seen the first two films in this series and have no interest in violent horror, stop reading now. However, if you're in the mood for a gory, violent and fun, yes fun....Terrifier 3 is for you. But you really should start with the first film and follow the misadventures of psycho clown killer, Art the clown.

     Written and directed by Damien Leone, (Dario Argento would be proud) while incredibly violent and drenched in blood, there is element of fun, along with committed performances from David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera and Samantha Scaffidi. Mr. Thornton plays the silent clown as a maniacal Charlie Chaplin eliciting laughs along with shrieks and groans. Ms. LaVera reprises her role as the heroine, Sienna Shaw and is quickly earning her place as a genuine scream queen. Ms. Scaffidi reprises her role as  the heroine turned villainess, Victoria Heyes, who just about steals the spotlight from Art.

      The film co-stars Elliott Fullam, Antonella Rose and in smaller roles, Clint Howard, Daniel Roebuck, Jason Patric, and Tom Savini.

       Mr. Leone has a great knack for giving fans of this genre exactly what they want. His production team provides excellent, and sometimes, deliberately cheesy special effects. It's obvious that Mr. Leone's budget grows with each subsequent film. I can't wait to see what he does with the inevitable Terrifier 4.

       

The Apprentice

 

        This new biographical drama examines the life of Donald Trump in the 1970's and 80's as he was growing his real estate empire. More than that however, it is a modern day "Frankenstein" story as the young Donald meets nefarious lawyer, Roy Cohen who mentors Donald into the man we know today. Make no mistake, this is a "horror" story in the very worst way.

         Sebastian Stan stars as Donald Trump and he is fantastic. He seamlessly captures every nuance of the man, his expressions, vocal patterns and movements. It is absolutely hysterical watching him constantly fixing his hair. Jeremy Strong completely inhabits the look and spirit of Roy Cohen, one of the most vile individuals to ever walk the earth. He teaches young Donald his three rules to live by which Donald then takes ownership of in later years.

        The other principal actors are Martin Donovan as Fred Trump Sr. and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Charlie Carrick co-stars as Fred Trump Jr. and Catherine McNally is Mary Anne Trump.

         The film follows Donald as he negotiates purchasing the abandoned Commodore Hotel, his Atlantic City casinos, Trump Plaza and more. It also charts how he met, courted, and eventually lost interest in Ivana Trump. Under Mr. Cohen's influence, he develops his rule book, "The Art of the Deal".

          Donald Trump's lawyers tried to have this film banned but it finally found a distributor and they are now calling it "election interference" due to it's content and realistic portrait of Mr. Trump. It's actually a fascinating story with brilliant performances from both Mr. Strong and Mr. Stan.

           

Megalopolis

 

        Written, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, this is his greatest cinematic achievement since "The Godfather"...nah, not really. Instead, it is an ambitious, overstuffed, incoherent at times, mess of a movie. And yet, under all that mess, shards of Mr. Coppola's genius still shine through. 

         The film stars Adam Driver (taking everything very seriously), Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza ( having fun going way over the top), Shia LaBeouf (chewing all the scenery in his scenes), Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, and Kathryn Hunter (criminally underused). Also, in much smaller and practically wasted roles, Chloe Fineman, James Remar, D.B. Sweeney, Grace VanderWaal, Balthazar Getty, and Dustin Hoffman (who hasn't acted in years and came back for this?).

         Mr. Coppola’s vision is to merge ancient Rome with a futuristic New York and set up a confrontation between two powerful men, the visionary architect, played by Mr. Driver (with a large nod to Robert Moses) and Mr. Esposito, as the Mayor of "New Rome".  With that idea as his base, characters move through the film with dialog that ranges from non-sensical to Shakespearean and laughable to poetic. Themes are introduced and then cast aside. At times, the leads don't even seem to know what they are doing.

         While the CGI work is inconsistent, I will praise the art direction and design. Watching the film is like wandering through a moving art exhibition without a cohesive theme. There are fleeting moments of Mr. Coppola's brilliance in the rather insane look of the film and in some of the dialog but overall, the film is a slog to get through running over two hours that seem more like six gonzo hours.

           Apparently Mr. Coppola has been nurturing the idea of this film since 1977. Give the man credit for bringing his opus to fruition, and spending his own money to do it, but this is far from his greatest achievement. It is a great example of the old adage, "art is in the eye of the beholder".

WOLFS

 

       Shame on Apple using George Clooney and Brad Pitt as poster boys to sell subscriptions. This new action, crime, drama is light as air and as thin as finely sliced ham. The plot is a total cliche and makes very little sense, even when the two stars quickly explain it late in the film, when they both realize what they've been doing for nearly the past two hours.

         It begins with an interesting premise, when Amy Ryan calls for the services of a "cleaner", a professional fixer of sorts who "cleans" up illegal scenarios to protect certain types of people. Two competing "cleaners, Mr. Clooney and Mr. Pitt, show up to dispose of a body and things take off from there.

          Besides Ms. Ryan (who disappears after the initial scene), the film co-stars Austin Abrams, Zlatko Buric, and in a surreal cameo, Richard Kind as a Frank Sinatra fanatic.

          If you are satisfied watching two movie stars going through the paces, without much thought of character or plot development, this is the perfect film for you. Enjoy it as the two make fun of themselves with aging jokes such as needing glasses, complaining about back pain, and needing aspirin.

          There is far better content (with stars) to watch on Apple, then this fluff. These wolfs don't bite. They don't even have teeth.

Lee

 

  Kate Winslet is terrific in this pretty straight forward "bio pic" of the celebrated World War Two photojournalist, Lee Miller.

   Framed by an interview session in 1977, we are transported back to 1938 when Ms. Miller was working as a photographer for the British edition of Vogue magazine. We then follow her  as a wartime photojournalist during the war in France. The framing device is clever especially as the film returns to 1977.

   Ms. Winslet is fearless in a strong performance that rises above the dark and dour backdrop of the later days of the war. She is joined by Andy Samberg (in his first serious role) as Look Magazine, photojournalist, David Scherman. The two had a great friendship that lasted well after the war and through the chemistry of the two actors, that friendship and bond is very apparent.

    The film co-stars Andrea Riseborough as Audrey Withers, the editor at Vogue, Alexander Skarsgard as Lee's husband, Roland and Josh O'Conner as Antony. It also features Marion Cotillard, Noemie Merlant, and Vincent Colombe.

     Lee Miller's actual photographs are showcased in the film and many scenes are hard to watch as she brilliantly captures the horror of war as well as moments of meditation and even surprise.

      During the credits, we learn the fate (and see the actual photos) of the  people featured in the film. It's a tribute to Lee Miller, David Scherman and others like them that brought all the aspects of war home through their work. A grim reminder that no one really wins.