Those of us who enjoyed the two Nicholas Cage led “National Treasure” movies from the mid-2000s will find a lot of similarities in the latest Guy Ritchie feature, “Fountain of Youth”. Ritchie’s latest hearkens back to an era of big studio features like those silly but fun Cage movies, Brendan Fraser’s “The Mummy” film series, and even the beloved “Indiana Jones” franchise.

“Fountain of Youth” is a smile-inducing callback to those action-adventure movies that audiences once loved. They were the kind that gave us easy-to-like characters on wildly entertaining adventures. And they were infused with just as much humor as action. Sadly these features seemed to have aged out as cinema grew more serious-minded. Now Guy Ritchie attempts to tap back into what made those tentpole movies successes. And he does so with modestly satisfying results.

“Fountain of Youth” certainly has the ingredients for success starting with its cast. The infinitely likable John Krasinski, the talented and daring Natalie Portman, the incredibly versatile Domhnall Gleeson, and the hard-working and effortlessly alluring Eiza González all provide the energy and charisma a movie like this needs. The problems come with the storytelling. There’s nothing egregiously wrong with the story itself (written by James Vanderbilt). But it’s almost mechanical in how it plays out, adhering so stringently to a formula that it can’t help but feel too familiar.

Krasinski and Portman play estranged siblings, Luke and Charlotte Perdue. Their father, an esteemed archeologist, died a year earlier and the brother and sister haven’t seen each other since. While Luke is off in Bangkok stealing a priceless painting from a criminal organization, Charlotte works as a curator for a London art gallery. She’s also making her way through an ugly divorce with her ex-husband (Daniel de Bourg).

One day Charlotte is surprised to find Luke in her gallery. Their lukewarm reunion hits a snag when Luke swipes a Rembrandt painting from its display. Charlotte chases after him only to learn she was being lured to his hideout. There she’s greeted by Luke, their father’s old crew (Laz Alonso and Carmen Ejogo in thankless roles), and a billionaire named Owen Carver (Gleeson). Luke reveals that he’s been tracking notes left by their late father that may reveal the location of the legendary Fountain of Youth.

Carver, who is dying of liver cancer, has agreed to fund their efforts. But Luke need’s Charlotte’s help piecing together and solving the final clues. After a little persuasion she eventually agrees and the group sets off on their globe-trotting adventure. But getting where they need to go won’t be easy. Hot on their heels is Interpol led by Inspector Abbas (Arian Moayed). Also following them is a mysterious woman named Esme (González) from a secret society dedicated to keeping the Fountain’s location hidden.

Ritchie takes his audience around the world, making stops in Thailand, England, Ireland, Austria, Vatican City, and Egypt. To their credit the locations look tremendous even if the stops there aren’t all that memorable. The movie also features some terrific production design that helps set the stage for some of its impressive set pieces. Arguably the best takes place on a segment of an old sunken ship that is brought up to the ocean’s surface. And of course there is the big action-packed finish that looks a bit better than it plays.

But even though the cast seems invested and are giving it their all, their characters and their storylines are captive to a recycled framework that keeps the audience stuck in overly familiar territory. Ritchie plays it relatively safe and by-the-books which may disappoint those looking for more than the movie promises. At the same time, it’s an easily digestible and moderately entertaining adventure that can be enjoyed by the entire family. That alone scores it points, especially in our current era of movies. “Fountain of Youth” is now streaming on Apple TV+.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

Back in July of 2021, Netflix made the audacious choice to release a slasher movie trilogy over the course of three weeks. The movies were inspired by the popular Fear Street book series from author R.L. Stine. Unfortunately, the quality of the three films ranged from so-so to all-out terrible. Overall the trilogy wasted a really cool idea that had the potential to stand out from the many movies that clearly inspired it.

For better or for worse (depending on your opinion of the previous movies) the Fear Street film franchise hasn’t gone away. “Fear Street: Prom Queen” is a new standalone installment with very little in common with its predecessors outside of taking place in the same cursed town and once again disappointing in its execution. It’s a woefully unoriginal slasher that offers no tension, no scares, no humor, and no distinct flavor of its own.

The story is as cliche and conventional as can be. With Shadyside High School’s senior prom only days away, the candidates for prom queen are preparing for their big night. Among them are three Mean Girls from a pampered and popular clique who call themselves the “Wolfpack”. Then there’s the pot-selling rebel who’s only entered to stir things up. Then we have our protagonist, Lori Granger (India Fowler). She’s your prototypical inoffensive good girl who is easy to like and root for.

Pretty much all of that is revealed through a drawn-out opening info-dump. From there the film tries to give the soon-to-be fodder some semblance of personality. Sadly it doesn’t work. Outside of Lori, the movie is littered with uninspired characters, from the thinly sketched teens to the dimwitted adults. They’re neither interesting or amusing which makes caring about what happens to them all but impossible.

Everything leads to prom night where the candidates for queen (and any unfortunate soul with them) become the target of an ax-wielding masked killer in a red rain slicker. The kills that follow are fittingly bloody and gruesome with some being outlandish enough to qualify as comically entertaining. But the semi-inventive hacking, impaling, and disemboweling can only carry the movie so far. And while director Matt Palmer clearly has a love for the genre, he desperately needs more to work with.

“Prom Queen” doesn’t even make the most out of its ripe 1980s setting. Aside from the soundtrack (which features great tracks from Duran Duran, Laura Branigan, Billy Idol, and more) and a few cool references (“Phantasm II”, Fangoria magazine, etc.), the movie could easily be set in modern day. It’s one of the many frustrations that steadily mount as the movie mercilessly makes its way to its ludicrous finish. “Fear Street: Prom Queen” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

I am loving this Josh Hartnett resurgence. After some strong work in the underseen indie “Ida Red” and Guy Ritchie’s “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre”, Hartnett really grabbed attention in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”. He followed it up with a really good turn in M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap”. Those are four dramatically different performances in four dramatically different movies. You can make it five with his latest, “Fight or Flight”.

Directed by James Madigan, “Fight or Flight” is a gleefully bloody action movie infused with a healthy dose of comedy. Its story (written by Brooks McLaren and D.J. Cotrona) sees Hartnett playing a former Secret Service agent named Lucas Reyes. After a violent encounter put him at odds with the CIA, Lucas has been off the grid in Bangkok, living out of a Tuk Tuk while drinking himself to oblivion.

Meanwhile Intelligence Director Katherine Brunt (Katee Sackhoff) finds herself in a pickle. Her agency has been hunting an extremely high-value target known around the world as “The Ghost”. They finally get a beat on the Ghost in Bangkok about to board a plane out of the country. With no assets in the area, a desperate Brunt contacts Lucas. She offers him a clean slate and his old life back if he will get on the plane, identify the Ghost, and escort the target to the United States.

Reluctant but equally desperate, Lucas agrees to the assignment. He boards the double-decker jet and settles in for the 16-hour flight to San Francisco. Once in the air he immediately begins looking for the Ghost. But he quickly learns he’s not alone. In fact he’s 40,000 feet in the air on a giant plane filled with assassins and bounty hunters intent on killing both him and the Ghost. As you can probably guess, things kick into gear from there.

It doesn’t take long for Madigan to crank the action up to ten. At the same time he leans into the absurdity of story, never taking things too seriously and delivering plenty of well-timed laughs. The story itself is pretty basic and you wont be a bit surprised by where things go. But it’s the action and the humor that drives the movie and both hit their marks.

Hartnett is especially fun, rocking frosted blonde hair, wearing an array of goofy clothing, and sporting a world-weary attitude that’s a perfect fit for his character. And not only does the 46-year-old actor have the charisma, but he shows off action-star physicality that I wasn’t expecting. Sackhoff is fittingly stern and authoritative while Charithra Chandran brings plenty of energy in what could be a breakout role.

“Fight or Flight” doesn’t do anything especially original when it comes to story and at times it can be needlessly crude. But the cast is on point, the action choreography is kinetic, and the movie ends on a deliciously gory note that fully embraces the nuttiness of it all. As for Hartnett fans, they will find another wildly different performance from a capable actor who clearly doesn’t mind challenging himself. “Fight or Flight” releases in theaters on May 9th.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

From the writer-director duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, “Freaky Tales” is a pulpy smorgasbord of genres, style choices, and characters, coagulating into an overstuffed Bay Area pastiche that has a hard time finding its footing. But once it does (roughly halfway through), the movie almost generates enough grindhouse goodness to save itself…almost.

“Freaky Tales” is Boden and Fleck’s first feature film since their 2019 MCU blockbuster “Captain Marvel”. During that gap they have worked mostly in television, directing four episodes of “Mrs. America” for FX and two episodes of the underappreciated “Masters of the Air” for AppleTV+. With “Freaky Tales” they turn back towards their indie filmmaking roots with a story that borrows a ton from other projects that came before it.

Set in 1987 Oakland and narrated by hometown rapper and executive producer Too $hort, “Freaky Tales” is told through four loosely interconnected stories set in and around the city. I say loosely because most of the connections are minor at best. About the only continuity between all four stories are reoccurring television commercials for some meditation seminars and a “green glow” that seems to represent nothing more than that ‘special something’ Oakland had at the time.

The first chapter centers on the East Bay punk scene where three friends leave a movie and head to a local punk rock club for a nightcap. While there, Lucid (Jack Champion) tries to muster the courage to tell Tina (Ji-young Yoo) how he feels about her. But their night is interrupted by a pack of neo-Nazi skinheads. The second chapter follows Entice (Normani) and Barbie (Dominique Thorne), an aspiring female rap duo who get their chance to show what they can do in an on-stage rap duel against Too $hort (Symba).

Neither of the first two stories leave much of an impression outside of the digitally enhanced violence in chapter one and the terrific first performance from Normani in chapter two. Both sluggishly play out over a long and unremarkable 45 minutes. Worst of all, neither add any real weight to the overall narrative. They play like snippets of different subcultures rather than meaningful parts of something bigger.

But things noticeably pick up in chapter three. Pedro Pascal plays an underworld strong-arm and debt collector who’s looking to retire and settle down with his pregnant wife (Natalia Dominguez). But those aspirations are shattered after a violent run-in with an echo from his past. Then chapter four ends things on a glorious gonzo note as local NBA legend turned kung fu killer Eric “Sleepy” Floyd (Jay Ellis) unleashes vengeance on a dirty cop (Ben Mendelsohn) and his minions in a blood-splattered ode to 1970s blaxploitation.

While the final two segments give the movie the dramatic jolt it desperately needs, they can’t make “Freaky Tales” work as a cohesive whole. Their intentions are good and obvious, but Boden and Fleck struggle to provide a compelling narrative through-line. As a result their film comes across as inspired yet disjointed and unfocused. Not even Tom Hanks popping up as a crusty video store owner can save the day. “Freaky Tales” is now showing in select theaters.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

As a proud kid of the 1980s, I cut my cinema-loving teeth on the wild array of movies from that decade. Sitting comfortably among the features I watched most during that time was the horror gem “Fright Night”. Everything about it won over my mid-teen self and I would watch it whenever I had the chance. But sadly I never had the opportunity to see it on the big screen. That is until last night, when “Fright Night” screened at the 2025 El Dorado Film Festival in celebration of its 40th anniversary.

“Fright Night” marked Tom Holland’s directorial debut and over time the film evolved into a bona fide cult classic. To no surprise to its fans, the movie still holds up remarkably well, offering a delightful mix of horror and humor. In 1985, part of the charm of “Fright Night” was in how it celebrated elements of classic horror that came before it. That enjoyment is two-fold for fans watching it today. We look back on it with the same appreciation it had for the movies it was paying homage to.

Charley Brewster (William Ragsdale) is a normal suburban 17-year-old with a nice life, a caring mother (Dorothy Fielding), and an adoring girlfriend named Amy (Amanda Bearse) who he’s crazy for. About the only thing he loves as much as Amy is Fright Night, a late night horror television show that is hosted by the famed (and fictional) vampire hunter extraordinaire, Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall).

The movie kicks into gear after a new resident moves into the creepy old house next door to Charley. His new neighbor is Jerry Dandrige who’s played by a perfectly cast and devilishly alluring Chris Sarandon. Over the next several days, a nosey Charley secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) observes some alarming happenings at the Dandrige house eventually leading him to a shocking conclusion – his new neighbor is a vampire.

Both Amy and his mother are quick to dismiss his theory as ridiculous. He next calls the police who investigate. But they find nothing to back his claims and he manages to irritate Dandrige in the process. Out of options, a determined Charley seeks the help of his hero, Peter Vincent. Bad ratings has the disillusioned television host ready to give up the whole vampire hunter act. But Charley’s persistence (and a little cash from his friends) wins Peter over and he reluctantly agrees to humor his loyal and sincere fan.

Of course this is horror movie so we learn quick that Charley is right about Dandrige. But the real fun is in watching him trying to convince Peter and their eventual tag-team effort to vanquish this “foul creature of the night”. Together, Ragsdale and McDowall have a terrific mix of dramatic and comic chemistry. Holland has said “Charley Brewster was the engine, but Peter Vincent was the heart.” I agree yet neither works without the other. And together they don’t work without the energy brought by Ragsdale and McDowall.

A healthy bulk of the movie’s $9-plus million budget went to the special effects and you can certainly tell. Academy Award winner Richard Edlund led a talented team of VFX wizards and makeup artists who used an impressive array of pre-digital trickery including optical photography, matte paintings, furniture dollies, contact lenses, facial prosthetics, and body suits. It gave us what remains a true highlight of the bygone practical effects age.

In the grand scheme of vampire movies, I wholeheartedly believe “Fright Night” to be an underrated classic. And as mentioned above, it’s a horror movie that still holds up today. It’s driven by a fabulous collection of characters, an unabashedly fun story, some deliciously gory effects, and a steady seasoning of good humor. Along the way Holland has a blast in the vampire movie sandbox, playing with the well-established mythologies that so many of us know by heart.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

January might be the weirdest month on the movie calendar. It’s the time of the year where we get no major studio releases. And much of what we do get are movies that the studios don’t have a lot of faith in. Yet January isn’t a total loss. It’s when a lot of the big awards movies finally make their way into theaters. And there are usually one or two unexpected surprises that we never see coming.

I thought “Flight Risk” might qualify as one of those January surprises. A big reason is because it’s directed by Mel Gibson – his first venture behind the camera since 2016’s Oscar-nominated “Hacksaw Ridge”. While he’s mostly known for directing sweeping period films, this time around he has made a straightforward no-nonsense suspense thriller that is very open about its ambitions. From the very start start you should know exactly what you’re in for.

Unfortunately “Flight Risk” doesn’t quite deliver the silly yet entertaining thrill-ride it hopes to. It’s light and easily digestible with the kind of wacky premise that you almost expect to have fun with. But the film struggles to get off the ground (glaringly bad pun intended). And once in the air it remains stuck on auto-pilot, unable to generate anything resembling the kind of white-knuckled excitement it desperately needs.

The film is written by Jared Rosenberg whose screenplay spent several years on the Hollywood Black List. His story revolves around three characters caught in a bonkers scenario. Michelle Dockery plays Madelyn Harris, a Deputy U.S. Marshal who tracks down and arrests a man named Winston (Topher Grace) at an off-the-grid motel in rural Alaska. We learn he’s a wanted mob accountant who quickly becomes a high-value government witness after agreeing to testify against a powerful kingpin.

In order to get Winston to New York for the trial, Madelyn first has to get him to Anchorage. So she charters a beat-up Cessna piloted by Daryl Booth (Mark Wahlberg) to make the 90-minute flight. But while cruising at 3,000 feet high over a range of snow-covered mountains, we get a not-so-shocking reveal – Daryl is not who he says he is. In fact, he’s a psychotic contract killer hired by the mob to kill Winston. Daryl finally makes his move, but after an intense fight Madelyn is able to subdue him.

Most of the film takes place inside the cramped plane with Daryl tied up but attempting to free himself; Madelyn (who’s not a pilot) trying to figure out how to fly the plane; and Winston bouncing back-and-forth between being annoying and providing comic relief. The drama between the three fluctuates between nearly reaching its potential and languishing in long stretches of dullness. And the film’s finish is even worse – serving up a frustrating non-ending that makes us wonder if a chunk of the story is missing.

On paper, “Flight Risk” seems like a movie ready-made for people looking for a diverting escape. But its laundry list of problems prove to be insurmountable. It’s a movie hampered by a lack of imagination, clashing performances, half-baked plotting, and an overall absence of any real excitement. Over the years Gibson has proven himself to be an exceptional filmmaker. But it’s hard to see “Flight Risk” as anything other than a misfire.

VERDICT – 2 STARS