Author: James Hathaway

Movie 1: Toy Story 5

This is the 5th movie in Disney’s juggernaut franchise. The usual cast of lovable characters has returned. This version does a very good job bringing in technology as Woody and Buzz take a backseat to Jessie. Its first weekend set global box office records. Once again children of all ages will enjoy the clever animation, messaging and laughter.

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Movie 2: Voicemails for Isabelle

This is a very enjoyable Netflix romantic comedy/drama.  A young woman leaves her late sister voicemails as she tries to heal from the shock of her death.  She doesn’t realize that her sister’s phone number has been given out to someone else.  And this someone else travels to San Francisco to find her.  No great message here, just nice scenes of San Francisco and a good story.

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Movie 3: Scary Movie

This is movie number 6 in the Scary Movie franchise.  We don’t remember seeing any of the previous five.  But what we’ve read this version reunites all the original characters.  We aren’t exactly sure what this film is about other than there is a lot of slap stick humor and mayhem.  And more than a few murders.  We found it dumb and more than a little boring.  But it does have a couple of good political zingers.

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Movie 1: Masters of the Universe

This is a sci-fi adventure that is loaded with special effects, humor, romance and more than a little testosterone.  The hero of this saga gets separated from his magical and powerful sword and he sets out on a quest to find it.  And along the way he meets all manner of obstacles.  But for us there was so much going on it just got boring and we finally thought so what?  But aficionados of this genre will enjoy it.

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Movie 2: Disclosure Day

This is a marvelously entertaining sci-fi alien adventure with Steven Spielberg’s brilliant human connection.  A group of scientists and journalists try to release footage of aliens on earth to the public.  While, of course, the government tries to stop them.  Excellent acting all around, with a sure Oscar nomination for Emily Blunt.  We thoroughly enjoyed this what soon will be an instant classic.  Spielberg’s best movie in years. 

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Movie 3: Stop! That! Train!

We had no idea what this movie was about until a friend said lets go see it.  What a fun, campy surprise.  A group of drag queens are on an out of control speeding train, headed for all places, anti-drag queen Florida.  With all manner of slap stick humor along the way.  Including RuPaul as President of the United States and a slew of cameo appearances by a dozen actors.  By no means great filmmaking.  Just a fun 90 minutes.

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Movie 1: Passenger

This is a low budget horror film that is actually pretty good and doesn’t try to insult the viewer nor take itself too seriously. A young couple goes on a road trip adventure and witnesses an accident. Then a demonic presence joins the trip. Surprisingly good cinematography and acting. It kept us entertained and more than a little scared.

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Movie 2: Power Ballad

A wedding singer and a struggling boy band singer unexpectedly meet at a wedding in Ireland and spend the night writing songs.  One song they write becomes an overnight sensation.  This is an unexpectedly feel good movie with very fine acting, singing and important messages about friendship and respect.  Thoroughly enjoyable.  

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Movie 3: Office Romance

This is a Netflix romantic comedy that falls flat and misses on almost every level.  Jennifer Lopez plays the CEO of a New Jersey company who gets romantically involved with an employee, breaking all the Human Resources rules.  As much as we wanted to enjoy this movie it is sadly dull and boring.  Much of the acting and writing is just embarassing.

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Movie 1: I Love Boosters

This is an outlandish and outrageous comedy about the social implications of shoplifting. Those of us living in large cities saw this kind of behavior firsthand during covid, where gangs of youth went into stores and blatantly stole things right in front of everybody. This is definitely a satire on those days. The costumes are amazing. Very good writing and acting. It took us awhile to get into this movie, but once we did, we just sat back and enjoyed.

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Movie 2: Tuner

This is a very entertaining, and at times tense, thriller where a piano tuner with perfect pitch turns to safecracking to earn extra money.  Several twists and turns all very well done.  And the movie sheds light on a very severe, but under reported, hearing illness called hyperacusis.  Leo Woodall is becoming quite the good actor.  And always wonderful to see Dustin Hoffman.  Large theater release worldwide.  

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Movie 3: The Wizard of the Kremlin

This is a fascinating political thriller drama set against the backdrop of years of chaos in Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union.  It is based on fact with a lot of creative license thrown in.  Excellent acting by Paul Dano and Jude Law.  It follows the rise of Vladimir Putin from his early KGB days to almost present time.  Limited theater release but should be streaming somewhere later this year.

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Movie 1: Is God Is

In this dark revenge drama, two twin sisters are asked by their mother to find their father and kill him.  That’s about the only “simple” thing about this story.  Based on an award winning play by writer/director Aleshea Harris.  The writing, directing and acting are excellent.  Several twists and turns.  But please be warned, while at times mesmerizing, this movie can be very difficult and unsettling to watch.

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Movie 2: Obsession

We are not exactly sure what this horror film is about.  We saw it because some young friends we know raved about it.  This movie is making a ton of money and the theater we were in was nearly full.  We were the oldest two by at least 40 years.  Four other folks closer to our age walked out after an hour or so.  We should have too.  It was a total waste of time, money and popcorn. 

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Movie 3: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu

Another Star Wars movie!  Once again this version has the prerequisite evil Empire, various galaxy characters, sights and sounds.  At least this one has Sigourney Weaver and Pedro Pascal.  Other than that it was slow, darker than usual, and rather dull.  Very disappointing.  Hopefully 2027’s Star Wars, starring Ryan Gosling, will be much more exciting.

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Movie 1: Apex

This is an unexpectedly entertaining edge of your seat action thriller.  A woman rock climber (Charlize Theron) is grieving the loss of her friend and tries to escape to the wilds of Australia.  She encounters an extremely depraved hunter (Taron Egerton) and the cat and mouse games start from there.  Both actors did many of their own stunts.  The tension is palpable.  Beautiful cinematography.   On Netflix.

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Movie 2: In the Grey

This is an action drama where a covert group of operatives attempt to recoup a large fortune from a group of mobsters.  The action and acting are very entertaining.  The cinematography is awesome with various locals in the Canary Islands, Spain and Saudi Arabia.  You can always count on writer and director Guy Ritchie to deliver an exciting and off beat adventure. 

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Movie 3: Remarkably Bright Creatures

This is a very charming movie, beautifully based on the 2022 bestseller by Shelby Van Pelt.  A lonely widow and mother forms a friendship with a large, colorful Pacific octopus. The movie skillfully takes on several human emotions.  Very well written and acted.  Alfred Molina is the voice of the octopus.  On Netflix.

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Movie 1: Devil Wears Prada 2

Audiences have waited years for this very fun sequel.  This movie very neatly ties most of the loose ends from the original film.  The main characters are older, wiser and just as fascinating to watch.  The acting, scenery, sets, costumes are all amazing. Kenneth Branagh is a nice addition to the cast.  And once again Meryl Streep proves she can do anything and look fabulous doing it.  We found this movie very entertaining and will for sure see it again.

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Movie 2: The Sheep Detectives

Every evening a sheep herder reads aloud a murder mystery to his flock.  Unbeknownst to him the flock actually understands what he’s saying and talk amongst themselves.  When the sheep herder is found dead the sheep jump into action to solve the crime.  This is a fun movie for all ages.  Several young kids in our audience kept walking towards the screen wanting to touch the sheep!   

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Movie 3: Michael

We weren’t exactly sure what this movie was gonna be about, nor why there even was a movie.  It explores Michael Jackson’s early life as a young boy, a member of the Jackson 5 and his first years as a solo artist.  The music of course is wonderful, but we were totally surprised how entertaining and well done this movie is.  The young man who portrays Michael Jackson is phenomenal.  Colman Domingo’s acting, as Michael’s abusive father, is amazing.  The audience in our theater was mostly older woman, many of whom danced in their seats or the aisles.

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Movie 1: Normal

This is an action comedy set in a very small Minnesota town. Bob Odinkirk plays a temporary sheriff who fills in for the town’s dead sheriff. There are whacky and bloody adventures including a brutal Japanese gang and a bank heist. A friend said this movie is a fun example of a bad movie. It makes little to no sense but is just plain entertaining. And always good to see Henry Winkler.

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Movie 2: The Christophers

This is a dark comedy/drama about a very talented painter (Sir Ian McKellen) who tries to finish a series of paintings before he dies.  The acting, directing and writing are all superb.  McKellen’s acting is amazing and totally mezmerizing.  At age 87 he may finally get a well deserved Oscar.  

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Movie 3: A Little Something Extra

Yet another little gem of a movie we knew nothing about going in.  Literally no advertising anywhere.  Set in the beautiful south of France and Northern Spain, a father and son duo pull off a jewelry store heist.  They look to hide out in a summer camp for disabled young adults.  This is a wonderfully lighthearted French comedy. Kudos to everyone involved.  French with English subtitles.

SPECIAL NOTE:  We are off on another adventure, or at least a lazy one.  A cruise from Cape Canaveral to Southhampton.  Hope to see Devil Wears Prada 2 somewhere before home mid May.  Cheers to all!

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Movie 1: Hamlet

This is a modern, present day adaptation of the Shakespeare classic.  Set in London within a wealthy Indian family.  The acting is superb, especially Riz Ahmed who plays Hamlet.  The cinematography is excellent and the soundtrack (although loud and at times very loud) works well with the dialogue and visuals.  This is a very well done rendition.  If you can see it with closed caption subtitles, that would be most helpful.  No streaming information available at this time. 

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Movie 2: The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

We weren’t particularly interested in seeing this movie.  2026 has been a poor movie year so far, so with nothing left to see, we went.  Having said that, it was entertaining enough and the animation very good.  Not exactly sure what it’s about, but if you are a Super Mario or Nintendo fan, you’ll enjoy this.  Somebody is enjoying it because it’s the number one grossing film so far this year, with a worldwide take of $629 million.

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Movie 3: Thrash

This is a Netflix horror film that is actually pretty good.  Small South Carolina coastal towns are nearly devastated by a category 5 hurricane.  After a levy breaks, in come the sharks patrolling streets, houses and neighborhoods for anyone alive.  Not particularly great film making but entertaining anyway.  And it’s currently the number 1 movie worldwide on Netflix.

SPECIAL NOTE:  As mentioned above this has been a sad movie year thus far, but on a brighter note we’ve seen Project Hail Mary three times.  And we have a good friend who has seen it seven times and planning more!   We’ve rewatched several really good 3 globe movies on Netflix, including Lou, Mother, Birdbox, Straw and The Call.

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Movie 1: The AI Doc

This is a fascinating and well made documentary currently in theaters.  We found this movie very helpful to understand what AI is and its potential for good and bad. Even though we live in San Francisco, the epicenter of everything tech, the only thing we knew about AI is how to spell it.  Powerful conversations with 20 and 30-somethings who literally have the future of the planet in their hands.   Should be streaming somewhere by summer.

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Movie 2: She Dances

Yet another movie we knew nothing about before seeing it, and again very pleasantly surprised.  This is a comedy-drama where a father accompanies his daughter to a dance competition in Kentucky.  Really good acting all around, and probably the best acting we’ve seen from Steve Zahn.  The situations, especially the dialogue, seemed beautifully and brutally honest. 

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Movie 3: Peaky Blinders

This is the final episode of an ongoing British/Irish drama series.  The film takes place in Birmingham England during WWII.  Since this is the only episode of the popular series we’ve ever seen, we aren’t exactly sure what it’s all about.  It’s dark, with lots of violence and angst.  But the acting is very good.  And friends of ours who are big fans of the series said this last episode nicely ties it all together.  Still in limited theater release but also on Netflix.  It’s in English, but best to turn on the subtitles.

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