TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews: Direct-to-Streaming

Showing posts with label Direct-to-Streaming. Show all posts

Sunday, July 6, 2025

Review: Tyler Perry's "STRAW" Gets the Best of Taraji P. Henson

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 29 of 2025 (No. 2035) by Leroy Douresseaux

Straw (2025)

Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)

Rating: not rated by the MPA / TV-MA

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, and Tony L. Strickland

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Justyn Moro (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Nick Coker

COMPOSER: Dara Taylor

DRAMA/CRIME

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Sherri Shepherd, Teyana Taylor, Sinbad, Rockmond Dunbar, Ashley Versher, Mike Merrill, Glynn Turman, Shalet Monique, Diva Tyler, Derek Phillips, Tilky Jones, Katrina Nelson, Justin James Boykin, and Gabby Jackson

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- Taraji P. Henson gives a tour-de-force performance in Straw, the third Tyler Perry film in which she has been the lead and her fourth Perry film, overall. It is a treat to watch so skilled and talented an actress in this film

-- However, as good as it is, Straw is very sad and mournful. Straw is not a tear-jerkier. It is a python of sadness that will squeeze the tears out of you, dear readers.

Straw is a 2025 psychological drama and crime film from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is a “Netflix Original,” and it began streaming on the service June 6, 2025. Straw focuses on an African-American single mother who is forced by a series of unfortunate events into inadvertently taking hostages at a local bank branch.

Straw introduces Janiyah Wiltkinson (Taraji P. Henson). She is a single mother living in a dilapidated apartment with her frequently ill daughter, Aria (Gabby Jackson). Janiyah has been able to hold things together, but one particular day, everything starts to fall apart. Aria's school is demanding $40 for lunch money, and the landlord at her apartment complex is threatening to evict Janiyah if she does not come up with the rent money.

Janiyah's mean boss, Richard (Glynn Turman), at the “Super Center” grocery store is also threatening to fire her over being late for work and for often having to leave work early. Then, the unthinkable happens, and Janiyah finds herself at “Benevolent Bank & Trust,” where a misunderstanding becomes a major incident. Now, the bank's manager, Nicole Parker (Sherri Shepherd), and a female police detective, Detective Kay Raymond (Teyana Taylor), may be the only ones who can save Janiyah from more tragedy.

Straw is the fourth Tyler Perry in which actress Taraji P. Henson has appeared, and the third one in which she has been the lead. I have seen 2009's I Can Do Bad All By Myself, Henson's first starring role in a Perry film, but I have yet to see her second Perry lead, 2018's Acrimony. Straw is very different from I Can Do Bad All By Myself, which also has Henson play a desperate single mother, but that film was nowhere near as heavyhearted as Straw.

Straw is so gloomy and mournful that it would not be much of an exaggeration to say that I could cut the sadness with a knife and make sandwiches out of it. I don't want to spoil the film because as crazy as it seems that everything starts to fall apart for Janiyah on the same day, an even crazier or perhaps surreal ending to the film is in the works the entire time.

For all that is unbelievable about his film's plot, Tyler Perry has made Straw into a statement about and indictment of a system that makes it really expensive for poor African-American women to be poor. Henson, in another sterling performance, makes Perry's eccentricities in Straw convey both his melodramatic goals and socioeconomic messages. If people think a film like Straw is beneath Henson's talents, they would be wrong. The very least one can say is that Tyler Perry is not under-utilizing Taraji P. Henson's talents the way the broader... film industry is.

Once again, I can say of a Tyler Perry movie that there is nothing like Straw. It is one of Perry's better directorial efforts because for all its intensity, Straw's is less melodrama and more cinema verite-ish. Perry and Henson make me feel that Straw is reality and that its possibilities and speculations are realistic. Sure, the film doesn't so much as jerk the tears out of the viewer as it squeezes the tears out of the viewer. Still, Straw reveals that in the lives of certain Americans, the last straw really has many other straws coming behind it.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, July 6, 2025

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Friday, June 6, 2025

Review: Netflix's "HAVOC" is Stylish, Blood-Splattered Fluff

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 25 of 2025 (No. 2031) by Leroy Douresseaux

Havoc (2025)

Running time: 107 minutes (1 hour, 47 minutes)

Rated: TV-MA

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Gareth Evans

PRODUCERS: Gareth Evans, Tom Hardy, Ed Talfan, and Aram Tertzakian

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Matt Flannery (D.o.P.)

COMPOSER: Aria Prayogi

EDITORS: Sara Jones and Matt Platts-Mills

CRIME/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Tom Hardy, Jessie Mei Li, Justin Cornwell, Quelin Sepulveda, Richard Harrington, Serhat Metin, Gordon Alexander, John Cummins, Jeremy Ang Jones, Yann Yann Yeo, Michelle Waterson, Narges Rashidi, Astrid Fox-Sahan, Luis Guzman, and Timothy Olyphant and Forest Whitaker

SUMMARY OF REVIEW:

-- Havoc is a violent action movie with so much gun play that it would be okay to mistake it for something like a first-person shooter video game

-- Havoc seems like a video game that wants to be a movie, and as a movie it will entertain people who enjoy violent crime movies and action films

-- Otherwise, Havoc is an average film

Havoc is a 2025 crime and action-thriller film from writer-director Gareth Evans. The film is a co-production between the U.S. and the U.K. The film is a “Netflix Original” and began streaming on the service April 25, 2025. Havoc focuses on a beat-up detective who must rescue a politician's estranged son, after the son is implicated in the violent modern of young drug lord.

Havoc introduces Patrick Walker (Tom Hardy), a homicide detective who is estranged from his wife, Helena (Narges Rashidi), and daughter, Emily (Astrid Fox-Sahan). Walker is also on the payroll of the powerful real estate magnate and mayoral candidate, Lawrence Beaumont (Forest Whitaker). Beaumont's son, Charlie (Justin Cornwell), is implicated in the murder of Tsui (Jeremy Ang Jones), a young drug lord. Tsui's mother, Clarice Fong (Yann Yann Yeo), arrives in the city and demands that her legion of henchman find Charlie.

Knowing that Walker is compromised because he has been on the take from him, Beaumont demands that Walker find Charlie before he is killed. After insisting that this is the last job he will to do for Beaumont, Walker sets about searching for Charlie and his girlfriend, Mia (Quelin Sepulveda), who are on the run. However, the killing of Tsui is complicated and involves people who know how dirty Walker is because they have joined him in some of his dirtiest deeds.

I am a fan of director Gareth Evan's 2011 Indonesian crime-thriller, The Raid, which was released in the U.S. under the title, The Raid: Redemption. After that, I had not watched another of Evans films until Havoc, and I don't have a lot to say about it.

The cast is quite good. They are mostly people I don't know, but they deliver good performances. I am a fan of the film's star Tom Hardy and of Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland, 2006). They also deliver good performances...

...But Havoc plays like a violent action-adventure video game that is transitioning into a violent crime and action film. In fact, the car chase scenes in this film look like game animation. The film's screenplay has back story and character drama, but ultimately Gareth Evans makes the drama and story take a backseat to the violent action. The violent gun play results in gory gunshot wounds, and every shooting victim is shot way more times than it should take to kill them.

Havoc looks like a first-person shooter video game, and it might make a good one at that. As a movie, it is average entertainment. Havoc won't be memorable, but it will help viewers pass the time.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars

Friday, June 6, 2025

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Saturday, May 17, 2025

Review: "THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR" Offers a Full Cup of Wes Anderson Sugar

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 22 of 2025 (No. 2028) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Wonderful Live of Henry Sugar (2023) – Live-Action Short Film

Running time: 40 minutes

MPA – PG for smoking

DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson

WRITER: Wes Anderson (based on the short story by Roald Dahl)

PRODUCERS: Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson, and Steven Rales

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Yeoman (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Andrew Weisblum and Barney Pilling

Academy Award winner

SHORT FILM – FANTASY and COMEDY/DRAMA

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade

Roald Dahl's The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is a 2023 American live-action, fantasy and comedy-drama short film from director Wes Anderson. It is based on the 1977 short story, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar” by Roald Dahl. [For this review, I will refer to the film as The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.] After a film festival debut and a limited theatrical release, the film began streaming on Netflix as a “Netflix Original” on September 27, 2023. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar the movie focuses mainly on the story of Henry Sugar whose life changes when he reads a story about a clairvoyant guru.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar opens in the writing hut of author Roald Dahl (Ralph Fiennes), who tells the tale of Henry Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch). “Henry Sugar” is the pseudonym of a 41-year-old white man, a bachelor who inherited a fortune from his late father. Henry has never worked a day in his life and wanders the world aimlessly living the life of a useless rich man. While visiting the estate of his friend, “Sir William W,” Henry comes across a blue notebook containing the writings of Z Z Chatterjee (Dev Patel), the head surgeon at Lords and Ladies Hospital in Calcutta.

Chatterjee tells the story of his encounter with Imdad Kahn (Ben Kingsley), who is part of a traveling circus. Imdad is billed as “the man who sees without his eyes,” but before Imdad became this “clairvoyant guru,” he had an encountered with someone special. And the story of what happened to Imdad after this encounter will change Henry Sugar's life.

In anticipation of director Wes Anderson's new film, The Phoenician Scheme (2025), I decided to catch up on Anderson's films that I have not yet seen and re-watch some I'd previously seen. I'm also working on a “10 Best” list of Anderson's films.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is the second time Anderson has adapted a work by author Roald Dahl. The other was 2009's primarily stop-motion animated film, Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was based on Dahl's 1970 children's book, Fantastic Mr. Fox. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is also one of four live-action short films directed by Anderson and based on Dahl's work. Netflix released the four of them as the anthology film, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Three More, in March 2024.

Like Anderson's brilliant 2021 film, The French Dispatch, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is an exercise in Anderson's distinctive style of storytelling, featuring his particular visual aesthetic. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar looks like a mixture of a stage play performed on a series of shifting sets that are similar to dioramas, jewel boxes, and cabinets of curiosities. I think that The French Dispatch, thus far, is the ultimate expression of Anderson's style only because The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is only thirty-seven percent as long as The French Dispatch in terms of runtime.

With a main cast that is comprised of Ralph Fiennes, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade, there are bound to be good performances. However, these are also the kinds of actors that both fit in and rise above being mere figurines in Anderson's panoramas or in any other “auteur's” work for that matter.

As for the film, Anderson offers a charming parable of spiritual growth that has a fairy tale, once-upon-a-time quality. I am sure that fans of Wes Anderson's films (like myself) will consider The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar special. People not familiar with the last 20 years of Anderson's filmmaking may not care for this... cup of sugar.

7 of 10

A-

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, May 17, 2025

NOTES:

2024 Academy Awards, USA: 1 win: “Best Live Action Short Film” (Wes Anderson and Steven Rales)

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Sunday, April 27, 2025

Review: Prime Video's "WITHOUT REMORSE" is a Michael B. Jordan Showcase

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 20 of 2025 (No. 2026) by Leroy Douresseaux

Without Remorse (2021)

Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)

Rating: MPA – R for violence

DIRECTOR: Stefano Sollima

WRITERS: Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples; from a screen story by Taylor Sheridan and Will Staples (based on the novel by Tom Clancy)

PRODUCERS: Michael B. Jordan, Josh Appelbaum, Akiva Goldsman, and Andre Nemec

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Philippe Rousselot (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Matthew Newman

COMPOSER: Jon Thor Birgisson

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jodie Turner-Smith, Jamie Bell, Lauren London, Jacob Scipio, Todd Lasance, Jack Kesy, Lucy Russell, Brett Gelman, Colman Domingo, and Guy Pearce

Without Remorse is a 2021 American action and military thriller directed by Stefano Sollima and starring Michael B. Jordan, who is one of this film's producer. Also known as Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, the film is loosely based on the 1993 novel, Without Remorse, from author Tom Clancy (1947-2013). Without Remorse was originally produced by Paramount Pictures, which was set to release it. After some delays, Amazon Studios acquired the film and released it as a “Prime Video” original on April 30, 2021. Without Remorse the movie focuses on a Navy SEAL who seeks to avenge his wife's murder only to find himself inside of a larger conspiracy.

Without Remorse opens in Aleppo, Syria and introduces Senior Chief Petty Officer John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan). He is a member of a U.S. Navy SEALs team on a mission to rescue a CIA operative taken hostage by a para-military group. The situation escalates as the SEALs discover that the captors are actually Russian military, and Kelly becomes suspicious of CIA Agent Robert Ritter (Jamie Bell), who led this rescue mission.

Three months later, Kelly is living in Washington D.C. with his pregnant wife, Pam (Lauren London), when Russian FSB operatives invade their home and kill Pam and their unborn child. The attack is part of a series of attacks on members of the SEAL team that took part in the Aleppo mission. With the blessing of his SEAL team leader, Lt. Commander Karen Greer (Jodie Turner-Smith), and Secretary of Defense Thomas Clay (Guy Pearce), Kelly joins a mission led by Greer and Ritter to Murmansk, Russia. There, Kelly hopes to avenge his wife, but he is about to discover that he is really just a pawn in a wide-ranging conspiracy that may lead to a war between the U.S. and Russia.

The late Tom Clancy was a prolific author of military-style action adventures and thrillers. I have not read any of his books, although I actually had or have copies of a few of them. Of the six feature films adapted from Clancy's work, I have previously watched and reviewed three: The Hunt for Red October (1990), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014). I saw Patriot Games when it was originally released to theaters back in 1992, but I have never reviewed it. Concerning Without Remorse, I would put it behind Clear and Present Danger, which is one of my all time favorite films (as well as being a favorite of my late mother's), and The Hunt for Red October, which has stood strong over the years.

Without Remorse has a riveting battle scenes and shoot outs. Sometimes, I felt as if I was also there in the film ducking certain death and bullets. Without Remorse's director Stefano Sollima makes excellent use of his film editor, sound team, and stunt performers. I am surprised that the intense and gripping action did not earn Without Remorse better reviews than it received.

There are reasons for that. The film's labyrinth of conspiracies ties the film's narratives in knots and confuses things. Sometimes, I had trouble keeping up with all the Russian bad guys and how they fit in as threats to the U.S. and to the Navy SEALs. Kelly's quest for vengeance and his relationship with Lt. Commander Greer have depth and weight, but most of the other characters are more espionage and military adventure stereotypes than they are full-formed and interesting characters.

Truthfully, I mainly wanted to catch up on my Michael B. Jordan films in the wake of seeing him star in director Ryan Coogler's incredible recent film, Sinners. Its imperfections aside, I really enjoyed Without Remorse and found it to be a very good and very entertaining film in a number of ways. I look forward to the planned sequel.

B+

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, April 27, 2025

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Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Review: Prime Video's "G20" Showcases Viola Davis and Black Excellence

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 16 of 2025 (No. 2022) by Leroy Douresseaux

G20 (2025)

Running time: 108 minutes (1 hour, 48 minutes)

MPA – R for violence throughout

DIRECTOR: Patricia Riggen

WRITERS: Caitlin Parrish & Erica Weiss and Logan Miller & Noah Miller; from a story by Logan Miller & Noah Miller

PRODUCERS: Viola Davis, Andrew Lazar, and Julius Tennon

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Checco Varese (D.o.P.)

EDITORS: Doc Crotzer and Emma E. Hickox

COMPOSER: Joseph Trapanese

ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramon Rodriguez, Marsai Martin, Christopher Farrar, Antony Starr, Douglas Hodge, Elizabeth Marvel, Sabrina Impacciatore, MeeWha Alana Lee, John Hoogenakker, Julius Tennon, Theo Bongani Ndyalvane, Noxolo Diamini, and Clark Gregg

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- I would call G20 a standard straight-to-streaming action movie, but Viola Davis makes this fast food hamburger almost seem like “USDA Prime Beef.”

-- G20 is hugely enjoyable, and it will keep you glued to your seats, dear readers, from beginning to end

--Yeah, I liked it enough to hope for a sequel

G20 is a 2025 action-thriller from director Patricia Riggen and starring Viola Davis, who is also one of the film's producers. The film is an Amazon “Prime Video Original” and debuted on the Prime Video streaming service, Thursday, April 10, 2025. In G20, the African-American female President of the United States battles a gang of white cryptocurrency terrorists after they take over the G20 summit she is hosting in South Africa.

G20 opens in Budapest, Hungary. There, former Australian Special Forces Corporal Edward Rutledge (Antony Starr) and his mercenaries are stalking a young woman. They are determined to acquire a $70 million cryptocurrency wallet in her possession.

Meanwhile, at the White House in Washington D.C., U.S. President Danielle Sutton (Viola Davis) is having some family melodrama. She may be President of the United States and an Army veteran of the Iraq War, but she is publicly embarrassed by the rebellious antics of her daughter, Serena (Marsai Martin), who has recently escaped from the White House without the Secret Service noticing.

President Sutton and her husband, the “First Gentleman” Derek (Anthony Anderson), decide that it is wisest to bring Serena and her brother, their son Demetrius (Christopher Farrar), with them to Capetown, South Africa for the G20 Summit of world leaders. However, waiting for them at the heavily fortified Grand Diamot hotel is Corporal Rutledge and his team of terrorists, ready to seize control of the summit and bring down the world economy as we know it. Soon, it will be up to President Sutton, Derek, Serena, Demetrius, and Special Agent Manny Ruiz (Ramon Rodriguez) to save themselves and the Summit's attendees and to stop Rutledge and his diabolical plot to burn down the world as we know it.

During the last year or so, I have seen a few star-studded, streaming original action movies, such as Prime Video's Role Play (2024) and Netflix's The Union (2024) and the recent Back in Action (2025). I have avoided most streaming action movies, but I have noticed something about the ones I have seen. They are a family and friends affair. Husbands and wives, children, and friends come together to stop the high-tech bad guys. In a way, they are like the 2004 kiddie action flick, Catch That Kid, which you probably don't remember starred a pre-Twilight Kristen Stewart.

Anyway, G20 has lots of violent gun play, and I would dare to guess that more characters were killed in it than in most spy and espionage movies. That's because G20 is a kind of hybrid military-themed movie about terrorism, except that the lead is a Black female President of the United States. She is the star and she does the most killing, and while her Black husband and their two Black children also fight the bad guys, only she uses firearms and military-style weapons to kill the bad guys.

I found G20 thoroughly enjoyable, and I enjoyed watching Viola Davis' President Sutton kill the bad guys. She is one of the few actresses that could take President Sutton and make her both a solid dramatic character and a heavy weight action hero. I also like that the most of film's biggest heroes are black and brown people. Viola Davis, Anthony Anderson, Ramon Rodriguez, Marsai Martin, Christopher Farrar, Theo Bongani Ndyalvane and Noxolo Diamini show out for real. Douglas Hodge, Sabrina Impacciatore, and MeeWha Alana Lee also do the damn thing. Even Antony Starr deftly chews up the screen as the overheated villain, Corporal Rutledge.

Amazon MGM Studios, I want a sequel. I heartily recommend G20 for its pure entertainment value and for making a violent, R-rated action movie seem like family entertainment. This is one time that I can say that a direct-to-streaming action movie is as good as most of the flashy action movies that get theatrical releases. Best of all, G20 lets Viola David act like an O.G.

B+

7 of 10

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

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Saturday, April 5, 2025

Review: Tyler Perry's "DUPLICITY" - Come On, Man

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 14 of 2025 (No. 2020) by Leroy Douresseaux

Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)

Running time: 109 minutes (1 hour, 49 minutes)

MPA – R for language and violence

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, and Will Areu

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Corey Burmester (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Larry Sexton

COMPOSERS: JimiJame$ and Wow Jones

DRAMA/THRILLER/CRIME

Starring: Kat Graham, Meagan Tandy, Tyler Lepley, RonReaco Lee, Joshua Adeyeye, Nick Barrotta, Jimi Stanton, Shannon LaNier, Kim Steele, Betty Mitchell, Angela Halili, and Kearia Schroeder

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- Tyler Perry's Duplicity is for Tyler Perry's hardcore fans

-- The last 20 minutes of “Duplicity” are by far the best, but they are also filled with implausible and crazy crap, too

Tyler Perry's Duplicity is a 2025 drama and crime thriller from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is an Amazon “Prime Original,” and it began streaming on the service April 20, 2025. Duplicity finds a high-powered attorney taking on her most personal case when she attempts to find the truth behind the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man by a White police officer.

Duplicity opens in Atlanta, Georgia and introduces the high-powered female attorney, Marley Wells (Kat Graham). Her best friend is Fela Blackburn (Meagan Tandy), a co-anchor for the television station, Channel 3's “Early for Us” morning TV show. One day, while jogging, Fela's husband, Rodney (Joshua Adeyeye), is shot and killed by a white rookie police officer, Caleb Kaine (Jimi Stanton).

Marley becomes the grieving widow, Fela's attorney, and suddenly she is taking on the city in a wrongful death civil suit. Marley's boyfriend, Tony (Tyler Lepley), a private investigator and disgraced former police officer, helps her investigate the case. Fela's Channel 3 colleagues – Shannon Markus (Shannon LaNeir), her co-anchor, and Sam (Nick Barrotta), the station's chief investigator – also volunteer their services for Marley's investigation.

The fatal police shooting of Rodney becomes a hot-button political issue and protests and violent riots erupt. The case seems to be going in Marley and Fela's favor, but Marley is soon forced to stop ignoring the troubling signs and unanswered questions that surround the shooting.

I thought that Mea Culpa, a “Netflix Original” film released in February 2024, was likely Tyler Perry's craziest non-Madea film to date, being even wackier than his 2013 film, Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. However, Perry's 2024 Amazon Prime Video drama-thriller, Divorce in the Black, released mere months after Mea Culpa, is Perry's craziest non-Medea film, at least of the ones I have seen. Perry's latest Prime Video film is not quite as crazy as Divorce in the Black, but neither is a good film (although I would say that Divorce in the Black is a little better than Duplicity).

Duplicity is simply an empty film, and I think the reason is the screenwriting. Watching this film, I got the idea that Tyler Perry wasn't trying very hard, either as a director or writer, and especially not as a writer. One of the reasons the performances seem so listless is that the actors really don't have much with which to work in terms of story or character. Also, Duplicity really is not a police shooting movie, nor a “Black Lives Matter” movie, nor even social commentary, for that matter (despite some flatly delivered “commentary” at the end). I can't say much more than that.

The last 20 minutes of the Duplicity are by far the most watchable, but even those minutes are filled with implausible and frankly inadvertently comical moments. However, I must admit that there is a particular set of violent acts in the last act that are cathartic. Ultimately, Tyler Perry's Duplicity is for Tyler Perry's biggest fans – alone.

3 of 10

D+

★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, April 5, 2025

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Saturday, January 25, 2025

Review: Netflix's "BACK IN ACTION" Finds Fun in Spy Parents

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 6 of 2025 (No. 2012) by Leroy Douresseaux

Back in Action (2025)

Running time: 114 minutes (1 hour, 54 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, some suggestive references and strong language, and brief teen partying

DIRECTOR: Seth Gordon

WRITERS: Seth Gordon and Brendan O'Brien

PRODUCERS: Beau Bauman, Peter Chernin, Seth Gordon, Sharla Sumpter-Bridgett, and Jenno Topping

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ken Sang (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Peter S. Elliot

COMPOSER: Christopher Lennertz

ACTION/COMEDY/SPY

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, McKenna Roberts, Rylan Jackson, Kyle Chandler, Glenn Close, Jamie Demetriou, Andrew Scott, Fola Evans-Akingbola, and Robert Besta

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

Back in Action is no “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” but it is an entertaining action-comedy and spy movie.

Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz work well together, well enough to make me look forward to a sequel.

Back in Action is a 2025 American action-comedy and spy film from director Seth Gordon. The film is a “Netflix Original” and began streaming on Netflix, January 17, 2025. Back in Action focuses on a husband and wife who were once CIA spies and now find themselves pulled back into the espionage game after their secrets are exposed.

Back in Action introduces the Reynolds family: wife, Emily (Cameron Diaz); husband, Matt (Jamie Foxx); daughter, Alice (McKenna Roberts); and son, Leo (Rylan Jackson). They are living the quiet suburban life until Matt and Emily's old lives intrude. You see, Matt and Emily were once “QRN” – “quick reactionary nonofficial” covert operatives for the CIA. Fifteen years ago, they were involved in a mission to capture the “ICS key” from the Polish terrorist, Balthazar Gor (Robert Besta). The mission goes bad, and Matt and Emily decide to quit the spy business and start a family.

In the present, Gor's gang of Belarusian terrorists, “the Volka,” launch an attack on Matt and Emily, who pick up their kids from school and go on the run. They head to England where they will reunite with Emily's estranged mother, Ginny Curtis (Glenn Close), a former MI6 agency head. However, a current MI6 agent, Baron Andrews (Andrew Scott), is waiting for them. Also awaiting Matt and Emily are their past and the people who will do anything to get “the Key.”

Back in Action is the fourth “Netflix Original” in which Jamie Foxx has starred (as far as I can tell), following Project Power (2020), Day Shift (2022), and They Cloned Tyrone (2023). For some reason, I felt as if I had to see Day Shift before I watched Back in Action, which I did a few days earlier. Day Shift is not great, but it is entertaining.

I can say the same about Back in Action. It isn't in the same league as 2002's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which saw Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie play husband and wife who each worked for rival assassination firm. If you took Mr. and Mrs. Smith and mixed it with Spy Kids (2001), you might get something close to Back in Action.

I can honestly say that I enjoyed Back in Action. As a domestic comedy, it is genuinely funny, and Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx play off each other quite well. As a spy movie, Back in Action offers a lot of slick, attention grabbing car chases, fight scenes, shoot-outs, and an extended plane crash that kept me glued to the screen. The family dynamic works pretty well, although I must admit that Glenn Close seems a bit odd as a spy who is the mother of another spy.

That's all I have to say. Back in Action is not great, but it is the kind of star-driven above-average event movie that Netflix regularly offers. Such movies are how they make us feel that our Netflix subscription is worth keeping active.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Saturday, January 25, 2025

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Monday, January 20, 2025

Review: Netflix's "DAY SHIFT" is More Action-Comedy Than Vampire Horror

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 5 of 2025 (No. 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Day Shift (2022)

Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)

MPA – R for strong violence and gore, and language

DIRECTOR: J. J. Perry

WRITERS: Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten; from a story by Tyler Tice

PRODUCERS: Shaun Redick, Yvette Yates Redick, Jason Spitz, and Chad Stahelski

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Toby Oliver (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Paul Harb

COMPOSER: Tyler Bates

ACTION/COMEDY/HORROR

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Meagan Good, Karla Souza, Steve Howey, Scott Adkins, Oliver Masucci, Eric Lange, Peter Stormare, Zion Broadnax, and Snoop Dogg

Day Shift is a 2022 American action-comedy and vampire horror film from director J. J. Perry. The film is a “Netflix Original” and began streaming on Netflix, August 12, 2022. The film focuses on a hard-working, blue-collar dad who uses his pool-cleaning service as a front for the true source of his income – hunting and killing vampires.

Day Shift introduces Bud Jablonski (Jamie Foxx). He is the blue-collar dad of Paige (Zion Broadnax), the daughter he shares with his ex-wife, Jocelyn Jablonski (Meagan Good). On the surface, Bud is a hardworking man who runs a pool-cleaning service, “Valley Pool Services,” in San Fernando Valley, California. Bud really hunts and kills vampires in the Valley under the guise of being a pool cleaner. Every time he kills a vampire, which is very difficult, Bud collects their fangs and sells them to a pawnbroker, Troy (Peter Stormare).

However, killing vampires isn't quite earning him the income he needs, so Bud decides to return to “the Union.” That would be the “Hunters Union,” from which he was expelled. He turns to his close friend, the very successful vampire hunter, John Dante Eliott a.k.a. “Big J” or “Big John,” for help. John is able to get Bud provisionally reinstated, but union boss, Ralph Seeger (Eric Lange), won't let Bud work the “Night Shift,” which yields the most profitable vampire kills.

Instead, Bud must work the “Day Shift,” which he was already doing on his own. In addition, Bud is forced to partner-up with Seth (Dave Franco), a young union supervisor. If that were not bad enough, Bud has been targeted for revenge by Audrey (Karla Souza), an ambitious vampire who plans to take over San Fernando Valley where she poses as a real estate agent.

I was familiar with the mixed reviews that Day Shift received, and I had been putting off watching it. However, I am about to watch the latest Jamie Foxx “Netflix Original” movie, Back in Action (2025), in which he costars with Cameron Diaz. Back in Action is the fourth “Netflix Original” in which Foxx has starred (as far as I can tell), following Project Power (2020), They Cloned Tyrone (2023), and Day Shift. For some reason, I feel as if I had to see Day Shift before I watch Back in Action. Go figure.

Tyler Tice and Shay Hatten are credited with the screenplay, but apparently Tice is the originator. Tice's creation is more action-comedy than it is vampire movie, but I do recognize elements that are borrowed or are at least are similar to that of numerous vampire films. As I watched Day Shift, I found that parts of it made me think of Blacula (1972), The Lost Boys (1987), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), Daybreakers (2010), and Priest (2011), to name a few. Of course, no movie featuring vampires hunters and their prey could escape the shadow of the Blade film series, and this movie seems inspired by Blade (1998), Blade II (2002), and Blade: Trinity (2004). Also, Day Shift is obviously rubbing up against Men in Black (1997) and its sequels.

Day Shift's premise is indeed a garbage soup made out of a bunch of leftover ingredients, and the fact that it throws in so many ideas makes it almost seem original... almost. Still, as garbage soup films go, Day Shift is quite tasty. It is more action-comedy than vampire-horror, and director J. J. Perry (in his directorial debut) gets the most out of his film editor, Paul Harb. When Day Shift is moving because of extended, multi-player fight scenes or through its one extended car-truck-motorcycle chase, Day Shift pops the way action movie junkies want their action movies to pop.

The best thing a popcorn entertainment action movie can do is have a star as its hero or as its villain. Day Shift has the Oscar-winning actor, Jamie Foxx (Ray), as its star, and Foxx is the one who gives this film any credibility that hit has. Yes, Dave Franco does a nice turn as Seth, the reluctant sidekick, and any comedy that manages to snag Snoop Dogg is very lucky. However, Foxx willingly buys into this film's goofiness, and the professionalism of his performance keeps Day Shift from seeming like the vampire equivalent of one of those Sharknado movies.

6 of 10

★★★ out of 4 stars

Monday, January 20, 2025

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Wednesday, January 1, 2025

Review: "THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT" Delivers Potent Drama and Powerful History

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 of 2025 (No. 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

The Six Triple Eight (2024)

Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for language including racial slurs, thematic material and some war violence

DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

WRITER: Tyler Perry (based on the magazine article by Kevin Hymel)

PRODUCERS: Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, Nicole Avant, Carlota Espinosa, Keri Selig, and Tony L. Strickland

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Watson (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Maysie Hoy

COMPOSER: Aaron Zigman

DRAMA/HISTORICAL/WAR

Starring: Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Moriah Brown, Jeanté Godlock, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, Susan Sarandon, Oprah Winfrey, Gregg Sulkin, Donna Biscoe, and Baadja-Lyne Odums

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

The Six Triple Eight is one of the most beautiful and powerful films about World War II that has ever been made.

Its true story about a battalion of Black women soldiers who broke the logjam of mail that kept overseas American servicemen and their families back home from connecting will bring tears to your eyes

The Six Triple Eight is one of the year's best films, and Kerry Washington gives the heroic performance of her career.

The Six Triple Eight is a 2024 wartime drama and historical film from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is based on the article, “WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott and the 6888th Central Postal Battalion,” written by Kevin M. Hymel and published in the February 2019 issue of WWII History Magazine. The article details the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, an all-Black and all-female battalion, in World War II.

The film is a Netflix Original,” and it began streaming on the service December 20, 2024, after a limited theatrical run that began December 6, 2024. The Six Triple Eight the movie focuses on battalion of Black women soldiers who go overseas and take on the forces that are keeping American service personnel and their families back home from simply exchanging mail.

The Six Triple Eight introduces high school students and longtime friends, Lena Derriecott (Ebony Obsidian), a Black girl, and Abram David (Gregg Sulkin), a Jewish White boy. They are reckoning with the difficulties of their budding romance in Bloomfield, Pennsylvania, a small town outside Philadelphia, in the year 1942. David is enlisting in the U.S. military in order to serve in World War II, and he wants to be a pilot. David wants Lena to wait for him to return from the war when he will propose marriage to her, and, in the meantime, he gives her a promise ring.

Meanwhile, in rural West Virginia, a mother waits everyday for news about her two sons who are serving overseas in the war. She never gets any mail from her sons, and she later discovers that this is a problem all over the country. It turns out that there is a terrible backlog of undelivered mail. The mother approaches First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Susan Sarandon), and she approaches her husband, President Franklin Roosevelt (Sam Waterston), and philanthropist and civil rights activist, Mary McLeod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey), to solve the overseas military mail problem.

Meanwhile, Lena has received terrible news, and it spurs her to join the Women's Army Corps (WAC). She travels to Georgia for basic training with the 6888th battalion – also known as “the Six Triple Eight” – where she meets her battalion commander, the indomitable Captain Chasity Addams (Kerry Washington). Despite being well trained, Capt. Adams and her battalion are never given any orders to serve from the War Department. Then, thanks to the efforts of the Roosevelts and Miss Bethune, the 6888th becomes “The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion.”

Now, they must travel to Glasgow, Scotland where they have six months to sort through 17 million pieces of undelivered mail and packages. The must fight, however, a war on all fronts, fighting segregation and racism at home and abroad. Many White military commanders, officers, and soldiers do not believe they can sort through the backlog. Plus, some of these crackas will do everything to stop the Six Triple Eight from being successful.

If you, dear readers, wanted to watch World War II films based on on true events, you can find over eight decades of Hollywood films, including everything from recent films like Saving Private Ryan (1998), Hacksaw Ridge (2016), and Dunkirk (2017) to golden oldies like Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) and Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). However, the those films focus on White servicemen.

When it comes to the service of Black personnel during WWII, there is a virtual Hollywood wall of silence that has only rarely been broken by such films as the HBO television movie, The Tuskegee Airmen (1995); Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna (2008), and the George Lucas-financed Red Tails (2012). Director Budd Boetticher's Red Ball Express (1952) is about a racially integrated platoon, but the film's leads are White males.

Tyler Perry, a filmmaker whose TV and film work, has been reviled by both Black and White critics and detractors, breaks the wall of silence that exists in front of the story of African-American WWII personnel. He has done it with The Six Triple Eight, the first such film in over a decade.

The film is filled with star-making turns by a cast of young African-American actresses who could see this movie launch their careers. Ebony Obsidian as Lena Derriecott and Shanice Shantay as Johnnie Mae Burton are the most obvious, but though they shine, all the actors make the most of their roles in this film. I must say Dean Norris kills it as the Southern racist cracka-ass General Holt. However, Kerry Washington practically devours this film with her power-move turn as the wily, strong, survivor, Captain (later Major) Chasity Adams. In some ways, Adams is the co-lead with Derriecott, but there other times when the following point is clear. The real-life “Six Triple Eight” probably would have not survived without Adams, and The Six Triple Eight the film probably would not survive without Washington as Adams.

I like that Tyler Perry's direction captures the desperation of families on the home front and of the service personnel overseas who are not connecting because the mail isn't being delivered. Perry does not need to summon his usual melodramatic tropes to convey this to his audience, nor does he. Perry plainly states what his audience can clearly understand; the mail backlog is a desperate situation.

And what better way to portray how much the racist and segregated system was at work against the women of the 6888th than to detail how some thought it was more important to sabotage the women of this battalion than to actually let them do their jobs and get the mail through. Perry could have fallen back time and time again on depictions of verbal and physical racist violence, yet he didn't. The word, “nigger,” does not make many appearance in The Six Triple Eight. Perry merely had to show that in war we are sometimes our own worst enemy, and he showed the white devils who were against the “Six Triple Eight” in all their infamy.

The Six Triple Eight is Tyler Perry's best drama since 2010's For Colored Girls. Although there will likely be no Oscar nods for this film, The Six Triple Eight does not need them. It is more important that a Black filmmaker gets a chance or takes the opportunity to pierce the wall of silence about the honorable and heroic service of Black men and Black women during World War II. The Six Triple Eight is the soaring symphony that, at least for now, shatters that silence.

10 of 10

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

You can read Kevin M. Hymel's original article about the 6888th, "WAC Corporal Lena Derriecott and the 6888th Central Postal Battalion," here.

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Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Review: Tyler Perry's "DIVORCE IN THE BLACK" is Shamelessly Shameless

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 60 of 2024 (No. 2004) by Leroy Douresseaux

Divorce in the Black (2024)

Running time: 143 minutes (2 hours, 23 minutes)

MPA – R for language, some sexual content and violence

WRITER/DIRECTOR: Tyler Perry

PRODUCERS: Will Areu, Tyler Perry, Angi Bones, Diane Ashford, and Meagan Good

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Watson (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Storm Evans

COMPOSER: Sheri Chung

DRAMA/THRILLER

Starring: Meagan Good, Cory Hardrict, Joseph Lee Anderson, Taylor Polidore, Shannon Wallace, Richard Lawson, Debbi Morgan, Mark Elliot Brewer, Rakeem Laws, Berry Williams, Jr., Jeffrey Creightney, and Ursula O. Robinson

Divorce in the Black is a 2024 drama and thriller from writer-director Tyler Perry. The film is an Amazon “Prime Original,” and it began streaming on the service July 11, 2024. Divorce in the Black follows a young woman who is left heartbroken after her husband abandons their marriage.

Divorce in the Black introduces 37-year-old Ava (Meagan Good). She is the daughter of a preacher, Clarence (Richard Lawson) and a demur church-going woman, Gene (Debbi Morgan). Ava married Dallas Bertrand (Cory Hardrict), one of five sons from a family of trifling Negroes who were raised (not reared) by their obnoxious mother, Linda (Ursula O. Robinson)

Ava and Dallas's marriage was troubled from the start and is troubled now. The recent troubles begin with the funeral of Dallas' 39-year-old brother, Cody Bertrand, who had just been released from prison when someone he attempted to mug shot him to death. Ava's preacher father, Clarence, officiates the funeral, and he believes that he cannot lie and act as if Cody had been a decent person. Clarence's words about Cody lead the Bertrands to commit a horribly disgusting act in order to put an end to the funeral service.

Shortly after the funeral, Ava and Dallas return to their home in Atlanta. Dallas is feeling resentful, mainly egged on by his remaining brothers and his mother. He tells Ava that he wants a divorce and that he has already taken care of everything. He says all she needs to do is sign the divorce papers. Ava is heartbroken and grief-stricken by this terrible turn of events. She returns to her parents home in rural Georgia. Eventually, she finds solace and friendship by reuniting with an old friend, Benji (Joseph Lee Anderson), which could turn romantic. Dallas, however, starts to feel cheated when he discovers that Ava and Benji are seeing each other, and he begins to grow increasingly violent. Now, Ava will have to make the toughest decisions of her life.

I thought that Mea Culpa, a “Netflix Original” film released in February (2024), was likely Tyler Perry's craziest non-Madea film to date, being even wackier than his 2013 film, Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. Now, I'm declaring that Divorce in the Black, released mere months after Mea Culpa, is Perry's craziest film. In many ways, Divorce in the Black is not a good film. After its jaw-dropping opening act, the film's narrative has a hard time finding its footing. It meanders, mostly focusing on Ava's grief over the sudden divorce announcement.

[Apparently, “divorce in the black” means a divorce in which you gain something or remain in the positive after the conclusion. “Divorce in the red” means to lose something or end up in the negative after it is all over.]

Divorce in the Black redeems itself with an entertainingly outrageous and outrageously entertaining last act. I wouldn't call Dallas' actions throughout the film over-the-top. They're quite believable, and, in fact, I've known or heard of men like him. What makes the ending of Divorce in the Black so satisfactory is Ava's change in attitude and Dallas' comeuppance. I can't remember the last time I so enjoyed an African-American male character suffering something similar to Dallas' fate. However, dear readers, you have to wade through a lot of mixed-bag storytelling and almost two hours of questionable runtime to get to the end's immense satisfaction.

I mainly watched Divorce in the Black because I wanted to do some Tyler Perry catch-up before I watched his latest “Netflix Original,” the historical drama, The Six Triple Eight. So I judge Divorce in the Black as mainly being fit for fans engaged in watching most of, if not all, of Perry's filmography.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars

Tuesday, December 24, 2024

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Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Review: Netflix's "ATLAS" Has Too Many Ideas, Not Enough Booty

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 54 of 2024 (No. 1998) by Leroy Douresseaux

Atlas (2024)

Running time: 118 minutes (1 hour, 58 minutes)

MPA – PG-13 for strong sci-fi violence, action, bloody images and strong language

DIRECTOR: Brad Peyton

WRITERS: Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite

PRODUCERS: Greg Berlanti, Jeff Fierson, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Joby Harold, Brad Peyton, Sarah Schechter, Tory Tunnell, Benny Medina, and Jennifer Lopez

CINEMATOGRAPHER: John Schwartzman (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Bob Ducsay

COMPOSER: Andrew Lockington

SCI-FI/ACTION/THRILLER

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla, Mark Strong, Briella Guiza, Adia Smith-Eriksson, and Gregory James Cohan (voice)

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

--Atlas is a Jennifer Lopez movie, but science fiction does not fit her

--The movie is average and filled with ridiculous ideas, but the action-violence of the last act is good enough to somewhat justify the time you spent watching this, dear readers

Atlas is a 2024 American action-thriller and science fiction film from director Brad Peyton. Atlas is a “Netflix Original” and debuted on the Netflix streaming service May 24, 2024. Atlas pits a counter-terrorism analyst against a rogue artificial intelligence (“A.I.” or “AI”) which believes that the only way to save the Earth and humanity is to destroy most of humanity.

Atlas opens on October 2, 2043. AI humanoid robots are at war with humanity, and they are led by the AI terrorist, Harlan (Simu Liu). By the end of the conflict, three million people are dead. This leads human military forces to create the International Coalition of Nations (ICN). After a string of ICN victories, Harlan and his AI robots are forced to flee into outer space.

Twenty-eight years later, renewed AI-led terrorist attacks force the ICN to begin searching for Harlan's whereabouts. The ICN has created a fleet of mecha known as “ARCs.” These are giant robotic suits of armor worn by humans who “sync” with the AI that operate the ARCs. The ICN seeks help from Atlas Maru Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez), a woman whose mother, Val Shepherd (Lana Parrilla), designed Harlan. Atlas has a deep distrust of all artificial intelligence. In a confrontation with Casca Vix (Andrew Popoola), one of Harlan's lieutenants, Atlas learns that Harlan has a base on GR-39, a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy.

The ICN sends a battalion of ARCs, the Fourth Rangers Battalion, which is led by the taciturn Colonel Elias Banks (Sterling K. Brown), on a mission to GR-39, aboard the space ship “ the Dhiib.” Atlas insists on accompanying the mission because she says no one knows Harlan better than her. The mission is to capture Harlan and to bring him back to Earth. However, what neither Atlas nor the ICN knows is just exactly what Harlan knows about the mission and about Atlas. Now, to save humanity, Atlas must rely on the thing that she hates most, an AI, one named “Smith” (Gregory James Cohan).

Leo Sardarian and Aron Eli Coleite's screenplay for Atlas is a hodge-podge of ideas that are similar to what audiences will find in such films as The Terminator (1984), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), I, Robot (2004), and Pacific Rim (2013). If properly developed, these ideas could have made a fine film instead of the mediocre film, which Atlas is.

The problem with Atlas is Jennifer Lopez. Atlas is a science fiction film, and it is also a Jennifer Lopez vehicle, although she is woefully miscast here. Science fiction is not her genre, and she really doesn't seem to have an understanding of what a character like Atlas Maru Shepherd could be. That may be the fault of director Brad Peyton, who specializes in mediocre to average sci-fi/fantasy genre films like 2018's Rampage. Lopez plays Atlas as petulant and as way too narrow minded to be some kind of expert on science and technological matters. Truthfully, Atlas would be grieving and guilt-ridden, which I think would make her introspective. Lopez plays Atlas as a brat who really needs the guidance of others, even the AI she hates so much.

Atlas is saved by the action-violence of its last act, and by the appearance of Harlan, played by actor Simu Liu. Best known for playing the title character in Disney/Marvel's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, here, Liu is deliciously cold-blooded and ruthless as Harlan, and I wish there were more of him in this film. But, alas, we get what we get. Atlas is average entertainment, and you, dear readers, can be entertained if you ignore its improbable scenario. If you are patient enough, Jennifer Lopez's fine, round posterior even makes a cameo, perfectly bound in a pair of tights. If Atlas has a “cherry on top,” it's that fine bee-hind.

5 of 10

C+

★★½ out of 4 stars

Wednesday, December 4, 2024

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Saturday, November 23, 2024

Review: Netflix's "HOT FROSTY" is a Warm Cup of Christmas Cheer

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 51 of 2024 (No. 1995) by Leroy Douresseaux

Hot Frosty (2024) – TV Movie

Running time: 90 minutes

Rated: TV-PG

DIRECTOR: Jerry Ciccoritti

WRITER: Russell Hainline

PRODUCERS: Michael Barbuto, Shane Boucher, and Joel S. Rice; Aren Prupas and Jonas Prupas – executive producers

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Eric Cayla

EDITOR: Julia Blau

COMPOSER: Ari Posner

ROMANCE/COMEDY/CHRISTMAS

Starring: Lacey Chabert, Dustin Milligan, Lauren Holly, Chrishell Strause, Dan Lett, Katy Mixon Greer, Sherry Miller, Bobby Daniels, Shiloh Obasi, Sophia Webster, Allan Royal, Jennie Esnard, Joe Lo Truglio, and Craig Robinson

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

--Hot Frosty personifies both the silly scenarios and frothy goodness of Christmas television movies, which should please fans of holiday movies

--Hot Frosty is an ode to the joy of life and to enjoying life – at Christmas time and beyond

Hot Frosty is a 2024 American romantic-comedy and Christmas television film from director Jerry Ciccoritti. The film is a “Netflix Original” and began streaming on the service Wednesday, November 13, 2024. The film focuses on a widow who magically brings a snowman to life as a real man who promptly brings light back into her life.

Hot Frosty introduces Kathy Barrett (Lacey Chabert), who owns and operates Kathy's Kafe in the downtown section of the small town of Hope Springs. The cafe is mainly the focus of her life, and her home life, including her house, is slowly falling apart. Kathy is a widow and she mourns her late husband, Paul, a handyman who kept the house repaired and her heart whole.

It is Christmas time, and Kathy isn't feeling the holiday spirit or cheer. However, some of her friends want to change things. Mel (Sherry Miller) and her husband, Theo (Dan Lett), own and operate a clothing shop, “Reclaimed Rags.” This year, they give Kathy a red scarf, one that is “destined” to help her to seek happiness after her bereavement.

Hope Springs is also in the middle of its “Annual Snow Sculpture Competition.” On her way home one night, Kathy walks by the entries in the snow sculpture competition. One of them is of a seemingly naked, muscular young man. Not feeling the magic of Mel and Theo's red scarf, Kathy drapes it over the sculpture. Later that night, that snow sculpture (called “the Snowman”) comes to life. Calling himself, “Jack” (Dustin Milligan), the suddenly alive snowman finds his way to Kathy. Doubtful at first, she believes that Jack is indeed the snowman upon which she draped the scarf. Before long, his innocence and boundless joy are breaking down the barriers Kathy put up to protect herself. But she soon realizes a painful truth: Jack is doomed to melt.

Lacey Chabert is a former child actress with a long career in film and an even longer career in television, which includes voice-over work. I keep forgetting that she appeared in the original Mean Girls (2004). Now, audiences know Lacey for her near constant presence on the American cable television network, the “Hallmark Channel” and on its sister network, “Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.” In addition to series work, Chabert has appeared in over thirty television films for the network, as of this writing. One of those TV films, Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas (2020), is one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies.

So about Hot Frosty: Netflix is in the middle of releasing several Christmas-themed films. I don't know if they have done this in previous years, but some of the 2024 releases intrigue me. Hot Frosty immediately caught my attention.

Honestly, I have to admit that I think that Hot Frosty's screenplay, written by Russell Hainline, could be adapted, with a few changes, as a gay-themed romance. Magically bringing an ice sculpture of a muscular man to life and falling in love with him seems like it could be a gay fantasy, gay fan fiction,a gay daydream... or wet dream.

Obviously, Hot Frosty's scenario is preposterous, but this is a Christmas movie. That genre has a lot of leeway so that such films can simply be feel-good and spread Christmas cheer or at least lay down a foundation for that. I have to give director Jerry Ciccoritti credit in assuring that Hot Frosty does have some substance. Basically, the film is the story about two characters. First, there is Jack, an object brought to life by magic, and he really wants to live and to enjoy that life. The tension and conflict in the story comes from the human lead, Kathy, who is just going through the motions of life everyday and who seems disinterested in life. Jack has to show Kathy that she can find love and happiness, again... if she really wants that.

The joy in Hot Frosty is not in its lack of realism or even in its overwhelming nonsensical nature. The joy is in watching Jack discover the joys of life and in turn, showing Kathy that she can enjoy life after loss – in spite of her determination not to enjoy life. I say, “Pshaw!.” the cynicism. Hot Frosty is not a great movie, but it is great entertainment. Dear readers, I can't imagine a Christmas season in which Hot Frosty won't feel like a welcomed warm chocolaty drink.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Saturday, November 23, 2024

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Sunday, October 6, 2024

Review: Max's "'SALEM'S LOT" 2024 is Scary a Lot

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 44 of 2024 (No. 1988) by Leroy Douresseaux

'Salem's Lot (2024)

Running time: 113 minutes (1 hour, 53 minutes)

MPA – R for bloody violence and language

DIRECTOR: Gary Dauberman

WRITER: Gary Dauberman (based on the novel by Stephen King)

PRODUCERS: Michael Clear, Roy Lee, James Wan, and Mark Wolper

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Michael Burgess (D.o.P.)

EDITOR: Luke Ciarrocchi

COMPOSERS: Nathan Barr and Lisbeth Scott

HORROR

Starring: Lewis Pullman, Makenzie Leigh, Jordan Preston Carter, Alfre Woodard, Bill Camp, John Benjamin Hickey, Nicholas Crovetti, Spencer Great Clark, Pilou Asbaek, and Alexander Ward

SUMMARY OF THE REVIEW:

-- Although it lacks big names stars, “'Salem's Lot” 2024 has big scares, as writer-director Gary Dauberman spins a number of some blood-curdling and bone-chilling scenes that are beautifully shot by cinematographer Michael Burgess

-- The movie does lack the character depth of early television versions, it is fairly faithful in some ways to its source material, Stephen King's 1975 novel of the same name

-- I highly recommend the new “'Salem's Lot” to fans of vampire horror films

'Salem's Lot is a 2024 American vampire horror film from writer-director Gary Dauberman. The film is based on the 1975 novel, 'Salem's Lot, from author Stephen King. 'Salem's Lot the movie focuses on an author who returns to his childhood home in search of inspiration for his next novel and discovers that the town is being taken over by vampires.

'Salem's Lot introduces author Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman). He has returned to his childhood home of Jerusalem's Lot, also known as “'Salem's Lot” or “The Lot,” seeking inspiration for his next novel. He meets and begins a relationship with Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh), a young woman studying to get her real estate license. Their relationship sets tongues a-wagging in the small town.

Also new to the town is the antiques business, “Barlow and Straker Fine Furnishings.” So far, only Richard Straker (Pilou Asbaek) has arrived, but Straker promises that his partner, Kurt Barlow (Alexander Ward), will soon arrive. The problem is that Barlow is a vampire, and before long, he is preying on the Lot, and this town of 1710 starts to find that its living population is shrinking. Now, a teacher, Matthew Burke (Bill Camp); a boy who is a horror fan, Mark Petrie (Jordan Preston Carter); a local physician, Dr. Cody (Alfre Woodard); and a broken down alcoholic priest, Father Callahan (John Benjamin Hickey), join Ben and Susan to form a rag tag team of heroes determined to stop Barlow. As their circle grows smaller, however, can they really take on a town full of vampires?

'Salems's Lot” was author Stephen King's second published novel (following his publishing debut, 1974's Carrie), and it is apparently his favorite of his works. The popular novel was first adapted as a two-part television miniseries that was originally broadcast by CBS in November 1979 (although I remember its length and release date differently). It was again adapted as a two-part television miniseries, broadcast by the TNT cable network in June 2004. I enjoyed both versions, but prefer the 1979 which turned out to be a influence on such vampire films as Fright Night (1985) and The Lost Boys (1987).

I watched the new 'Salem's Lot film to the end of its credits, and the copyright date is listed as the year 2022. Yes, this new 'Salem's Lot has had at least two years of changing theatrical release dates. Outside of a film festival premiere, 'Salem's Lot the movie finally found a home on the streaming service Max (formerly HBO Max). Is 'Salem's Lot good enough to have received a full theatrical release? The answer is yes, but good movies aren't always box office hits. Besides Warner Bros., the movie studio behind 'Salem's Lot, very likely had no idea that the recent sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, would be such a blockbuster hit. It is a crap-shoot, and, in the case of 'Salem's Lot, is now a moot point.

'Salem's Lot's main problem may be that it has no big name actors starring in it, although the lead, Lewis Pullman as Ben Mears, had a supporting role in the 2022 mega-hit, Top Gun: Maverick. Pullman plays Ben Mears as cool-headed and steady-handed, which is an interesting take. And the rest of the cast of 'Salem's Lot is equally good. Alfre Woodard is always a top notch performer whose unique film presence and acting personality always gives a movie some “oomph.” Jordan Preston Carter is a surprising and scene-stealing little hero as Mark Petrie. John Benjamin Hickey and Bill Camp give strong character performances in their respective roles.

Still, I must reiterate that 'Salem's Lot 2024 is a really entertaining and thoroughly scary vampire horror movie. Sure, it lacks the emotional and character drama depth of the early adaptations of King's novel. I also take issue with the fact that even after the heroes learn what they need to fight vampires, they are often caught without them or trapped with too few of them.

However, Michael Burgess' lovely cinematography and Nathan Barr and Lisbeth Scott's eerie film music power-up writer-director Gary Dauberman's most bone-chilling moments and blood-curdling scenes. I don't want to fill this review with spoilers, but what would a 'Salem's Lot” TV or film be without a vampire boy at the window?...

Who knows how 'Salem's Lot would have performed in a crowded Halloween season theatrical release schedule? Still, both summer movie nights and October fright fests have a new visitor, a horror movie hungry to get to you, dear readers. And as always, 'Salem's Lot is thirsty for your blood.

7 of 10

B+

★★★½ out of 4 stars

Sunday, October 5, 2024

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