How to Understand the Situation by Watching ‘I Don’t Understand You’

June 17, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Do you understand the movie that is coming out of the projector?! (CREDIT: Vertical)

Starring: Nick Kroll, Andrew Rannells, Nunzia Schiano, Morgan Spector, Amanda Seyfried, Eleonora Romandini, Paolo Romano

Directors: David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano

Running Time: 96 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: June 6, 2025 (Theaters)

If you’re an American who’s about to vacation in Italy, should you be required to watch I Don’t Understand You before you leave? Better safe than sorry, I say! Chances are, things probably won’t spin as bloodily out of control for you as they do for Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells). But… if you don’t speak the language fluently, and if there are things back home that you have to worry about, well, then you could get stressed out. And stress could lead to situations you’ve never been in before. And that could result in you doing something that you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life. (Plus, the plot was loosely inspired by writing/directing duo David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano’s own journey of becoming fathers.) So yeah, it can’t hurt to prepare for that possibility ahead of time.

Grade: 1.2 Deads out of 2 Dads

2-For-1 Review: ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Materialists’ Both Make My Heart Go Thump-a-Thump

June 12, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

CREDIT: Atsushi Nishijima/A24; Universal Pictures

How to Train Your Dragon

Starring: Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Ruth Codd, Peter Serafinowicz

Director: Dean DeBlois

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Rating: PG for Dragons Taking Humans Higher Than They Should Go

Release Date: June 13, 2025 (Theaters)

Materialists

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Marin Ireland, Zoë Winters, Dasha Nekrosova, Louisa Jacobson

Director: Celine Song

Running Time: 117 Minutes

Rating: R, mostly for Discussions of a Date Gone Very Wrong

Release Date: June 13, 2025 (Theaters)

Picture this: it’s the weekend of June 13-15, 2025, and you want to see a new release at your local multiplex. How are you supposed to ever decide?! Especially if they’re total opposites? That isn’t quite the situation we have here, although the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon and the Celine Song-penned-and-helmed rom-com Materialists are certainly aiming for separate lanes. So if you’re a thorough cinephile like me who tries to see absolutely everything, where should you focus first? Or should you try to pull a Barbenheimer and make a double feature out of it? Let’s suss out the situation.

More

Did ‘The Ritual’ Possess Me?

June 10, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , Leave a comment

And also with you (CREDIT: XYZ Films/Screenshot)

Starring: Dan Stevens, Al Pacino, Ashley Greene, Abigail Cowen, Patricia Heaton, Patrick Fabian

Director: David Midell

Running Time: 98 Minutes

Rating: Unrated

Release Date: June 6, 2025 (Theaters)

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know real quick that I saw The Ritual in the theater. It’s an exorcism movie starring Al Pacino and Dan Stevens as a couple of priests. And Patricia Heaton plays a nun! I guess they’ll do anything these days. Apparently it’s based on a true story. I’m glad it’s not my true story. Alas, I fell asleep during the last half hour or so. Or maybe it was just the last 15 minutes? It was hard to tell, but next thing I knew when I opened my eyes back up, the end credits were starting. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep! I like to stay awake even for the movies I don’t find very interesting so that I can know why I don’t find them very interesting. Oh well. Maybe everyone (including the demon) would have been better off if they’d just slept through the whole exorcism? Something to think about…

Grade: The Devil Didn’t Make Me Do It

‘Ballerina’ Review: Ana de Armas Dances Her Way to Vengeance – Will You Be Cheering Her On?

June 4, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I must have seen her (CREDIT: Murray Close//Lionsgate)

Starring: Ana de Armas, Anjelica Huston, Gabriel Byrne, Lance Reddick, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Norman Reedus, Ava Mccarthy, Ian McShane, Keanu Reeves

Director: Len Wiseman

Running Time: 125 Minutes

Rating: R for ALL of the Violence

Release Date: June 6, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: When Eve Macarro was just a little girl, she witnessed her father being brutally murdered right in front of her. So as you might suspect, she’s spent the rest of her life planning her revenge. In the meantime, she’s been training in the art of ballet (you might even call her the titular Ballerina) as part of the traditions of the assassin group known as the Ruska Roma. Since this all takes place in the world of John Wick, she stops by the Continental Hotel to track down those who were responsible for her father’s demise, which leads her to a centuries-old cult seemingly motivated purely by bloodshed. But if she’s not careful (or even if she is careful), her quest for vengeance could blow up an uneasy peace within the assassin underworld. And maybe if we’re lucky, John Wick himself might just show up to help her out, or stop her in her tracks.

What Made an Impression?: A New-Ish Kind of Revenge: The first John Wick movie did revenge a little differently, mainly by having the protagonist be motivated by a dead dog instead of a dead family member. Ballerina at first appears to be going the much more straightforward route. But ultimately, the climax paints a somewhat more complicated and intriguing picture. It’s far from the most groundbreaking portrait of vengeance ever, but it’s sufficient enough to hold your attention.
Backstory Schmackstory: Ballerina spins off primarily from John Wick: Chapter 3, which is my least favorite of the Wick series, mainly because it dived so deeply into lore that I just didn’t care one hoot about. Ballerina isn’t quite as lore-heavy, mostly operating in broad strokes about the rituals and truces of these assassin groups. It’s enough to set the tone without becoming impenetrable.
You Got to Be Versatile: Eve Macarro is no John Wick. Few action heroes are, though! To be fair to Ana de Armas, she’s at least a confident enough action hero to get the job done. She may not be getting inducted into the Fictional Assassin Hall of Fame anytime, but she does at least wield a flamethrower unforgettably. Also, she dispatches someone in a moment very reminiscent of the swordsman scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark, and I definitely enjoyed that moment.

Ballerina is Recommended If You: Wanted a John Wick movie without John Wick (but not entirely)

Grade: 3 out of 5 Broken Plates

‘The Life of Chuck’ Reveals All the Lives Within That Life of Chuck

June 4, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Spontaneous Choreography of Chuck (CREDIT: NEON)

Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Benjamin Pajak, Jacob Tremblay, Chiwetel Ejifor, Karen Gillan, Mark Hamill, Annalise Basso, Mia Sara, Matthew Lillard, Carl Lumbly, Samantha Sloyan, Harvey Guillén, Kate Siegel, Nick Offerman, Q’Orianka Kilcher, David Dastmalchian, Rahul Kohli, Heather Langenkamp, Violet McGraw

Director: Mike Flanagan

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: R for Language, Apparently (Nothing Overly Outrageous)

Release Date: June 6, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Told in three acts unfolding in reverse order, Act Three of The Life of Chuck opens on a future on the verge of apocalypse: the internet is becoming ever more unreliable, natural disasters are an everyday occurrence, and soon enough the stars are being wiped from the sky. Everyone is despairing, and the only sign of hope are literal signs popping up all around town thanking some guy named Chuck Krantz for his 39 years of service. But nobody has any idea who Chuck is! But then we step back to Act Two, taking place on one of the most memorable days of Chuck’s (Tom Hiddleston) life, when he spontaneously decides to start dancing in front of a busking drummer and quickly draws an enraptured crowd. And finally, Act One introduces us to a middle school-age Chuck (Benjamin Pajak), who’s living with his grandparents (Mark Hamill and Mia Sara) following the tragic death of his mom and dad.

What Made an Impression?: The King’s English: Mike Flanagan is currently our foremost adapter of Stephen King, with The Life of Chuck based on a novella that was published in 2020. I’ve never read a single story written by King, but it’s impossible to avoid him if you’ve been watching movies for the past 50 years. While I’ve enjoyed plenty of those big screen versions, they’ve never made me want to dive into the source. There’s something that’s just a little bit uncanny about the worlds that King weaves. It’s like he’s speaking a language that’s ever so slightly different from the one I’m speaking. And when that language is filtered through the lens of someone who’s clearly as much of a fan as Flanagan is, that uncanniness is a rather strong flavor.
Voice Overlord: I’ve enjoyed the narration in plenty of movies that feature it, and I’ve also enjoyed Nick Offerman in pretty much everything he’s ever done. But the narration narrated by Nick Offerman in The Life of Chuck? Well, that had me going “Huh.” It’s blunt, literal, and near-constant. But it also felt completely necessary if this movie was going to be the movie that it wants to be. Does that make sense?
One Life: The whole idea underlying The Life of Chuck seems to be that there’s an entire universe living within Chuck’s brain (and by extension, everyone else’s brain). To get mildly spoiler-y, he’s dying of cancer, and that universe is dimming in his final moments. Is Chuck truly worthy of this biographical treatment? Yes, insofar as every single individual is worthy of such treatment. If The Life of Chuck didn’t fully work for any of us, well, then perhaps we could respond by crafting our own The Life of (Whoever the Hell We Want).
All He Wants to Do Is…: Despite all my misgivings, I’ve got to give it up for that dance scene. Actually, there are multiple dance scenes, but I’m talking about that busking one right in the middle. Damn, Hiddleston-as-Chuck gives it his all. And you know what else this scene underscored me? I really love drumming. Taylor Gordon just pounds away on the skins, and it goes straight to my core. And then Annalise Basso plays Chuck’s impromptu partner, who’s wearing the perfect dress to accentuate all of their spins and dips. It’s one of the best scenes of the year.

The Life of Chuck is Recommended If You Like: Hanging upside-down while reading a book all day until the sun sets

Grade: 3 out of 5 Chucks

This One Weird Trick Helped Me Watch ‘Lilo & Stitch’ (2025), ‘Thunderbolts*,’ and ‘Bring Her Back’

June 3, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

They brought Stitch back! And he brought the Thunder (CREDIT: Ingvar Kenne/A24; Disney/Screenshot; Marvel/Screenshot)

Lilo & Stitch (2025)

Starring: Maia Kealoha, Chris Sanders, Sydney Elizabeth Agudong, Zach Galifianakis, Billy Magnussen, Courtney B. Vance, Hannah Waddingham, Kaipo Dudoit, Tia Carrere, Amy Hill

Director: Dean Fleischer Camp

Running Time: 108 Minutes

Rating: PG

Release Date: May 23, 2025 (Theaters)

Thunderbolts*

Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, Olga Kurylenko, Lewis Pullman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan, Chris Bauer, Wendell Pierce

Director: Jake Schreier

Running Time: 126 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: May 2, 2025 (Theaters)

Bring Her Back

Starring: Billy Barratt, Sally Hawkins, Sora Wong, Jonah Wren Phillips, Sally-Anne Upton, Stephen Phillips, Mischa Heywood

Directors: Danny and Michael Philippou

Running Time: 104 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: May 30, 2025 (Theaters)

Okay, wow, I just noticed something weird. Or maybe not that weird. And maybe millions of other folks have already noticed this before me. But that doesn’t mean it’s not weird!

More

‘Karate Kid: Legends’ is Mildly Diverting

May 29, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Legen- (wait for it?) -dary? (CREDIT: Jonathan Wenk/Columbia Pictures)

Starring: Ben Wang, Jackie Chan, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen, Ralph Macchio, Joshua Jackson, Aramis Knight, Wyatt Oleff

Director: Jonathan Entwistle

Running Time: 94 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Violence, Officially Sanctioned or Otherwise

Release Date: May 30, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Li Fong (Ben Wang) is a perfectly pleasant teenage boy living in Beijing with his doctor mother (Ming-Na Wen) who must make his way to the Big Apple when she lands a job in NYC. But his head and his heart remain behind in China, particularly the kung fu school of the legendary Mr. Han (Jackie Chan). Alas, Mom has forbidden fighting for this new beginning, but little do they know that Li is just the latest protagonist in a generations-spanning martial arts saga. In the meantime, he also becomes close with a girl named Mia (Sadie Stanley) and her dad (Joshua Jackson) from the local pizza place, which only draws him further into the world of combat sports.

What Made an Impression?: The New Kid in Town: The first Karate Kid movie arrived in theaters more than 40 years ago. But I haven’t seen any of them, nor have I watched the Cobra Kai spinoff series, though I have absorbed the key details by dint of cultural ubiquity. Which is all to say: Karate Kid: Legends is perfectly easy to follow for newbies. Its main focus is on the characters introduced in this chapter after all, and any connections with the returning favorites are thoroughly explained to ward off any potential confusion. Was it already established in the 2010 Karate Kid remake that Mr. Han knew Mr. Miyagi? I don’t know, but also, it doesn’t matter that I didn’t know. Does it make sense that Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) is recruited all the way from L.A. to help train Li? No, but I guess that just happens when you’re putting together a supergroup.
The Other Story: A good chunk of Legends‘ plot is devoted to a story lane that isn’t even hinted at in the trailers. I wouldn’t call it a spoiler to reveal it, but I won’t say much more, since it can be fun when a movie shamelessly breaks the promises it made with its audience in the promo material. But at least let me tease what I’m hinting about by wondering aloud: who knew that Joshua Jackson would have a bigger role than Ralph Macchio in a Karate Kid movie in 2025 (or any year)? And who could have ever guessed that would be a good thing?
Give Me a Slice: When Li first visits Mia and her dad’s pizza shop, he cluelessly asks them if they have any stuffed crust pies. He immediately gets chewed out for his very un-Manhattan request and then gets stuck with “Deep Dish” for a nickname. And that’s what passes for a joke in this movie. Although the script doesn’t really commit to this razzing, since he’s addressed by that epithet just a handful of times. I wish it had happened more often.

Karate Kid: Legends is Recommended If You Like: Dawson’s Creek more than Karate Kid

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Kickpunches

Does ‘The Phoenician Scheme’ Have What We’re Looking For?

May 27, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

A couple of schemeers (Credit: Courtesy of TPS Productions/Focus Features © 2025 All Rights Reserved.)

Starring: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, Bill Murray, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham

Director: Wes Anderson

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Gunshots, Plane Crashes, and Mid-century Tobacco

Release Date: May 30, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: It’s 1950, and businessman Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) is at an impasse. He’s trying to complete a major infrastructure project, but he finds himself the victim of several assassination attempts and a consortium of rival tycoons trying to box him out from all of his moneymaking endeavors. Sensing that his demise may be imminent, he summons his nun-in-training daughter Liesl (Mia Threapleton) from the convent to inform her that he’s making her his sole heir. Then the two of them journey off along with his sons’ tutor Bjørn (Michael Cera) to close the funding gap for his project and maybe also discover who killed Liesl’s mother years ago.

What Made an Impression?: Is Redemption Possible?: Zsa-zsa is introduced as a ruthless capitalist who pretty much deserves to be assassinated. He might have even also killed Liesl’s mom! But does this rapscallion have the capacity for change? I must say, it’s hard not to notice some softening. Maybe it’s the visions of pearly gates, maybe it’s Liesl’s pious but nonjudgmental influence, but somehow someway he’s inching towards respectability. By the end, there are still plenty of grievous missteps on his ledger that he must accept responsibility for, but I mostly bought the redemption.
They Shoot, They Score!: My favorite scene in The Phoenician Scheme features Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston as a pair of brothers playing basketball against Zsa-zsa and Riz Ahmed’s prince character. They call it 2-on-2, first-to-5, but it’s really a round of H-O-R-S-E. But who cares about technicalities when H&C relish tossing the rock this much? They might be AARP-eligible, but they’re looking more athletic than they ever have.
Silly Voices and Such: I’m not a super-fan of Wes Anderson, but I enjoy him well enough to consistently appreciate his fastidious eye for detail and ability to ground over-the-top fashion and quirky architecture. That works best in this feature in terms of the ridiculous accents that are occasionally revealed as put-ons for outlandishly simple disguises.* I chuckled heartily. (*Richard Ayoade, in contrast, deploys what I believe is his adorably natural voice as a communist revolutionary.)
A Star Takes Her Vows: Del Toro may be Number 1 on the call sheet, but I suspect that Threapleton will be enjoying the majority of the buzz. She’s the daughter of Kate Winslet and Jim Threapleton, so gird yourself if you have an aversion to nepo babies. But regardless of her heritage, she sets herself apart as a unique screen presence as she pulls off the neat trick of making us fall in love with a bride of Christ. Or maybe that’s actually the easiest task in the world, because of the taboo aspect of it all. Either way, she nails it.

The Phoenician Scheme is Recommended If You: Have an Endless Wes Andersonian Appetite, Forever and Ever, Amen

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Hand Grenades

‘Fight or Flight’/’Final Destination Bloodlines’ Quick Hits

May 20, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Don’t look down? (CREDIT: Warner Bros./Screenshot; Vertical/Screenshot)

Fight or Flight

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Charithra Chandan, Katee Sackhoff, Julian Kostov, Marko Zaror, JuJu Chan Szeto, Danny Ashok, Hughie O’Donnell

Director: James Madigan

Running Time: 97 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: May 9, 2025 (Theaters)

Final Destination Bloodlines

Starring: Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones, Brec Bassinger, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Rya Kihlstedt, Anna Lore, Gabrielle Rose, Tinpo Lee, April Telek, Alex Zahara, Max Lloyd-Jones, Tony Todd

Directors: Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein

Running Time: 110 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: May 16, 2025 (Theaters)

One day not too long ago, I saw the new movie Fight or Flight in a theater. Then the very next day, I saw another new film, Final Destination Bloodlines, also in a movie theater! So that’s two movies in two days about potential disasters and/or very real disasters. FoF mostly takes place on a plane, while the first FD is famous for its exploding plane. Here are a couple of quick lists of what I liked most about both of them:

More

‘Hurry Up Tomorrow’ Review: They Let The Weeknd Make a Movie

May 15, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Two people hurrying up (CREDIT: Andrew Cooper)

Starring: Abel Tesfaye, Jenna Ortega, Barry Keoghan, Riley Keough

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: R for Some Language, a Few Drugs, and a Scuffle

Release Date: May 16, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: In the woozy fantasia Hurry Up Tomorrow, Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd plays an alternate version of himself who’s really going through some stuff right now. His girlfriend has just left him, but he can’t focus on that right now, because he’s in the midst of a tour and his manager (Barry Keoghan) keeps hyping him up to go out and crush it. But what he really needs to do right now is slow down and rest his aching vocal cords. Into this psychological powder keg waltzes an unstable fan named Anima (Jenna Ortega) who’s introduced while burning down a house in the middle of nowhere. She and Abel hit it off, only to then dive headlong into a nightmare.

What Made an Impression?: To Be So Vain: When was the last time we were blessed to witness a vanity project as shameless as this one? I didn’t realize that The Weeknd even had the cachet to get a major theatrical release like this greenlit. (Although I suppose he did play the Super Bowl Halftime Show a few years ago.) Anyway, I’m not complaining. All artists should be given the space to let their creative ids run loose (even if the results are profoundly messy), just so long as nobody gets hurt.
Will You Let Us In?: Although I suppose the case could be made that some people could in fact get hurt by suffering through the experience of watching this movie. I wouldn’t go that far, but it would’ve been nice if it had been a little esoteric. I’m enough of a fan of The Weeknd that I’ve listened to all of his albums and sung him at karaoke once or twice, but not so big a stan that I’m attending concerts or scrubbing the lyrics for Easter eggs or whatever. Maybe his most ardent obsessives will find plenty to vibe with in Hurry Up Tomorrow. I however am perfectly okay with keeping all that at arm’s length. The Weeknd’s headspace is just too dang melancholic.
Letting a Little Bit Loose: Hurry Up Tomorrow isn’t too bad if you just treat it as a series of dreamy images washing over you and ignore whatever semblance of a plot there is. But within the chaos, there is one genuinely great scene in which Anima has Abel tied up Misery-style as she forces him to listen to her critical analyses of some of his recent songs. And yes, we do get a few new signature Jenna Ortega Dance Moves out of the bargain. It’s kinda stupid, but it breaks the tension nicely.

Hurry Up Tomorrow is Recommended If You Like: Being held hostage

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Phone Calls

Older Entries Newer Entries