Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States and in the fictional North Pole, the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “Red One” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Asians) and fictional creatures representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A rebellious bounty hunter/computer hacker and Santa Claus’ uptight security chief meet each other and team up to find and rescue Santa Claus, who has been kidnapped.
Culture Audience: “Red One” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and Christmas-themed movies that are loud, hyperactive and silly.
Kristofer Hivju and Dwayne Johnson in “Red One” (Photo by Frank Masi/Amazon Content Services)
The Christmas action comedy “Red One” is the equivalent of Santa Claus delivering an avalanche of coal. The incoherent plot is about rescuing a kidnapped Santa, but viewers will feel like the ones being taken hostage by this unfunny and bloated abomination. It’s the type of big-budget movie that looks like it came from a low-rent concept for a video game with product placements.
Directed by Jake Kasdan and written by Chris Morgan, “Red One” lurches from scene to scene, often by explaining what’s going on in a sloppy and hyperactive way. There is no character in this movie that has an emotional range that goes beyond (1) inflicting chaos or (2) reacting to the chaos inflicted. There’s some half-hearted preaching about adults keeping their inner child alive during the Christmas holidays, but it all comes across as tacked-on sentimentality.
Product placements and visual effects are the main priorities for “Red One,” which has a story that’s overstuffed with stupid distractions and moronic dialogue. The movie clumsily begins with a scene showing future bounty hunter Jack O’Malley as a kid (played by Wyatt Hunt), who’s about 8 or 9 years old and has an enthusiasm for using the Internet. Jack doesn’t really believe in Santa Claus, even though Jack’s Uncle Rick (played by Marc Evan Jackson) tells Jack that Santa Claus really exists. It’s mentioned that Rick is a father figure in Jack’s life because Jack’s biological father abandoned Jack and Jack’s mother.
Thirty years later, Jack (played by Chris Evans) is a bounty hunter and an elusive hacker on the Dark Web, where he has the nickname The Wolf. Jack is a freewheeling bachelor with commitment issues. It’s one of the main reasons why he’s been a flaky and frequently absentee father to his son Dylan (played by Wesley Kimmel), who’s about 13 or 14 years old.
Dylan lives with his mother Olivia (played by Mary Elizabeth Ellis), a medical doctor who is currently married to a husband who is not named or seen in the movie. It’s implied that Jack and Olivia were never married, never lived together, and never even had a committed relationship, but they decided to co-parent Dylan. So far, self-absorbed Jack has been failing miserably at being a responsible parent.
Meanwhile, Santa Claus (played by J.K. Simmons), also known as Nicholas or Nick, has been dutifully making an appearance at a shopping mall to meet children who tell him what they want for Christmas. This Santa Claus is not a traditional jolly and plump Santa. The Santa in “Red One” lifts weights for physical workouts and has an attitude of a cynically wise grandfather who knows what he has to say to make kids happy, even if he really doesn’t mean it.
Santa Claus’ security chief is Callum “Cal” Drift (played by Dwayne Johnson), a muscular and stern protector who has been working with Santa Claus for the last 542 years. (Johnson is also one of the producers of “Red One.”) Callum has recently given his resignation to Santa Claus because Callum believes that things have gotten worse in the world and there are more naughty people than nice people. Callum says he can also no longer see the inner children in adults. Christmas no longer makes him happy but has made him sad for this reason.
This is the type of abysmal dialogue that’s in “Red One.” In a scene where Callum and Santa discuss Callum’s impending exit from the job, Santa Claus says about the world’s people: “They need us now more than ever.” Callum responds: “You need someone younger.”
Santa comments, “We don’t need to change them. They need to change themselves. We work for the kids, Cal—even when they’re not kids anymore.” Santa adds, “Let’s have a cookie.” Callum replies, “The answer to everything.”
Santa is obviously disappointed that he is losing Callum, but Callum has made up his mind that he wants to retire from this line of work. Callum works for the Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority (MORA), a secretive security corporation where he reports to Zoe Harlow (played by Lucy Liu), a no-nonsense supervisor. MORA looks out for mythological beings and protects them at all costs. Santa Claus’ code name with MORA is Red One.
Jack was hired by an anonymous entity to hack into a computer system. Unbeknownst to Jack, this hacking exposed the secret location of Santa Claus on the North Pole to the entity that hired Jack. Santa Claus is then kidnapped from his home on the North Pole. MORA finds out that Jack was indirectly responsible for this kidnapping, so Callum is dispatched to force Jack to help Callum find Santa Claus.
If you’re already rolling your eyes at the description of this plot, “Red One” gets even worse as it goes along. Other characters who are part of the story are Krampus (played by Kristofer Hivju), the horned mythological creature who punishes naughty children; a Christmas witch named Gryla (played by Kiernan Shipka); and a sleazy business jerk named Ted (played by Nick Kroll), who is tracked down by Jack and Callum on a Hawaiian beach. It’s all just an excuse for “Red One” to be filmed partially in Hawaii, where the movie filmed on the island of Oahu.
In “Red One,” Krampus is supposed to be Santa’s brother, with no explanation for why human Santa and non-human Krampus could be related. Krampus is also an ex-lover of Gryla, who is described as a “900-year-old ogre with 13 sons who work at her command.” The scenes with Krampus are some of the worst in this already bad movie, which didn’t need the Krampus character at all.
The visual effects in “Red One” also include life-sized villain snowmen that are about as exciting as watching snow melt. There’s a North Pole security team called ELF (an acronym for enforcement, logistics and fortification) that includes a talking polar bear named Agent Garcia (voiced by Reinaldo Faberlle), another character that didn’t need to be in this movie. There are also humanoid robots that show up with no real explanation of their origin. And, of course, there are Santa’s reindeer, who have no names and no personalities.
Jack and Callum go through the usual formulaic motions of two characters with opposite personalities who must learn to work together for a common goal. The expected bickering and wisecracking banter ensue. And almost all of it in “Red One” fails to be funny or entertaining. Johnson and Evans have played these types of roles in many other movies. There’s nothing new to see here in their mediocre performances in “Red One.”
Except for Gryla, female characters in “Red One” are merely sidelined observers of most of the action. “Red One” mainly has Mrs. Claus (played by Bonnie Hunt) in a small role as the worried wife at home who bakes cookies. Hunt’s considerable comedic talent is wasted in this movie, which relegates her to a shallow and almost useless role. Zoe is Callum’s boss, but Callum gets to make the biggest and boldest moves. Shipka looks like she’s having fun playing a villain, but this villain’s personality is restricted to being one-dimensional stereotype.
“Red One” tries to juggle many different subplots like a juggler who ends up dropping too many things thrown in the air. There might be enough in “Red One” to satisfy viewers looking for some fantasy genre visual effects, but the movie’s main characters and story are extremely derivative and fail to be interesting. “Red One” is just an unimaginative mush of ideas using the same formula as comedic movies about buddy cops with clashing personalities. “Red One” is also a shameless showcase of what people dislike the most about the crass commercialism of Christmas.
Amazon MGM Studios will release “Red One” in U.S. cinemas on November 15, 2024. A sneak preview of the movie was shown in U.S. cinemas on November 10, 2024. Prime Video will premiere the movie on December 12, 2024.
A scene from “Juror #2.” Pictured in front row, from left to right: Chikako Fukuyama, Nicholas Hoult, Adrienne C. Moore, J.K. Simmons, Drew Scheid and Hedy Nasser. Pictured in back row: Leslie Bibb and Cedric Yarbrough. (Photo by Claire Folger/Warner Bros. Pictures)
Culture Representation: Taking place in 2021, in Chatham County, Georgia, the dramatic film “Juror #2” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Asians and Latin people) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A magazine writer is selected to be on a jury for a murder trial when he finds out that the person who died might not be a murder victim but a victim of a hit-and-run accident that he caused a year earlier.
Culture Audience: “Juror #2” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, director Clint Eastwood, and gripping courtroom/legal dramas that have very good acting.
People who love dramas about crime investigations and jury trials will find a lot to like about “Juror #2.” It’s an absorbing and suspenseful story about a juror with a very big secret that influences his actions as a jury member. The secret is revealed early enough in the movie for viewers to know if the person on trial is guilty or not guilty. The real mystery is what the guilty party will do to reveal or cover up the truth.
Directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jonathan Abrams, “Juror #2” is the feature-film debut for screenwriter Abrams. It’s a very taut thriller that has a few minor plot holes or unanswered questions that don’t take away from the overall impact of the movie. Some viewers expecting a certain outcome might not like how the movie ends. “Juror #2” had its world premiere at the 2024 edition of AFI Fest.
“Juror #2” takes place in Chatham County, Georgia, where the movie was filmed on location. The story’s protagonist is Justin Kemp (played by Nicholas Hoult), a mild-mannered man who works as a writer for an unnamed regional lifestyle magazine. The movie takes place over the course of a few weeks in October 2021, although there are some flashbacks to things that happened in October 2020.
In October 2021, Justin and his schoolteacher wife Allison Crewson (played by Zoey Deutch) are anticipating the birth of a child, whose gender has not yet been revealed. Allison is in her third trimester of the pregnancy and is due to give birth on October 25, 2021. It’s later revealed that Allison had a miscarriage of twins in October 2020, which is why she and Justin are particularly anxious about her current pregnancy. So far, Allison hasn’t been experiencing any major health issues for this pregnancy.
Justin seems like an upstanding family man. However, he has a very troubled past that Allison knew about before they got married. Justin is a recovering alcoholic who’s been arrested and convicted in the past for more than one DUI. He got lucky and apparently didn’t get a felony conviction for his DUI cases, which would explain why Justin is eligible for jury duty. Justin has been clean and sober for a few years, which is about the same amount of time that he and Allison have been married.
Justin gets a jury duty notice, but he thinks he’ll be able to get out of jury duty if he explains that his wife is due to give birth any day that he would be required to be on jury duty in the next several days. Before he goes to the courthouse, Justin and Allison joke that Justin could just say something obscene or weird to get out of jury duty.
During this time, the local news has been saturated with reports about the upcoming trial of James Michael Sythe (played by Gabriel Basso), who is accused of the first-degree murder of his 26-year-old girlfriend Kendall Alice Carter (played by Francesca Eastwood), who died on October 21, 2020. Kendall’s mutliated body was found on a steep incline in a wooded area near a barrier rail on Old Quarry Road, which does not have lighting at night. Her death was ruled a homicide from blunt force trauma.
The defendant in this trial has a history of criminal activities, including domestic violence against Kendall, as well being a known drug dealer. He became the prime suspect because on the rainy night of Kendall’s death, he and Kendall were seen having a physical fight inside and outside a local bar called Rowdy’s Hideaway. People at the bar last saw Kendall and James that night when the couple’s arguing continued in the bar’s parking lot.
Kendall walked away from the bar, and James followed her by foot. Witnesses later testify that Kendall and James had a volatile relationship where they would get in physical fights, break up, and then get back together again. Kendall’s last night alive at Rowdy’s Hideaway is shown in several flashback scenes.
This murder case is being prosecuted by ambitious and steely Faith Killebrew (played by Toni Collette), who is in the midst of a campaign to be elected district attorney. James is represented by public defender Eric Resnick (played by Chris Messina), who is as tough as Faith. Eric fully believes that James is not guilty of killing Kendall and thinks there wasn’t a proper investigation into other possible persons of interest or reasons for Kendall’s death.
And there’s room for reasonable doubt. For starters, there were no witnesses, and no murder weapon was found. However, James doesn’t have a verifiable alibi of where he was at the time of Kendall’s death. He says he drove home alone and wasn’t on Old Quarry Road. There’s no security camera footage to prove or disprove he’s telling the truth. And it appears he had a clear motive to kill Kendall. James has rejected a plea bargain deal and wants to go to trial.
During jury selections, Justin finds out that his jury duty is for this trial. And that makes him want to get out of jury duty even more, because murder trials can be unpredictable regarding how long they could last. Judge Thelma Hollub (played by Amy Aquino), who is presiding over the trial, doesn’t accept Justin’s “baby on the way” excuse for getting out of jury duty. Justin is selected as Juror #2.
It seems to be an open-and-shut case. The case’s medical examiner (played by Kurt Yue) testifies that the blunt force trauma that caused Kendall’s death could only be caused by a weapon that was not used accidentally. Several witnesses testify to James’ violent tendencies and his past domestic abuse of Kendall. James seems to be the only person with a motive to murder Kendall.
But as the testimony goes on and the facts are presented, Justin comes to a horrifying awareness that he was in Rowdy’s Hideaway on the same night of Kendall’s death. And he was driving on Old Quarry Road around the same time that Kendall died and when his car accidentally hit something heavy that he thought was a deer. Whatever he hit went over the barrier rail, but since it was dark and raining, Justin couldn’t see anything when he looked over the rail. After looking at the crime scene photos of Kendall’s body, and hearing where she was injured, Justin now believes that she died from the hit-and-run accident that he caused.
What was a recovering alcoholic doing at a bar by himself? It turns out that Justin was tempted to relapse during the period of time that the movie implies was when his and Allison’s twins recently died from the miscarriage. At Rowdy’s Hideaway that night, Justin had ordered an alcoholic drink, but he didn’t drink it, and he left the bar shortly afterward. While driving on Old Quarry Road that rainy night, he was sobbing and distracted by a phone call from Allison when his car accidentally hit what he thought was a deer.
Now, one year later, Justin is fairly certain that he was the one who killed Kendall. Justin asks for advice from his attorney friend Larry Lasker (played by Kiefer Sutherland), who is a leader of the Alcoholics Anonymous meetings that Justin attends. Larry advises Justin not to tell anyone else about this secret, because Justin isn’t completely sure and no one can prove that Justin was the one who caused Kendall’s death. Larry also says that because of Justin’s history of DUI arrests and alcoholism, and because Justin was at Rowdy’s Hideaway that night, Justin could be facing serious prison time if he confessed to the hit and run.
Justin can’t get out of jury duty, so he thinks the best thing to do is make sure that James is found not guilty by the jury. James doesn’t want it to be a hung jury because there would likely be a re-trial where James would be found guilty. It’s an uphill battle for Justin to convince his fellow jurors to vote not guilty. When the jurors begin deliberations, almost all of them say that they want to vote for a guilty verdict. Justin is the first to cast doubt, but he comes up against a lot of resistance from several jurors who say they refuse to change their minds about voting guilty.
The other jurors have various backgrounds and different reasons for their conclusions about the case. Jury foreperson Denice Aldworth (played by Leslie Bibb), who has previous experience as a jury foreperson, tries to be as fair as possible and attempts to keep the peace when the jurors inevitably argue with each other. Outspoken bus driver Yolanda (played by Adrienne C. Moore) is one of the jurors who says she won’t change her guilty vote. Yolanda keeps saying she just wants to complete this jury duty as soon as possible so she can go home to her three kids. Another person who’s adamant about voting guilty is youth center worker Marcus (played by Cedric Yarbrough), who has an agenda for wanting to find James guilty.
The other jurors are senior citizen Nellie (played by Rebecca Koon), divorced dad Luke (played by Jason Coviello), medical student Keiko (played by Chikako Fukuyama), stoner Brody (played by Drew Scheid), social media influencer Courtney (played by Hedy Nasser), “regular guy” Vince (played by Phil Biedron), college-age Eli (played by Onix Serrano) and retired homicide detective Harold (played by J.K. Simmons), who is the only other person on the jury besides Justin who initially says there’s room for reasonable doubt. There’s also an alternate juror named Irene (played by Zele Avradopoulos), a true-crime enthusiast, who brings a little bit of comic relief to this tension-filled story.
“Juror #2” stumbles a bit in the second half of the movie when Justin does some things that would be obvious red flags of suspicion in the real world. For starters, he hasn’t fully repaired the damage to the car, which he is in the process of selling. There are also some scenes of Faith doing door-to-door detective work that someone on her level of prosecutor would not be doing in real life. In real life, an underling investigator would be doing that type of work. Viewers will have to suspend some disbelief in those scenes, since “Juror #2” is a fictional movie.
What makes “Juror #2 riveting to watch are the engrossing direction and convincing performances. Hoult does a very good job of depicting the inner turmoil of Justin as an expectant father who is trying to hold his life together as he knows that things could easily fall apart if his secret is exposed. At the same time, Justin feels tremendously guilty about the possibility of wrongfully convicting someone who didn’t commit the crime.
Collette and Hoult, who previously worked together in the 2002 drama “About a Boy,” give the standout performances in “Juror #2.” Simmons and Messina also deliver noteworthy performances, even though they’ve played these types of characters many times already—the grizzled cynic for Simmons, the sarcastic dealmaker for Messina. Sutherland shares top billing for “Juror #2,” but he’s only in the movie for less than 15 minutes. “Juror #2” will not only keep people guessing on the outcome but this memorable movie also effectively shows how lines can be blurred between “heroes” and “villains.”
Warner Bros. Pictures released “Juror #2” in select U.S. cinemas on November 1, 2024. Max will premiere the movie on December 20, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, on October 11, 1975, the comedy film “Saturday Night” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: In the 90 minutes leading up to sketch comedy/variety series “Saturday Night Live” debuting on NBC, the cast and crew experience various mishaps, conflicts and setbacks.
Culture Audience: “Saturday Night” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, “Saturday Night Live” and large ensemble films with a talented cast.
Pictured standing in the front row, from left to right: Ella Hunt, Kim Matula, Cooper Hoffman, Rachel Sennott, Lamorne Morris, Josh Brener and Gabriel LaBelle in “Saturday Night” (Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)
Whether people like or dislike the live sketch comedy/variety TV series “Saturday Night Live,” there’s no denying it’s become an American institution in pop culture. Much like the real “Saturday Night Live,” this comedic film about “SNL’s” TV premiere is hit and miss with its jokes, full of manic energy that sometimes fizzles. However, the performances are entertaining to watch, with many transcending mere impersonations. The movie’s scenarios veer into ridiculous sitcom territory, but much of the dialogue is snappy, if at times a little too contrived-sounding.
Directed by Jason Reitman (who co-wrote the “Saturday Night” screenplay with Gil Kenan), “Saturday Night” had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie takes place in the frantic 90 minutes before the New York City-based weekly series debuted at 11:30 p.m. Eastern Time on NBC on Saturday, October 11, 1975. Viewers will have to keep up with the intense flurry of activities and numerous cast members who populate the movie. Obviously, people who are familiar with who was in the original “Saturday Night Live” cast will have the most appreciation for this semi-factual re-enactment of the show’s series premiere.
Much of what’s in “Saturday Night” is obviously exaggerated for the movie, but there are other parts of the movie that look toned down, especially when it comes to the notorious drinking and drugging that took place behind the scenes. There are some references to people taking illegal drugs (cocaine snorting, spiking someone’s marijuana joint with an animal tranquilizer), but they’re very tame references, compared to the reported realities of the backstage debauchery and addictions. For example, “Saturday Night Live” creator/showrunner Lorne Michaels (played by Gabriel LaBelle) isn’t even shown smoking a cigarette or drinking coffee during his clearly sleep-deprived, stressed-out state of being as several things go wrong before the show goes on the air.
Curiously, John Belushi (played by Matt Wood) and Gilda Radner (played by Ella Hunt), who were widely considered to be the most talented and funniest members of the original “Saturday Night Live” cast, are treated like supporting characters in “Saturday Night.” Instead, the “Saturday Night” movie gives most of the cast-member screen time to smirking playboy Chevy Chase (played by Cory Michael Smith) and fast-talking Canadian wisecracker Dan Aykroyd (played by a Dylan O’Brien, doing a spot-on portrayal), who happens to be openly having an affair with Lorne’s wife: “Saturday Night Live” writer Rosie Shuster (played by Rachel Sennott), a hard-working and sarcastic feminist. Lorne knows about the affair, but he’s more concerned with launching “Saturday Night Live.”
Through conversations in the movie, viewers find out that Lorne and Rosie (who’ve been married for eight years at this point) have an unconventional, open marriage that is more like a business arrangement. What they have in common is a passionate belief that “Saturday Night Live” will be a success, even though the odds were stacked against this show that starred a then-unknown group of comedians in their 20s. The background on the relationship between Rosie and Lorne is Lorne and Rosie started off as friends, he fell more in love with her than she fell in love with him, and it seems like they got married because Lorne kept pursuing Rosie, and she finally gave in to his persistence.
“Saturday Night” begins by showing Lorne anxiously going outside of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan (where the “Saturday Night Live” studio is) to look for a special guest he wants to have on the show’s first episode: a then-unknown eccentric comedian named Andy Kaufman (played by Nicholas Braun), who emerges from a cab, much to Lorne’s relief. Lorne has also ordered a pet llama to be in this episode. Why? Because he can.
Meanwhile, Lorne gets nervous when he notices an NBC page (played by Finn Wolfhard), who’s handing out flyers on the street to invite people to be in the studio audience, isn’t having much luck. Almost everyone whom this page approaches doesn’t seem interested in going to see an unknown show at 11:30 p.m., even if it’s going to be on national TV. Inside the studio, various mishaps and meltdowns happen. A lighting rig falls down from a ceiling and narrowly misses injuring people. The show’s only trained lighting director quits in disgust.
Lorne is under pressure to cut the length of some of the sketches, but he refuses to do it. Various cast members trick the very unhip, middle-aged script supervisor Joan Carbunkle (played by Catherine Curtin) into keeping racy slang in the script, such as “golden showers” and “clam digger,” by lying to her with fake definitions for these terms. John throws a fit and disappears because he doesn’t want to wear a bee costume. Mild-mannered puppeteer Jim Henson (also played by Braun, who’s better in his portrayal of Henson than as Kaufman) defensively worries that “Saturday Night Live” won’t take his Muppets seriously.
Drug-addled guest comedian George Carlin (played by Matthew Rhys) storms off the set because he thinks he’s too good for the show. Lorne frantically tries to find someone who can be the new lighting director as the clock keeps ticking toward showtime. (And there’s literally a time stamp showing the time at various parts of the movie.) Musical guest Janis Ian (played by Naomi McPherson) is one of the few people on the show’s first episode who isn’t depicted as a complainer or someone who causes problems.
The other original “Saturday Night Live” cast members who are portrayed in the movie are laid-back Jane Curtin (played by Kim Matula); neurotic Laraine Newman (played by Emily Fairn); and frustrated Garrett Morris (played by Lamorne Morris, no relation), a Juilliard graduate who goes through a range of emotions when it dawns on him that he’s being treated like a token black person who is deliberately being sidelined and not given much to do. Garrett repeatedly asks no one in particular why he’s just being expected to stand around and not do much, in a tone that suggests he knows exactly why, but he doesn’t want to say the word “racism” out loud. Garrett is never asked for any comedic input and instead has to show his comedic talent when he jokes around during rehearsals with musical guest Billy Preston (played by Jon Batiste), the only other black person in the movie who gets a significant speaking role.
Also featured in the movie is Dick Ebersol (played by Cooper Hoffman), NBC’s director of weekend late night programming, who is Lorne’s closest business confidant and the person credited with helping Lorne develop “Saturday Night Live.” Years later, Ebersol would become an executive producer of “Saturday Night Live” (from 1981 to 1985) and chairman of NBC Sports (from 1998 to 2011). Lorne is an ambitious dreamer, while Dick is more of practical realist. Dick is the one who tells Lorne that NBC executives are expecting that “Saturday Night Live” will fail because the show is being used as a pawn in contract renegotiations with “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson, who wants reruns of his “Tonight Show” episodes to air in the time slot that “Saturday Night Live” has.
One of those NBC executives who thinks “Saturday Night Live” will be a flop is NBC talent chief Dave Tebet (played by Willem Dafoe), a ruthless cynic who lurks around and makes cutting remarks about how the show is being run by people who don’t really know what they’re doing. Dave isn’t completely wrong. Lorne is like an inexperienced fire chief who has to lead a team putting out one fire after another, even before the fire engine can leave the station. Dave is also on edge because he’s invited several executives from local NBC affiliate stations to watch the debut of this unproven new show.
“Saturday Night” has brief depictions of people who would end up becoming longtime associates of “Saturday Night Live”: musical director Paul Shaffer (played by Paul Rust); announcer Don Pardo (played by Brian Welch); writer Alan Zweibel (played by Josh Brener); writer/actor and eventual “Saturday Night” Live cast mate (and later disgraced politician) Al Franken (played by Taylor Gray); and writer/actor Tom Davis (played by Mcabe Gregg), who was one-half of the Franken & Davis duo on “Saturday Night Live.” These appearances are fleeting and only seem to be there to check some boxes in the long list of people that the “Saturday Night” filmmakers wanted to include in the movie.
As overcrowded as “Saturday Night” is with its ensemble cast, the movie is at its best when there is snappy dialogue between two or three people. One of the funniest scenes in the film is when guest star Milton Berle (played by a scene-stealing J.K. Simmons) trades very hostile insults with Chevy when Milton begins flirting with Chevy’s fiancée Jacqueline Carlin (played by Kaia Gerber), who is the latest of many wannabe actress girlfriends whom Chevy insists should be hired to work with him. Chevy calls Milton an old has-been. Milton calls Chevy an irrelevant nobody. And then, elderly Milton (nicknamed Uncle Milty) does something that’s even more shocking and outrageous than anything that the young rebels in the “Saturday Night Live” cast would do.
LaBelle’s magnetic portrayal of Lorne is a combination of cocky and idealistic—someone who forges ahead with his visionary goals, even when Dick tells him that NBC executives have set up “Saturday Night Live” to fail. Under pressure, Lorne is willing to entertain ideas that other people tell him won’t work at all. And all these years later, when the Emmy-winning “Saturday Night Live” has lasted longer than most TV shows that will ever exist, it’s easy to see who has the last laugh. Nicknamed as the show for the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players” of television, “Saturday Night Live” has become the very “insider” establishment that these TV outsiders used to sneer at and mock.
As much as “Saturday Night” seems to be a love letter to the first version of “Saturday Night Live,” it’s a love letter that has some blind spots that lower the quality of the movie. The movie portrays but doesn’t have a critical look at how women and people of color are treated as inferior to white men in the business of comedy. The female characters in the movie are literally supporting characters, who are depicted as catering to the needs and whims of whatever the men are deciding.
For example, instead of showing anything about why Gilda Radner was the type of brilliant comedian who could create unique characters, Gilda’s biggest moment in the movie is when she persuades a petulant John (who’s hiding out at the Rockefeller Center ice skating rink) to come back to the “Saturday Night Live” set and wear the bee costume that he hates. Instead of showing why Gilda was a talented comedian in her own right who would become in real life one of the breakout stars of “Saturday Night Live,” she is relegated to being a quasi-therapist to John.
Laraine’s big moment comes when she opens a long coat to reveal she’s wearing a bikini. Jane is so bland and generic, she doesn’t make much of an impression, and she’s still in the role of being a helper to the men on the show. To put it bluntly: The men in “Saturday Night” get the best lines, the most memorable character personalities and the most attention.
Rosie is the only female character who is depicted as having a full life (the movie shows or tells nothing about the female “Saturday Night Live” cast members’ personal lives), but the movie repeatedly points out that Rosie is in a position of authority because she’s married to Lorne. Rosie is supposed to be one of the top writers on the staff, but the biggest decision she is shown making is whether or not she should use her maiden surname or Lorne’s last name for her surname on the “Saturday Night Live” credits. As one of the top writers on the show, she is never shown making any real writing decisions when the first episode gets shaken up with various revisions on short notice.
In real life, “Saturday Night Live” has also had a very problematic history when it comes to race and racism. The “Saturday Night” movie rightly points out that Garrett Morris was used as a token (he was the only person of color in the original “Saturday Night Live” cast), but the movie’s approach to this uncomfortable subject matter is a bit timid. Garrett makes a thinly veiled diatribe (cloaked in a comedy bit) against white supremacist racism when he jokes that he wants to kill white people. Garrett gets all the white people in the room to laugh at this joke, but then it’s back to business as usual, and Garrett is mostly ignored.
Women of color in the “Saturday Night Live” world of 1975, as in this movie, just simply don’t exist as valuable team members and aren’t considered important enough to be included as decision makers in this world. Because as much as “Saturday Night” wants to portray this ragtag group of “outsiders” as the “rebel underdogs,” within that group of “rebel underdogs,” the sociopolitical hierarchy was the same as the establishment they wanted to rail against: White men get to have almost all of the power, and everyone else has whatever the white men will decide they’ll have.
Reitman and Kenan have previously collaborated on 2021’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and 2024’s “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire.” The “Ghostbusters” franchise was co-created by Aykroyd, who has starred in most of the “Ghostbusters” movies with Bill Murray, another “Saturday Night Live” alum. “Ghostbusters” co-creator Harold Ramis was the third main star of the franchise, while Ernie Hudson (just like Garrett Morris) was treated as an inferior sidekick, even though Hudson was an official Ghostbuster too. Jason Reitman’s father Ivan Reitman directed the first two “Ghostbusters” movies and was a producer of all the “Ghostbusters” movies until his death in 2022, at the age of 75.
“Saturday Night” has some of the same problems that “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” has: In its eagerness to cover a lot of bases in fan service, it gets overstuffed and unfocused when trying to show off how many quipping (and sometimes annoying) characters it can cram into a movie. However, “Saturday Night” has the advantage of having main characters as people who became celebrities in real life, so viewers already know what to expect from a lot of these characters. “Saturday Night” is a zippy and sometimes-messy nostalgia piece that is like a series of sketches rather than a comprehensive overview of what went into the launch of “Saturday Night Live.” As long as viewers don’t expect to see an in-depth history of “Saturday Night Live” in this movie, it works just fine as a film that’s somewhere in between lightweight and substantial.
Columbia Pictures released “Saturday Night” in select U.S. cinemas on September 27, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cinemas on October 4 and October 11, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Montana, the dramatic film “You Can’t Run Forever” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few Latin people and African Americans) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A serial killer goes on a rampage, and a teenage girl and her family members are among the killer’s targets in a remote wooded area.
Culture Audience: “You Can’t Run Forever” will appeal primarily to people are fans of star J.K. Simmons and mindless movies with too many plot holes.
Isabelle Anaya in “You Can’t Run Forever” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)
“You Can’t Run Forever” is a nepotism project gone wrong. J.K. Simmons has the starring role as a serial killer in this ineptly made crime drama, directed by his wife and co-starring their daughter, with music composed by their son. It’s a family fiasco. And it’s proof that even an Oscar-winning actor such as Simmons can embarrass himself for nepotism’s sake.
Directed by Michelle Schumacher (who co-wrote the horrendous screenplay with Carolyn Carpenter), “You Can’t Run Forever” is yet another cliché-polluted “thriller” with an over-used concept of a “killer on the loose in a remote area.” Many of these types of movies aren’t very imaginative, but this trashy and dumb movie has cringeworthy levels of atrocious filmmaking in front of and behind the camera. The plot of “You Can’t Run Forever” has more holes than the bullet holes from the killer’s gun during his murder spree.
“You Can’t Run Forever” (which takes place in Montana, where the movie was filmed on location) begins by showing the serial killer (who doesn’t wear any disguises) shoot and kill three people he doesn’t know (two men and a woman) outside of a gas station, where he has arrived on a motorcycle. One of his victims asks the killer before being murdered: “Why are you doing this?” The killer replies with a cold smirk: “Does it matter?”
The killer sees a woman named Sally (played by Alet Taylor) crouching in fear next to her car at a gas pump. She’s already witnessed this shooting spree, and she thinks she’s the next to be murdered. She looks right at the killer, who’s less than three feet away. He raises his gun and points it at her, as if he’s going to shoot her. But for reasons that are never explained in the movie, he gets on his motorcycle and leaves.
Viewers of “You Can’t Run Forever” should be prepared to see many aggravating instances where this mindless movie sets up scenarios and never bothers to answer a lot of big questions that arise from these scenarios. The killer’s name (Wade Bennett) isn’t revealed until much later in the movie. Don’t expect the movie to give a reason for why Wade has gone on this rampage.
One of the few clues is when one of his targets finds a video of Wade on the Internet. The video shows that Wade taught a “business survival” class at Montana University. In the video of a class session, Wade is seen losing his temper and ending the class session early by yelling at the students to leave. A flashback is also shown that reveals Wade has killed people before the main story takes place.
After murdering people at the gas station, Wade happens to be at the same rest stop as two people who will be his next victims: Eddie Cooper (played by Allen Leech) and Eddie’s mopey stepdaughter Miranda (played by Isabelle Anaya), who’s about 17 or 18 years old. Eddie and Miranda are driving to a place of business to pick up a bassinet crib that was custom-made for the family.
An early scene in the movie gives some background information on this family. Eddie is married to Miranda’s mother Jenny (played by Fernanda Urrejola), who divorced Miranda’s father several years ago, long before Jenny met Eddie. Jenny is close to giving birth to a boy (Eddie is the father), so you know that Jenny being pregnant will be part of the drama. Eddie and Jenny have named their unborn child Anthony.
Eddie has a teenage daughter named Emily (played by Olivia Simmons, daughter of J.K. Simmons and Schumacher) from a previous marriage or previous relationship. The mother of Emily is never mentioned in the story. Emily is a college student who doesn’t live with Eddie, Jenny and Miranda, but Emily lives close enough that she sees them a lot and is welcome in their home.
Emily and Jenny have a respectful and friendly stepmother/stepdaughter relationship. It’s taken much longer for Miranda to accept Eddie as part of the family. Eddie alludes to this discomfort when he has conversations with Miranda and Jenny.
Miranda has depression and anxiety, although the movie doesn’t make it clear how long she’s had these issues. It’s only mentioned that Miranda’s father Miguel (played by Randy Gonzalez) died almost a year ago. His death has made Miranda’s anxiety even worse. How he died is revealed later in the movie in one of the worst-conceived parts of the story.
“You Can’t Run Forever” is filled with a lot of nonsensical scenes that go nowhere. Early in the movie, Jenny is seen looking out a window at home and getting worried because Miranda is brooding in a tree in the house’s front yard and looking down. The implication is that Miranda could be contemplating suicide by jumping off this tree, but Miranda eventually comes down from the tree, and this entire incident is never mentioned again.
When Miranda and Eddie first see Wade at a rest stop, they think Wade is just a harmless weirdo. Wade and Eddie first speak to each other in the men’s room while standing next to each other at urinals. Wade tries to make small talk with Eddie by saying this inarticulate comment: “Place to get away. Remote. In the woods.” Eddie politely says as he walks away, “Yeah, well, have a good one.”
Wade soon rides his motorcycle next to Eddie’s car on the road. Eddie is driving, while Miranda is in the front passenger seat. Wade again attempts to talk to Eddie. Wade says the word “remote.” (Apparently, Wade has a fixation on the word “remote” because he says it several times in the movie.)
Miranda grows impatient with this bizarre and suspicious-looking man, so she curses at him and yells at him to go away. And that’s when all hell breaks loose. Wade shoots his gun and chases after the car on his motorcycle. As already revealed in the movie’s trailer, Wade shoots Eddie to death, while Miranda runs off in the woods.
The rest of “You Can’t Run Forever” is about Wade hunting for Miranda and anyone else who crosses paths with hm. There’s more than one time that Wade catches up to Miranda and could easily shoot her, but he doesn’t, thereby ruining any suspense and making it obvious that she will be one of the final survivors. Don’t expect an idiotic movie like this to explain why Wade decides to shoot some people immediately but then he lets other people get away when they’re right in front of him.
The first time that Miranda calls 911 on her cell phone, there’s a weak signal, so the 911 operator can’t really hear Miranda. But what does Miranda do? She doesn’t try to find an area that has a stronger signal to call 911 again. Miranda just calls her mother Jenny, leaves a message when she gets voice mail, and says what happened to her and Eddie. Jenny eventually gets the voice mail and calls police, but it’s way too long after many other things have already happened to Miranda in the woods.
And what about law enforcement? The local sheriff is out of town, so two bungling deputies are the ones in charge of the investigation and are the ones who are Jenny’s main contacts when she frantically calls for help and to get updates. These two incompetent deputies look like they’re only a few years out of high school and have the inexperience to match. They don’t patrol the woods to warn or evacuate people who could be in harm’s way of the killer.
Deputy Morgan (played by Andres Velez) is the moron who decides that they can’t look for Miranda at night because he thinks it would be too dangerous, even though emergency search parties in real life can and do venture in the woods at night if someone is known to be in immediate danger in a life-or-death situation. Deputy Dwyer (played by Graham Patrick Martin) goes along with whatever Deputy Morgan decides. Even when the deputies know a serial killer is on the loose and is hunting for Miranda, they don’t call for law enforcement backup to look for the killer and Miranda.
Sally, the surviving witness of the gas station murders, is able to give a witness statement and can describe the killer, who is presumed to be the same lone gunman who is now going after Miranda in the woods. A sketch is made of the killer, but the airheaded deputies don’t do much to alert the public with this information about this armed and dangerous murderer. The media coverage of this killer is almost non-existent, which wouldn’t be the case in real life when police know someone has murdered four people within an hour, and the killer is still on the loose. Jenny sees the sketch and immediately has a reaction, as if she knows who Wade is.
In the real world (not in an unrealistic movie like this one), a serial killer on the loose who is currently trying to hunt down another victim in the woods would be an emergency that would get the attention of a lot more law enforcement officers than what’s shown in this junkpile film. The two dimwitted deputies take their time in the investigation. It leads to Emily recruiting some of her friends to go with her to look for Miranda in the woods on their own.
In “You Can’t Run Forever,” people show up randomly in remote areas of the woods. Miranda encounters a teenager named Todd (played by Kevin Quinn), who is camping with his parents. There’s a part of the movie where Todd and Miranda are hiding from Wade, but Todd and Miranda are both talking at normal voice levels, thereby making it easier for Wade to find them if he’s nearby. Yes, the movie really is this stupid.
Wade’s dialogue is supposed to be dark comedy, but it’s just lazy and sloppy screenwriting, even though J.K. Simmons makes attempts to give Wade some personality flair. The mysteries of who Wade is and why he’s become a serial killer are never adequately shown or explained. Wade, who has dead Eddie’s phone, ends up taunting Jenny in ridiculous phone conversations where he frequently calls her “cupcake.”
And if you think it’s entertaining to see Wade masturbate to a photo of Jenny wearing a bikini when Wade sees the photo on dead Eddie’s phone, then “You Can’t Run Forever” is the movie for you. (There’s no nudity in the movie, but the masturbation scene makes it obvious what Wade is doing.) Wade also has a habit of talking to his dead victims as if they’re still alive, when he’s right next to the corpses. This dreadful movie wants that to be funny. It’s not.
The victims and targets of Wade’s deadly mayhem are all hollow characters, with terrible acting from almost everyone in the principal cast. Joe Simmons’ music score is as generic as generic can be. The movie’s direction is erratic and clumsy. The ending of “You Can’t Run Forever” just regurgitates the most boring stereotypes of these types of “killer of the loose” flicks. In other words, “You Can’t Run Forever” should be avoided if you value your time and your brain cells.
Lionsgate released “You Can’t Run Forever” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and on VOD on May 17, 2024.
Culture Representation: Taking place in Oklahoma, the action film “One Day as a Lion” features a predominantly white group of people (with a few African Americans and Latinos) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: A bungling assassin, who wants enough money to get his son out of juvenile detention, kidnaps a waitress while getting caught up in a debt-collection feud between his crime-boss employer and a stubborn rancher.
Culture Audience: “One Day as a Lion” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and don’t mind watching meaningless and moronic action flicks.
J.K. Simmons and Frank Grillo in “One Day as a Lion” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)
“One Day as a Lion” has the whimper of a weak and rambling vanity project rather than the roar of a great action flick. Scott Caan, who wrote and co-stars in “One Day as a Lion,” just wants to show off doing fight scenes in his underwear. J.K. Simmons is slumming it in this garbage film. Simmons is a very talented Oscar-winning actor, but “One Day as a Lion” looks like a low-quality movie he was talked into doing out of pity or because he owes someone a favor. Simmons certainly acts like he doesn’t want to be there.
Directed by John Swab, “One Day as a Lion” (which takes place in Oklahoma) looks like a sloppy version of a screenplay that was already unfocused. Viewers can expect to see a lot of terrible acting in this idiotic story about an assassin who goes from place to place, in scatter-brained efforts to find enough money to get his son out of juvenile detention. Along the way, he encounters characters that are either boring or stupid.
A press release for “One Day as a Lion” describes this train-wreck movie as a “witty homage to [Quentin] Tarantino and the Coen brothers.” An accurate description is a “failed and irritating attempt to be a witty homage to [Quentin] Tarantino and the Coen brothers.” It’s the type of bad movie that doesn’t have any redeeming qualities. It just gets worse and worse, with no self-awareness of how horrible it is.
The assassin at the center of this nonsense is Jackie Powers (played by Caan), a dimwitted, good-for-nothing loser. Jackie botches a job to collect a debt from a stubborn and mean-spirited rancher named Walter Boggs (played by Simmons), who is supposed to be murdered by Jackie if the debt isn’t paid. Jackie has been hired by a thug named Pauly Russo (played by Frank Grillo, doing yet another “tough guy” role in his long list of “tough guy” roles), who is running out of patience.
Pauly is described as some kind of powerful crime boss, but he’s not very smart if he hired a buffoon like Jackie. The beginning of the movie shows Jackie following Walter into a diner and trying to convince Walter to pay the money. Walter is having none of it, and a shootout happens between Walter and Jackie.
In the mayhem, the diner’s cook/manager Bob (played by Bruce Davis) is shot and left possibly dead on the floor. Jackie kidnaps a waitress named Lola Brisky (played by Marianne Rendón), a witness to the entire shootout. Meanwhile, Walter gets away on horseback. Yes, it’s that kind of movie.
Jackie confronts Walter again, this time at Walter’s ranch. Pauly has ordered Jackie to tell Walter that Walter has one week to pay back the money that Walter owes Pauly. Walter snarls at Jackie, “Don’t fucking tell me what I will or will not do.” This is the type of amateurish and unimaginative dialogue that pollutes “One Day as a Lion.”
Jackie eventually finds out Lola comes from a rich family, but she’s estranged from her widowed mother Valerie Brisky (played by Virginia Madsen), who is currently in a hospital and dying of cancer. In this small, unnamed Oklahoma community, Valerie has the unflattering nickname The Black Widow, because all four of her wealthy husbands died within a year of each marriage. The movie has a very tedious section about Lola reluctantly visiting Valerie to ask Valerie for money, while Lola pretends that Lola and Frankie are engaged to be married. There’s a very unfunny running gag that Valerie has a craving to eat crab legs.
Meanwhile, Frankie has his own real-life relationship woes, since he’s still having conflicts with his nasty-tempered and foul-mouthed ex-wife Taylor Love (played by Taryn Manning) over how their son Billy Powers (played by Dash Melrose) is being raised. Jackie and Taylor blame each other for Billy ending up in juvenile detention. Billy was arrested for a crime that he says he didn’t commit. The people who are supposed to be family members in “One Day as a Lion” are not convincing at all as relatives.
None of the acting in “One Day as a Lion” is any good. Rendón’s drab performance as Lola is the worst and can best be described as “dead weight.” It looks like another miscast role that was cast because someone owed someone else a favor. Rendón has zero chemistry with Caan, even though Lola and Jackie predictably are supposed to be each other’s love interest.
“One Day as a Lion” has a very flimsy backstory for Lola. She grew up in Oklahoma, but moved away from her hometown a few years ago, because her hometown reminded her of “failure” and “trauma.” She relocated to Costa Rica, where she started an acting school. And when that failed, she moved back to Oklahoma. The only purpose for this information is so the movie can show Lola using her “acting skills” to help Jackie get out of tricky situations. Lola, like Rendón, has cringeworthy acting.
Caan seems to have written this movie so he could have multiple scenes of him showing off his body instead of doing any real acting. There’s a ridiculous-looking scene of Jackie getting ambushed in a motel room while he’s wearing nothing but tight underwear briefs. All of the fights in this movie look very phony, by the way.
And if you want to continue to punish yourself by watching “One Day as a Lion” until the end credits, then you’ll see a useless end-credits scene of Caan as Jackie wearing nothing but the same underwear while getting into another fight with another man in the same motel. Both scenes have homoerotic undertones, although a “trying too hard to be macho” dolt like Jackie would probably deny it. The end-credits scene, just like this entire junkpile movie, adds up to nothing but meaningless drivel from people who just waste time embarrassing themselves in this rotten film.
Lionsgate released “One Day as a Lion” in select U.S. cinemas on April 4, 2023. The movie was released on digital and VOD on April 7, 2023.
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the superhero action film “Spider-Man: No Way Home” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: After 17-year-old Peter Parker has been exposed as the alter ego of Spider-Man, he enlists the help of mystical superhero Doctor Strange to make people forget this secret identity, but Doctor Strange’s spell brings several allies and enemies back from various dimensions of the Spider-Verse.
Culture Audience: Besides appealing to the obvious target audience of comic book movie fans, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will appeal primarily to people who like nostalgia-filled superhero movies and who are fans of this movie’s star-studded cast.
Tom Holland and Alfred Molina) in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures)
Just like an artist’s greatest-hits box set offered to fans who already own every album by the artist, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is best appreciated by people who’ve already seen all the previous “Spider-Man” movies. It’s filled with insider jokes that will either delight or annoy viewers, depending on how familiar they are with the cinematic Spider-Verse. Simply put: “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is an epic superhero feast for fans, but it should not be the first “Spider-Man” movie that people should see. There are too many references to other Spider-Man movies that came before “Spider-Man: No Way Home” that just won’t connect very well with people who have not seen enough of the previous “Spider-Man” movies.
Fortunately for the blockbuster “Spider-Man” movie franchise (which launched with 2002’s “Spider-Man,” starring Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider-Man), most people who watch “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will have already seen at least one previous “Spider-Man” movie. Maguire also starred in 2004’s “Spider-Man 2” and 2007’s “Spider-Man 3.” Andrew Garfield starred as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in two of the reboot movies: 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” and 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” Another “Spider-Man” movie reboot series began with Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, starting with 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” and continuing with 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is the third “Spider-Man” movie directed by Jon Watts and co-written by Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers, the same writer/director team behind 2019’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” There were six screenwriters (including Watts, McKenna and Sommers) for 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” which was also directed by Watts. The trio of Watts, McKenna and Sommers for three consecutive “Spider-Man” movies has been beneficial to the quality of the filmmaking.
Each “Spider-Man” film that this trio has worked on truly does feel connected to each other, compared to other franchise films where different directors and writers often change the tone of the sequels, and therefore the sequels feel disconnected. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” also makes several references to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which Spider-Man/Peter Parker (as portrayed by Holland) was a big part of, in his alliance with the Avengers. It’s another reason why it’s better to see previous Marvel-related movies with Spider-Man in it before seeing “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Because Spider-Man is Marvel Comics’ most popular character, you’d have to be completely shut off from pop culture to not at least know a few things about Spider-Man, such as he got his agility superpowers by accidentally being bit by a radioactive spider. Just like many superheroes, Peter is an orphan: His parents died in a plane crash, so he was raised by an aunt and an uncle. Even with knowledge of these basic facts about Peter Parker/Spider-Man, it really is best to see all or most of the previous “Spider-Man” films, because the jokes will be funnier, and the surprises will be sweeter.
Speaking of surprises, the vast majority of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has spoiler information. However, it’s enough to give a summary of what to expect in the first 30 minutes of this 148-minute film without revealing any surprises. The beginning of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” picks up right where “Spider-Man: Far From Home” left off: Peter Parker—an intelligent and compassionate 17-year-old student who lives in New York City’s Queens borough—has been exposed as the secret alter ego of superhero Spider-Man. The culprit who exposed him was the villain Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who’s seen briefly in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in the opening scene that shows the aftermath of this exposé.
All hell breaks loose, because Mysterio has twisted things to make it look like Spider-Man is a villain, not a hero. Peter and his girlfriend MJ (played by Zendaya) are caught in the middle of a crowded New York City street when Peter’s Spider-Man identity is exposed. And the backlash is immediate. Before getting into any harmful physical danger, Spider-Man puts his superhero skills to good use by whisking himself and MJ to safety.
However, the Department of Damage Control quickly detains Peter, MJ, Peter’s best friend Ned Leeds (played by Jacob Batalon) and Peter’s aunt May Parker (played by Marisa Tomei) for questioning. And who shows up to give some legal advice? Attorney/blind superhero Matt Murdock, also known as Daredevil (played by Charlie Cox), who makes a very brief cameo. Matt says, “I don’t think any of the charges will stick. Things will get even worse. There’s still the court of public opinion.”
There’s not enough evidence to hold Peter and his loved ones in the interrogation rooms, so they go back home and ponder their next move. But how long can they stay safe, when people know where Peter lives and where he goes to school? Spider-Man has been branded as a troublemaker by certain people, such as fear-mongering journalist-turned-conspiracy theorist J. Jonah Jameson (played by J.K. Simmons), who no longer works as the editor of the Daily Planet newspaper. Jameson is now anchoring TheDailyPlanet.net, a 24-hour news streaming service.
However, Spider-Man is still a hero or an anti-hero to many more people. When Peter goes back to school the next day, he’s treated like a celebrity. Students surround him to take photos and videos with their phones. Faculty members fawn over him. Conceited and bullying student Flash Thompson (played by Tony Revolori), one of Peter’s nuisances at school, tries to latch on to Peter’s newfound fame by now claiming to be Peter’s best friend. Flash has already written a tell-all memoir to cash in on Peter’s celebrity status.
Peter, MJ (whose real name is Michelle Jones) and Ned are in their last year at Midtown School of Science and Technology. They have plans to go to the prestigious Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) together after they graduate from high school. But due to their high-profile brush with the law, the three pals are worried about their chances of getting into MIT.
This hoped-for MIT enrollment becomes the motivation for Peter to go to fellow New York City-based superhero Doctor Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) to ask for his help. Peter wants Doctor Strange to cast a spell so that people will forget that Peter is really Spider-Man. Doctor Strange is reluctant, but he gives in to Peter’s pleading. As Doctor Strange is casting his Spell of Forgetting, Peter interrupts several times to tell Doctor Strange to exempt some of Peter’s loved ones (such as MJ, Ned and May) from the spell.
Doctor Strange is extremely annoyed, so he cuts the spell short and is able to contain the spell’s powers in a cube-sized box. But some damage has already been done: The spell has opened the multi-verse where anyone who knows who Peter Parker can be summoned and go to the dimension where Peter is. And some of these individuals are villains from past “Spider-Man” movies. Doctor Strange gives Peter/Spider-Man the task of capturing these villains to imprison them in Doctor Strange’s dungeon that looks like a combination of a high-tech jail and a mystical crypt.
The return of some of these villains has already been announced through official publicity and marketing materials released for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” so it’s not spoiler information. These villains are:
Norman Osborn/Green Goblin (played by Willem Dafoe), from 2002’s “Spider-Man”
Otto Octavius/Doctor Octopus, also known as Doc Ock (played by Alfred Molina), from 2004’s “Spider-Man 2”
Flint Marko/Sandman (played by Thomas Haden Church), from 2007’s “Spider-Man 3”
Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard (played by Rhys Ifans), from 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man”
Max Dillon/Electro (played by Jamie Foxx), from 2014’s “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” has some other surprises, some of which have already been leaked to the public, but won’t be revealed in this review. A few other non-surprise characters in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” include Doctor Strange’s portal-traveling sidekick Wong (played by Benedict Wong), as well as Harold “Happy” Hogan (played by Jon Favreau), Tony Stark/Iron Man’s loyal driver who is now taken on minder duties for Peter. In “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” Happy and May had a fling that ended. Happy fell in love with May and wanted a more serious romance with her, so he is still nursing a broken heart about it in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
The movie’s action sequences are among the most memorable in “Spider-Man” movie history, in large part because of the return of so many characters from the past. A lengthy part of the movie that takes place on the Statue of Liberty will be talked about by fans for years. Because so much of “Spider-Man” relies heavily on people knowing the history of this movie franchise to fully understand the plot developments and a lot of the dialogue, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will probably be a “love it or hate it” film.
The movie’s mid-credits scene directly correlates to the mid-credits scene for 2021’s “Venom: Let There Be Carnage.” And the end-credits scene for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” features a glimpse into the world of Doctor Strange. People should know by now that movies with Marvel characters have mid-credits scenes and/or end-credits scenes that are essentially teasers for an upcoming Marvel superhero movie or TV series.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” has some wisecracking that seems a little too self-congratulatory, but those smug moments are balanced out with some heartfelt emotional scenes. And all the jumping around from one universe dimension to the next might be a little too confusing to viewers who are new to the Spider-Verse. Some people might accuse “Spider-Man: No Way Home” of overstuffing the movie with too much nostalgic stunt casting as gimmicks. However, die-hard fans of the franchise will be utterly thrilled by seeing these familiar characters and will be fully engaged in finding out what happens to them in this very entertaining superhero adventure.
Columbia Pictures will release “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in U.S. cinemas on December 17, 2021.
Culture Representation: Taking place during three days in New Orleans, the dramatic film “National Champions” features a cast of African American and white characters representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Two football players for the fictional Missouri Wolves college team launch a boycott, right before a national championship game, in protest of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) policy that NCAA student athletes are not entitled to salaries, disability pensions and health insurance for playing in NCAA games.
Culture Audience: “National Champions” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching well-acted movies about civil rights in athletics and in the workforce.
Uzo Aduba and David Koechner in “National Champions” (Photo by Scott Garfield/STX)
“National Champions” is a memorable sports movie where all the action and battles take place outside of the game. This tension-filled drama about a college student-athlete boycott features standout performances and a diverse look at various sides of the debate. How you feel about this movie will probably come down to how you answer these questions: Should student athletes of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) get salaries, disability pensions and health insurance? And should NCAA student athletes form their own union?
Those questions are at the heart of the issues that are contentiously argued about in “National Champions,” directed by Ric Roman Waugh and written by Adam Mervis. Although the story is fictional, it takes a realistic-looking “what if” approach in depicting what would happen if NCAA football players decided to boycott playing in games, in order to get the NCAA to change its longstanding policies over these issues. And what if that boycott was staged just three days before a national championship game?
Those are the high-pressure circumstances under which the movie opens. “National Champions” does not let audiences go from its tightly wound grip during this entire movie, which is a suspense-filled ride from beginning to end. Even though this is a fictional story where the outcome can easily be predicted, the movie’s intention is to draw attention to the issues that are intensely debated in the movie. People who are not aware of these issues before seeing “National Champions” probably won’t look at NCAA sports in the same way again after seeing this movie.
At the beginning of “National Champions,” which takes place entirely in New Orleans, NCAA football player LeMarcus James (played by Stephan James) is seen at 6:10 a.m. on the balcony of his hotel room, as he gears up for the biggest fight of his life. He’s about to hold a press conference announcing the boycott and the list of demands that he and his fellow boycotters want to be fulfilled by the NCAA, in order to end the boycott. The national championship game is being held in New Orleans, and LeMarcus is expected to be a star of the game.
LeMarcus, who is 21, is the current quarterback for the fictional Missouri Wolves. He recently won the Heisman Trophy. And he is widely predicted to be the first overall pick of the next National Football League (NFL) draft. LeMarcus is well-aware that by launching ths boycott, it will likely ruin his chances to play in the NFL, since he will be branded as a “troublemaker.” However, he is determined to fight for what he strongly believes in, no matter that the consequences.
LeMarcus knows he’s facing an uphill battle in this boycott. At this point in time, LeMarcus and his best friend Emmett Sunday (played by Alexander Ludwig), who is also a Missouri Wolves teammate, are the only two athletes who are solidly committed to this boycott. They both come from working-class backgrounds and have gotten full athletic scholarships to attend their university because of football.
While in New Orleans for the natonial championship game, LeMarcus and Emmett have planned to “go missing” from practice. They move around from hotel to hotel, so that they can’t easily be found. During the course of the movie, they only allow a select number of trusted people into their hotel room. LeMarcus is also battling a nasty cold, but it doesn’t deter his inner strength to fight for his cause. LeMarcus and Emmett are starting this boycott without any help from attorneys.
Emmett, who is the more laid-back of the two friends, doesn’t seem to like public speaking because he’s not seen in the movie making speeches or doing press conferences. Emmett is happy to let LeMarcus take the lead as the spokesperson for the boycott and as the one who articulates the demands that they want the NCAA to follow. Throughout the movie, Stephan James gives an effective performance that shows how LeMarcus has a powerful talent of persuasion and a steely determination to not give up in the face of several obstacles. LeMarcus’ stubbornness and refusal to compromise make him a formidable but very underdog opponent.
LeMarcus has his share of skeptics and naysayers. Before the press conference, a teammate named Orlando Bishop (played by Julian Horton) tries to discourage LeMarcus from going through with the boycott. Orlando tells LeMarcus that the NCAA system won’t change just because LeMarcus doesn’t play in the national championships. “Aint nobody marching in the streets for the number-one anchor. You’re going to embarrass yourself, bro,” Orlando comments. When the boycott is underway, someone else warns LeMarcus that LeMarcus is going to be blacklisted from professional football, just like former NFL star Colin Kaepernick, who is outspoken in his support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
During the brief televised press conference, LeMarcus gives the list of demands that the boycotters want from the NCAA:
(1) NCAA will create of a non-revokable trust fund for every Division 1 varsity athlete.
(2) NCAA will contribute to a disability penision for Division 1 athletes who are injured in college athletics
(3) NCAA will recognize and collectively bargain with the proposed NCAA players’ union, submitting to all federally mandated guidelines of a unionized workforce.
LeMarcus doesn’t sugarcoat what he thinks is going on with the NCAA having a policy forbidding NCAA athletes from being paid athletes: He calls it “slave labor,” where the athletes work for free and other people get rich off of them. “Slave labor” is a hot-button phrase, because it can’t be ignored that most of the NCAA football players are African American, while most of the NCAA officials who are millionaires because of their NCAA salaries are white.
The NCAA doesn’t pay NCAA athletes because of a policy that refuses to classify NCAA athletes as NCAA employees. The NCAA makes a bulk of its profits from licensing its games to television, as well as from collecting money from sponsors that pay the NCAA and individual teams for NCAA athletes to wear sponsor items or use sponsor equipment for free advertising. People who don’t want the NCAA to pay its athletes say it’s because NCAA athletes are college students, not working professionals, and if these athletes got paid, they’d be more likely to be corrupted and drop out of college to spend the money.
During the press conference, LeMarcus gives a damning example of the disparity between how the athletes are not compensated for their work and how the NCAA officials are being highly compensated. He mentions how the unpaid NCAA athletes have to pay for their own medical bills if they are injured during games, while high-ranking NCAA officials each get millions of dollars in salaries and employee perks, such as health insurance benefits, life insurance benefits and lucrative pensions. The billions of dollars that flow through the NCAA, after expenses are paid, end up mostly with an elite group at the top.
To make his point, LeMarcus names the multimillion-dollar annual salaries of some high-ranking NCAA officials, including the salary of Missouri Wolves head coach James Lazor, who is not happy about having his salary being revealed for the whole world to know. By contrast, many NCAA athletes spend so much required time on their sport (which is usually more than a regular 40-hour work week) in additon to their academic requirements, they don’t have time to get salaried jobs, and many of them are financially struggling. NCAA athletes are not allowed to accept high-priced gifts and donations. However, in July 2021 (after “National Champions” was filmed), the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a monetary limit that the NCAA wanted to keep on student-athletes getting education-related gifts and benefits.
The fact that many NCAA athletes get their college tuition and living expenses paid for through scholarships (which usually comes from the athlete student’s college/university, not the NCAA) is of little comfort if it comes at a price of being injured from NCAA games or NCAA training, and the NCAA won’t help with health insurance or medical bills for the injuries. And if athletes in the NCAA have career-ending injuries, or if the athletes don’t make it to the professional leagues, then they are often stuck with paying for medical bills for injuries that they got while playing for the NCAA.
By the time athletes make it into the NCAA, they’re already at least 18 years old, in most cases. And because almost all NCAA athletes are legal adults and working full-time hours for the NCAA, many people believe that NCAA should be compensated like full-time employees. However, too many people are invested in keeping the status quo because they don’t want to share the NCAA’s wealth with the athletes.
These are harsh realities that many people don’t want to think about when they root for their favorite American college teams and athletes. However, as depicted in “National Champions,” people who believe in a boycott of the NCAA until things change in favor of athletes’ civil rights think that the only ways that these changes happen are if the public puts pressure on the NCAA and if activists play hardball with the NCAA. LeMarcus knows that he will probably ruin his promising football career with this boycott, and changes might not come in his lifetime, but he wants to get the ball rolling.
At first glance, it might seem that the plan to launch this boycott is poorly conceived, since only LeMarcus and Emmett seem to the only athletes who are part of the boycott. But the plan, although very risky, is actually a bold strategic move. And that’s because LeMarcus and Emmett plan to use the media to get the word out quickly to a massive audience and gain as much public support as possible.
If LeMarcus and Emmett had secretly tried to recruit other athletes for weeks behind the scenes, the word would’ve gotten out to the people who would want to stop the boycott. By staging the boycott right before the national championship game (the most lucrative football game for the NCAA), it would catch the NCAA off guard and force them to make a decision, or else possibly have the game cancelled. And because of the media attention, the NCAA has to make its decision publicly. LeMarcus and Emmett are fully prepared not to play in the game, but what other NCAA football players will join them?
The media blitz part of the plan works, because the boycott becomes big news. And there are some star NFL athletes who voice their support of the boycott, including Russell Wilson and Malcolm Jenkins, who portray themselves in cameos in the movie. These celebrity endorsements convince some other NCAA national championship football players to join the boycott too. The movie has a scene where LeMarcus gives a passionate speech in a hotel room that further convinces some of his fellow NCAA football players to join the boycott.
It isn’t long before so many Wolves team members are boycotting the game, the team is in danger of having mostly inexperienced freshman left as available team members. An emergency meeting takes place with the key players who will put up the fight in trying to squash the boycott. The people in this meeting are:
Coach James Lazor (played by J.K. Simmons), the hard-driving leader of the Missouri Wolves, who sees his athletes as his surrogate sons.
Richard Everly (played by David Koechner), the arrogant, sexist and crude leader of the powerful Southeastern Conference (SEC).
Wes Martin (played by Tony Winters), a Big 12 Conference executive who has some sympathy for the boycotting athletes.
Kevin McDonald (played by David Maldonado), director of communications for College Football Playoff (CFP), who is loyal to his employer and has to run interference with the media.
Mike Titus (played by Jeffrey Donovan), senior vice-president of championships for Division 1 NCAA Football, who is calm and level-headed.
Katherine Poe (played by Uzo Aduba), who describes herself as “outside counsel,” and seems to have a specialty in crisis management.
In this initial meeting, the men do almost all of the talking, while Katherine mostly sits quietly and listens in the background. But as time goes on, Katherine proves to be a fierce competitor in this boycott war. And she’s willing to do what it takes to win, including digging up some of LeMarcus’ secrets that could hurt his credibility. Coach Lazor wants the boycott to end, but he’s reluctant to play dirty in ways that could ruin LeMarcus’ life and reputation.
In a cast of very talented actors, Aduba and Simmons give outstanding performances not only because their characters are so strong-willed and outspoken but also because Coach Lazor and Katherine have their own unique charisma and flaws. Aduba and Simmons give two of the best monologues in the movie. The screenwriting for “National Champions” is mostly solid, and these cast members definitely elevate the material.
Coach Lazor’s big moment comes when he assembles the remaining Wolves team members in a hotel conference room and gives a rousing and emotional speech about how money doesn’t make someone happy and that he’s not a coach for the NCAA because of the money. He shares a story about his personal background and how his dreams to become professional football player were dashed, but he found a way to channel his passion for football by coaching. Coach Lazor says that money shouldn’t be these athletes’ motivation, but glory should be the main motivation.
Katherine’s impactful monlogue comes in a scene when Emmett accuses her of being heartless. It’s in this scene where Katherine, who comes across as obsessed with her job and somewhat mysterious up until this point, unleashes a tirade to show her human vulnerabilities and emotional pain. She also reveals that she’s not siding with the NCAA because it’s her job, but also because she truly believes that the boycott will hurt NCAA funding for lower-profile sports that don’t get as much attention as football and men’s basketball.
Katherine is probably the most interesting and complex character in this movie. There are many sports movies that show clashes between athletes and authority figures. However, almost all of these movies are about ego conflicts between men. Katherine embodies every woman who’s in a male-dominated job who is constantly underestimated because of her gender. She also happens to be African American, which is adds another layer of discrimination that she no doubt has experienced for her entire life.
It’s this type of life experience that makes her more clear-eyed and prepared for the times when people’s worst natures come out, compared to people who are unprepared and gullible because they go through life never having to experience real discrimination or hatred. Katherine’s way of dealing with opposition can be too extreme, by a lot of standards. She wants to win at all costs, even if she gives up a lot of compassion or empathy that she might have.
“National Champions” is at its best when it focuses on the characters of LeMarcus, Coach Lazor and Katherine. The movie tends to falter when it goes off on other tangents. There’s a soap opera-like subplot about Coach Lazor’s philandering wife Bailey Lazor (played by Kristin Chenoweth) and her lover Elliott Schmidt (played by Timothy Olyphant), a college professor who decides that he’s going to take a job in Italy. The movie shows if Bailey decides to run off with Elliott or not, in the midst of this boycott crisis.
Meanwhile, some supporting characters are introduced in the movie, but their character development is non-existent. Lil Rel Howery portrays Ronnie Dunn, the Wolves’ defensive coordinator coach, who might have to step in for Coach Lazor during the championship game when Coach Lazor seems to be on the verge of having a personal meltdown. Tim Blake Nelson is Rodger Cummings, the head of the Missouri Wolves boosters club, who is not about to let all the booster donations that were poured into the team possibly go down the drain with a boycott that could cost the Wolves the championship game. Andrew Bachelor portrays Taylor Jackson, another wealthy booster of the Wolves.
All the other football players depicted in the movie aren’t given enough screen time for viewers to see if they have distinctive personalities. Cecil Burgess (played by Therry Edouard), who has the nickname the Haitian Hammer, is another star athlete for the Missouri Wolves. However, Cecil only has a few brief scenes, mainly to show that he’s staying loyal to the NCAA, and he thinks the boycott is a mistake. Emmett is portrayed as a nice guy, but his personality is fairly bland.
Despite some of the flaws in the “National Champions” screenplay, the movie is directed, filmed and edited in a way that makes this an engaging thriller for people who want to watch movies about the business side of sports. “National Champions” might disappoint people who think they’re going to see a lot of football playing in the movie. But for other people who appreciate what the film is actually about, they’ll understand that it’s about real-life stakes that are much higher than a championship game.
STX will release “National Champions” in U.S. cinemas on December 10, 2021. The movie is set for release on digital and VOD on December 28, 2021.
Culture Representation: Taking place in California’s Yosemite area and briefly in Los Angeles, the comedy/drama “Ride the Eagle” features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with one Latino and one African American) representing the middle-class.
Culture Clash: A bachelor in his 40s travels to his estranged late mother’s remote house in the Yosemite forest, which he will inherit on the condition that he complete a set of tasks that she has left for him at the house.
Culture Audience: “Ride the Eagle” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching low-budget movies that skillfully blend adult-oriented comedy with heartfelt sentiment.
Susan Sarandon in “Ride the Eagle” (Photo courtesy of Decal)
“Ride the Eagle” presents a charming mix of sweet drama and salty comedy in this story that covers the gamut of reconnecting with the past, appreciating the present, and moving forward from regrets in the future. It’s the type of independent film that proves that you don’t need a big budget or a large cast to have an impactful and entertaining movie. Thanks to admirable acting and the movie’s unfussy tone, a variety of viewers will find it easy to connect with “Ride the Eagle.”
“Ride the Eagle” is the feature-film directorial debut of Trent O’Donnell, whose background has mainly been in directing episodes of comedy TV series, including the 2011-2018 sitcom “New Girl.” O’Donnell co-wrote the “Ride the Eagle” screenplay with “New Girl” co-star Jake Johnson, and they are two of the movie’s producers. Having worked together on “New Girl” seems to have greatly benefited how O’Donnell and Johnson wrote the screenplay, which has a naturalistic flow that doesn’t feel like it was “written by committee.”
In “Ride the Eagle,” Johnson portrays Leif Reinhold, a Los Angeles bachelor musician in his 40s who gets some unexpected news in the beginning of the story. His mother’s longtime friend Missy (played by Cleo King) has shown up at his place to tell him that Leif’s estranged mother Suzanne “Honey” Reinhold (played by Susan Sarandon) has died of cancer. Honey abandoned Leif when he was a child, in order to live a free-spirited hippie lifestyle, and he hasn’t been in contact with her for years.
It’s never revealed in the story who raised Leif (his father is not mentioned), but what’s abundantly clear is that Leif considers his mother to be essentially a stranger. When he gets the news of her death, he doesn’t feel happy or sad. He says several times in the movie that he doesn’t feel much of anything at all about his mother being dead. Leif doesn’t seem to have any other relatives, since no family member except his mother is mentioned in the movie.
Missy has also gone to Leif’s home to tell him that Honey left her cabin-styled house in the remote Yosemite forest for Leif to inherit. There’s only one condition: Leif has to complete a set of tasks that Honey left for him on a list at the house. If he doesn’t complete the tasks, then the house will be sold and the proceeds will go to the charity of Honey’s choice.
Leif doesn’t feel emotionally attached to the house, but he’s intrigued enough to go there to see what the tasks are. His current living situation is also less-than-ideal. He’s been living in a makeshift guest house in his band manager’s backyard. Leif is a loner, and his closest companion is his black Labrador Retriever named Nora.
Before he can go on this trip, Leif has to ask permission from his erratic manager Gorka (played by Luis Fernandez-Gil) to take a day or two off from band rehearsals. There’s a somewhat funny segment where Gorka gets irritated that Leif has woken him up to have this conversation. Leif tells Gorka why he’s taking the trip, Gorka gives Leif the go-ahead, and Gorka assures Leif that he will tell the rest of the band why Leif will be unavailable for the next few days.
Viewers might wonder why Leif (who is a percussionist) doesn’t tell the band himself. But there are hints throughout the movie that Leif is the type of person who doesn’t communicate well if it means he can avoid uncomfortable conversations. Leif’s band members are not seen or heard in the movie, but it’s revealed in he story that Leif is 20 years older than the rest of the people in the band.
With Nora as his travel companion, Leif heads north to Yosemite to check out the house that he might inherit. When he gets inside, he starts looking in the kitchen cabinets and finds them filled with jars of marijuana and other plant-based drugs. Leif doesn’t look too surprised. His mother Honey was a painter, and there are several of her paintings hanging on the house’s walls.
Not long after he arrives at the house, the phone rings. The caller on the other line is a man who angrily asks Leif who he is but the caller won’t identify himself. Leif can barely say anything before the caller starts cussing out Leif and ends the phone call with this threat: “I’m coming for you, fuck boy!”
Leif is taken aback but not too rattled, because he thinks that the caller is probably one of his mother’s weird friends. The caller is later revealed to be someone named Carl (played by J.K. Simmons), who ends up stalking Leif. In the house’s living room, Leif finds folders containing the “to do” lists detailing the tasks that he has to complete. Next to these folders is a VHS tape containing messages to Leif from his mother, who wanted him to see these messages after she died.
The rest of the movie shows Leif going through the list of tasks and having some unexpected experiences along the way. One of the tasks is to take a kayak boat ride by himself, row across the lake, “feel the energy of the water,” and talk about his feelings about Honey’s death. Leif follows the instructions and says aloud: “I feel nothing. Sorry, but we didn’t know each other well enough.”
Another task is to go over to a nearby house while no one is there and leave a note in the back bedroom, and then exit immediately. No one seems to be home in the unlocked house, and Leif still feels uncomfortable being an intruder. He can’t resist the urge to read the note, which says: “Hey, dipshit. I owe you nothing, you rat fuck!”
Just as Leif is about to leave, something fairly predictable happens: He sees a man in a yellow puffer jacket (presumably someone who lives in the house) pass by in a nearby room. Leif manages to escape without getting caught, but viewers see that this mystery man has observed Leif running away from the house. It’s later revealed who this house resident is.
Another instruction for Leif is to contact any ex-love whom he thinks was “the one who got away” and make an apology to that person. Leif doesn’t think he’s ever had a “love of his life,” but the closest person who fits that description is an ex-girlfriend named Audrey (played by D’Arcy Carden), whom he dated for three years back in the early 2000s. Their phone conversation is funny and awkward.
At first, Audrey pretends that she doesn’t remember Leif, but then she lets him know that she’s just joking. It just so happens that Audrey is single too, having recently broken up with someone. And you know what that means: Audrey and Leif aren’t going to have just one phone conversation. However, she’s an eight-hour drive away, so there’s a long-distance issue if they have any type of reunion in person.
Some other things happen in the story (Nora goes missing, the angry caller comes looking for Leif), but there’s not a lot of contrived clutter. Slowly but surely, viewers see that Honey’s pre-recorded video messages and her instructions start to have an effect on Leif. The emotions he closed off from himself about his mother’s abandonment and why he and his mother never reconnected are feelings that he can no longer push aside or ignore during this experience.
All of the principal cast members bring memorable qualities to their roles. Sarandon and Simmons do versions of characters they’ve done on screen many times before (aging hippie for her, hot-tempered grouch for him), but they play these types so well that it looks very natural on screen. Carden’s Audrey character is sarcastically funny and emotionally intelligent in a way that a lot of female love interests are in indie dramedies like is one.
However, Johnson is front and center for the entire story, which wouldn’t work as well without his ability to have relatable humanity in his acting. “Ride the Eagle” succeeds not just because of the screenwriting and directing, but also because of Johnson’s appealing performance as a middle-aged man who has to deal with his wounded inner child. Leif is not an annoying man-child character that’s often found in comedic films because he’s mature enough to understand that people can cut themselves off from family members but can’t really escape from how those family members might have affected them.
Decal released “Ride the Eagle” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on July 30, 2021.
Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in Palm Springs, California, and briefly in other parts of the U.S., the comedy film “Palm Springs” has a predominantly white cast (with a few black people, Asians and Latinos) representing the middle-class.
Culture Clash: A single man and a single woman find themselves in a repetitive time loop where they keep waking up to the wedding day of the woman’s younger sister in Palm Springs, California.
Culture Audience: “Palm Springs” will appeal to primarily people who like offbeat “time warp” comedies, but much of the vulgar humor lacks wit or originality.
Meredith Hagner and Andy Samberg in “Palm Springs” (Photo courtesy of Hulu)
A blatant and vastly inferior ripoff of the 1993 Bill Murray classic comedy “Groundhog Day,” the time-loop comedy film “Palm Springs” might be interesting to fans of star Andy Samberg, but everyone else will feel like they’re stuck watching a repetitive time-loop skit get less funny as time goes on. A sardonic supporting performance by the always-great J.K. Simmons isn’t enough to save this smug film, which isn’t as clever as the filmmakers like to think it is.
People who follow news in the entertainment industry might be aware that the Hulu comedy film “Palm Springs” broke a Sundance Film Festival record for the highest amount paid ($17.5 million and 69 cents) to acquire a film that premiered at Sundance. The previous record holder was Fox Searchlight’s $17.5 million purchase of the 2016 drama “Birth of a Nation,” actor Nate Parker’s feature-film directorial debut.
The record-breaking sum that Hulu paid for “Palm Springs” would lead people to believe that this movie, which clearly won’t be an Oscar contender, is at least on par with a crowd-pleasing classic, such as director Harold Ramis’ “Groundhog Day,” a movie about a weatherman who’s stuck in a Groundhog Day time loop. Unfortunately, “Palm Springs” (directed by Max Barbakow and written by Andy Siara) doesn’t come close to the charm and memorable humor of “Groundhog Day.”
It’s pretty obvious that the overrated “Palm Springs” was sold for an overpriced amount because movie executives got caught up in a bidding war for a mediocre film. When has Samberg ever starred in a quality movie that was a big hit with audiences? Never. “Palm Springs” certainly won’t be his first “blockbuster” hit.
In “Palm Springs,” Sandberg plays an obnoxious ne’er do well named Nyles, who is stuck in a time loop where he keeps waking up to November 9, the day of a wedding that he is supposed to attend with his girlfriend Misty (played by Meredith Hagner), a stereotypical ditsy blonde who is one of the bridesmaids. Viewers won’t find out about this time loop until after the first time that the movie shows Nyles at the wedding.
The wedding is taking place in the upscale desert vacation city of Palm Springs, California. The bride is Tala (played by Camila Mendes), the groom is Abe (played by Tyler Hoechlin) and the maid of honor is Tala’s divorced older sister Sarah (played by Cristin Milioti), who looks and acts like she’d rather be anywhere else but the wedding. The proud parents of the bride are Howard (played by Peter Gallagher) and Pia (played by Jacqueline Obradors), who don’t do much except look horrified at some of the silly antics that later ensue in the story. And then there’s Nana Schlieffen (played by June Squibb), the token matronly grandmother at the wedding.
Nyles, Misty and Sarah are all staying at the same hotel. When Nyles wakes up in the hotel on the day of the wedding, Misty has just come out of the shower and is putting lotion on her legs. Nyles wants to have sex, and Misty agrees, but only if they make it quick because she says she doesn’t want to get too sweaty. A predictable erection joke is part of this scene, which sets the tone for the rest of this movie. “Palm Springs” makes a lot of crude jokes about sex, but most of the jokes aren’t very funny.
At the wedding, Nyles stands out (and not in a good way) because he’s wearing clothes that are too casual: a Hawaiian shirt and shorts. At the reception, Misty makes an awkward wedding speech, and then it’s Sarah turn to give her speech. Even though she’s the maid of honor, a miserable-looking Sarah seems shocked that she’s expected to make a toast to the bride and groom.
But before she gets a chance to make the speech, Nyles butts in and makes a speech that’s even more cringeworthy than Misty’s speech. What Nyles has to say is both overly sappy and nonsensical. He ends it by stating to the newly married couple: “We may be born lost, but now you are found.”
After that, Nyles (who is constantly chugging beer from beer cans) and Sarah strike up a conversation. Nyles flirts heavily with Sarah and asks her if she wants to go somewhere private with him for a quickie tryst. Sarah tells him that he’s being very forward, but she’s intrigued by his boldness.
While Nyles and Sarah are outside, they pass by a bathroom where the reception is being held. The bathroom is on the ground level, and they can clearly see into the bathroom’s window (this place clearly doesn’t care about guests’ privacy), where they witness Misty cheating with a wedding guest named Trevor (played by Chris Pang). Trevor, who’s dressed in a glittery cowboy suit at the wedding, is one of those quirky characters that was written in this movie in its failed attempt to be like a Wes Anderson comedy.
Now that Sarah knows that Nyles’ girlfriend/wedding date doesn’t really care about him, Sarah takes Nyles up on his offer to hook up with him out in the desert. Before that happens, Sarah tells Nyles that she’s the “black sheep” of her family, because her family thinks she’s a “liability” who thinks “I fuck around and drink too much.”
While Sarah and Nyles are having a steamy makeout session, Nyles suddenly gets wounded on his shoulder by an arrow. Out of the shadows, a man wearing dark camouflage paint on his face starts to chase Nyles with a bow and arrow, while Sarah freaks out and is confused by what’s going on. It turns out that the angry bow-and-arrow hunter is named Roy (played by J.K. Simmons), and Roy wants revenge on Nyles for a reason that’s revealed later in the story.
Meanwhile, during this chase scene, Nyles runs into a cave where there’s a strange glowing red light. Sarah follows Nyles into the cave. And it turns out this mysterious cave is the portal that causes a time-loop that keeps going back to November 9. Now that Sarah has gone into the cave, she’s stuck in the time loop with Nyles too. Just like Nyles, every time Sarah now wakes up, it’s in the Palm Springs hotel on the November 9 wedding day.
“Palm Springs” has a lot of slapstick humor to distract from the uninspired dialogue in the movie. After Sarah finds out that she’s stuck in the same time loop as Nyles, much of the film is about Sarah being angry with Nyles because she feels that she didn’t deserve to be unknowingly trapped in the loop.
Nyles has been in the loop long enough to warn Sarah that attempts to get out of the loop have failed. Committing suicide doesn’t work. (Although an idea presented later in the story contradicts that theory.) It also doesn’t work to take stimulant drugs that keep people up for days. Traveling to another city (which Sarah does when she drives all the way back to her messy house in Austin, Texas) also doesn’t get them out of loop either.
The movie never explains what Nyles did for a living before he got caught in the time loop, but he’s reached a point of feeling resigned about his fate in the loop. Therefore, he acts as recklessly and obnoxiously as possible (including breaking several laws), because he knows that when he wakes up, he’ll be back in that Palm Springs hotel room on the November 9 wedding day.
Nyles also tells Sarah that being stuck in the time loop has caused him to feel free to have sexual hookups with as many people as possible, including three people who keep showing up in this story: a bartender named Daisy (played by Jena Friedman), who works at the wedding reception; Darla (played by Dale Dickey) a crusty regular at a local bar; and fashionable Jerry (played by Tongayi Chirisa), one of the wedding guests.
At first, Sarah gets caught up in being as “bad” as possible, so a great deal of the movie shows Sarah and Nyles acting like drunken, irresponsible teenagers. But Sarah soon grows tired of these shenanigans and wants to get out of the loop and back to her normal life. It goes without saying that Sarah and Nyles start to have romantic feelings for each other, so Nyles is conflicted about Sarah wanting to leave the loop while he might remain stuck there.
Unfortunately for “Palm Springs,” the chemistry between Samberg and Milioti isn’t very believable when Nyles and Sarah start to become a romantic couple. Milioti seems to be doing her best to bring some laughs to the story, but Sarah is such a deeply unhappy, self-loathing person that it’s hard to believe that Sarah can fall in love when she doesn’t even love herself.
Parts of “Palm Springs” seem like a more adult-language version of a “Saturday Night Live” sketch that’s worn out its welcome. Samberg, who’s a “Saturday Night Live” alum, has the same type of one-note “man child” persona that he had on the show. It’s the same persona that Pete Davidson has also taken as part of his comedic image.
A comedy with this “time loop” concept should be fun to watch, but “Palm Springs” is a chore to watch because the two main characters don’t have charismatic personalities. Huge stretches of “Palm Springs” drag on for too long. And even the movie’s visual effects look cheap and clunky.
The best thing about “Palm Springs” is how the “travelogue” type of cinematography (from Quyen Tran) makes a vacation in Palm Springs look very enticing. But people can watch attractive travel videos for free on the Internet, and this movie isn’t supposed to be a travel video.
People aren’t going to sign up for Hulu en masse to watch this movie, so “Palm Springs” certainly wasn’t worth the $17.5 million price tag. “Palm Springs” is not only a waste of Hulu’s money but it’s also a waste of viewers’ time, unless people have a high tolerance for Samberg’s recycled “man child” persona.
