Movies, Film, and Chili

  The First Slam Dunk is an anime film based on the Slam Dunk manga series and is currently the fifth highest-grossing anime film of all time. The film is directed by the manga artist himself, Takehiko Inoue, and it's safe to say this is his directorial debut. The film bounces back and forth between the modern time where the players are in the championship and the backstory for each of the different players. This is a typical trope for anime audiences but something vastly different for American sports audiences. We're used to the team going through multiple games to get to the end. It's a breath of fresh air if you're not an anime fan. I saw the dubbed even though the advertisement said it was subtitled in English. It was the only showing for the afternoon so I didn't complain. The main character is Ryota Miyagi a troubled youth point guard. He's not tall and has a tragic backstory. He's voiced by Paul Castro Jr. who you might remember from The Skeleton Twin...

  Talk to Me is an Australian horror film about a group of friends who discover how to speak to the dead. Or do they?  Directed by the brothers Michael and  Danny Philippou, Talk to Me is their first attempt at a feature film. It was a pretty decent introduction too as they made the transition from shorts and clips to movies. When you see their channel you don't really tend to think they'll do well in horror but they did have some help writing with Daley Pearson.  Parents will know him as Rocko  from the kid's show Bluey .  Sophie Wilde  plays the main teenager Mia. At first, she comes across as an angsty teen but as you get to know her through the writing and dialogue, you tend to understand more why she is so distant from her father and holding onto her few friends. This was her film debut and she did a great job. Also, she came up with the concept for the film too. The most recognizable person in the film is Miranda Otto  who is better known fo...

  Barbie is a live-action comedy about the titular doll from the United States.  Greta Gerwig is a well-known Oscar-nominated female director. She directed and wrote Barbie, Lady Bird, and Little Women . There is nothing wrong with the direction of the film, the writing on the other hand has a few issues. Let's get the big issues out of the way because don't get me wrong I really enjoyed the film. There is a lot of post-civil rights feminism in the writing. As the writer she blames the patriarchy but really the rant she wrote was really just pointing out social expectations. There certainly were moments where my eyes had to roll. Especially when the tween in the film spoke like an early twenties diversity major.  Margot Robbie plays stereotypical Barbie and not the original Barbie. She is great and the film oddly has a lot of emotion for her to work with. The scenes Greta wrote for her were generally great. She has stellar comedic timing as well. Look forward to the next...

  Oppenheimer is a biographical thriller film written and directed by the legendary Christopher Nolan and based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin . Nolan doesn't do mediocre films. Interstellar is probably my favorite, while Inception and The Dark Knight Trilogy  come in second and third. He certainly had a golden decade of films between 2005-2014. Dunkirk and Tenet aren't as glorious as previous films, but his writing is still on point for creating interesting films to watch. It seems he loves history and especially World War II. I just hope it's not another three years before we get another film. Though that seems to be his pattern. This isn't the first time Cillian Murphy  has worked with Nolan and it probably won't be his last. He was in Inception, Dunkirk,  and played Scarecrow  in The Dark Knight.  He carries the film as Oppenheimer but was sort of outshined by Rober Downey Jr. who plays Lewis Strauss. It's o...

White Men Can't Jump  is a remake of the 1992 film, this time with a more modern story. There are two screenplay writers on this film, Kenya Barris and Doug Hall .   Barris and Hall  are known for Black-ish so take that for what you will. Barris also did Coming 2 America and is much more prolific .   Ron Shelton was brought on to help keep the bones of the original there. The writing isn't horrible but it isn't anything special. The director is Calmatic who isn't really known for movies as he's a music video director having done that Old Town Road song. There were some scenes I would have reshot but overall decent job. After seeing The Blackening  earlier this year I was going to compare Sinqua Walls then and now. He's much better in this film as Kamal. He is also given a lot more to work with in this film with the beautiful  Teyana Taylor playing his wife. She's great and believable.  Jack Harlow is dating Laura Harrier,  and playing the titula...

Lost in the Stars  is a Mandarin thriller with twists you'll see coming and one you might not.  Directed by newcomer  Rui Cui, and cinematographer  Xiang Liu . Liu knows his cinematography very well while cherry Cui lets the viewer know he's relatively new with mistakes that will leave the average audience going "somethings off with this" and not really knowing what's wrong. It's the camera angles and quick cuts. I believe the quick cuts are intentional and this isn't a deep movie, its feelings are very much surface-level.  Yilong Zhu plays He Fei, a man who has lost his wife while on their anniversary trip to Southeast Asia. He is the most experienced actor and carries the film with his performance. By the end of the film, you'll understand the depths Zhu has in his acting. He hasn't done much, if anything, that would be considered American, but he's been working since 2010. Janice Man  is the femme fatal in this film. She plays the beautiful ...

  Alice, Darling  is about an abusive relationship and an intervention staged by her friends. Mary Nighy directs this, her first feature film. She had done shorts and tv series before this. There were many scenes that felt they could have been reshot as many details of the film feel like they were shot on the first take. Also, that last name might seem familiar and yes she's Bill Nighy's daughter. I wanted her to succeed if only because we have the same birthday. Anna Kendrick plays Alice and the movie constantly shames her for working out and eating less. While on the other hand,  Wunmi Mosaku's character is overweight and the film doesn't seem to think that's a problem. It's a big part of the film fills the time before they get to the real villain of the film. Her boyfriend is played by Charlie Carrick. He's another tv show actor and should stay there. He's unconvincing and lowers the quality of the film which each scene he's in. The film was hard ...

  Insidious: The Red Door is the latest installment in the franchise with Patrick Wilson staring and directing.  Patrick Wilson has been in a lot of James Wan 's films. This is his first attempt at directing. He doesn't do too bad of a job either. You might recognize him from the other Insidious movies and The Conjuring , he's also Nite Owl in Watchmen, and  King Orm from Aquaman. In terms of acting he has to deal with a lot in the film as a father who has sort of lost his mojo. Solid performance and good entry into directing. Ty Simpkins  played Dalton in 2010 and again here in the latest Insidious. It's nice to see that child actors can sometimes still end up as good actors when they get older. You might recognize him from Jurassic World as Gray, or Harley Keener  in Iron Man 3 and Avengers: Endgame. Newcomer Sinclair Daniel  did a great job but had a line when she was being introduced that was totally unnecessary and just woke. She was believable and li...

Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One  has a long name, long runtime, and long action sequences. Christopher McQuarrie  has directed Tom Cruise  in 4 out of his 5 directorial movies, the first being Jack Reacher . He has much more impressive writing credentials. But to talk about the direction of the movie, he knows how to direct action and chase scenes but when it comes to dialogue there were some issues I had with camera angles. I totally forgot that McQuarrie  had written The Usual Suspects,  which can explain some of the dialogue choices in this film. He knows how to write so that the audience remembers the characters' names, unlike Tony Gilroy . There's no connection there I just think that's one of my major criticisms of Gilroy. Tom Cruise looks like he's forty years old, but is actually sixty at the time of release. He has some great two-liners which seem to be more of his go-to, not only for adding emotions but for the trailer purpose. There are ...

  Beau is Afraid is a look into a paranoid anxiety-ridden adult child staring Joaquin Phoenix. Written and directed by Ari Aster , the man known for Hereditary, and Midsommar. I thought Hereditary was great and Midsommar could have used some producer input. This movie has the George Lucas effect, where Aster is left to do what he wants because of the fame that his name brings. The beginning of the movie is great, but the middle gets a little weird for an already weird movie. Then by the end, I'm just over it and ready for the climax.  Joaquin Phoenix is great in this film. I mean I totally lose him in this role. Beau could have been played by a lot of actors and I think Phoenix was lucky to be put here as it allows him to shine but we already have a movie where he shines as a mentally unstable person in The Joker. I think his best work is Gladiator and I really enjoyed Signs. There is a supporting cast but they really are just that, support. Amy Ryan  from The Office a...

  Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken  is the latest animated film by Dreamworks.  Directed by Kirk DeMicco and Faryn Pearl, the film is focused on a teenage girl trying to go to prom with her love interest. The movie has a lot of great shots, intentional zooms, and transitions that made for an enjoyable experience, plus the emotional animation helps.  The writers are Pam Brady, Brian C. Brown, and Elliot Diguiseppi . To be progressive the girl is asking the boy and as a teacher, I've asked my students this question. Many believe that it's still the boy's responsibility to ask out the girl. Not sure whose idea it was but I'm not sure if teenage Texans are going to entertain that idea in today's USA.  Lana Condor is Ruby and I haven't heard her voice enough to know it was her. She was from Alita: Battle Angel, To All the Boys I've Loved Before, and X-Men: Apocalypse as Jubilee . On the other hand, Jane Fonda  and Toni Collette 's voices are easily recognizable a...

  King of Clones is a documentary about Hwang Woo-Suk  a famous scientist who clones various animals and the scandalous downfall the notorious Korean befalls.  Directed by Aditya Thayi the film follows a very similar pace to other Netflix dramas and certain shots are intentional to get an emotional reaction out of the viewer as any artist would do. I don't think there is anything great here or anything that negatively stands out. The film follows Hwang Woo-Suk in his misadventures. There is a lot of morality on the topic of stem cell research and the cloning of different species. I remember the first publicized cloning success way back when and was curious how far they've advanced since then. The film certainly was interesting, but as far as a film it was just okay. Result: C+/

  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is the latest and perhaps the last venture of the titular character. James Mangold has had some really good movies in the past with films like Ford v Ferrari, Logan, 3:10 to Yuma, and Girl, Interrupted. This isn't one of them. In terms of direction, there were some intentional shots that hid the inability of our female lead to do stunts. The film has to hide its lack of substance with long chase scenes and with a lesser director it would have been a much worse film. Harrison Ford goes through the motions. He's old and it shows, he also seems to have little to no chemistry with his female lead. There was some de-aging that many people will think is great, but I found it to be off-putting and still not ready for the mainstream. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is the worst part of the film. She's insufferable and the writers Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp force her down our throats. Her dialogue is girl-boss and Karen-...