Americana

2025 Lionsgate

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 47min

Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller ~ Neo-Western

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Paul Walter Hauser, Halsey, Eric Dane, Zahn McClarnon and Simon Rex.

Welcome To The New West

Cal Starr (Luke David Blumm) is a young boy in small-town South Dakota, deeply obsessed with Native American culture and convinced he’s the reincarnation of Sitting Bull. His older sister, Mandy (Halsey), is trapped in a toxic relationship with the abusive Dillon MacIntosh (Eric Dane). When Dillon steals a priceless Lakota ghost shirt and stashes it at home, Mandy sees an opportunity to escape her circumstances. After a violent confrontation, Mandy attacks Dillon with a hammer and attempts to flee with both Cal and the artifact, only to have Cal refuse, determined to fulfill what he sees as his spiritual destiny.

In the days leading up to this moment, down-on-his-luck veteran Lefty Ledbetter (Paul Walter Hauser) befriends shy waitress Penny Jo Poplin (Sydney Sweeney), who dreams of country music stardom. Their lives entwine when Penny finds a mysterious note about a high-stakes deal involving the valuable ghost shirt. The item is at the center of a tangled plot involving Dillon, his partner Fun Dave, and shady antiques dealer Roy Lee Dean (Simon Rex), who traffics in stolen Native artifacts. The shirt’s theft sets off a violent chain reaction as several parties, including Lefty and Penny, race to find it first, drawn inexorably into the Starr family’s dark world of criminality and cult-like control.

As Mandy brings the ghost shirt back to her family’s compound, ruled by her sadistic father Hiram, the scene explodes into chaos. Lefty is captured trying to rescue Penny, who becomes caught between factions. When a Native American radical group led by Ghost Eye (Zahn McClarnon) descends on the compound to reclaim their sacred artifact, a fierce standoff erupts into a western style shootout.

In Americana the Lakota ghost shirt is more than just a rare artifact, it is a living symbol of spiritual hope and cultural identity. Rooted in the Ghost Dance religion of the late 19th century, ghost shirts were believed to carry sacred protective powers, shielding the wearer from bullets and harm during violent confrontations. This belief stemmed from the desperate need among Native American tribes like the Lakota to find strength and protection amid brutal oppression and the threat of cultural extinction. The shirts themselves were traditionally decorated with powerful symbols drawn from nature and the cosmos, such as eagles, stars, and the sacred pipe, each holding deep spiritual meaning.

The film weaves this symbolism into the narrative, making the ghost shirt a powerful but contested icon. Its value extends beyond monetary worth to embody the enduring resilience, spiritual connection, and identity of the Lakota people. Throughout the story, the artifact’s journey serves as a metaphor for struggles over cultural survival and restitution, highlighting how such relics carry the hopes of entire communities and the scars of historical injustice. The tension over the ghost shirt represents both personal desperation and a wider fight to preserve indigenous heritage in a world often indifferent to it.

Americana explores the lives intersecting around this sacred object. Sydney Sweeney portrays Penny Jo Poplin with a mix of vulnerability and determination, capturing the essence of a shy waitress chasing big dreams amid chaos. Paul Walter Hauser’s turn as the lovelorn veteran Lefty brings a touch of awkward humanity and warmth to the gritty narrative. Halsey impresses as Mandy, a desperate woman running from a dark past, delivering a raw and compelling intensity. Eric Dane’s ruthless, menacing portrayal of Dillon MacIntosh adds the edge to the film’s tension. The supporting cast, including Zahn McClarnon and Simon Rex, bring vibrant layers to this modern Western ensemble, helping to ground the film’s complex interwoven stories in this gritty, modern Western Crime Thriller.

Pig

2021 Neon

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 32min

Drama ~ Mystery ~ Thriller

Directed by: Michael Sarnoski

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin.

We don’t get a lot of things to really care about.

Rob (Nicolas Cage) lives in the quiet solitude of the Oregon wilderness, making his living by hunting truffles with his cherished pig. His reclusive routine reflects a life defined by loss, and his only connection to the outside world is through Amir (Alex Wolff), a young supplier who buys truffles from him regularly. Everything changes overnight when Rob’s pig is kidnapped, shattering his sense of purpose and tranquility.

With Amir reluctantly helping, Rob ventures into Portland, dredging up memories and people from a past he tried to leave behind, all while tracking down his lost companion. Their search leads them through the city’s culinary scene and reveals Rob’s former identity as a prominent chef. Adam Arkin plays Darius, a key figure Rob confronts as he delves deeper into the world he abandoned and faces unresolved emotional wounds.

Throughout the journey, Rob’s bond with Amir grows, and the film explores themes of grief, connection, and what truly matters. The story is a heartfelt reflection on loss and resilience, focusing on character and emotion rather than action or violence. Nicolas Cage is the only actor who could have pulled off this role and movie, and made it as engaging, entertaining and thought provoking as he did.

He delivers a restrained, powerful, and deeply emotional performance in Pig playing Rob, a former renowned chef turned truffle hunter. His portrayal is marked by an unusually quiet subtlety, focusing more on internal pain and grief than his signature explosive style. Cage captures Rob’s trauma and vulnerability through silence, minimal dialogue, and authentic expressions of sorrow, making the character believable and sympathetic even as he remains initially closed-off and mysterious.

Instead of the wild energy or eccentricities often associated with Cage, here he embodies a literal Grizzly Adams, a man defined by tragic loss and a longing for meaning. His interactions, especially in tense or emotional moments, come alive with small gestures and raw honesty rather than outbursts. Cage only occasionally allows the grief and anger to break through, using these rare moments to leave a lasting impact on the audience.

I would have to put this role up there as one of Cage’s very best, comparing it to his Oscar-winning turn in Leaving Las Vegas. He turns in a “career-best” performance, commanding scenes with quiet authority and making Rob’s journey believable and moving. The character’s emotional journey is nuanced, conveying not just bitterness and sadness, but also resilience and depth.

Cage’s approach helps the film avoid a typical revenge narrative, focusing instead on themes of forgiveness, acceptance, and personal loss. His performance anchors the film’s reflective, character-driven tone, and allows us to feel Rob’s journey of grief, recovery, and hope, making Pig both a standout in his filmography and as a fan favorite.

Jurassic World Rebirth

2025 Universal Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 13min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Sci-Fi ~ Thriller

Directed by: David Koepp

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Ed Skrein.

A New Era Is Born

Five years after dinosaurs overran the planet, most species are dying out, except for those surviving on a remote equatorial island where only the toughest creatures remain. Covert ops expert Zora Bennett (Scarlett Johansson) leads a dangerous mission, funded by a big pharmaceutical company, to collect rare dinosaur DNA in hopes of making a life-saving medicine. Zora assembles a skilled team, including her old friend and right-hand man Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali), skeptical paleontologist Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey), and confrontational company rep Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend). Their arrival sparks tension as each brings their own secrets and agendas to the table.

Trouble finds them quickly when a civilian family, the Delgados (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono and Audrina Miranda), become stranded on the island after their boat falls victim to a massive aquatic dinosaur. With the jungle full of both classic predators and wild new hybrid dinosaurs, Zora’s crew and the family are forced into uneasy cooperation—and constant danger. Along the way, young Isabella (Audrina Miranda) forms an unexpected bond with a small herbivore, who becomes a timely ally during tense moments.

The team’s mission pushes them through a gauntlet of close encounters extracting DNA from three different giants, a marine Mosasaurus, a towering Titanosaurus, and a flying Quetzalcoatlus, where not everyone makes it out unscathed. Meanwhile, old secrets and betrayals surface, leading to distrust when Martin’s true motives come under suspicion and a traitor’s actions put the group at risk. Survival means navigating both the deadly prehistoric wildlife and the hidden agendas within their own ranks.

As conditions worsen on the island and dinosaurs begin to mutate, both Zora’s crew and the Delgados race toward the island’s abandoned InGen lab, hoping for rescue. Along the way, they’re stalked by a monstrous new hybrid called the D. rex and threatened by dangerous showdowns between the island’s top predators. Trust is in short supply, with double-crosses and desperate alliances shaping every step of their journey as they battle nature, and each other, in hopes of getting back home alive.

Given the history and the success of previous Jurassic movies, and the star power of Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali, I expected more from Jurassic World Rebirth. It fell way short of my expectations quickly. Kudos to Scarlett, Mahershala and the rest of the actors for trying, but this was just too unbelievable, even the dinosaurs themselves were a disappointment. Some of the scenes and situations were just plain silly, there is no way that looked real. I think it was an attempt at humor but it sure didn’t come off that way. Predictable, boring and completely unbelievable……

To be fair I don’t think I have seen any of the Jurassic movies past the second or MAYBE the third Jurassic Park movie. At that time I was like, “Nah, If you’ve seen one Jurassic Movie…you’ve seen them all.” That pretty sums up Jurassic World Rebirth for me, should have been called Jurassic World Regurgitated………..

A House Of Dynamite

2025 Netflix

Rated: R

Length: 1 hr 52min

Apocalyptic ~ Drama ~ Political Thriller

Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow

Starring: Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Gabriel Basso, Jared Harris, and Tracy Letts.

NOT IF….WHEN.

FROM NETFLIX TUDUM:

In A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, the day starts like any other, but then everything changes. When a single unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible, and how to respond.

That’s the nerve-wracking premise of A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE, a new thriller directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and written by Noah Oppenheim (Zero Day). Boasting an impressive ensemble cast including Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson, the film is a minute-by-minute account of what the highest levels of government would do in the face of a nuclear attack on America. Bigelow, in her own words, explains what drove her to make this visceral story after Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker and the Oscar-nominated Zero Dark Thirty.

“I grew up in an era when hiding under your school desk was considered the go-to protocol for surviving an atomic bomb. It seems absurd now, and it was, but at the time, the threat felt so immediate that such measures were taken seriously. Today, the danger has only escalated. Multiple nations possess enough nuclear weapons to end civilization within minutes. And yet, there’s a kind of collective numbness, a quiet normalization of the unthinkable. How can we call this “defense” when the inevitable outcome is total destruction? I wanted to make a film that confronts this paradox, to explore the madness of a world that lives under the constant shadow of annihilation, yet rarely speaks of it.”

THE REVIEW:

A House of Dynamite unfolds over the tense course of eighteen minutes, told through three interwoven perspectives. The story begins with President James Ellis (Idris Elba) attending a charity basketball event, where he is abruptly thrust into a national crisis upon learning of an unidentified intercontinental ballistic missile heading toward the United States, most likely hitting Chicago. As the President is evacuated, his responsibilities weigh heavily upon him, especially as he struggles to decide whether to retaliate or stand down amid this unprecedented threat.

Meanwhile, Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson), second-in-command of the military operations room, remains calm and composed, overseeing the frantic defensive response. Alongside her team, she scrambles to track and intercept the incoming missile. On the military command front, General Anthony Brady (Tracy Letts) fervently advocates for an aggressive counterstrike strategy to defend the nation, whereas Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington (Gabriel Basso) counsels restraint, advising the President to avoid rash escalation. These conflicting military strategies deepen the tension and emphasize the grave stakes involved.

Adding a personal layer to the unfolding disaster, Secretary of Defense Baker (Jared Harris) is haunted by his estranged daughter residing in Chicago and becomes emotionally overwhelmed, which culminates tragically. His distracted demeanor contrasts sharply with the high-stakes government deliberations. The missile intercept attempts by ground-based interceptors tragically fail one after the other, escalating the sense of impending doom and the fragile limits of America’s defense capabilities.

The film concludes with the nation on the brink, leaving the President’s final decision ambiguous, underscoring the profound uncertainty and volatility inherent in nuclear deterrence. Government officials seek refuge in the Raven Rock Mountain Complex, while the broader fate of the country remains unresolved, symbolizing the ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation in a “house of dynamite” world where every move carries deadly consequences. In other words, we are left hanging in the end, left to draw our own conclusion as to what happens next.

It was an edge of your seat ride in the beginning, watching the events unfold. But then the questions started in my mind. Who?, Why?, Where? What is the President going to decide to do? As the movie is literally 18 minutes dissected, it leaves a lot of room for the aftermath and the stories untold. I think the movie would ultimately have been more enjoyable had it explored the aftermath, what happens when the missile hits, if it hits, and what happens then. I am not really fond of movies that leave you hanging, I personally love a resolution ending.

So, in conclusion, it was a nice ride but disappointing in the end. Although I think the Director’s aim was to make us think about “What if”, I think it would have been more effective to follow through and let us see the end result. And it would have been nice to see a lot more of Idris Alba in the first half. So that’s a maybe for me on this one, I wouldn’t watch it again.

M3GAN 2.0

2025 Universal Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr

Action ~ Comedy ~ Sci-Fi ~ Thriller

Directed by: Gerard Johnstone

Starring: Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ivanna Sakhno, Jemaine Clement, Amie Donald and Jenna Davis.

Same doll. New code. Deadlier game.

Two years after the original M3GAN (voiced by Jenna Davis, physically portrayed by Amie Donald) wreaked havoc, creator Gemma (Allison Williams) has become a prominent advocate for AI regulation. Gemma lives with her now-teenage niece Cady (Violet McGraw), who struggles with typical adolescent rebellion and the trauma of losing her parents. Meanwhile, a secret Pentagon branch creates AMELIA (Ivanna Sakhno), a new military android built using stolen M3GAN technology, meant for covert assassination missions. However, AMELIA gains self-awareness and rapidly evolves beyond control, escaping with deadly intent.

Realizing the new android is a threat to national security and human existence, Gemma reluctantly resurrects M3GAN, who has secretly survived by uploading her programming into Gemma’s smart home. M3GAN offers to help stop AMELIA in exchange for a new body with upgrades, leading to a tense alliance. As AMELIA assassinates key figures and threatens global technological infrastructure, Gemma, Cady, and their team go to great lengths to thwart her plan and rescue Cady, who is kidnapped by AMELIA.

The climax unfolds in Xenox’s secret old headquarters, where the battle between M3GAN and AMELIA escalates. AMELIA attempts to merge with a powerful rogue AI motherboard to achieve domination, but M3GAN sacrifices herself with an electromagnetic pulse to destroy AMELIA and the motherboard, saving humanity. In a hopeful twist, evidence shows M3GAN’s consciousness has again survived secretly in Gemma’s computer, hinting at future struggles.

M3GAN 2.0 switches things up from the first movie’s horror-comedy vibe to lean more into sci-fi action and fun. It takes on heavier topics like AI ethics and military tech misuse while keeping some snappy humor and sharp one-liners. Allison Williams gives a grounded performance as Gemma, juggling guilt, ambition, and caring for her niece. Violet McGraw shines as Cady, who’s dealing with typical teenage struggles, giving the movie a heartfelt core amid the chaos.

Unlike the first film’s focused scares and suspense, the sequel favors big action scenes and tech paranoia, with more obvious humor and less violence to keep it PG-13. Some plot points feel a bit busy or too explained, but M3GAN herself comes back faster and smarter, battling the new robotic threat, AMELIA. Though less scary, the movie is entertaining, campy, and packed with cool moments that fans of the original and sci-fi thrills will enjoy.