Reviews

Director Spike Lee pulled off a great crime drama here thanks to the writing of Russell Gewirtz, whose work include 'Righteous Kill' and 'Blind Justice', both of which I really liked, and a few others. Lee got himself an "A" team of actors in Denzel Washington, the really smart detective Frazier, Clive Owen, the mastermind Dalton Russell behind the incredible heist that wasn't a heist after all, Jodie Foster, the enigmatic fixer Madeleine White, and Christopher Plummer as Arthur Case CEO of the bank, the elusive victim but real criminal who deserved to get caught.

The movie's early scenes depict what we'd all recognize as a bank robbery with hostage taking, except that bank robbers don't usually do what these robbers are doing. You may find yourself talking at your screen and trying to coach them, but they can't hear you because it's a movie you silly kitty. At every step we expect the bank robbers, led by Dalton Russell, to comment that things are not going well because they've dug themselves into a corner; no one is telling Russell anything of the kind. Why? Because the plan is the plan and all is working according to that plan. All the police folks including detective Frazier are befuddled.

The hostages are not all hostages but all the robbers, except Russell, will be nabbed the police and they will be questioned as hostages, then released. The cops are bewildered except Frazier whose mind is thankfully working overtime. The fixer White is not judging; she's just doing the job she was paid to do, but she and Frazier are on the same page, a page they cannot read aloud. It's thrilling to watch cerebral ping pong like that. I get goosebumps when these two talk to each other. Alas the criminal Arthur Case, whose awful crimes of the past have been slowly and methodically outlined to us during the course of the movie, gets what he has all his life feared the most, getting discovered.

The movie has a wonderful and even delightful supporting cast; you'll recognize several of the actors because they were good enough to make careers in the biz before and since.

The robbers do get a payday for their effort, it's only fair; one of their motives was of course a financial reward. The other reward, and principle motive, was exposing Arthur Case. Once Russell understood the value and professionalism of Frazier, he played that card to perfection and in his unique Russell way, found how he could reward his unsuspecting foe, and did. Frazier was thankful and since he was smart, he was discretely thankful.

This is a movie I get to watch every so often. I have watched it half a dozen times since it was released on DVD and I would be surprised if you weren't tempted to give it a look-see yourself, maybe not as frequently as I, but you must watch it at least once.

I often revisit movies I liked and because I make of note of those; this is one. Two of the three key actors, Tracee Ellis Ross and Kelvin Harrison Jr. Sing performances in the movie and they sure could be recording artists if they weren't actors; that was one of the reasons which compelled me to write a review. The other reason of course was the music; I mean the songs we heard and the ones mentioned, because all of them were great songs by great artists. That latter reason is likely what will hook you by the time you're half way into the movie, if not way before.

The lead actor, Dakota Johnson, who plays Maggie, does a convincing job as the assistant to the pop star played by Tracee Ellis Ross, one assistant with aspiration and determination to be a music producer. Thankfully, the script included enough details about Maggie's background to make her character's role a credible one. Dakota Johnson had a solid career already, both as a model and actor, not to mention she's from Hollywood celeb lineage. Tracee Ellis Ross also had a solid career already mostly as an actor and more recently as producer and director (but no she didn't direct this movie), and as I mentioned already, she can sing like a real pop star.

Kelvin Harrison Jr plays the mystery character of David Cliff, in that we don't know he's the son of Grace Davis, Tracee Ellis Ross' character, till near the end, but it would be any movie lover's guess he just might be. When I heard him sing, I started getting inklings. The movie has a great supporting cast in Ice Cube, Bill Pullman and Eddie Izzard. And, last but not least, the ending is a definite 'feel good' one that works for the movie's IMDb synopsis. I've watched twice and trust I will again, so I recommend it if you like movies with and about good music, and also life surprises.

In this unexpected sequel to the 2009 thriller, Esther, or should we say Leena, is back. I thought her dead, but thankfully, for our entertainment pleasure, she evidently didn't die; she ended up however in a mental institute for dangerous inmates, where she clearly belonged. In the early scenes of 'Orphan: First Kill' it's made clear Esther is considered the most dangerous patient of the institute, something which didn't take long for her to prove by an amazing display of her cunning skills. Esther may be crazy, she's a psychopath after all, but she's also extremely smart and owns the part of the sweet and innocent little girl that allows her to fool her victims to death.

When I read that a movie is branded 'horror', I tend, as most of us are inclined, to assume monsters or monstrous creatures of some kind are going to be revealed, but we tend to forget the the word monster applies equally to murderous psychopaths. Hence Esther is a monster disguised as a sweet 9-11 year old, thanks to a rare form of dwarfism (I found there are 67 kinds when I did some research) a result of hypopituitarism (gland disorder). For the plot of the movies, this defect is most convenient; I mean an adult whose body appears to stop aging presents ample opportunities for plausible fiction. In 'Orphan' and 'Orphan: First Kill', as well as the anticipated 3rd movie (possible spoiler), the child like appearance of a thirty something psychopath works beautifully. Isabelle Fuhrman who plays Esther in both movies had the looks to pull off the character and she also had the acting chops to make you believe in her monstrous mind. I had not recognized Fuhrman from another 2021 movie she starred in and was also brilliant, 'The Novice'; that tells me how skilled she is.

This time round, the adoptive parents are not supposed to be adoptive but rather actual parents whose lost daughter is finally found, a scheme of Esther who understands the benefit of her hypopituitarism, assuming a young identity. Those parents, the Albrights are a complicated couple who have a grown son also. The plot thickens when Tricia Albright, played by accomplished actor Julia Stiles, turns out to be a 'bad guy'; she knows her real daughter is dead, something Allen her husband doesn't know. Allen Albright is played by Rossif Sutherland, son of one of my favourite actors, Donald Sutherland. Gunnar Albright, son of Tricia and Allen, played by Matthew Finlan, a few years ago murdered Esther Albright and now Tricia, to keep her husband happy and to have him recover from a depression, decided to play along with Esther's scheme. Tricia's scheme is unbeknownst to Esther, but not for long. Behold the 'Pact' Tricia makes with the Esther impersonator, whose past also is unbeknownst to Tricia; it's a pact with the devil, as I see it. Esther is lucky not to die at the hands of Gunnar and Tricia but has to improvise when she discovers what they are up to. If you watched the 2009 original movie, you know things are going to intensify and get dark quick. They do.

William Brent Bell directed this sequel written by the same team who wrote the 2009 original, at least two of the three credited for the original. He did a splendid job in keeping the Esther character within the frame we liked and expected. Both movies can be viewed independently and that's a plus, and it's also the ideal basis for a third movie if we are fortunate to see one made. I for one would watch it and would expect that time Esther to succumb to the fate of her victims in turn; three's a charm as the saying goes, notwithstanding what sort of fate of course.

With this action movie you will be entertained. James Clayton, 'the thief', who wrote the story and directed the movie also plays a starring role. The one character who however steals the show is Mia, played by Lina Lecompte. Her character is not sweet, she's feisty and is running for her life, away from Temple, played as you'd expect by character actors Vinnie Jones. Temple is the tough guy villain drug lord who Mia is running away from, because he's brutal. Oh yeah, and Mia is pregnant with Temple baby, a son to be born, if she survives. Clayton's character turns out to be a good guy when Mia's fate at the hands of temple is not something he wants to be responsible for, given he has an opportunity to save her and does. That's it in a nutshell. I had my doubts about watching this movie, but in the end I was entertained and now I have an actor, Lina Lecompte, who I hope to see in another movie.

The series creators also created another series I like and follow, 'Billions'. That being said, what I immediately noticed, and in every episode of the first season, was how the series used actual names of individuals portrayed in the series. Lots of well known personalities. The founder of UBER, Travis Kalanik, delightfully played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the key character, is portrayed as an egomaniac, acting like a grownup child with no redeeming values, all hype, and controlling. He sought individuals with equally low virtue or qualifications to work for him, basically anyone who would buy into his cult leader like personality. This is was the start of a... no, not a beautiful relationship, a most unhealthy climate for any business to develop; but we're in the 21st century so no rules like common sense apply anymore. It's full speed ahead and the people the company hurts as it grows, be dammed.

Other characters who were or are in real life who they are in the series, Larry Page, cofounder of Google, Bill Gurley, venture capitalist partner at Benchmark, Arianna Huffington, founder of Huffington Post, Anthony Levandowski, the inventor of the first self driving car, Sergei Brin, cofounder of Google, Tim Cook, Apple CEO, Mark Cuban, billionaire entrepreneur (who doesn't know him) played himself. By the way Cuban and Gurley were not unlikable characters in the series, but I can't speak for how they are in real life; I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. David Bonderman, a billionaire investor cofounder of TPG Capital, played by an actor I always like, Chelcie Ross, was a character who walked a fine line between common sense good guy and sneaky bastard. The series has an abundance of known actors, actors we've seen umpteenth times in variety of roles and movie or series genre; that was a plus for me.

I was not aware of the rollercoaster ride the company, Uber, had gone through before 2020, but now I do. It doesn't make me sympathetic to it regardless. And, I certainly did not know all the connections the odious Kalanik made as he grew the company, let alone all the illegal and unscrupulous maneuverings. It's what made me keep watching. A friend recommended the series to me and since I trust my friend's recommendation, always been on the mark, I gave it a look-see. I am surprised none of the very wealthy characters portrayed, and named repeatedly in the series, haven't sued for showing them in such a bad light; gotta give that US first constitutional amendment some credit for that I suppose. I loved the series, and perhaps some of the delight comes from watching elite SOB's being shined a blue-light on them, a form of Schadenfreude if you will. Then again, one could simply call this exposure dark humour. Okay, I'll go with that, dark humour. Don't we all like to learn the dark little secrets of companies we are suspicious of, and don't we all think those young bravado CEO's are deserving of a good kick in the... you know. If, like me you are in that mood right now, or soon, just watch Super Pumped and release some of your stress in the process.

A tech worker, Angela Childs, works in Seattle for a company that developed a virtual assistant device, KIMI. The device is like Siri or Alexa, but it's one that supposedly improves over time in getting to know its owner-user. We find out early on that it's tech workers such as Angela who remotely monitor the audio data from KIMI and fixes the lapse where KIMI did not understand commands or requests from users. In so doing, Angela comes across an audio stream she is convinced is evidence of a crime, a rape-murder she suspects. She alerts management, seeking help in dealing with what she suspects.

Turns out Angela wasn't wrong, 'but techies' of the company do not have access to users details, only the unresolved audio streams. She is berated by the company CEO for bringing up the matter with so little evidence, simply her intuition of what the audio could indicate. But as it so happens, the perpetrator of the crime has ties to the CEO and financial leverage, significant leverage, and enough to make all the difference; this person anticipated the possibility of potential KIMI related evidence.

Angela had been herself victim of rape many years before, and it was the cause of her agoraphobia. She couldn't let things go. With her foreign tech contacts and much initiative she uncovers enough of the user details to take the matter to the company law enforcement intermediary, just the person she needs. Although she is agoraphobic, she does manage to have a friend (with benefit) and also an admirer, both of whom live in the building across from hers, and, she overcomes her anxious fear of leaving her apartment to follow up on the matter despite her CEO's warning. I've revealed enough already, so I'll just add that Angela should not have pursued the matter. You'll also be glad to know she survives; she's a kickass-techie.

This movie is a Steven Soderbergh movie, the Oscar winning director, so you know he was capable of doing something really good with a script from famous and accomplished script-writer David Koepp. I admit I knew virtually nothing about the actors, except the famous parents of Zoë Kravitz, the lead actor who plays Angela. I will remember her next time I see her name in a cast. The story is so smartly developed that you only realize as the film progresses how so many little details were NOT incidental. The pace is progressive, and steadily so; you may be sitting comfortably on your couch at first but you'll be sitting on the edge of it before the last few scenes. IMDb categorizes this movie as crime-drama-thriller. Correct on all counts! One final tiny detail... After you see the movie, and I hope you do, the title of this review will make more sense than you can appreciate, for the moment.

The topic subject as described in the IMDb synopsis, then the storyline, basically cover what the movie is about and, as my choice for this review's title says, the opening scenes as well as the very last scene will probably make you think long and hard and you will remember those without a doubt.

The main character Vada is played by Jenna Ortega and I wasn't at all familiar with her but I will remember her name when I see it again. She delivered that good a performance. When you consider movies based on who the actors are it means they are good and have convinced you for one reason or another. Ms Ortega did.

A school shooting, in the context of 2021-2022 is a storyline which time has come, given the US leads all countries in mass shootings and especially school shootings. The statistics are incredible, but the experience itself needed to be exposed and the fallout conveyed. The movie's title is perfect. Perfect!

Some might debate the script's middle section, between the opening scenes and that very special last one, but regardless of what you think of the development, little prepares you for either. I'm almost sorry I spoiled it for you. Watch it anyway. Actors Julie Bowen and John Ortiz played Vada's parents and I was happy to see them in those roles, especially a scene with Vada and her dad when he finds the way to reach his lost daughter, who was lost, mentally speaking; it was a touching scene.

Another actor who's name I knew but not as actor, is co-star Maddie Ziegler. I didn't recognize her, even when a short clip of her dancing today was featured. When I later checked the performers names I thought to myself "What a coincidence!" It wasn't. It's Sia's video dancer acting on the big screen. Good for her, and what a difference a few years make.

I sincerely hope the movie has a social impact; I truly do. If anything, it is an excellent basis for reflection and appreciation for surviving victims' experiences. Dare I say it's a must view? I do.

Today's social media generation would dismiss the movie as... as... I don't know what pejorative insensitive word they'd use, but it doesn't matter. It wouldn't matter to the characters to be sure, and it certainly doesn't matter to me. A young boy and girl grow up neighbours, friends and more, and the only thing they aren't is lovers. A terrible waste of time in anyone's life, that they haven't..

The whole families, friends and neighbours all wonder... "What the heck are they waiting for?" The good news is they eventually find what it was they needed... an ultimatum by the Irish lass who at one point considered having her eggs frozen. Their parents who tried everything to make the couple realize their destiny needed fulfilling, succeeded, but it was beyond their grave they did.

Once you watch the movie, this will all make perfect sense to you; I couldn't make sense of it myself throughout the movie, until the last scenes. So why should I spare you that pleasure. Oh dear! Their world has become mine. Help!