Reviews: Lighting Round-April 2

Due to health reasons, I have been unable to write any full reviews lately, and I haven't been able to go out to as many movies. My apologies. I have seen a few movies, though. Here are my quick thoughts on them:

Anora

R 2024 ‧ Romance/Comedy ‧ 2h 19m

I finally saw this "Best Picture" winner. I was really looking forward to it. After 15-20 minutes of the movie, I realized I wasn't liking it. I was actively disliking it. The first act of the movie is the romance section where Anora, an exotic dancer and prostitute, strikes up a relationship with a wealthy Russian. Lots of sex. No romance. No comedy. No chemistry. A purely transactional relationship. The second act had shades of the Coen brothers, and I enjoyed those moments. Then a third act that I again disliked and an abrupt ending that left me unsatisfied. I don't know how this movie won Best Picture outside of politics for supporting an Indie film or recognizing a Lead Actress for "bravely" being naked a lot. Verdict: Strong no (I recognize I'm in the minority here)

Black Bag

R 2025 ‧ Thriller ‧ 1h 33m

No-nonsense British intelligence agent George (Michael Fassbender) discovers that one of his five fellow agents has sold state secrets. Notably, one of these suspects is his wife, Kathryn (Cate Blanchett). George has only a week to uncover who the traitor is and fix the leak before the secrets will be used. Most of the rest of the cast is comprised of actors recognizable from other projects and, if you see this in the theater, you will may be witness to couples elbowing each other and saying "oh, it's so-and-so from such-and-such." Cast members include Pierce Brosnan (not playing James Bond), Tom Burke (Cormoran Strike of the "Strike" series), René-Jean Page (Bridgerton), and more. This was a fun film. It is more of a thriller than an action film. Verdict: Highly recommend

My Dead Friend Zoe

R 2024 ‧ War/Comedy ‧ 1h 41m

My Dead Friend Zoe is one of the best movies of 2025, so far. Great cast, including Nathalie Morales, Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery), Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Utkarsh Ambudkar (Ghosts), and Gloria Reubens. Morales is usually the best part of so-so stuff, but she has a great cast to work with here. Nice drama. Good comedy. Important subject. A little tonally uneven. It deals with the PTSD one soldier deals with after returning to the States. It's inspired by the real experience of the film's writer and director. Verdict: Highly recommend.

Novocaine

R 2025 ‧ Action/Thriller ‧ 1h 50m

Over the years, revenge action films have been a mainstay. Too often they are more of the same: lots of violence with little creativity. Novocaine brings a novel concept to the genre. Nathan "Novocaine" Caine (Jack Quaid) lives a quiet life as an assistant bank manager whose only social outlet is video games. His life is small and simple out of necessity: he can't feel pain, but he can still get hurt. His house is baby-proofed for himself. He only ingests liquids so he doesn't unknowingly bite himself. In act one, Nathan begins to fall for Sherry, a co-worker at his bank, and he starts to open up to her like he never has with anyone in his entire life. Queue act two: the bank is robbed and Sherry is taken hostage. Nathan is not going to sit back and wait for the cops to try to rescue the woman he may be in love with. In pursuit of the suspects, Nathan pushes his not feeling pain to the limit. He is exposed to violence usually reserved for Wile E. Coyote or Home Alone's Wet Bandits (both referenced in the movie). There is a lot of violence in the movie, and although Nathan can't feel it, it still has consequences. If you can stomach graphic violence, the movie does play it well for laughs. Even if you accept the concept of Nathan not feeling pain, there are a lot of leaps of logic, and I don't think that we, as the audience, are supposed to care or take it too seriously. Verdict: Recommend

Paddington in Peru

PG 2024 ‧ Family/Adventure ‧ 1h 46m

The first two movies in the Paddington series were better than they had any right to be. They were both near-perfect family movies. I've got some nits to pick about them, but they were both just fantastic. So when I heard there was a third movie coming out, I was excited. Then I heard the creative team from the first two movies wasn't coming back (they elected to make Wonka instead). So, I was both excited and skeptical to see the new film.

In Paddington in Peru, Paddington learns that the bear who raised him has gone missing in darkest Peru. He and the Brown family step out of their comfort zones and explore the jungle, looking for the lost city where they believe his aunt may be.

This entry in the series is not the great family film that the first two were. It's still sweet. It's still good. It feels like it was made lovingly and not as a cash grab. However, instead of being a family film, I would say this is more of a children's movie. A movie that parents will enjoy watching their kids enjoy it rather than fully enjoying it themselves. Verdict: Recommend (as a children's movie)

September 5

R 2024 ‧ Thriller/Drama ‧ 1h 35m

This is a solid drama based on the hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics. In a world before the 24-hour news cycle, networks didn't have teams of reporters covering the Olympics. Instead, when the hostage situation started, it was up to ABC Sports (and sole reporter Peter Jennings) to figure out how a team prepared to cover sports can transition well and ethically to covering a live news event as it transpired. The film is well-written and well-acted. Although the story is true, it is paced like a thriller with a hint of Aaron Sorkin thrown in. (To my knowledge, Sorkin had nothing to do with the movie, but a computer algorithm could easily prompt, "If you love Sorkin, you might also like September 5). Verdict: Highly recommend.