Black Adam: Blockbuster effort

Movie Review: Black Adam (2022) on HBO Max

Finally, the antihero joins the leagues of mighty superheroes seeking justice for mankind. This in the skin-tight uniform of 5,000-year-old Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson), who is revived in modern day society seeking vengeance against anyone who opposes him.

He isn't your typical superhero, saving the day. No, he's hellbent on destroying everything in his path, whoever is in his path. And it isn't until the very end that he sees a place for himself in the pantheon of goodness that is the Superhero Universe. But he has plenty of good guys on his side trying to persuade him there's a place for him. 

Everyone likes a story of redemption and this is the ultimate bad guy leading to good guy tale. And who represents the good guy story better than Dwayne Johnson? He also makes a very good antihero. Bring those two together and Black Adam makes for an amazing on-screen performance.

I don't think this film has gotten the credit it deserves for storytelling and character development. And with some post-release development, I'm not sure there's much place for the character to grow beyond here, but for all the right reasons, Black Adam is a great film with a good script, good acting, good effects, and great directing. I'd rate it B++ for Blockbuster effort. Definitely deserves your attention.

Red Notice: Just too much fun

Movie Review: Red Notice (2021) on Netflix

Red Notice, starring Dwayne Johnson, Gal Godot, and Ryan Reynolds, is just too much fun. That's mostly because Ryan Reynolds is in it to add quirky humor, but also because Dwayne Johnson is kind of a cornball himself. Together, well, you're going to have a great time watching this combination of James Bond flash-bang and Indiana Jones swashbuckling adventure. Said enough?

Gal Godot is there for the sizzle, and sizzle she does. Think of her role as Wonder Woman 1984, and just change her outfit to modern femme fatal spy and you get the idea. She handles a spear and a pistol with equal ease!

This film is heavily plot driven, but the motion is accelerated by intense chase scenes, fight exchanges, and lots of quick give-and-take dialogue between the characters, which keeps the pace lively. Don't plan any bathroom breaks during the film! This is an action film.

Here's the gist of Red Notice: Good guys, bad guys, and guys in between are on the hunt for three rare eggs artistically created and gifted to Cleopatra and then mysteriously separated over time. One is in a museum, one is in a private collection, and one hasn't been seen for hundreds of years. A multi-billionaire wants to reunite them as a wedding gift for his daughter. Dwayne Johnson plays an FBI profiler who arrives on the scene aware someone is plotting to steal the museum egg. Ryan Reynolds plays the second most successful art thief, who tries to steal the museum egg and wants to move onto the privately held egg. Gal Gadot plays the first most successful art thief, who is plotting to outdo Ryan Reynolds' character and show up Dwayne Johnson, and beat them to finding the third egg. And let the thieving begin.

This is a great romp. You won't know who to trust. I would rate Red Notice an A++ for way above average.

Jungle Cruise: Have you seen this somewhere before?

Movie Review: Jungle Cruise (2021) on Disney+

Have you seen Disney's Jungle Cruise, in theaters and on Disney+? You wouldn't be wrong if you thought you had seen it before. It's loosely based on Disney's theme park ride of the same name. And it brings back memories of John Huston's The African Queen (1951), although that was set in Africa and this is set in Argentina. Loose memories, because beyond the opening scenes of a jungle cruise complete with pun-spinning boat captain, faked nature attacks, and other things you might remember from your own adventure at Disneyworld, this story goes well beyond the quick romp on a controlled course. 

As the story goes, British adventurers Lily Houghton (Emily Blunt) and her brother MacGregor (Jack Whitehall) are on the hunt for a legendary arrowhead sought by Conquistadors during the conquest of South America. It is rumored to lead to a fabled tree of life that can heal all ills, which the Houghtons want to bring back to save their father. Their search also involves German Nazis who escaped Europe in the final days of World War II and headed to Argentina with a mysterious shipment. 

Arriving in South America, the Houghtons meet up with one Frank Wolff (Dwayne Johnson), who runs the fastest tour boat and has spent his whole life scouring the tangled jungle of rivers Emily and MacGregor intend to search hunting the arrowhead. He knows the territory, they have thousands of dollars in funds to help him get his boat out of hock and save his touring company. 

This film also has a lot in common with Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), too, in style, substance, and tone. Just like Indy, Frank must guide a feisty woman through the jungle, battling Nazis (or their leftover stuff) and jungle natives to find a treasure. Danger lurks everywhere. There may be a giant warehouse involved. 

Jungle Cruise borrows from The African Queen in its ramshackle boat and its battle against a German ship (here it's a submarine) and its gritty captain. There is also a very similar river-rapids scene. 

Borrowing so much from other films and a tourist attraction, what's left for a film crew to do? Well, there is plenty. The cast is pretty good, including some fun scenes with Paul Giamatti as a financier eager to extort money from Frank Wolff's business. And there's lots of special effects as centuries old Conquistadors are reanimated from death in the jungle. Oh, and a pretty good chase scene in a mining tunnel (nothing as thrilling as the one in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). If you like puns, the jungle tour at the beginning is full of them and there are a few more sprinkled toward the end, but my experience is puns are an acquired taste.

So, this film is a mixed bag. Disney decided to make more money out of its theme park ride by making a movie out of it. This isn't an original idea. They borrowed a bunch of things from other films, also not an original idea. It was fun but not something to build an evening around. Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are good in it, so there's that. I'd give it a C+ for Could Do Better.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle: A Great Laugh for the Whole Family

Movie Review: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Version: Library borrow

I haven't enjoyed a movie like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in a long time -- it was full of laughs! Grab-your-tummy laughs. Laugh-out-loud laughs. Giggle in your guts laughs.

Four misfit teens end up in detention at school. Rather than sitting at desks doing boring homework for detention, they're assigned to pull staples from old magazines as punishment, and unsupervised by the school counselor, they look for other diversions when they become bored to tears. Spencer (initially played by Alex Wolff) finds a dusty old video console with a game cartridge, which he hooks up to a dilapidated old analog TV. One by one Spencer and the other characters come over and pick out game characters to play. Spencer is a quiet nerd. Fridge (initially played by Ser'Darious Blain) is a tall, over confident jock. Bethany (initially played by Madison Iseman) is a self-absorbed blonde bomb. Martha (initially played by Morgan Turner) is a reclusive girl who lacks self confidence. As they pick out different macho sounding game characters and start the game, they are sucked into the console and are brought into the jungle land of Jumanji.

As Spencer, Fridge, Bethany, an Martha arrive, they become the characters they have chosen -- and totally unlike themselves physically. Spencer is this tall, handsome, muscular heroic figure (played by macho man Dwayne Johnson). Fridge is a short, scrawny Black dude (played by fearful comedian Kevin Hart). Bethany the young and beautiful becomes this squat, fat, bearded older dude (played by Jack Black). And Martha the insecure and unsocial becomes the fearless and badass (played by Karen Gilann). Into the story, they are joined by Nick Jonas as Alex, who had been an earlier player lost in the game and unable to escape on his own but learns to team up with the others to battle the game.

As with the original movie Jumanji, the idea is that once you begin playing you can't quit until you finish the game, and you face many ultimate dangers. In this case, the players are set on an island jungle where they must find their way across the land to locate a stolen jewel and return it to its rightful place. Working against them are a plethora of jungle animals and the bad guy who originally removed the jewel from its place of honor. As with many video games, the players are given clues and goals to accomplish before they can reach each step of the game. And each character they play has abilities and weaknesses, which they can use to help them or which provides conflict in reaching their goals. And each character has three lives to spend trying to reach their goals. If they are killed, they come back.

What's so amazingly fun about this movie is watching Johnson, Hart, and Black play reverse roles from their stereotypes. Johnson the testosterone-driven hero becomes a mild and meek guy unsure of the way to proceed. Hart whose character originally is this self-confident jock becomes this insecure little man. Black plays off femininity and girlish charm while oozing fat-old-guy ugliness. And they're hilarious. There's a scene in which Hart and Black have to take a leak and Black, originally a girl, discovers her penis for the first time, and it's handled with sensitivity but it's so funny. Just seeing Jack Black play a light-headed, self-absorbed beauty queen is uproariously funny. And when Nick Jonas's character Alex arrives, Jack Black's character Bethany becomes so giddy. Again, so funny! Karen Gilann's character Martha becomes a badass martial artist, often a scream as she tackles bad buys on motorcycles or in a fight in the jungle.

The situations the writers put these characters and actors into are imaginative and simply fun to watch. And as the story progresses, you watch them grow as persons, so this isn't just a movie about jokes, there's a message there, too.

When the movie was over, we discussed which version of Jumanji we liked best. My daughter and I thought we liked Welcome to the Jungle best. My wife thought she still liked the original best, despite having spent a good portion of Welcome to the Jungle giggling with the two of us. In my humble opinion, you get the adventure, the conflict, the danger, and the great characters of the original in this second film, but you get the added benefit of tons of laughter. And darn it, as much as I loved the late Robin Williams in the original, there was something really original about the casting of Johnson, Hart, and Black in Welcome to the Jungle.

If you want a movie where you can relax over a good laugh -- no, a great laugh -- definitely see Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. You won't regret it. Giggles for the whole family.

Central Intelligence: Watch It for the Comedy and the Actors and You'll Be Fine

Movie Review: Central Intelligence (2016)
Version: HBO on demand

Central Intelligence is a great vehicle for Kevin Hart, maybe not so much for Dwayne Johnson. For Kevin Hart, it shows great range as an actor. For Dwayne Johnson, it rips apart his image as a macho tough guy with softer edges -- his character is a vulnerable guy bullied as a teen, which despite reworking his tubby body into a muscular powerhouse wimps out at the sight of his former bullies.

That said, Central Intelligence is innocent fun for weekend entertainment. The gist of the film is Calvin Joyner (played by Kevin Hart), once elected in high school as most likely to succeed who finds himself 20 years later married to his prom queen high school sweetheart a less than successful accountant, while she's a full partner at a top legal firm. His biggest decision is whether to accompany her to the high school reunion, when out of nowhere comes Bob Stone (played by Dwayne Johnson), a dweeb embarrassed the day of the prom by bullies by forcing him in a full auditorium naked, to the roar of the crowd. But Stone is now totally different, chiseled into a slim, muscle-toned Adonis. Back in high school, Calvin had been Bob's only friend, offering Bob his letter jacket to sneak out of the auditorium, and he wants to make connections with Calvin again, meet up over some drinks. Rather than meet with his wife, Maggie (played by Danielle Nicolet) to discuss going to the class reunion, Calvin chooses the meet up with Bob. And thus ensues an unlikely alliance that becomes an enlistment to help Bob on a CIA mission to secure national secrets, much to Calvin's distaste.

Central Intelligence is a comedy, with Dwayne Johnson playing up a very insecure Bob Stone. It's almost creepy the ease with which he assumes this character. Kevin Hart is masterful as the man out of his element who definitely doesn't want to be there but shoved into the role, but still resisting all the way. Well into the film arrives Justin Bateman as Trevor, the high school bully become stock trader who amiably assists the secret agent duo in uncovering a stock trading code, but then turning on a dime to return to his evil self to torment them. He's actually quite good at playing a bully. Amy Ryan plays Agent Pamela Harris, head of a CIA team trying to stop Bob, who they suspect of being a double agent, and Bob, who they see as his accomplice. Johnson gets to flex his muscles and kick a few asses, so he isn't totally out of his element, and so Central Intelligence also gets to be a typical spy movie at the same time.

There isn't much by way of technology, design, or special effects to make this film stand out. It's all about the comedy and minimal action. Watch it for the story and actors and you will be fine. Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.

The Fate of the Furious: A Swift Kick in the Gear Box

Movie Review: The Fate of the Furious (2017)
Version: Library borrow

The Fate of the Furious isn't your daddy's Fast and Furious, little buddy. The eighth movie in the franchise series starts off on the fast and furious streets of Havana, Cuba, with a street race, but that's where the hot-car thrills end. Dom (played as always by Vin Diesel) is recruited by a bad-ass fem antagonist to go after world-class weapons of mass destruction, even betraying his closest friends who go in hot pursuit. And no one can figure out what turned him from a good guy into a bad guy. It turns out bad-ass fem Cipher (played by Charlize Theron) has a couple of hostages in tow who are close to Dom's heart, and she won't release them until Dom helps her capture a Russian submarine along the coast of the frozen Barents Sea.

Back are Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Dom's former love interest and now wife; Tyrese Gibson as Roman; Ludacris as Tej Parker; and Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey, the new crew member rescued in episode 7. Also back are Dwayne Johnson as Federal Agent Hobbs and Jason Statham as Deckard, who were at each others' throats in episode 7 but now reunite to go after Dom to stop Cipher. Shepherding resources to support the crew is Mr Nobody (played by Kurt Russell), who now has an assistant, Little Nobody, played by Scott Eastwood. Helen Mirren gets a cameo role as Magdalene Shaw, Deckard's mother, whom Dom meets to enroll Deckard's help.

Now, even without the street races, there are still plenty of thrills in this film with lots of hot cars and military hardware to pump up the action, on the streets, in the air, and across the ice. And what would a Fast and Furious movie be without some male bravado and back talk? Yep, that's there, too.

As always, it's the action that makes this movie, but it wouldn't be the Fast and the Furious without the characters, with their sassy interplay. After seven episodes, the actors have the mojo down pat, and this ensemble cast is perfect in making everything work. You can even let the glaring plot holes pass because the action and the characters are so fun to watch. Mentioning the plot holes would require telling more of the plot, which would entail spoilers, so I won't go into detail, but I'm sure you won't have any trouble spotting the plot holes on your own. Anyway, you don't go to see a film like The Fate of the Furious for airtight plots, you go for the action.

The Blu-ray version of the movie includes a set of very interesting extras, including some insights into the Cipher character. If you can afford to buy or rent it instead of the standard DVD, I would do so. And by all means, for a fast and furious evening of fun without spending a lot of time thinking, pop in The Fate of the Furious and enjoy the show. It's a swift kick in the gear box!

Moana: One More in a Long String of Disney Hits

Movie Review: Moana (2016)
Version: Library Borrow

Moana is a larger than life ancient Polynesian-island adventure featuring a fearless heroine and a reluctant demigod at odds over rescuing the island's people from a natural disaster the demigod caused from long ago. It requires the chieftain's impetuous daughter to disobey her father's command to remain on the island, daring to escape the boundaries of safety to seek a resolution only the bravest soul may face.

This fine family film features the voices of Aul'l Cravalho as the heroine, Moana, and Dwayne Johnson as the demigod, Maui. Together, they take you on a fantastic race across the seas and battle terrible foes to finally return the heart of the goddess Te Fiti to its rightful place and bring life back to Moana's island and, thus, sustenance back to her people. You are immersed in a world of myth, magic, and music!

The animated characters are lovable, the action thrilling, the backgrounds and colors brilliant, and the story line intriguing. This is one more in a long string of Disney hits featuring adept female heroines that everyone in the family can enjoy. It well earned its two Oscar nominations (Best Animated Feature Film and Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures [Original Song]) and another 11 wins and 67 nominations for other awards including Golden Globes and BAFTA.

Kick back with the family some evening or weekend and enjoy Moana, an entertaining bit of Polynesian mythology that's fun for all ages!