Downton Abby: A New Era (Theater) is a fun and whimsical return to Downton Abby. If you are fan of the TV series this is in essence the equivalent of the old tv trope of having the series take a holiday to a new location (here the South of France) and go meta (the other half of the cast is helping film a movie in the Mansion). It frothy and light and lacks a lot of the darkness of the TV series, but is a lark for those who like the characters. Does it likely tie up too many romances and character arc? Sure, but it does it in such a charming manner you will hardly complain. There is zero reason to see this if you have not watched the TV series and the previous movie (it will make no sense if you try to jump in with this film). Calling it "A New Era", likely serves only to confuse people as the proper title should have been "An End to an Era" would be more accurate. Likely the next film will be the true start of the "New Era" and a better jumping on point (and given the box office there will likely be a next one). This one for fans of the series 4 stars out of 5.
Last Victim (rental) has a good cast and the outline of a decent idea for a movie. It unfortunately does not have enough material to make it feature length and ends up padding its runtime by rambling nonsense in voiceovers (in the cool as hell voice of Ralph Ineson). It likely needed a bit more budget and it could have worked (the action shot budget here is just can't do the even minimal lifting it needs to accomplish) The acting keeps it from being rock bottom despite the budget. 2 stars out of five.
Red Stone (rental) is a low budget crime film. It feels more like a high school production that somehow blackmailed Neal McDonough into being in it. Its career damaging bad with directing, script, most of the acting, and costumes that are laughable at best. 1 star out of 5.
Top Gun: Maverick (theaters) The rare sequel that is vastly better than the original film. For its genre (military action) its about as good a piece of film making as could be done. The acting is top notch and manages to hit every note you hope it will....and then pulls out all the stops in the 5th act. 4 1/2 stars out of 5. The only thing "weird" is that the enemy state is never identified
Firestarter2022 (Theaters and Peacock) is a remake of 1984 movie (starring Drew Barrymore) both loosely based on the Stephen King book of the same name. This movie is step down form the 1984 movie (which was not that great of a version of the book.) What goes wrong? (Mild Spoilers)
(A) Armstrong is not good as our title character. A large part of this is that she is written as about a six year old instead of her actual age.
(B) The attempt to turn this into a morality tale and superhero tale…instead of a horror story…makes it a weak version of both.
(C) The Fire Special Effects are weak…which is sad.
(D) The entire final act is sort of botched. The Charlie trains herself stuff is silly. Redbirds "switch" makes no sense (unless it is meant to be caused by Charlie's dad…but that is not in the book and is very unclear at best)
(E) Despite only being about 90 minutes long the film, it feels and looks like a stretched out TV pilot (for a smaller network USA or TNT) not a movie. The "bad guys" have no development or even clear motivation. Kurtwood Smith shows up for one scene that is more confusing than character building.
(F) The film also struggles to decide if it is taking place in 2022 (wifi) or 1980s (VHS, the Vehicles, the value of money)
Just a mess and not worth even its short run time. 2 Stars out of
