Best Sellers: Amazing storytelling with Michael Caine

Movie Review: Best Sellers (2021) on Starz 

If you're into books and authors and wonderfully flawed characters, Best Sellers is the film for you. Aubrey Plaza plays the owner of a strapped boutique publishing house desperate to unearth a money making author from its backlog of past successes. She stumbles onto boozing, irritable old cuss Michael Caine, who owes them a manuscript but isn't happy to comply. (Who swears better on film than Caine?) Plaza gives the driver in Drive My Car a run for her money, driving Caine around (not sure where, actually) in his Jaguar promoting his "bull-shite" book during a raggedy book tour first in bookstores, then bars, hoping to revive the glory—and sales—of his original bestseller of 50 years ago. But wait, there isn't more! And the two discover way more to the secret life of a successful book sale than Plaza's character ever dreamed. Well done and Caine is his crusty, soddy best as a character actor playing a leading role. I rate Best Sellers A++ for Amazing storytelling.

Home Team: Could be better

Movie Review: Home Team (2022) on Netflix. 

Kevin James comedy vehicle based on a true story about an NFL head coach suspended for a year for targeting opposing-team players for injury during play. He isn't allowed to pursue any other professional coaching activities, so he returns home to the family from which he has been ostracized and becomes interested in coaching his son's high school football team. Very few really funny moments but a good human interest story as he learns to nurture family relationships gone sour while still pursuing the game he loves. Interesting to see how far Taylor Lautner's film career has fallen since his Twilight days to play a losing high school coach. I'd rate it C+ for Could Be Better.

Metal Lords: So much heart!

Movie Review: Metal Lords (2022) on Netflix

Charming tale of two high schoolers with minimal band skills who try to whip together a heavy metal band in time for the school Battle of the Bands on a dare. All they need for the big day is a bass guitarist, but their one good choice is a girl with major mental health problems who doesn't take her meds regularly. There are lots of conflicts with the "cool" kids in school, not to mention unsupportive parents and the band's leader, who has a massive chip on his shoulder. There are a ton great scenes of the kids practicing their music to learn what they consider the classics of heavy metal and what are the misfits of school becoming close friends and a force of misunderstood music. But I was most impressed with the actors taking on these huge character rolls.

Massive kudos to the young actors (Jaeden Martell, Adrian Greensmith, Isis Hainsworth) who apparently can actually play instruments or fake it really well, and the bass cellist has many young Judy Garland and Liv Tyler screen moments in this film (watch her eyes!). And Greensmith performs a monster soliloquy moment during speech class comparing heavy metal to Ulysses and other literature classics in a bid to win over fellow students to liking the musical genre, then suddenly turns on Hainsworth in a fit of anger for trying to steal his best friend, Martell—all full of passion. 

WARNING: These kids are often soft spoken and you might be tempted to turn the sound up, then find yourself rushing to grab for the remote when the next moment you need to turn it down again for the full-on musical jams. We settled for sound down and closed captions for dialogue.

Also contains mucho adult language, but this film mostly has mucho heart! Rate this film A++ for Audacious, dude!