Alien at the Movies

 Urchin

“Urchin” is the sad story about a poor homeless guy who gets a second chance but struggles to put his life back together. Mike is living on the streets barely scraping by, begging for money, & resorting to stealing. He has anger issues. After he gets arrested, he gets some counseling in rehab, a place to stay, & a job. However, life’s stresses & his addictions sends him into a downward spiral. There is not much meaningful from the dialog & the scenes are rather mundane. It is a dull show layered in between artsy images that seem to have little connections to the storyline. Mike is an unlikable character that seems to do little to improve himself. He is a hapless loser that is hard to watch him self destruct. Also, the film seems to find excuses to show Mike shirtless or butt naked. The film’s highlight for me was the pet snake feeding scene.

Alien gives it ½ “You don’t get lunch. You bring your lunch” star out of 4.

One Battle After Another 

Are you a right-winger or a left-winger? Or maybe somewhere in between? 

“Ghetto” Pat Calhoun (Leonardo DiCaprio) & Perfidia Beverly Hills (Teyana Taylor) are lovers & members of a far left political revolutionary group. On a mission to free detained immigrants held at a detention camp, they encounter camp commander Steven J. Lockjaw (Sean Penn) who will come back later to haunt them. When Perfidia turns up pregnant & delivers a baby girl, this changes Pat’s priorities & he wants to settle down to raise their family, but Perfidia wants to carry on as a radical & leaves. Jump ahead 16 years & Pat has been hiding under the name of Bob, single, stoned on alcohol & drugs, behaving very paranoid, & raising his daughter now named Willa. Facing that actions of his past, Lockjaw resurfaces to threaten Bob & Willa. These characters take audiences on an intense thrill ride. DiCaprio & Penn give outstanding  performances. Benito Del Toro & Regina King are terrific in the supporting cast. Filmed in Northern California, see if you can recognize any familiar landmarks. I️, for one, learned another way to navigate downtown Sacramento during rush hour gridlock traffic. See who wins & loses in this one battle after another with the French 75, a sanctuary city, the Sisters of the Brave Beavers, & the Christmas Adventures Club. Viva La Revolution!

Alien gives it 3½ “counter-sequences” stars out of  4.

Good Fortune

It’s “A Wonderful Life” meets “Trading Places” with an ambitious angel who wants to do more. Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) is the guardian angel of texting while driving. However, he aspires for the more important job of saving souls. His attention focuses on Arj (Aziz Ansari) who is down in his luck, sleeping in his car, & working odd jobs to make ends meet. When he gets fired as an assistant to wealthy entrepreneur Fred (Seth Rogan), Gabriel steps in to teach Arj a lesson about money can’t buy you happiness. Gabriel has Arj & Fred switch lives. However, this idea backfires & Gabriel must pay the consequences. Ansari stars in, wrote, directs, & produced this cautionary tale about being careful what you wish for. Sandra Oh & Keke Palmer are among the supporting cast. This is a funny feel good movie.

Alien gives it 3 “budget guardian angel” stars out of 4.

Just Breathe 

It’s Anger Management meets Eating Disorder meets Psycho Stalker Bully in this disturbing thriller. Nervous Nick has planned the perfect setting for his surprise marriage proposal to his girlfriend Mel when he loses control of his temper & sends his & Mel’s lives into a tailspin. After serving a year in prison, Nick sets out to reunite with the love of his life, but she can no longer trust him & is trying to move on with her life. He tracks her down at her new apartment where he meets her too-friendly building manager/owner. Chester. Nick starts to feel jealous & soon finds himself stuck between a rock & a hard place. Being an ex-con, he has regularly scheduled meetings with his parole officer & has rules he must follow. Nick gets a big surprise at his first PO meeting. This is where the drama & craziness starts to escalate & the plot becomes clearer. This is one of those hard-to-watch movies where the lead character & the audience are constantly frustrated by the events happening. In addition, all of the characters seem to be flawed & not very likable. Shawn Ashmore plays the villain we learn to hate. 

Alien gives it 2 “batter up” stars out of 4.

Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie

This is a musical fantasy comedy based on the Netflix kids series featuring a young girl Gabby & her Gabby Cats. Gabby & her Grandma GIGi (Gloria Esteban) are driving cross country to visit urban Cat Francisco with its steep streets & iconic pink suspension bridge. While there, one curious cat unintentionally releases the trailer ties to Gabby’s prized possession, her kitty dollhouse containing her tiny Gabby Cat fiends. Her runaway dollhouse ends up in the possession of an eccentric cat lady, Vera (Kristen Wiig). Vera is the fashionably dressed CEO of the Pretty Glitter Kitty Litter company & an obsessive anything-cat-related collector. Gabby is now on a search & rescue mission to find her lost dollhouse along its Gabby cat inhabitants. Gabby uses her special magical power to shrink herself to miniature size aiding her in the search. One by one, Gabby rescues her tiny friends as well as Vera. This film is targeted towards little girls with affinities to pink & glitter as well as cat lovers. This colorful adventure will take you through a candyland setting with rideable animal cracker & giant gummy worm creatures. This live action film with enhancing CGI fantasy imaginations will tickle the hearts of the very young & the inner child of willing grown ups. I️ have known of this kids show but had never viewed any episodes. The end seems to hint to a possible sequel theme.

Alien gives it 2½ “all join in on the pinch-pinch song” stars out of 4.

Eleanor the Great

Two lost souls find comfort in their new found friendship. Eleanor Morgenstein (June Squibb) is a feisty 94-year-old widow living in Florida. After her husband died, she lived with her BFF Bessie for 11 years. When Bessie died, Eleanor moves back to New York City to live with her daughter & grandson. However, they seemed too busy with their own personal lives & felt Eleanor would be better off in a living assisted home. They had scheduled her activities at a Jewish Community Center to keep her busy. By accident she finds herself at holocaust survivors support group & was put on the spot having to tell her survivor’s story. She panics & tells her departed  roommate Bessie’s story which captivates the group & Nina, a 19-year-old journalism student who is working on a story for her class. You see, Nina had recently lost her mother & threw herself into her schoolwork. They are exactly what each needed from the other. But as Eleanor’s unintentional deceit attracts more & more attention until it all blows up when the truth is revealed & their friendship is almost destroyed. This is a story about love & grief that may bring tears to some eyes. This is Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut. Great work, ScarJo, in developing this moving story. 

Alien gives it 3 “Fabric of New York” stars out of 4.

Caught Stealing

It all started in 1998 in Lower East Side, New York City, when Hank’s apartment neighbor, British punk Russ asked Hank to look after his cat Bud while he’s gone to  London to visit his ailing dad. Hank (Austin Butler) is an alcohol-dependent bartender/huge SF Giants baseball fan with a paramedic girlfriend Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz). When 2 Russian mafia thugs come looking for Russ, Hank ends up badly beaten. Yvonne comes over to take care of Hank. Speaking to detective Roman (Regina King), Hank learns about Russian drug trafficking & some Jewish hitmen. This then becomes a wild ride as the body count rises & everyone seems to after Hank in order to find the missing $4 million drug money. Follow the twists & turns in this dark action crime comedy to see if Hank can dig himself out of his deep hole. This is a fun popcorn movie.

Alien gives it 3 “Don’t drink & drive” stars out of 4.

The Long Walk

“The Long Walk” is Stephen King’s version of “The Hunger Games” & a 1960’s looking version of ancient Rome’s gladiator games.This American dystopian horror thriller is brutal, but what else would expect from King. In some alternate universe, the United States is ruled by a totalitarian regime & a group of young men voluntarily enter this insane annual walking contest in which they must maintain a minimum speed staying on the pavement or risk execution by their military escort. The contest ends only when there is a single survivor. Their walk is televised to the public in the name of patriotism & nationalism in hopes that the people will forget about the country’s sad state of affairs. This is a brutal hard watch especially if you have a weak stomach for violence. Mark Hamill plays the intimidating major in charge. Judy Greer has a small part as a caring mother. All of the walkers are amazing as their physical & emotional states begin to breakdown after days & miles on constant walking. How many miles? How many days? Who will die first? Who will survive? Will it be #7, #23, #46, #47, or who? Yes, they are reduced to just their dog tag numbers. Are there any rest breaks? How do they eat & drink? How do they go to the bathroom? It’s an arduous emotional journey to the end. This is a tough film shoot… acting & spouting your dialog all while constantly walking. Clever imagery of their bleak background scenery enhances the dark mood. Although this is a definite uncomfortable hard watch, I️ still enjoy it… seeing the camaraderie building among these young men under this extremely stressful situation as their numbers dwindled. Seeing their fortitude, perseverance, & sacrifice throughout. How will it end?

Alien gives it 3 “Next time, take the train” stars out of 4.

The Roses

When architectural student Theo Rose (Benedict Cumberbatch) & aspiring chef Ivy (Olivia Colman) met, it was love at first sight. Jumping ahead 10 years, they are now happily married with 2 great kids & living in Mendocino, California. Life is picture perfect until one dark & stormy night, everything turns up side down for them. Theo’s latest architectural masterpiece is destroyed turning him into a laughing stock & causing him to be unemployed. Meanwhile, a renowned food critic stumbles into Ivy’s quaint little restaurant & showers it with praise, thus launching her successful culinary career. This is a satirical black comedy poking fun at the differences between men & women as well as struggles of parenting & marriage. This is a reimagining of the 1989 “War of the Roses” film. It is hilarious fun as fierce competition & hidden resentments explode on the big screen. Allison Janney & Saturday Night Live alums, Andy Samberg & Kate McKinnon are among the supporting cast. Come join in & laugh at this love/hate relationship. Are the Roses headed for divorce? Will one manage to eliminate the other? Or will they live happily ever after?

Alien gives it 3 “We’ve Got Crabs & I️ Loved It” stars out of 4.

The Magic of Ordinary Days

In Denver during World War II, a father sends his pregnant daughter Olivia “Livy” (Kerri Russel) away for an arranged marriage in far away rural Colorado to avoid any family scandal. Ray (Skeet Ultich) steps up to help this poor girl out of her difficult situation. Ray is kind & gentle man working his land as a simple farmer with the help of some Japanese interment camp prisoners as laborers. He seems to be smitten by her at first glance but he is very awkward & unprepared. Livy was a graduate student studying archeology before all this. She is uncomfortable with country life being from the big city with dreams of traveling the world. Ray tries very hard to make Livy happy, but Livy still has hopes to contact the baby’s father & return to Denver. This is an emotional ride on a well constructed storyline as you see the pieces come together. If it seems like a Hallmark Hall of Fame production, it is because it is. This one is about love, grief  & forgiveness.

Alien gives it 3 “faulty gas gauge” stars out of 4.