Director: Paul Feig
Starring: Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick & Allison Janney
Rated: R (violence, sexual content, nudity, language & suicide)
Runtime: 2 hours

 
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be the maid of honor for a bride who tried to frame you for murder? If so, I have a film for you. It’s “Another Simple Favor,” the sequel to 2018’s comedy-thriller “A Simple Favor.”
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In the original, Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) befriends a mysterious woman named Emily (Blake Lively), who goes missing. Shortly after, her body is recovered from a lake. It is eventually revealed that Emily killed her twin sister, Faith, when Faith threatened to go to the authorities about their involvement in their father’s death. Emily decided to fake her death to get a big life insurance policy payout. However, she eventually returned and tried to frame her frenemy for her husband’s murder. Ultimately, Emily was sent to jail.  
 
“A Simple Favor” is the kind of film that you wouldn’t necessarily expect a sequel for. However, “Another Simple Favor” is everything that you expect from its sequel: bigger, crazier, wilder, and in this case, way more convoluted than before.

If you love comedic thrillers with wild plot twists turn after turn, then this is the film for you. At times, I had to pause for just a moment to ensure I fully understood everything going on. I am someone who personally feels like films can be incredibly predictable nowadays. I don’t feel there is any way that every plot twist in “Another Simple Favor” could be predicted. While this film may not seem plausible in real life, the script still delivers an exciting watch.  
 
In “Another Simple Favor,” five years have passed, and Stephanie has written a book about her crazy adventures with Emily. It is not selling as she had expected. At a book signing, Emily surprisingly reappears in Stephanie’s life. She has a request: for Stephanie to be her maid of honor at a wedding in Capri. In real life, we know that there are no circumstances under which Stephanie would say “yes” to this request. However, to set the stakes in the film, Stephanie accepts in hopes that it will boost her book sales and avoid a defamation lawsuit from Emily.  

Lively plays the mysterious figure to near perfection. You have no idea what this loose cannon is going to do next. There is a sense of uncertainty every time Emily is on the screen. Kendrick and Lively have incredible onscreen chemistry in their portrayal of this toxic friendship. Their scenes have comedic elements and intense drama, but the way they maintain the tension between Stephanie and Emily throughout all of this is truly a testament to their incredible acting abilities. 
 
The rest of the cast is spot on too.

The most valuable player, though, is Academy Award winner Allison Janney. Janney’s casting was an excellent choice because Janney has such a lovable presence, but has a way of appearing sinister as well. Janney is both funny and scary, showing us all why she has an Oscar, Golden Globe and seven Primetime Emmy Awards on her shelves.  
 
Audiences are treated to a glimpse of the beautiful tropical paradise of Capri. You will want to take a vacation there immediately. The film doesn’t stop there from being a visual feast, though. The costume designer knew their assignment and got an A+, especially with Lively’s attire. Lively wears a pink rose top with lime green pants and a lime green jacket that will be something I remember for years to come. It was visually stunning. 
 
While “Another Simple Favor” does not produce a very realistic script, the continued adventures of Stephanie and Emily are exciting to watch. Lively and Kendrick continue to captivate us with their portrayal of these complex and compelling women. What is even more exciting is that this sequel concludes in a way that could set up a third film, and director Paul Feig has stated that he would be open to a third installment.

“Another Simple Favor” is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

The O.G. “King Kong,” directed and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, was one of the American Film Institute selections on my list this year that I honestly wasn’t all that excited to see.

These sorts of action-monster films have never really been high on my list of interests, and I wasn’t sure if a film like this, that was released more than 90 years ago, would hold up.

I came away feeling that “King Kong” is a good movie, though, based on my interests, it will not rank too highly on my list of all-time favorite classics. But I was pretty mesmerized by how well it all worked, and I could imagine that when audiences first saw this thing in 1933, their minds must have been completely blown.

You absolutely can’t watch this film and expect life-like images. What you get is what was innovative at the time, utilizing stop-motion animation for amazing scenes like Kong fighting a T Rex. I do have questions about why most of the animals on Skull Island are of the dinosaur variety, but then we also have this gigantic ape – but probably shouldn’t put that much thought into this.

The search for Kong, a potentially mythical creature that inhabits a secluded island few know about, is set about by a film director, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong), who wants to film something unbelievable. Knowing that pictures sell better if they feature a pretty girl, he rescues the young blonde Ann Darrow, played by original scream queen Fay Wray, from a life of squalor to serve as his leading lady.

When they arrive at the island, they find the native tribe inhabiting it, offering a sacrifice to Kong. However, when the tribe sees the pretty blonde, they believe her to be an even greater offering to their “God.” Who doesn’t love blondes, after all?

I was intrigued by the first 40 or so minutes of the film, even before we see the titular character, as the mystery builds (even if you know what’s coming). But once Kong enters the picture, he action certainly ramps up with the fascinating stop-motion sequences.

It turns out the tribe had the right idea by building then giant wall keep these creatures on the island within and when the ignorant, wealthy white man comes to make money off of these creatures all hell essentially breaks free – and because he’s a rich, white man he seems to get away with it all – even after Kong wreaks havoc on New York City and kills multiple people. I guess some things never change.

“It was beauty killed the beast,” truly is one of the all-time great final lines of a movie. Have to give props to Edgar Wallace or Merian C. Cooper (probably Cooper) for that.

“King Kong” ranked 43rd on the original AFI list in 1998 and somehow moved up two spots on the 2007 list. It’s a film that I wonder if it’ll even be on such a list in the future, and if it is it’ll probably be because of what it meant to cinema history, rather than the actual story and film itself.

Director: Jake Schreier
Starring: Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan & David Harbour 
Rated: PG-13 (strong violence, language, thematic elements & some drug references) 
Runtime: 2 hours & 7 minutes

Like many fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe lately, the heroes of “Thunderbolts*” have felt unfulfilled. Yelena (Florence Pugh), Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Walker (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Red Guardian (David Harbour) don't have much in common besides the loneliness that being assassins, science experiments and super soldiers has led them to yet somehow (and somewhat ironically) this shared strand of abandonment is what brings them together. This film in particular finds itself at a crossroads of a moment where the MCU is both trying to redefine itself as well as figure out what direction it goes after being lost in the void of content inundation that has occurred since ‘Endgame.’ Again, not unlike this band of "disposable delinquents" who are unclear where they fit into the grand scheme of things in a post-blip world where the Avengers are no more, “Thunderbolts*” seeks to carve a new path forward by essentially attacking the anxieties of the heroes, and by default - the fans, head on. The good news is that this is a strong step in the right direction. 

I’m sure there's a solid analogy to be drawn around how once and current Disney CEO Bob Iger, in the Valentina Allegra de Fontaine role, tried to lock these characters that debuted under Bob Chapek (sans Bucky) away in a Disney vault somewhere but ultimately decided to reverse psychologize by pushing them to the front of the next phase in a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’/’Suicide Squad’-style team-up that he then sells as “the first and best example” of the studio’s new focus on quality over quantity, but I don’t know that I have the energy to investigate beyond those surface parallels. The point being, it feels pretty bold to make the most significant issue your biggest cash cow is facing not only the central theme of your ‘Avengers’ re-brand, but the villain itself as Eric Pearson (a Marvel vet) and Joanna Calo (a frequent TV writer) more or less literalize the depression and loneliness these characters (and by extension, the audience members) are feeling through the existence of Lewis Pullman’s Robert Reynolds character. What Pearson and Calo’s screenplay does so deftly, and I’m sure director Jake Schreier’s execution aids it, is how clearly and directly it addresses these subjects without ever making it feel heavy-handed.

Opening with Pugh's Yelena, who we understand is coming out the other side of being a child soldier, of losing her sister and of feeling abandoned by her family, along with the facts of what her occupation entails, has justifiably caused a season of deep reflection and regret. Yelena is essentially the new Black Widow of the MCU, yet this isn't the Natasha we met in “Iron Man 2,” this is a different, more fleshed-out character who begins what is more or less *her* film to anchor or lose by letting it be known she is ready for change. So are we, Yelena, so are we. It is then communicated that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina - the director of the C.I.A - is on the verge of being impeached and, as a result, has her secretary, Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan), dispatch these anti-heroes she’s been handling to a covert facility under the pretense of a mission. Upon the arrival of Yelena, Walker and Ava Starr AKA Ghost they not only realize they’ve been set-up, but discover the mysterious Bob (Lewis Pullman), the lone survivor of something called the “Sentry Project.” In an effort to escape Fontaine’s trap, Bob discovers the side effects of said Sentry trials through a series of visions and ultimately an act of sacrifice on his part that allows the others to escape and Fontaine to realize her Sentry experiment might not have, in fact, been a complete dud. While Fontaine takes Bob back to what was once Avengers HQ - now renamed “The Watchtower” - where she educates and preps him to become a super-powered protector akin to the Avengers, Harbour’s Alexei Shostakov and Stan’s Winter Soldier come to the aid of the newly minted Thunderbolts to prevent Bob’s darker tendencies from taking over and Fontaine’s plans from blowing up in her face again.

What makes something ultimately as formulaic as “Thunderbolts*” feel as fresh as it does is that what I've summarized of the story is essentially the movie. There are no earth-shattering consequences, no intergalactic threats, this is a movie where both "villains" do a Jekyll and Hyde highwire act in some regard (Pullman being especially good at presenting the dichotomy of his character) while the main antagonist of the piece is the same as the threaded themes throughout and the multiple metaphors at play: the aforementioned depression and loneliness. Because of this, because the stakes feel less grave and the scale that much smaller, there is less plot that Schreier is forced to concern himself with and more room for him to develop the story. Speaking of scale, it shouldn’t be such a celebration that things feel as tactile and tangible as they do here, but they do, and the film benefits all the more because of it. Real locations! Yay! Out of this narrative flexibility, though, comes the time to establish natural dynamics between these characters who are largely dealing in the same headspace despite feeling as different from one another as they possibly can (John-Kamen still getting the short end of the stick as Ghost, not counting Taskmaster's abbreviated appearance). Some will undoubtedly consider the opening act uneven and feel the film doesn't find its footing until Alexei and Bucky show up in bigger capacities (which is fair considering Harbour absolutely steals every scene he's in and Stan just oozes charisma) but these pieces that contribute to the foundation of what is ultimately revealed to be this new team of - SPOILER ALERT - Avengers then not only makes these early scenes necessary, but imperative. These small moments the film revels in are what lead to the connections and cure for the emptiness each of these individuals is desperately trying to run away from. The screenwriters along with Schreier understand that once Pullman's Bob embraces his destiny as Sentry and in turn, his alter ego of The Void, that his fellow teammates were never going to be able to defeat him with shooting and punching, but rather that by letting Bob know he had people who would be there for him - that he could count on - that this was all he needed to be saved. 

Slightly corny? Sure, but the objective is realized so well on a thematic level and is conveyed with such earnest emotion and genuine, organic humor that it can't help but be impactful. Said humor - thanks in large part to Harbour's performance, but shoutout to Chris Bauer who has some hilariously killer line deliveries as one of Fontaine's cronies - doesn't simply rely on quips either, much of it being used to relieve the weight of the broader situations while still drawing itself from the more serious themes the film tackles. Russell's U.S. Agent is the best example of this paradox, where he finds laughs to manage the pain. This type of approach results in something exciting tonally, where the vulnerabilities these characters can show eventually are what ensures their survival, rather than simply being able to harness their powers to do what is right and just. 

“Thunderbolts*” is a superhero movie, of course, but it's a superhero movie where the heroes, the villains, the dark and the light are two sides of the same coin and must come to terms with who they are to understand who they can be. Additionally, the score from Son Lux (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) leaves a real impression, specifically the track titled "It's Bucky!," which has real main theme potential. The design of Sentry's classical costume paired with the devastating, ‘War of the Worlds’-style deaths The Void doles out through to the closing credit illustrations lend the movie an extra layer of both credibility and intimacy that allows the film itself to go from something that felt obligatory to tie up loose ends to a compelling and affecting journey that brings us closer to this new iteration of something I didn't think was possible to endear audiences to a second time. A step in the right direction, indeed.

Director: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Miles Caton & Hailee Steinfeld 
Rated: R (strong bloody violence, sexual content & language)
Runtime: 2 hours & 17 minutes

​There’s so much to love, discuss and dissect about “Sinners” that it’s difficult to know where to start. What struck me initially, though, is knowing how close I am in age to both director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan, and how we likely share many of the same cultural touchstones if not necessarily the same life experiences. That understanding in mind, being in similar stages of life undoubtedly leads to shared perspectives on multiple subjects. This occurred to me most when considering how often I turn to the bigger picture when struggling with an issue or confrontation; weighing the pros and cons, and ultimately, if the investment of my time, thought and effort is worth the weight of the probable outcome. In short, the impact of our actions and how much and in what sense they reverberate means more to us the older we get, and as time becomes more precious.

With “Sinners,” Coogler considers the reverberations of his character's actions through an eternity, where the future isn't as precious as the past, and the actions that led to these circumstances, as well as the decisions made in that single night, determine the course of that eternity.

It’s a movie of contrasts seemingly intended to explore the differences and halves that make us whole in all the fascinating ways our inspirations and innovations contrive; how the old informs the new and how those in power use the past to construct the future. 

“Sinners” feasts on the idea that time is the greatest ghost that doesn’t stop haunting us until the peace of death brings, and how, for some, even that remains elusive. This type of deconstruction and exploration ultimately elicits the kind of genuine magic only the movies can conjure in that no matter the vast difference of moral codes that sit in a theater, when you view the world from that cinema seat, the lines between who to root for and who to vilify become one.

I also love that the movie largely focuses on and emphasizes the power of music, showing how it can change one's life.