And being a likeable, wink-at-rebellion
movie-rebel countered by a bullying guard, there's absolutely no edge
(or glory) to his performance that would, in a better film, provide
Gibson a possible Oscar nomination... he simply plays it too safe and
affable here, as does the director... Who painted a deliberately bleak canvas nicely recreating turn-of-the-century rural America
in its mahogany landscapes, dire factories and the actual prison... But
what's here is more a Harlequin Romance montage than either an
effective prison-plot-escape thriller or true story that needed
telling: because storywise, MRS. SOFFEL is more whispered than spoken and, soon after, completely forgotten. Rates: **
MRS. SOFFEL (1984)
WONDER WOMAN 1984 (2020)
Taking place in the core of the 1980's, the town centered on has a colorful mall and a nearby museum, resembling BACK TO THE FUTURE had the old fashion 50's timeline morphed into the 1980's... After all, for this younger generation, the 80's is like the 50's was to 80's kids, with corny dated clothes and, best yet, without cell phones while the plot not only lacks action, there's no reason for any since the villain's a slimy oil salesman (a horrendous performance by Pedro Pascel, befitting a social drama parody) who finds the ultimate McGuffin in a Wish Stone, one of the most contrived plot-motivations in any modern superhero movie, which this hardly resembles...With Kristin Wigg as an ambiguous link between heroine and villain (like Richard Pryor in SUPERMAN III), and Chris Pine wedged into a romantic-comedy story that hardly exists, WONDER WOMAN 1984... although made right before the pandemic... bares the lifeless residual of that time: lazy entertainment for lazy viewers.. RATING: *1/2
BATMAN RETURNS (1992)
Especially the director himself, who uses so many of his stylized Gothic popup-book visuals that the Jack Nicholson BATMAN seemed tame by comparison... which was more of a BATMAN movie directed by Burton while RETURNS is a Burton movie that happens to involve BATMAN... and not very much, which is why Michael Keaton, with too much screen-time centering on the villains, winded up quitting the role, yet it's difficult to tell who the real antagonists are since Penguin... played by an overacting, bad monologue-spouting Danny DeVito... is so pathetic with a genuinely tragic backstory that he's never quite as evil (or dangerous) as he should be... and Christopher Walken's corporate tycoon makes DeVito's creature as benign as Keaton felt in the titular role: Meanwhile, Michelle Pheiffer's CAT WOMAN seems like her own solo movie's being invaded by characters who should be more important here... but eventually, too much happens in BATMAN RETURNS for anything to really stick, or wind up mattering beyond the overdose of Burton's self-inflicted style over substance. RATING: **
A FEW FORGIVABLE FLAWS OF 'MAD MEN' (2007)
More of this was needed to
make MAD MEN a truly perfect series like BREAKING BAD and less of a
nighttime-soap opera, despite an abundance of middle-aged women viewers
dreaming they could initially sleep with the square-jawed Hamm to then
be cheated-on... a less-is-more actor who has never been able to get
near this kind of intensity on the big screen, for which... like Bryan
Cranston... he doesn't seem suited quite like television... And other
flaws include the producer's son in a reoccurring role (as a creepy kid
turned robotic teen) that tilts the cringe meter, stopping the show in
its tracks while the central ad men, other than Draper and
scene-stealing Roger played by John Slattery, master of the one-line
quip... are really boys, seeming far too young for their very grownup
jobs... In fact, if you look at pictures of the real life ad-men: they are mostly
in their forties, or else look that way, as opposed to being
counter-culture whiners against capitalism... which wouldn't quite work
in this kind of job (only Joel Murray as normal-looking every-man Freddy
genuinely resembles one of the true advertising guys)... Also,
the series has to flow evenly with not only the soapy bedroom
diversions, but true stories taking shape, from JFK to MLK's
assassinations, in which these fictional characters flow through history
like Jack and Rose on the TITANIC... And in this, sometimes the
whole series seems geared towards a political agenda of sorts, more than
bordering on cliches and generic left-wing platitudes... the teenagers
are all dropout hippies who are smarter than the parents who raised (and
spoiled) them, all soldiers die in war, and every businessman has 100
affairs: with supermodels, no less... But for the most part, what
works is that Don Draper himself stays the same, with the slick short
hair and perfectly-suited stiff suit while those around him
progressively wear late-1960's-driven costumes (one major reason the
early seasons are the best)... And really, when it comes right down to it, MAD MEN is about one person despite all that's going on around him. Rating: ****1/2
THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON (2023)
Well if anything happens, and THE WALKING DEAD: DARYL DIXON doesn't become a big hit, then they could easily make a prequel taking place after the original about how exactly Daryl got from Georgia to France laying unconscious on an upturned canoe... and it's funny that Carol was originally supposed to be right alongside him... Although, taking place at a scorched-earth renaissance-era France (with a gigantic convent), the famous lone wolf fits better solo within this MAD MAX/Spaghetti Western hybrid: Making sense that Norman Reedus's primal, strong-silent-type would wind up on a series attempting to start an entire franchise from scratch...
But there are too many familiar elements for that: like a seemingly innocent group (the nunnery) that eerily keeps very-dead walkers alive (Herschel's barn to The Governor's town)... or protecting a person who might one day save everyone, which was Eugene's initial purpose and a little boy's plight here: basically replacing Daryl's Dog as a chaste sidekick to protect (along with two pretty Frenchwomen that look almost exactly alike, except one's a nun)... And of course there's the vicious living-human antagonist, and that particular character... a dire shaved-head killer... is the most intriguing thing here, but, based on this pilot episode, there's simply not a lot going on for the viewer to keep tuning into... After all, since the entire WALKING DEAD world is so absolutely doomed, battling dead people or not trusting (or taking five minutes in order to possibly trust) the live ones really doesn't make a difference: Because no matter where Daryl wound up, it's all the same formula... one that this series, so far, fails to either rise above or stand apart from. Grade: D
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 3 (2023)
Which might be the first time two main characters wanted out of their very own motion picture... and that's because they have very little to do with anything other than being parents of a college girl who's failing WHILE being pushed to date a mediocre dimwit college dude: neither interesting enough to be in a movie unless it was SUPPOSED to be about other people... and some of those people are also from the original... a romantic comedy that not only had an actual plot, but some tension and, what needs to happen in this particular comedy genre, an actual problem to resolve... which is completely missing here, and watching this bad sequel of a bad sequel... after a string of dead-end goofy-aunt jokes, cliche stereotypes, and some of the most awkward moments in cinema history... you too will need a vacation, and it's not even your movie. Score: 1/2
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