I Care a Lot

How do you take your comedies? I take mine black. I Care a Lot is dark. It has a cruelty and goofiness which is reminiscent of a Coen brothers picture. What's it all about? Rosamund Pike plays Marla Grayson, a conniving, evil woman who dupes seniors; Marla has them fraudulently committed to old age homes or psychiatric care against their will, has a judge give her all the rights to manage their affairs, and then she goes about selling off all their material wealth so she can steal it all for herself. She's an evil piece of work. Things are moving along just fine until Marla happens to put the wrong old lady in a home (played by two time Oscar winner, Dianne Wiest). Wiest wasn't nominated for an Oscar or a Golden Globe, but she steals ever scene she is in. She is a joy to watch. Peter Dinklage plays her son Roman. He is just as evil as Marla. Let the games begin. This is a battle of wills between two monsters and it's a zany fun ride. Rosamund Pike was nominated and won the Golden Globe for best actress in a Musical or Comedy. Well deserved. Catch this on Amazon or Netflix depending on where you live. 

A Quiet Place Part II

It's rare for sequels to be better than their originals - The Empire Strikes Back, Godfather II, The Raid 2, to name a few. A Quiet Place Part II now ranks amongst them. I enjoyed the first but I loved the second. This is an origin story - what happened on day one. For those of you who didn't see the first one, we have monsters running around that have super hearing. If they hear you, they will find you and eat you. They have ruined the entire planet and have wiped out most of humanity. A Quiet Place Part II works so well because everyone is in jeopardy in parallel but in different places. You cut from one dramatic scene to the next, over and over; it's relentless and breathtaking. Let me tell you, you will be on the edge of your seat for the duration. John Krasinski has taken his talent to the next level. It's a hell of a fun ride. Catch it on Amazon.

Raging Fire

After having watched The Raid 2 and The Villainess, two of the best action films (out of Indonesia and Korea respectively) in the last decade, I thought I wouldn't see anything comparable for years. Wrong. Raging Fire stars martial artist Donnie Yen (of Ip Man fame or maybe you know him as the blind Jedi Monk from Rogue One). Donnie Yen is 58 years old. 58. He moves like a man in the prime of his twenties. He is rather remarkable. In Raging Fire he plays a cop (Bong). Bong's moral integrity has cost him promotions at work. It also sent six of his fellow officers to prison for beating a kidnapper to death. Bong could have lied and colleagues would have walked. But no, Bong's a moral man. So these cops, they served their time and now they are out and want revenge on Bong and the rest of the police department. That's about all the plot I need to explain. There is lots of shmaltzy melodrama mixed in, typical of many Asian action films - it's part of the charm if you ask me. So now onto the the action. Bananas! None stop gun fire, car chases, and hand to hand martial arts ass kicking! It's a blast. It will be hands down the best action film you see this year and maybe for the next several. Catch it where and when you can.