Thumbnails Aug 21

by Tony Medley

No Sudden Move (8/10): 91 Minutes. R. An outstanding cast highlights this mystery/thriller about a home invasion that seems incongruous and quickly goes wrong. Don Cheadle and Benicio del Toro give sparkling performances as two of the heist men who are involved in something far deeper than they could possibly imagine. But the relationships go much further than originally meets the eye and it keeps one guessing what is really going on throughout the film. Theaters and HBOMax

Val (8/10): 108 minutes. R. Val Kilmer was the youngest person ever to be admitted to the Juilliard School an New York City. In addition, he was prescient enough to be in early devotee of videotape cameras. He took his cameras with him wherever he went and kept all the tapes that he made, which added up to thousands and thousands of feet of material. Along with directors Leo Scott and Ting Poo Day, they sifted through this mass of material and have put together an illuminating autobiography told in his own words and using the films he made throughout his life. I did not know that he suffered from throat cancer and basically lost his voice, speaking now through a hole in his throat. But it has not stopped him, and he still tells his story although his voice is very rough. His son, Jack, speaks his narration for him sometimes. He had a one-of-a-kind look about him and the persona of a star. If you are a fan, you will like this. If you are not a fan, this might make you one.

The Phantom (8/10): 82 minutes. NR. On the night of February 4, 1983, a young woman working at a gas station in Corpus Christi, Texas, 26-year-old Wanda Lopez, called police to inform them that there was a Hispanic man outside her store that worried her. While still on the phone, he attacked and killed her while the police listened. He ran away but shortly thereafter police found 20-year-old Carlos DeLuna hiding under a car and eyewitnesses ID’d him as a man running away from the scene. During the trial DeLuna identified Carlos Hernandez as the killer.  In 2012 a Columbia University innocence project investigated and reported that DeLuna was telling the truth, that Hernandez not only performed the murder, but bragged about it. If what is shown here is true, this poor guy DeLuna had a lawyer who was lazy, if not incompetent; the prosecutors were more interested in an easy conviction than finding out who really did it, and DeLuna ended up dead. It took 20 years later to find out that there was an almost 100% probability that he was telling the truth and it was truth that could have been discovered, especially by the prosecutors, with just a little diligence. This makes a pretty persuasive case for DeLuna’s innocence, but it is basically one-sided. The fact, though, that he turned down a life sentence without possibility of parole is strong evidence that he was innocent. Had he been guilty, wouldn’t he almost certainly have chosen life over death? Prime

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (7/10): 118 minutes. NR. It’s mostly the charismatic Bourdain kvetching about his life before he ended it. I came away thinking that he owed everything to his producers Lydia Tenaglia and Chris Collins. It was their idea to make a series out of “The Cook’s Tour,” his second book and they were really the geniuses behind his TV success. Lydia says that “life on the road with Tony is not all it’s cracked up to be. The man can be a real pain in the ass sometimes…I have this cold sore on my lip now and it’s due to Tony’s lack of communication.” Just as The Beatles probably would have never achieved their worldwide fame without producer George Martin, Bourdain would have probably just been a successful author and not a world famous TV personality without Collins and Tenaglia creating and producing his travel shows. To the film’s discredit, it grossly downplays and barely mentions his bullying and serious drug abuse throughout his life which probably had more to do with his depression and suicide than being dumped by actress Asia Argento. Further, this whitewashed encomium totally ignores his #Me2 hypocrisy in saying he supported the movement against sexual predators and then paid off a young man who claimed he was sexually victimized by the 38-year-old Argento when the young man was only 17. Theaters and HBO Max

Enemies of the State (7/10): 104 minutes. NR. This is a semi pseudo-documentary. It seems as if we are seeing the real people, but the main character, Matt DeHart, is an actor, actually two actors, as are the detectives and FBI agents. It’s about a son who purloins incriminating CIA documents and is attacked by the Deep State and deeply involves his parents. Given the abject criminal corruption of the Deep State it is believable but the feigned scenes, like one where the parents are apparently speaking on a cell phone with Julian Assange (who is a hero in my book) of Wikileaks (maybe it’s true but it looks staged to me), strain credulity. Worse, halfway through it certainly appears that they change actors for Matt, with no explanation. They don’t even look alike. That said, it’s otherwise well done, interesting, and worth seeing because it’s probably mostly true.

Jolt (4/10): 91 minutes. NR. If this isn’t the dumbest movie to come along, it will do for a while. Linda (Kate Beckinsale) is a psycho with what is defined as a “neurological disorder” that causes her to periodically become extremely violent. She’s treated by Dr. Munchin (Stanley Tucci) who is supposed to be a psychiatrist but every scene in which he appears he is in what looks to be a rundown office, dressed like a bum and needing a shave. What follows is utter nonsense. There are plotholes galore, characters who don’t make sense, and situations that could only appear on a Hollywood sound stage. Apparently, it’s only purpose is to show that a woman can fight man after man, many at the same time, and put them down barely working up a sweat. Directed by Tanya Wexler from a script by Scott Wascha, advertised as a comedy, it’s not funny. Also advertised as a thriller, it is so absurd and ridiculous that it’s thrill-challenged. Prime