Red One

2024 MGM Amazon Studios

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 4min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Christmas ~ Comedy

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J. K. Simmons, Kiernan Shipka, Bonnie Hunt, Nick Kroll and Kristofer Hivju.

“Last night, Red One, also known as Saint Nicholas of Myra, was abducted from the North Pole Complex. And you’re gonna help us find him.”

J. K. Simmons stars as Saint Nicholas of Myra, code-named Red One by his security detail who follow his every step in and out of the North Pole. It is Christmas Eve and Nick, as everyone around the North Pole Complex calls him, is getting ready for his yearly marathon of delivering Christmas Cheer and presents to everyone around the world. He’s doing some last minute working out, lifting weights and bulking up on carbs or should we call that Christmas cookies. The entire complex is a beehive of activity as they prepare for the yearly run, it’s crunch time.

Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) is the head of Nick’s Security team and has taken a moment for himself outside before the action starts. He is standing in front of Saint Nick and Mrs. Claus’ (Bonnie Hunt) original small cabin, the area roped off as a major landmark in the complex, when he notices lights going off in the new high rise building that houses Nick and Mrs. Claus (Code-named MC) and all operations. Callum checks with part of the security detail in the building and starts asking for Red One’s location. Frantic as no one can find Nick, Callum makes his way to Red One’s living quarters and finds the window open. He rushes to it and sees a Snow vehicle racing away and orders his team to lock the dome and complex down.

Whoever kidnapped Saint Nick gets away and Callum notifies Director Zoe Harlow (Lucy Liu) of M.O.R.A., The Mythological Oversight and Restoration Authority, about the incident that now threatens to keep Christmas from happening around the world from. Zoe decides that they need to enlist the help of Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans), better known as “The Wolf”, a world renowned cyber hacker infamous for being able to find anyone and anything worldwide. They bring him in and find out that he is unwittingly responsible for identifying and selling the secret hidden location of Saint Nick and the North pole. Director Zoe decides that Jack is going to help them locate Nick and his kidnapper, accompanied by Callum.

And what follows is the globe-trotting chase to find Saint Nick and bring him back before Christmas. It is a journey through Norse legend and folklore. There is the legend of Grýla, the shape-shifting Winter Witch with thirteen shape-shifting sons who chase evil children. And the legend of Krampus, Saint Nick’s adopted Evil Brother who developed The Naughty List against Nick’s better judgement and along with his ex-wife Grýla sought to punish the children on the naughty list. There are also hell hounds, Ogres, Trolls, evil snowmen, elves, Polar Bear security forces, giant Reindeer and a high tech sleigh the likes you couldn’t even dream of.

It is a hilarious Christmas Adventure through Christmas lore filled with action and one-liners like “I love the kids, it’s the grown-ups that are killing me.” It is a different take on the whole Santa Claus and the North Pole theme, the Nordic folklore tends to give it a darker feel. The North Pole, it’s operations and look are definitely more high tech than we are used to. J.K. Simmons being the Buff muscle-strapped Santa working up to the big night, complete with infinite Santa wisdom was a good choice. Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Bonnie Hunt and Lucy Liu were all good in this. The best part of the movie is the end. At the very end they show Santa, Callum and the Christmas team travelling all over the world doing their thing. It is a unique look and take on the whole operation.

So that’s a yes for me, something a little different in the Santa Movie category.

Two Thumbs Up!

Killers Of The Flower Moon

2023 Paramount Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 3 hr 26min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ Mystery ~ Romance ~ True Story ~ Western

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, John Lithgow, Scott Shepherd and Brendan Fraser.

“With it’s great black wings of spray, arcing above the rigging, it rose before them like an angel of death.”

In 1821 the Osage Indians were removed from their homes and land they had lived on for generations alongside the Osage river. They were relocated west to the US Government designated “Indian Territories” in Oklahoma. Their former home and lands were sold to white immigrant settlers while the Osage tried to survive on the unhospitable barren Oklahoma land that was foreign to them. It was given to them because none of the white people wanted to live there, being too barren and not much good for farming. They were the poorest people in the United States.

75 years later a group of Osage Indians were walking through the fields of flower blooms in the valley during the annual Flower Moon. The Flower Moon is a name given to the full moon in May by the Osage people because of the flower blooms that take place every year. During May in the Oklahoma hills and valleys of the Indian Reservation, the fields of blooming flowers die out when taller plants crowd them out. The Osage refer to the month of May as “The time of the Flower Killing Moon”. As they were walking they came to a clearing and a patch of mud. Suddenly out of the middle came a geyser of black oil.

The Osage people were sitting on a vast underground oil reserve and almost overnight became the richest people in America. Because nobody wanted the land in the beginning, they had been given and retained all the mineral rights to the land. Almost overnight, the oil companies and oil prospectors invaded the once undesirable Oklahoma land, driven by greed and the temptation of riches beyond the imagination. The money flowed quick and in great volume. Suddenly it became fashionable for a white man to marry into an Indian family and acquire the rights by marriage, or by murder if necessary. It is against this backdrop that KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOONtakes place.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Ernest Burkhart who has just returned home to Oklahoma having been discharged from the army due to a health issue. He returns to his Uncle William Hale’s (Robert De Niro) farmhouse where he is reunited with his brother Byron Burkhart (Scott Shepherd). Uncle William informs him of the current climate amid the oil rush in the county. He tells Ernest that it would serve a fellow well if he were to wed into an Indian family with “Headrights”, he and his family would do very well for themselves. Ernest soon falls for an Indian woman named Mollie (Lily Gladstone), who’s mother and sisters own a very large chunk of “Headrights”. William tells Ernest that Mollie’s mother Lizzie is on her deathbed and soon Mollie would follow.

The Osage People were becoming victim to the white man’s diet and sugary confections. Diabetes was becoming very common and many died from lack of care. And Mollie had diabetes like her dying mother. They were also falling victim to the white man’s greed as Osage people were suddenly becoming victims of violent murders and poisonings referred to as “The Wasting Deaths”. Being Indian deaths there was not much concern for how they were dying, nor any inquiries into why. The foul play and deception led to a string of murders that was brought to the attention of Calvin Coolidge by Mollie. The President brought together a group of highly skilled detectives and law men to investigate. They were the unofficial beginnings of The FBI.

When the FBI arrived and started to investigate, they discovered a plot hatched by William and his family to deceive the Osage people and acquire mineral rights for his family at any cost, even if it meant poisoning and killing. This is unfortunately a True Story, based on the book by David Grann, Killers Of The Flower Moon. It is a long movie coming in at 3 hours and 28 minutes, but it is a good one. A fascinating tale of greed, betrayal and deception. I really liked Lily Gladstone in this, thought she did an excellent job. Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro were great as always. It is well shot, great cast, great director, great story…..what’s not to like? Well, maybe the length…….

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!

Napoleon

2023 Apple TV+

Rated : R

Length: 2 hr 38min

Action ~ Biography ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ History ~ War

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby.

“People are driven by misery to revolution…..and brought back by revolution to misery.”

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Napoleon Bonaparte, the future Emperor of France. As the movie opens in 1793 amidst the French Revolution, Army officer Napoleon is watching the beheading of Marie Antoinette by the guillotine. He is soon offered the role of dealing with the British siege and driving the British ships out of the city’s Harbor. Being a skilled Army Officer with an astute knowledge of how to defeat and overcome the enemy, he studies the British and lays out a plan that succeeds. He is later charged with proving himself by being tasked with squashing the Royalists uprising. During the following celebrations of freedom after his success, a woman catches his eye and he can’t quit staring…………

Josephine De Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby) approaches him and asks him why he is staring. That is the beginning of their life-long romance story. She is an Aristocratic widow with two children and it is not long before Napoleon and Josephine are married. Napoleon quickly rises up the ranks of the new French Government and is put in charge of the Army and France’s new security in the world. Eventually Napoleon and fellow collaborators overthrow the new French Government disagreeing with their leadership and handling of France. Napoleon quickly rises up to become the Emperor of France.

All the while he is off fighting for France, he pines for Josephine and their tumultuous relationship and marriage, neither being faithful yet loving and missing each other. Josephine’s affairs draw attention from the press of the day and Napoleon is constantly ridiculed for his promiscuous wife. Adding to their troubles is her attempts at getting pregnant and not producing an heir for the throne of France. Eventually under the pressure of producing an heir Napoleon is forced to publicly divorce Josephine and marry a y0unger woman who can produce a son for the throne.

It is a mighty epic of a film chronicling:

The History of France from the time at the end of the French revolution in 1793 through the final exile of Napoleon in 1815 to the island of Saint Helena off of Africa.
The main historic battles that Napoleon led and fought during his lifetime.
The tumultuous and lifelong relationship and love between Napoleon and Josephine up until both of their deaths.

It is fairly long at 2 hours and 38 minutes but it passed very quickly for me as I became very engrossed in the story and the movie. The directors cut is three hours and 24 minutes. I almost wish I had watched it instead. Director Ridley Scott says that it better fleshes out the movie compared to the theatrical version. It is well shot, the battle scenes are very realistic, like you were back in those times sitting right in the middle of it all watching the fighting all around you. The costumes and scenery were well designed, again you feel like you were transported back to that time sitting right in the middle of history, observing.

Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby did an excellent job of portraying Napoleon and Josephine, I thought they were perfect. And Joaquin as the shrewd military man outwitting his opponents was a wonder to watch. I really liked the Battle of Austerlitz scene where Napoleon dresses as a peasant to survey the surroundings and the enemy forces. He comes up with this brilliant plan and sets up camp at the edge of a frozen lake. Recently covered with snow it is hidden. He lures the enemy forces in and then broadsides them on both sides, forcing them onto the frozen lake as the only means out. Once he has them trapped on the ice he bombards the ice and they are all doomed to a frozen eternity.

I thought it was really good, an excellent very Epic Historic and Biographical War drama. I think Ridley Scott outdid himself with this Epic Portrayal.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!

Wolfs

2024 Apple TV+

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 48min

Action ~ Comedy

Directed by: Jon Watts

Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, and Poorna Jagannathan.

“You take a job, you give your word, and that word is the measure of a man.”

George Clooney stars as a New York fixer called by a distressed woman in an upscale Manhattan Hotel room. She was given the number by a friend with the instructions only to call when you find yourself in a dire situation that puts you at odds with the law. She had picked up a young man downstairs in the hotel bar and taken him to her room. Now he is lying in his underwear in a pile of glass, bleeding and seemingly dead. Panicked she has called the number her friend had given her. The fixer who won’t give out his name (and for the purposes of this review shall be called Clooney) instructs her to stay put and don’t touch anything, not even a drink.

Clooney arrives and proceeds to question her and investigate the body lying on the floor. Before he can get started “Fixing” the situation, there is a knock at the door. Before they can address who it might be, someone enters and they both hide. Brad Pitt enters the room and after convincing them to come out, tells them he is the “Fixer” she called. “Fixers” don’t like to use their names so from here on out the second anonymous “Fixer” shall be called Pitt for this little review. As there is some confusion as to which fixer got called first and who is going to “Fix” the situation, Pitt points to the hidden camera in the corner of the ceiling and calls his boss.

She then explains to both fixers and the distressed woman, Margaret (Amy Ryan) who just happens to be The District Attorney of Manhattan, that they will all be involved in cleaning up the mess in her hotel. Clooney and Pitt reluctantly agree to work together and clean up Margaret and send her home with explicit instructions to not look back and “This never happened”. As they are cleaning up the young man and the mess Pitt discovers a backpack filled with 4 bundles of Heroin. Definitely a snag as they both realize that someone will be looking for the drugs and need to address that side of the situation.

What follows is a comedic action filled drama as Clooney and Pitt try to get rid of the body and the drugs. They soon realize through many twists and turns that nothing is as it seems, and they find themselves in the crosshairs of more sinister situations. Right up until the end it does keep you guessing as to what is really going on. It does get a little hard to follow as it twists and turns through the underworld of The Albanian and Croatian Crime Families. Clooney is what you expect, the seasoned professional jeering at the younger newbie Pitt. Reminds me of Ocean’s 11 and their chemistry in that movie.

At the very end as the credits roll there is a video clip of the hotel’s camera footage that really explains a lot and kind of ties the whole plot together. I nearly missed it as the “Next Movie” on the streaming service cut it off. I had to go back to catch the rest of it. So don’t miss that if you watch the movie. I liked it, I thought Clooney, Pitt, Ryan, Abrams, Jagannathan and Buric(who I remember from 2012) all did a great job. There was talk of a sequel but the Director called it off after Apple broke it’s word and contract by keeping the movie solely for their streaming site rather than releasing it theatrically.

Greedy and selfish if you ask me. On researching this movie I discovered the hidden secret on streaming services, they are not our friends. Kidnapping and selfishly holding Major Picture Releases for hostage under the guise of getting more subscribers. I have a ton of movies to review this week but I am going to make room for an Editorial on the Streaming Services and their practices.

So, yes I liked it but I don’t think I would watch it again. Just not that memorable. There are better Clooney-Pitt movies and given Apple’s greed I think I will boycott it and never watch it again. So if you want to watch it you have to subscribe to Apple TV+ for 10.99 a month, or get their free 7 day trial for new subscribers and then cancel within the 7 days. No charge and the movie is yours to watch in that period.

Two thumbs up, maybe……

Greyhound

2020 Sony Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 31min

Action ~ Drama ~ History ~ War

Directed by: Aaron Schneider

Starring: Tom Hanks, Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan, and Elisabeth Shue.

“The only thing more dangerous than the front lines was the fight to get there.”

Tom Hanks stars as US Navy Captain Ernest Krause commanding his first ship, The USS Keeling Destroyer codenamed “Greyhound”. The year is 1942 and Greyhound is assigned as an escort to a convoy of 37 merchant and troop ships headed for Liverpool, England. They have aircraft escorts as well, but they can only fly so far before they reach the point they have to fly back before they run out of fuel. Same thing on the other side of the Atlantic, the British escort fighter planes can only fly out to meet them so many miles. The middle of the Atlantic between these two Airplane boundaries where there is no Air protection from the Nazi U-Boat Submarines was called “The Black Pit”.

The Nazi U-Boat name was short for the German word “Unterseeboot”, meaning Under Sea Boat, shortened to U-Boat. It is the German term for Submarine. It was in The Black Pit where the German U-boats took advantage of the Convoys lack of air cover to hunt ships in the convoys. Without air support they were easy targets. They would typically travel in packs referred to as Wolfpacks to better hunt and sink Allied convoy ships. “Greyhound” details the 40 hour journey across the Black Pit by Captain Krause and his crew aboard the USS Keeling. As one of the four escort ships they encounter numerous U-boats and fight to destroy them and keep the convoy safe.

It is a stress filled, adrenaline fueled 40 hours fighting off ruthless U-boat attacks from every direction. There is little time for eating and no time for sleeping during the highly dangerous passage. Tom Hanks does an excellent job of portraying the Captain on his first mission across the Black Pit, displaying all the various emotions a first time Captain put into that precarious situation must have felt. The loss of men and ships weighing heavily on the man assigned to keep losses from happening. Stephen Graham also does a good job of portraying Lieutenant Commander Charlie Cole. You might remember him as “Baby Face Nelson” in Public Enemies(2009) or as “Tony Pro” Provenzano in “The Irishman”(2019), he has been in a lot of movies.

Elisabeth Shue plays Captain Krause’s girlfriend but you only see her in the very beginning of the movie before he departs out to sea. I thought it was a really great depiction of what it must have been like to cross the Atlantic during WWII. It is a nail-biter that will keep you on the edge of your seat as U-boats seem to come out of every direction to hunt and kill. It is based on the novel The Good Shepherd by C. S. Forester. Although not a true story, it is a pretty accurate account of the crossing by hundreds of Convoys during WWII. During the course of the war there were 3,500 ships carrying millions of tons of cargo sunk. 72,200 souls were lost forever on those ships.