Ben Affleck directs, produces, co-writes, and stars in his latest Netflix collaboration, “Animals”. Earlier this year, he and his childhood friend and frequent producing partner Matt Damon released “The Rip” on the ever-growing streaming platform. It was a gritty retro action thriller loosely based on a really-life Miami drug bust. Interestingly, “Animals” has a similar throwback quality to it. It’s a crime thriller with a psychological edge that would have felt right at home on big screens in the 1990s.

Damon was originally set to star alongside Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner. But after a nearly one-year delay, Damon was no longer available due to his commitments to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey”. And both Affleck and Garner decided against her casting. So Affleck took on Damon’s role and Kerry Washington was brought in as Garner’s replacement. Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, Luis Geraldo Mendez, and Ray Fisher round out the film’s sturdy cast.

Jointly written by Affleck, Connor O. McIntyre, and Billy Ray, the story is set and filmed in Los Angeles. Affleck plays Mark Kimball, a lifelong LA resident who is now seeking to be the city’s next mayor. Mark is a slick and polished politician who is good-looking, charismatic, and always says the right thing. His résumé touts his time as a teacher, soldier, lawyer, and district attorney. He sounds like the perfect candidate. But there’s one problem – he finds himself down three points entering the last stretch of the election.

To make matters worse, Mark’s self-funded campaign is broke. His wife Abby (Washington) doesn’t know it, but he has already used up all their savings. And now, at the urging of his campaign manager Sam (Yeun), he has secretly taken out a loan and put up their swanky Brentwood home up as collateral. It puts Mark in a precarious position. If he doesn’t win the election, he will lose his wife, his home – everything. Meanwhile, Abby has secrets of her own which could cost her as well.

Mark and Abby’s world is turned upside down after they receive a call from a distorted voice claiming their son Denny (Christopher Woodley) has been kidnapped. He was taken while out trick-or-treating with their nanny Cecilia (Paz) and her son Hector (Jacob Estrada). Now Denny’s abductor is threatening to kill him if Mark doesn’t pay $7 million cash. And things only heat up when Mark is forced to confess to Abby that they don’t have the money because he spent it on his campaign.

Affleck wastes no time cranking the story’s simmer to a boil. Tensions skyrocket as truths are revealed that not only threaten Mark and Abby’s already fractured marriage, but that has the potential to derail any chance of saving their son. Meanwhile the film tosses in a few intriguing wildcards who add some unexpected layers to the story. Take Dayle Burton (Anderson), a powerful and merciless fixer who loans money and navigates crises out of the public eye for a stiff 20% fee with severe penalties if she isn’t paid in full. And there’s Cecilia’s undocumented fiancé Ramon (Mendez) who impacts things in some surprising ways.

Just as “Animals” has us thinking we know where things are going, it throws us a curveball that recontextualizes things in some fascinating ways. The film’s obvious title comes fully into focus as circumstances force characters to reveal their true selves. As they do, not only does Affleck explore individual morality, but he also shows just how political relationships can be. Equally compelling is the sharp contrast he explores between glossy public images and the murkier private truths that never make the news.

Strong performances help energize the movie starting with Affleck who sharply conveys Mark’s complexity, from his volatility to his ruthless self-preservation to moments of genuine empathy. Washington is equally good as a woman who keeps her emotions close to the chest. And Anderson is a devilish blend of menace and camp. There are unanswered questions that linger well after the credits roll, and not all of the pieces fit together as intended. But “Animals” is a high-stakes, tension-driven thriller with enough unpredictability and emotional weight to keep its audience involved from start to finish.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

As a sucker for Westerns, I’m pretty easily drawn in whenever modern filmmakers attempt to tap back into that classic genre. It’s especially enticing when they’re remaking an old John Wayne movie. Such is the case with “Angel and the Badman”, a new film from director Julio Quintana that’s based on Wayne’s 1947 Western of the same name. I’ve since learned that there was a 2009 remake for the Hallmark Channel. I can’t speak to that one, but this latest version entertains despite its notable flaws.

Written by the trio of Jaime Hernandez, Kevin M. Townsend, and Christopher Tuffin, the story follows Quirt Evans (Zachary Levi), a notorious outlaw whose reputation is known throughout the territory. After burying a small chest of stolen confederate gold at an abandoned mission, a wounded Quirt rides his horse until he collapses in front of farmhouse where he’s found by a young woman named Penny Worth (Meg Fraser).

Quirt is brought inside and nursed back to health by a beguiled Penny, her mother Irene (Jean Louisa Kelly), her grandmother Harriet (Melissa Chambers), and her fussy kid brother Johnny (Barrett Ellis Luca). Quirt begins helping out around the place, even using some of his past reputation to straighten out a surly neighbor. But as anyone who has watched Westerns knows, stolen gold draws all kinds of bad hombres. In this case it’s Laredo (Neal McDonough), a ruthless gang leader determined to get his hands on that loot.

It’s pretty easy to figure out where the story goes from there. As Quirt gets a taste of a simpler life with the Worth family, Laredo arrives with his two henchman (Maurice Greene and Jesús Carús) and spoils things. The lone wildcard in the movie’s predictable hand is the underdeveloped Marshal Boone McClintock (Tommy Lee Jones), a lawman who grows leery of Quirt’s hanging out at the Worth’s home. The seasoned Jones is a personal favorite of mine and always a welcomed presence. But here his character almost feels like an afterthought.

As the story follows its rather conventional trajectory, Quintana spruces it up with some fittingly classical cinematography, costumes, and production design. He also mines some unexpectedly good laughs out of the material. Yet there are also occasional moments of overacting, some shaky accents, and instances where the dialog feels written for a Western movie rather than authentic to its time. Even more, chunks of helpful backstory seem to be missing, and the abrupt finish doesn’t end things on the best note.

Even with its flaws, “Angel and the Badman” has just enough genre flavor to scratch the itch of longtime Western fans. For everyone else, the reactions are likely to be a little more mixed. It’s a movie that leaves so much on and off the table. Though familiar, the premise has enough for a considerably more engaging story. And it sports a cast who are plenty capable of bringing it to life. Unfortunately, what we get is entertaining enough, but too generic to leave much of an impression.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

With his new Netflix film “Apex”, director Baltasar Kormákur continues an eclectic run of films that has featured everything including wild genre concoctions, gritty thrillers, buddy action-comedies, and awards-caliber dramas. “Apex” definitely falls in the ‘genre concoction’ category. Kormákur has made a propulsive survival action thriller that even dips its toes into horror when you’re least expecting it.

Working from a kinetic original screenplay by Jeremy Robbins, Kormákur takes an action-fueled approach to exploring grief and guilt, with lead Charlize Theron (who also produces) carrying much of the load. She plays an adrenaline junkie named Sasha whose life is turned upside down after losing her partner Tommy (briefly but wonderfully played by the ever underrated Eric Bana) in a rock-climbing tragedy.

While its script and its star are vital pieces, just as crucial are the eye-popping visuals. The film was shot on location near Australia’s Royal National Park and along the gorgeous Blue Mountains in New South Wales. Canyons, caves, tall peaks, raging rivers, and dense forests provide the film with a stunning yet unforgiving natural setting. The rest is handled by the crack visual effects teams from Kormákur’s previous outdoor thrillers, “Everest” and “Beast”. They use the beauty of nature as both the centerpiece and the backdrop for some thrilling action sequences.

Five months after Tommy’s death, Sasha is on the road in scenic southwest Australia, living alone out of her van and still mourning her loss. She swings into a rural gas station to grab some supplies where she’s harassed by a meat-headed hunter. But she’s helped by a seemingly friendly local named Ben (Taron Egerton) who even recommends some area sightseeing and a good camping spot at a nearby river.

But Sasha’s efforts to find solace in solitude are quickly thwarted when she once again encounters Ben. This time it’s deep in the wilderness, and Ben is no longer the kindly and helpful guy from before. Instead, he reveals himself to be a sadistic psychopath who has lured Sasha into an arena where he’s the hunter and she’s his prey. But Sasha is far from weak and defenseless. And despite being isolated in a treacherous environment, her grit and resourcefulness makes her more than Ben bargained for.

While the story is simple and straightforward, it does its job in defining the stakes, building tension, and propelling us from one harrowing action scene to another. But just as you think you have a good read of the movie’s pulse, Kormákur and Robbins throw us a grisly second-half curveball that manages to be both deeply unsettling and (in its own delightfully deranged way) darkly amusing. It’s a devilishly macabre twist that raises a few obvious yet overlooked questions. But odds are you’ll be having too much fun to care.

“Apex” is an impressive two-hander that gets go-for-broke commitments from its two stars. Egerton has a field day playing the maniacal Ben, squeezing out every drop of depravity he can without turning the character into a caricature. Meanwhile, I’m not sure Theron has ever been this gutsy and determined. She pours all of herself into a demanding role, finding moments of emotional truth among the intense physicality. Together with the stunning vistas, exhilarating camerawork, and white-knuckle tension, Theron and Egerton turn a simple survival story into a riveting action thriller that never lets you out of its grip.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

It goes without saying, but there will be a lot of eyes on “Avatar: Fire and Ash”. And they will be watching for a number of reasons. For fans, it will be for another chance to visit the breathtaking world of Pandora. For tech lovers, it’s to see how James Cameron once again pushes technical boundaries. For box office prognosticators, it will be to see if Cameron’s third Avatar movie can hit the $2 billion+ mark like its predecessors. For the studio, it’s to see if it makes enough money to green-light the final two films in Cameron’s groundbreaking franchise.

After the enormous success of 2009’s “Avatar”, it took the franchise’s creative mastermind James Cameron thirteen years to make and release its sequel, “The Way of Water”. To many people’s surprise (more specifically, my own), the second film was also a major box office success, clearing over $2.3 billion at the box office. It was also an incredible cinematic experience that not only expanded the Avatar universe, but made the narratively shaky first film better.

“The Way of Water” once again delivered cutting-edge action sequences and world-building. But its story shifted its focus to family and all of its complexity as seen through the lenses of love, loyalty, sacrifice, and tragedy. “Fire and Ash” sees Cameron picking up where he left off, with Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) navigating their family through grief following a devastating loss. And while they’ve found a home with the aquatic Metkayina clan, that doesn’t lessen the blow of losing one of their own.

Cameron’s script (which he co-write with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver) expands the drama within the Sully family, adding more depth and conflict to the relationships that flourished in the previous film. Back is Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), Jake and Neytiri’s adopted daughter with a special unrealized bond to the planet; Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), the middle child who also serves as the film’s occasional narrator; and Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), their birth daughter and youngest child.

Each member of the Sully family is mourning in their own way. Jake spends his time keeping busy rather than facing his grief. Neytiri has shut herself off and is slowly being consumed by hate. Lo’ak is overwhelmed with guilt, believing his actions led to the previous film’s tragedy. Kiri is struggling to find her purpose while wondering if she could have done more. And Tuk is lost among her grieving family and unsure how to process everything she is witnessing.

Also returning is the Sully family’s chief antagonist, the obsessed Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Once the human military commander who brutally oversaw the colonization of Pandora, Quaritch is now a Na’vi mercenary who is still persecuting the native tribes, all in the name of revenge. But this time he has found a formidable ally in Varang (Oona Chaplin), the hardened leader of the volcano-dwelling Mangkwan clan. While she isn’t fleshed out as much as she could be, her goal is clear – to spread her fire across Pandora.

The story’s wild card is Spider (Jack Champion), the human son of Quaritch who was taken in by Jake and Neytiri after his ruthless father was killed in the first film. Spider’s story takes several specific turns that make him wanted by nearly everyone but for much different reasons. Spider was a little annoying in the last film. But here he’s more of a sympathetic figure who’s being pulled in numerous directions and for nothing that he can control.

As you may be able to tell, “Fire and Ash” is very much a direct sequel to “The Way of Water”. In fact, their connections are so close that you can only really view it as an extension of the previous film. The two are narratively inseparable which is why some might see their similarities as repetitive. But Cameron infuses every scene with purpose, whether they’re personal for individual characters or building up the growing conflict that is thrusting Pandora into all-out war.

Once again, “Fire and Ash” is every bit the jaw-dropping spectacle you expect. While is doesn’t feature a technical leap as significant as we saw from film 1 to film 2, it’s still a stunning visual showcase for digital animation, practical effects, and performance capture. And it remains the only franchise where seeing it in 3-D is a must. It’s all enhanced through a crisp high frame rate which some have criticized but that I personally love.

“Fire and Ash” may feel like “The Way of Water: Part 2”, but it brings some things of its own. The menacing Varang and the Mangkwan clan, the Wind Traders and their massive organic barges; new sea creatures from the deep – they all make great additions to Cameron’s already rich cinematic world. Yet it does have its shortcomings. Older characters pop up with nothing much to do. The movie’s length doesn’t quite feel as earned as before. And it uses some of the same action beats as the last film. But “Fire & Ash” is still a grand science-fiction epic that once again transports us to an awe-inspiring world that could only come from the imagination of James Cameron. And I loved being back.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

“Affection” opens with a startling shot of a car in the center of a rural road, its headlights illuminating the dark. The camera then cuts to a severely injured woman lying motionless on the pavement, bloodied and bruised, her eyes blankly staring as a small tear leaks across the bridge of her nose. Suddenly she gasps, has a violent convulsion, manages to stand, and then frantically walks away, only to be plowed over by a speeding car.

Writer-director BT Meza’s well-conceived and well-shot opening sequence does a good job piquing our interest. The woman is played by Jessica Rothe, a seriously underrated actress whose impressive range has shown from “La La Land” to “Happy Death Day”. The mysterious table-setting and a talented lead gets things started on the right foot. But over time, “Affection” loses its intrigue, not because of premise or performance. But due to its convoluted storytelling which leaves us with too many questions.

Rothe plays Ellie Carter…or does she? That’s a question at the center of “Affection”. Ellie wakes up after a terrible dream. She’s in bed next to a man she doesn’t know, in a house she doesn’t recognize, and with a young daughter she doesn’t remember. In what she believes is self-defense, Ellie attacks the man but stops when she sees the terrified expression from the little girl who calls her “Mommy”. A confused and distraught Ellie crumbles to the ground where she’s embraced by her family(?).

After things calm down, the unctuous man tells Ellie he is her husband, Bruce (Joseph Cross) and the little girl is their daughter, Alice (Julianna Layne). Bruce goes on to describe a horrible accident that left her severely injured. As a side-effect of her trauma, Ellie is suffering from petrifying memory resets – a condition where her mind takes pieces of information from her life and twists them into false memories. Their neuro specialists have prescribed isolation as a part of her recovery leading Bruce to buy a remote farmhouse with no phone, no internet, and no neighbors. There they hope to rebuild the connections to her real memories.

Rothe superbly navigates Ellie’s inner turmoil which alternates between perplexity, frustration, and despondency. Adding to her emotional conflict are vividly detailed memories of a much different past. A past where her name was Sarah Thompson and she had a different husband and a son. She had other parents, other friends, and another childhood. These invasive memories clash with the old pictures, home videos, and passionate testimonies of Bruce and Alice.

But around the 40 minute mark the story takes a sharp turn, revealing what we already know – that things are not as they seem. Unexplainable tremors, nightmarish visions, a strange wound near the base of her neck, and so on. It all points to a mid-movie twist that I don’t dare spoil even though it’s fairly simple to figure out. The problems are with the details. The general idea is easy enough to grasp. But the convolution comes in understanding how it all fits together. Again, I’m keeping it vague, but I found myself left with too many significant questions.

That’s not to say “Affection” doesn’t have its strengths. The three-person cast is more than proficient with Rothe carrying the bulk of the load on her capable shoulders. The movie takes some admirable big swings which opens the door for some delightfully grisly makeup and effects. And to the film’s credit, it makes a poignant and personal statement on grief and isolation – both themes pulled directly from Meza’s own life experience. Sadly, the movie’s second-half incoherence ends up seriously impacting the payoff. It’s unfortunate considering the many things the movie gets right.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS