Our Little Secret

2024 Netflix

Rated: TV-14

Length: 1 hr 41min

Christmas ~ Comedy ~ Romance

Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Ian Harding, Tim Meadows, Jon Rudnitsky, Judy Reyes, Henry Czerny, Chris Parnell, and Kristin Chenoweth.

“This Holiday Season, you are invited to a very merry Ex-Mas.”

Lindsay Lohan stars as Avery Becker who works at her own Consulting Firm. Avery is getting ready to go on a long Christmas weekend visit to her boyfriend’s family’s house for the first time. She stops by her father’s house on the way while her boyfriend Cameron Morgan (Jon Rudnitsky) waits in the car. Her Dad is selling the house and has a box for her as he is weeding through his belongings. It is a box of old pictures of her mother and her ex-boyfriend. Her mother had passed away and she had broken up with her ex-boyfriend years ago. Avery and her ex had grown up together, became best friends and eventually dated as their relationship became very serious. After Avery’s mother died she had gotten a job offer in London and decided to take it against her ex’s pleading for her to stay. It ended their relationship in a really bad way.

Avery and Cameron head to his parent’s house as he re-assures Avery who is extremely nervous at meeting his family. Cameron’s Mother Erica (Kristin Chenoweth) greets them at the door with her small pet dog Veronica, and as Avery reaches to pet Veronica, she growls and snaps at her. Erica accepts the bottle of wine that Avery has remarking,” Oh…a screw-top.” and as she looks Avery up and down finishes with, “Fast and easy.” Off to a great start, Avery grabs a glass of Champagne from the waiter in the house and slams it. As she is introduced to everyone, Cameron’s sister Cassie arrives with her boyfriend and enters through the back into the kitchen. Avery is called to come meet Cameron’s sister and her boyfriend and as she enters the kitchen she is surprised by……..

Logan (Ian Harding), her lifelong friend and ex-boyfriend who she had broken up with to go to London ten years earlier. Trying to downplay the fact that they know each other, Avery quickly extends her hand and says, “So nice to meet you.” A little later Avery sees an opportunity to talk to Logan alone and explains to him that it is in their best interests to keep their past a secret for the weekend. As the knowledge of their lifelong friendship and relationship would lead to a very long awkward weekend. Logan reluctantly agrees and they shake hands on it and head back to the family and their boyfriend and girlfriend.

As the weekend progresses it becomes harder and harder for them to pretend they never knew each other as feelings of the past surface in both of them. Things get even more complicated when Cameron and Cassie’s younger brother overhear Avery and Logan talking and blackmails them to keep their secret. Cameron’s ex-girlfriend who he hasn’t seen in years and obviously has feelings for suddenly shows up and announces she’s moving back to town. As Avery and Logan try to hide and deny the feelings they have for each other, and try to keep the little brother from squealing, and Cameron gets keen on his ex-girlfriend, they are forced to deal with unexpected twists and turns that lead to a fiery Christmas Eve collision.

It is an interesting plot and dilemma for Avery and Logan. I liked how the movie started, nice graphics and a great story intro, it has a great soundtrack as well. I thought it was well played out. Humorous and in the end very touching. I loved the SNL alumni Tim Meadows and Chris Parnell, it was nice to see them in this. Kristin Chenoweth is funny as the evil mother Erica who means well. Lindsay Lohan and Ian Harding were great together.

I thought it was a great little Christmas Rom-Com. Definitely worth a watch.

Two Thumbs up!

Hot Frosty

2024 Netflix

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 32min

Christmas ~ Comedy ~ Fantasy ~ Romance

Directed by: Jerry Ciccoritti

Starring: Lacey Chabert, Dustin Milligan, Katy Mixon Greer, Lauren Holly, Chrishell Stause, Joe Lo Truglio, and Craig Robinson.

“You’ll never find the warmth unless you venture out into the cold. Good things happen to you when you venture out into the cold.”

Lacey Chabert stars as Kathy Barrett who lives in the small town of Hope Springs, New York. It is Christmastime and there is snow on the ground, cold in the air and Christmas decorations all around town. Her husband, who was a handyman, died of cancer two years ago. Her heating furnace is broke, the roof leaks and there is a broken step on her staircase. Every morning when the alarm goes off she deals with the cold in her empty house, the broken step as she goes down the stairs and empties the bucket catching the snowmelt from the leaky roof. Then she heads downtown where she owns a little diner named Kathy’s Kafé.

Her Chef Isaac looks out for her making sure she is well fed and runs the Diner in her absence. After the breakfast rush, Kathy delivers lunch to her friends Theo and Mel across the street who own Reclaimed Rags, a clothing shop. Mel tells her she has something for her, she had just gotten in a red winter scarf and it reminds Mel of the night she met the love of her life Theo. Mel thought of Kathy and wants her to have it. Kathy passes the snowman display in the center of downtown and notices one of the snowmen doesn’t have a scarf. She decides that’s where the scarf belongs and places it around the snowman’s neck.

Later that night as the town has gone to sleep, the snowman comes to life. Seeing himself in a store window and realizing he is naked, he breaks the glass on Reclaimed Rags storefront and steals clothes to wear. The next morning as Kathy arrives downtown to work at her Diner she notices a man (Dustin Milligan) wearing only coveralls talking to the other snowmen. Concerned about his well-being she talks to him and he tells her that after she placed the scarf around his neck last night, he came to life. Kathy is convinced that he is a drifter that is not quite right and invites him into the diner to warm up and get some hot food. She is concerned about him as she realizes his skin is ice cold to the touch and might have hypothermia so she takes him to the town Doctor.

Kathy takes him home with her while she tries to figure out what to do with him. Over the course of the next several days he grows on Kathy as Jack (the name she got from the coveralls he was wearing) continuously shows his gratitude at her saving him from being a snowman. Meanwhile the town Sherriff Nathaniel Hunter, who has delusions of being a great crimefighter and law enforcement man, vows to bring the culprit to justice for breaking the Reclaimed Rags storefront window. Jack Snowman causes quite a stir around town with the women who see him, and can’t seem to stay out of sight as Kathy has instructed.

So Jack the Snowman is hot because his inner core is ice, hence the name Hot Frosty. He is slowly melting (sweating) as the days pass and Sherriff Hunter hunts down the new criminal in town. It is a Christmas Movie, a Holiday Rom-Com complete with a love story, a snowman come to life, an over achieving Sherriff and a town full of people who believe in the Christmas Spirit. There are shades of the movies Jack Frost and It’s A Wonderful Life in Hot Frosty. In Jack Frost a man becomes a snowman, in Hot Frosty, a snowman becomes a man. Similar to It’s A Wonderful Life, the towns people come together to raise money to help free Jack from the mean old Sherriff who tries to control the town.

It is everything you would expect from a Christmas movie, it is Cheesy, Campy, Goofy, Funny and Heartwarming. Lacey Chabert is very likeable as Kathy, Dustin Milligan grows on you as he warms up on screen, and Craig Robertson is hilarious as the overachieving Sheriff trying to “catch his man”. There is a scene right after the end as the credits roll where Craig Robertson and Joe Lo Truglio are outside singing and playing a keyboard in the snow….

Crime doesn’t pay

not in here, not today

here in Hope Springs.

Don’t try and break the law

It’ll be a tragic flaw

here in Hope Springs……

As they show clips of outtakes and bloopers from the set. Don’t miss it, it’s hilarious.

Definitely worth a Christmas watch.

Two Thumbs up!

Fly Me To The Moon

2024 Sony Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 12min

Comedy ~ Drama ~ Romance

Directed by: Greg Berlanti

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, Ray Romano, Woody Harrelson, Jim Rash and Anna Garcia.

“The whole world will be watching. We can’t afford to lose. We need to be prepared to present an alternate version of the moon landing.”

Scarlett Johansson stars as Kelly Jones, an advertising executive working in Manhattan. The year is 1968, Richard Nixon is President, the Vietnam war consumes the news broadcasts and the US Government and NASA are in a “Space Race” with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union successfully launched it’s Sputnik Satellite into orbit in 1957, being the first country to do so. The United States followed a year later and the race between the two superpowers to be the first in space became a US priority until the Vietnam War took precedent. Kelly is very good at her job and has built a reputation as one of the best advertising executives around. Just having won a major contract with Ford for their Mustang, she is celebrating in an upscale Manhattan Bar when she is approached by……………..

Woody Harrelson AKA Moe Berkus, who works for the President Of The United States. He explains to her that The Government is concerned about the public’s waning support for NASA amidst the Vietnam War. He wants to hire her to run NASA’s new public relations department and get the Apollo Space Mission, and it’s goal of being the first on the moon, back into the public consciousness. He also blackmails her with a folder containing the secrets of her past. She must accept the job and Moe promises that the folder and her past will disappear never to be seen again, or it will be made public if she refuses. Seeing no choice she accepts and Kelly and her assistant (Anna Garcia) fly to Cocoa Beach, Florida to begin their work. After checking into a hotel, Kelly heads to a diner to get a bite to eat and start working on her agenda.

Channing Tatum, who stars as NASA Flight Director Cole Davis, walks in to get a cup of coffee and a meal to go. He notices Kelly sitting at a table and is immediately smitten with her and strikes up a conversation. He leaves after getting his food to go but comes back in to confess that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen but now is not a good time for him. The next day as Kelly is starting her PR campaign with her assistant at NASA, she enters into a classified area where they are building the Apollo 11 rocket. Cole and his right hand man Henry Smalls (played by Ray Romano) immediately escorts her out and shows her where her new office is in a storage close, and advises her to stay out of their way.

Moe Berkus shows up at Kelly’s Hotel room one night to explain to her that as NASA prepares the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon, they must prepare for any outcome. Since Kelly has come up with the grand idea to televise the moon landing and put a camera on the lunar lander, they must make sure that no matter what, that is what America watches on TV. Moe wants her to secretly stage a real life replica of the Moon landing in an abandoned hanger on NASA property. It must look like the real thing and nobody must know. Kelly reluctantly agrees and brings in her best Director (Jim Rash) Lance Vespertine.

What follows is a hilarious journey and look at the Apollo 11 mission as it races towards launch day. Being replicated in secret on NASA property by Kelly and Moe, as Cole and Henry are pulling the real thing together. A romance has blossomed between Kelly and Cole and the tension is palatable as they try to do their jobs and not upset the other in doing so. In the end they come together to join forces to outsmart Moe who insists on televising the fake landing no matter what. Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson were awesome in this, I loved their chemistry together. Ray Romano is loveable as Cole’s assistant Harry. Jim Rash is goofy but loveable as Lance Vespertine. And you gotta love Woody Harrelson as the very secretive Government man who knows everything about everything.

The movie is based on the true story of the Apollo Space program and the Apollo 11 mission of being the first men on the moon. It is also based on the completely unfounded conspiracy theory that NASA and the Government cooked up the ruse to fake the Lunar landing just to beat the Russians in the space race. I thought it was a great story and a great movie. An excellent Rom-Com Drama well directed and filmed. The Ryan Gosling movie First Man is also a fascinating look at the Apollo program and the Apollo 11 mission, also well worth a watch.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

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!

The Lost City

2022 Paramount Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 1 hr 52min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Comedy ~ Romance

Directed by: Aaron and Adam Nee

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Brad Pitt.

“Dulcius Ex Asperis……..Sweeter after difficulty.”

Sandra Bullock stars as Loretta Sage, a widowed Adventure Romance Novelist whose life and career has been very negatively affected by her husband’s death five years ago. Her Publisher Beth Hatten (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) has been trying desperately to save her career from going down the tubes and with it her livelihood. She has hired a younger woman to run her social media campaigns and has arranged a highly publicized book tour for Loretta. As Loretta and her publisher arrive at the first stop and public appearance on the tour, Loretta is dressed in a purple sequin sparkly jumpsuit against her better judgement. Beth tells her how important this is and that she also booked……..

Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum), the cover model who portrays the hero Dash in her Romance Novels. Loretta is horrified and wants nothing to do with it but is convinced by Beth to “Go On with the show.” The appearance ends in disaster when Loretta accidentally gets Alan’s wig caught in her watch as she tries to rip off Dash’s shirt to satisfy the female crowd yelling for Dash to do so. Alan falls off the stage and Loretta is left onstage with his wig dangling from her watch. She rushes off stage and heads outside. The doorman calls a car for her, but before it comes she is forced into a car and taken to meet……….

Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), a billionaire who has discovered a lost city on a remote island he believes might be where the lost treasure, The Crown Of Fire is located. He believes that Loretta and her late husband had done extensive research on this subject and will be able to help him decipher the scrolls that reveal the exact location. He explains that he has kidnapped her and they are flying to the island he now owns. As they arrive and Abigail persuades Loretta to cipher the information he needs, Beth and Alan are busy trying to figure out what happened to Loretta. Alan thinks he knows someone who can help find her and calls……..

Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt), a former Navy Seal and a CIA operative. Together Alan and Jack fly to the island to free her. Jack turns out to be a complete bad-ass, a one man army. Kind of like Denzel Washington in The Equalizer Movies, using everything in the room as a weapon to quickly decimate the enemy. From here on out it is a hilarious action-filled adventure as they free Loretta and traipse through the jungle running from the billionaire and his henchmen. There is one last scene in the movie with Brad, Sandra and Channing that appears halfway through the end credits. If you’re not paying attention to the credits you might miss it, it changes what you think is the end of the movie before the credits.

I have seen it three times and still enjoyed it. It is goofy, funny, full of silly one-liners, a rom-com in the end and a great action adventure comedy. I really liked Brad Pitt as Jack Trainer, Channing Tatum is laughable and loveable as “Dash”, and you gotta love anything Sandra Bullock is in.

Two Thumbs up!