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The Naked Gun (2025)

The Naked Gun (2025)

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When Liam Neeson agreed to star in The Naked Gun, he knew he had big shoes to fill.  If you’ve seen the previous movies in this franchise, you probably heard those words in the voice of leading man Leslie Nielson, a dramatic actor who quickly mastered the art of the deadpan delivery.  You may also have envisioned the 6’ 4” Neeson stumbling around in a pair of noisy clown shoes.  That’s the challenge with following up one of the greatest comedies ever made, filling those iconic shoes.  While Neeson is up to the challenge and the movie is funny, it’s not in the same league of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker films from the Eighties and early Nineties.

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Materialists

Materialists

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At first blush, Materialists looks like a typical romantic comedy, where an attractive single woman is forced to choose between two suitors.  Option A is the handsome, rich, older man she’s just met and could give her everything she wants.  Option B is a man closer to her age who’s scrapping by, but who she connects with because they were once in love.  Since both options are good–for different reasons–the fun is in waiting for the heroine to make her choice.  Although Materialists follows the same formula, Celine Song’s follow-up to her wonderful Past Lives aims higher.  It invites you to reflect upon your dating experiences and asks, how did you end up with the love of your life?

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Dangerous Animals

Dangerous Animals

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Horror movies have always given sound advice of where not to go on your vacation.  For example, you really shouldn’t stay at that ominous-looking hotel up on the hill (Psycho), or your friend’s cabin in the middle of the woods (Evil Dead), or that hostel in Slovakia (Hostel).  Dangerous Animals suggests that despite the obvious reasons for visiting Brisbane’s Gold Coast in Australia, you probably don’t want to go there either.  Because even an exciting tourist activity like swimming with the sharks may very well end up being unexpectedly life-altering.  But if you really can’t resist, definitely let your loved ones know what your plans are before you climb aboard that boat.  That way, they’ll know where to start searching for your body parts when you go missing.

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The Amateur

The Amateur

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The Nerd Identity.  The Geek Ultimatum.  Although it may sound like I’m being snide, both of those fake titles describe The Amateur perfectly.  The movie isn’t about an extremely capable one man wrecking crew out for revenge, like the characters played by Matt Damon, Jason Statham, Denzel Washington, for example.  Instead we have Rami Malek, who nobody would ever describe as being physically threatening.  He has the body of a man who’s probably never set foot in a gym, and if he ever did it was to reboot the WI-FI router.

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Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts*

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In one form or another, the MCU films released after the conclusion of the Infinity Saga have been trying to answer the same question:  who will be in the next incarnation of The Avengers?  The six years haven’t provided us with any definitive answers outside of Anthony Mackie’s version of Captain America, who appears to be in because of his brand.  There simply can’t be an Avengers squad without some version of Captain America on it.  Every other superhero we’ve seen so far appears to be in play for a spot on the roster, which is strange considering how well-planned Marvel’s films seem to be.

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Sinners

Sinners

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So this is what’s been on writer-director Ryan Coogler’s mind while he’s been making films based on existing IP.  Although he left his imprint upon Creed and the Black Panther movies, they weren’t entirely his creation.  For example, you could tell which parts of his Marvel movies came from his mind and which were mandated in order to fit into the larger MCU.  Sinners, Coogler’s first original film since Fruitvale Station twelve years ago, reflects the freedom he likely felt at no longer needing to tell a story using other people’s characters and storylines.  His  latest is a rare intimate blockbuster, one that is brazenly adult-oriented, filled with big ideas and told with indelible images that demand our attention.  It’s a full-throated cinematic experience that swings for the fences and connects more often than not.

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Bridget Jone: Mad About the Boy

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy

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It was back in 2001 that Renée Zellweger first appeared in Bridget Jones’ Diary.  Thankfully, both return in fine form Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, the fourth entry in what has become a franchise.  Both Zellweger and her character are still reliable sources of laughs as they ever were.  Hugh Grant’s Daniel Cleaver is still a relentless Lothario, but is slowed by heart issues.  Alas, Colin Firth’s Mark Darcy has passed on prior to this sequel, and appears only as an apparition that Bridget can see.  Although the movie is funny, Mark’s death gives this entry a melancholy tone, where the passage of time and the loss of a loved one grounds things more than a typical romantic comedy.

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The Order

The Order

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There’s nothing more dangerous than a man of principle.  That man will sacrifice everything to advance his cause, his friends, family, his health and even his own life.  His unshakeable belief in his own righteous cause justifies every decision, no matter the cost or who pays it.  The Order tells the story of two such men, one an FBI agent, the other the leader of a white separatist faction.  Despite their distinct differences in age, background and life experience, the movie reveals that they’re actually sides of the same coin.  Before the movie arrives at that conclusion, it establishes that these men are destined to collide in violent fashion.

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