It’s hard to believe, but 45 years ago this month my father and three other men suffered serious injuries while fighting a dangerous forest fire. I was really young at the time yet I still remember my upset mother dropping me off with my grandparents before heading to the hospital to meet the ambulances. For that reason, seeing news stories and even movies dealing with wildfires register a little differently for me.

“The Lost Bus” is a survival thriller based on Lizzie Johnson’s “Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire”. Both are about the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California’s Butte County. The Camp Fire has been called the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history. Beginning on the morning of November 8, 2018, the fire burned for seventeen days, fueled by extremely dry conditions and fierce katabatic winds. It resulted in 85 fatalities, over 18,000 structures destroyed, and an estimated 153,000 acres burned.

In the movie, Matthew McConaughey offers a wonderfully grounded portrayal of a down on his luck school bus driver named Kevin McKay. Kevin can’t seem to catch a break and it’s taking its toll. He came back to Paradise, California four months earlier when his father died. Now he takes care of his disabled mother Sherry (Kay McCabe McConaughey) while trying to connect with his estranged and rebellious 15-year-old son Shaun (Levi McConaughey).

Meanwhile at work, Kevin struggles to make enough money to pay for his mother’s treatments. He’s constantly asking his dispatcher and boss Ruby (Ashlie Atkinson) for extra shifts but he’s too far down on the seniority ladder. So Kevin makes do the best he can, running his usually route through the rolling forest-covered North California hills. But his and everyone else’s lives are about to change after sparks from a power line start a fire well outside of town.

It’s here that director Paul Greengrass ratchets up his signature visceral style, creating a palpable sense of realism that’s essential to his storytelling. As high winds and dry conditions turn the small blaze into a raging wildfire, Greengrass combines both practical effects and CGI to visually create an authentic you-are-there experience. It’s energized by the immersive cinematography from Pål Ulvik Rokseth, whose variety of shots add tension and a striking sense of scale.

While Kevin’s personal story unfolds, Greengrass routinely breaks away to show the efforts of the fire battalion led by Chief Ray Martinez (Yul Vazquez). Together with spotters and firefighters both in the air and on the ground, the battalion get to work tracking the fire, assessing the threat, and formulating a plan to contain it. Greengrass presents these scenes like a well-oiled procedural that emphasizes the determination of those putting their lives on the line to save others. It also adds a nail-biting authenticity that makes this story hum.

As far as the human drama goes, it ratchets up as well. With the wildfire bearing down on Paradise, a mandatory evacuation is issued. At Ponderosa Elementary a school teacher named Mary Ludwig (America Ferrera) is caring for 23 stranded children. With no other driver in the vicinity, Kevin agrees to pick them up and get them to safety just as the radio and phones go down. After loading Mary and her students into his bus, Kevin heads for the staging area. But with communications down, Ruby is unable to divert them to the backup safe zone.

Greengrass and his co-writer Brad Inglesby do a nice job balancing these two unknowingly connected stories of heroism. As Kevin is driving blind through an engulfed hellscape with Mary calming a busload of children, Chief Martinez and his team do everything in their power to get the fire under control. Both offer perspectives on the real-life disaster of distinctly different scales.

The story isn’t without its flaws. It teases us with subplots that mostly up and vanish. In one harrowing sequence a young fireman drives into the mouth of the inferno and attempts to lead a convoy of survivors to safety. Then they disappear and we never see them again. Later, a pack of gun-toting looters attack the bus and then are gone in a flash. You could also make a case that the final 30 minutes drag out a little longer than necessary.

But those things seem insignificant when placed next to the many things Greengrass gets right, starting with how effectively he makes us feel a part of this real-life horror. It’s seen in the way he captures the magnitude of the disaster; how he impresses upon us the grave danger of each situation; in his ability to relay the sheer ferocity of the fire. The visual wizardry is truly breathtaking. It’s so stunningly realistic that we need those moments of humanity which McConaughey and Ferrera organically provide.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

Sappy romances, weepy dramas, big summer blockbusters, straight to video crime thrillers – Josh Duhamel has done a little bit of everything in the world of movies, television, and even in major video games. Yet Duhamel is an actor who has never quite gotten the recognition he deserves. A part of that is due to the movies he has played in. But even then, Duhamel routinely rises above the material or makes the films he’s in better.

His latest feature is a good showcase for Duhamel’s range and versatility. “London Calling” is an action/crime comedy from Canadian director Allan Ungar. Written by the trio of Ungar, Levin Menekse, and Quinn Wolfe, “London Calling” sees Duhamel playing Tommy Ward, a hitman with bad eyesight who opens the film by botching a job in London. It’s a mistake that ultimately follows him through the rest of the film.

While at a fancy London night club, Tommy mistakenly kills the distant relative of a powerful mobster named Freddy Darby (Aidan Gillen). Freddy is determined to avenge his family member, not out of any deeply felt pain (he doesn’t even know the guy), but because it’s what gangsters stereotypically do. His comical fixation on ‘family’ sets up one of the film’s better running jokes. As for Tommy, he’s forced to flee to Los Angeles, leaving his young son in London with his frustrated ex-wife.

A year passes and Tommy now works for a despicable low-rent LA crime boss named Benson (Rick Hoffman). Tommy desperately wants to go see his son, so Benson makes him a deal. In exchange for safe passage into London, Tommy must agree to take Benson’s son Julian (Jeremy Ray Taylor) on his next hit job. Why, you ask? Julian is more interested Fortnite, larping, and bears (yes, bears) than following in his father’s footsteps. Benson wants Tommy to toughen up his socially awkward son and teach him how to “become a man”.

The rest of the film plays like a buddy-cop movie minus the cops. Amid the steady waves of action and amusement, Duhamel and Taylor have a blast and feature a fun comic chemistry. The job they are given involves a lethal assassin who has gone off the deep end (Neil Sandilands), his overly protected brother (Brandon Auret), and inevitably Freddy and his goons from the UK. It’s a bit all over the place, making Tommy and Julian’s burgeoning friendship far more interesting.

With “London Calling”, Allan Ungar delivers an entertaining melding of big action and straightforward comedy. While the action is serviceable, it’s the sheer number of good laughs that surprises most. Meanwhile Akexander Chinnici’s vibrant sun-bathed cinematography captures the colorful diversity of Southern California despite being shot in South Africa. But the cast is the main attraction, led by Duhamel whose versatility enables him to bring everything his character and the movie needs. In theaters September 19th.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

“The Long Walk” has a premise that undoubtedly sounds silly on the surface. But as director Francis Lawrence (“The Hunger Games” films) begins to plow deeper, we see a wealth of themes sprout up, most explored through the film’s young characters. Yet despite the strong performances and its surprising thematic heft, “The Long Walk” is hampered by several minor annoyances that together turn into bigger frustrations.

“The Long Walk” is based on a 1979 Stephen King novel of the same name. Written for the screen by JT Mollner, this survival thriller takes place in a dystopian America where a nebulous collapse of society has led to mass poverty and famine. The country is seemingly ran by a totalitarian regime which is embodied in the film’s almost cartoonish antagonist known only as The Major (Mark Hamill).

In this visually captivating America, The Long Walk is an annual “contest” where one young man from every state is chosen by lottery to participate. The “walkers” gather at a designated starting line and then walk until only one remains standing. The winner then receives a huge cash prize and one wish to be granted by The Major. Of course the walk comes with some pretty strict rules. First, the walkers must maintain a speed of 3 mph. Second, they cannot step off the road. Here’s the kicker – breaking the rules results in immediate execution.

One of the last participants to arrive is Raymond (Cooper Hoffman) who immediately forms a bond with fellow walker Peter (David Jonsson). As the event is set to begin, we’re introduced to several other competitors including the potty-mouthed Hank (Ben Wang), the physically imposing Stebbins (Garrett Wareing), the religious Arthur (Tut Nyuot), the obnoxious bully Barkovitch (Charlie Plummer), the quiet and austere Collie (Joshua Odjick), and the nervous Curley (Roman Griffin Davis).

Essentially this is a movie that solely follows young men walking which makes the characters the centerpiece. Lawrence does a fine job propelling the story forward despite the clear limitations in the premise. And the performances are top-to-bottom impressive from what is a predominantly twenty-something cast. Everyone is onboard and committed, and they do everything they can to breathe personality into these characters.

But the script doesn’t make things easy, often oscillating between brilliant and disappointing. Most of the issues revolve around the characters who all seem to be cut from the same societal cloth. Aside from their physical appearances and on-the-nose personality traits, there’s not much to distinguish them. The only differences of substance are found in vague personal testimonies that often come right before a character is offed. There was certainly time to flesh them out more, especially in the first half. But too much of it is wasted on shallow adolescent banter coming from cast members who look much older than they’re made to sound.

Now there are a few exceptions with some characters standing out more than others. The growing relationship between Raymond and Peter is especially compelling. As for the story, it touches on such rich themes as survival, nihilism, humanity, and brotherhood (just to name a few). And it is unflinchingly brutal in ways that fit firmly within the bleak world we’re thrust into. But the abovementioned character issues never go away. And it isn’t helped by an ending that frankly doesn’t make much sense. It’s a shame because there is much to admire, despite its shortcomings.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

While it’s true that television game shows are still around, they’re nowhere near the craze they once were. As a kid growing up in the 1980s, game shows by the dozens could be found all across daytime TV. “Card Sharks”, “Scrabble”, “Tic-Tac-Dough”, and “Super Password” are just some of the game shows I would sit and watch most weekdays. But one of my personal favorites was “Press Your Luck” hosted by the late Peter Tomarken.

“Press Your Luck” featured three contestants who amassed spins by answering trivia questions. They then used those spins on a randomized gameboard made up of squares featuring cash, prizes, and extra spins. Their main goal was to win big without hitting a Whammy who would take away all their winnings. “Press Your Luck” grew in popularity, but it gained major media attention in 1984 when a former ice cream truck driver from Ohio named Michael Larson outsmarted the game to the tune of $110,237.

In “The Luckiest Man in America”, director Samir Oliveros introduces us to Michael Larson and what became known as the Press Your Luck scandal. Co-written by Oliveros and Maggie Briggs, the film spins the stranger-than-fiction true story into a black comedy of sorts – a move that both helps and hurts the movie. They openly take several wild liberties that manage to add some laughs. But it also takes the story down some roads that never make much sense.

Paul Walter Hauser is terrific as Michael Larson, portrayed as a sheepishly down-on-his-luck ice cream truck driver from Lebanon, Ohio. The film opens up with Michael in Hollywood to audition for his favorite television game show, “Press Your Luck”. He ends up blowing his audition but finds sympathy with the show’s creator and director, Bill Carruthers (David Strathairn). Bill thinks his viewers will love Michael’s story so he books him for the next day’s recording.

Michael spends the last of his money buying a sports jacket at an area thrift store before heading to the studio where the unexpected and improbable happens. After meeting the show’s host, Peter Tomarken (a really good Walton Goggins) and his two fellow contestants (Brian Geraghty and Patti Harrison), Michael settles in to play “Press Your Luck”. And as everyone there soon learns, he has the upper hand.

Basically, Michael had watched the show so much that he had memorized the board’s supposedly random patterns. Before long he’s racking up big winnings which makes Bill Carruthers and his team start to sweat. From there the drama splits time between Michael’s personal chaos, including his underdeveloped situation back home, and the showrunners in the control room who immediately seek to limit the damage.

An immensely overqualified supporting cast fill in the gaps starting with Goggins who slides right into his game show host role. Shamier Anderson plays Bill’s moody casting director who is tasked with learning the truth about Michael. Maisie Williams is a sweet addition playing production assistant Sylvia. Johnny Knoxville pops up briefly as a talk show host in the movie’s strangest scene. And a woefully underused Haley Bennett gets little to do as Michael’s wife, Patricia.

While “The Luckiest Man in America” has its version of Michael Larson, it barely cracks the shell of the real man who is well worth reading about. Not of all of the choices work as intended making this open dramatization far less compelling than the true story. But even if you don’t know the history, there’s still enough here to pique your interest. The cast is top-to-bottom strong, and it’s technically impressive from the slyly deceptive sound design by Andrés Velásquez to Lulú Salgado’s transporting production design. So sit back and soak in this crazy tale. But afterwards, slip over to Wikipedia and check out the even crazier true account.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

From director David Yarovesky and producer Sam Raimi comes “Locked”, a tightly wound high-concept action thriller that brings together the hardworking Bill Skarsgård and the effortlessly great Anthony Hopkins. “Locked” is an English-language remake of Mariano Cohn’s 2019 Argentinian film “4×4”. It was filmed and is set in Vancouver, Canada which adds a vivid urbanized texture while playing a big part in the storytelling.

Skarsgård plays Eddie Barrish, a down on his luck petty thief whose bad choices put him in a perilous predicament. Eddie is broke, unable to muster the $475 needed to get his beat-up van out of the garage. So he resorts to snatching wallets, buying scratch-offs, and breaking into cars. To make matters worse, he’s in hot water with his ex-wife for routinely standing up his young daughter, Sarah (Ashley Cartwright).

While cutting through a near vacant backstreet parking lot, Eddie notices a fancy black SUV appropriately branded “Dolus”. He checks the door and finds it unlocked. Jumping in unnoticed, he immediately begins rummaging for anything to sell but finds nothing. When he tries to get out, he discovers the doors are locked. He attempts kicking out the glass but to no avail. He learns all cell signal is blocked and its soundproof so he can’t scream for help. After several more vain attempts at escaping, Eddie realizes he’s trapped.

As Eddie panics over his sudden predicament, the vehicle’s phone rings. On the other end is an elderly man who introduces himself as William (Hopkins). The two engage in a hostile back-and-forth in which William exercises his dominance. He watches his trapped prey through six embedded cameras, shocking Eddie with the electrified interior whenever he gets out of line. William even resorts to torturing Eddie with heat, cold, and (in a darkly comical turn) blaring polka music.

Why is William doing this? Well it’s best you find out on your own. But it’s all a sick game built upon his sociopathic sense of justice. As William and Eddie continue their tête-à-têtes, we learn more about each of them – their pasts, their circumstances, and in some instances their motivations. A few arguments feel a bit fabricated, such as one conversation that quickly evolves into on-the-nose political commentary. But most build towards the film’s harrowing final act which is set in motion once the the sleek high-tech SUV hits the streets.

While there’s no denying the ultimate absurdity of the premise, “Locked” rides along on the firm commitment of Skarsgård and Hopkins. The duo does everything they can to keep the story driving forward even as the movie struggles to fill its lean 95 minutes. And while its midsection lulls bog things down a bit, there’s just enough meat on the bones of this gritty genre two-hander to hold your interest. “Locked” hits theaters March 21st.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

The deep sea survival thriller “Last Breath” tells the harrowing and miraculous true story of Chris Lemons, a saturation diver who spent nearly half an hour without oxygen at the bottom of the North Sea and lived to tell about it. A number of medical professionals have studied his case and none of the experts have come up with an explanation for how Lemons survived. And not only that, he sustained no longterm mental or physical effects.

“Last Breath” is directed by Alex Parkinson and is a feature film adaptation of the 2019 documentary of the same name he made with Richard da Costa. Written by the trio of Parkinson, Mitchell LaFortune, and David Brooks, the film follows the incident and subsequent rescue attempt. Parkinson highlights the heroism of those on the ship and underwater in a high-stakes, race against the clock thriller that delivers with a near workmanlike precision.

Finn Cole plays Chris Lemons, a young diver from Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a loving fiancé (Bobby Rainsbury) and a bright future. He gets a call to join a team of saturation divers for some deep-water gas line maintenance. Excited for the opportunity, Chris joins team leader and 20-year veteran Duncan Allcock (Woody Harrelson) and the intense and hyper-focused David Yuasa (Simu Liu) aboard a state-of-the-art vessel destined for the tumultuous North Sea.

Parkinson’s earlier research for his documentary pays big dividends here as he pours a ton of effort into the details. Everything from Ian Seabrook’s stunning underwater photography to the cramped and claustrophobic metal interiors to the steady flow of nautical jargon adds to the movie’s overall realism. And it helps that Parkinson keeps his story simple and streamlined. The film is lean and compact but has a propulsive plot. Best of all, it avoids the temptation to artificially amplify the drama. Parkinson lets the story sell itself.

The tension comes to a boil after Chris, Duncan, and David take a diving bell 300 feet below the sea’s surface. From there Chris and David descend further down to a drilling structure known as a manifold which sits on the seafloor. As the pair begin to make repairs, Duncan monitors their progress from the bell while feeding them air, light, warmth, and communication through an umbilical. Meanwhile up above in the ship’s wheelhouse, Captain Andre Jenson (the always reliable Cliff Curtis) fights to keep the ship on location in the middle of a violent storm.

Without giving away the details, the storm causes the ship to drift following a major DPS system malfunction. As the ship is pulled away from the site so is the bell. While David is able to get free of the manifold to ascend to the bell, Chris’ umbilical gets caught and eventually snaps. It leaves him stuck on the seafloor with no communication, no light, and only a few minutes of air. In an instant their maintenance job turns into a rescue mission as everyone above water and below put their lives on the line to save Chris before it’s too late.

“Last Breath” might be a bit thin in places, and I can see it being too straightforward for some audiences. But the movie works because of its ability to earn our investment. We fully believe in its real-life scenario, no questions asked. And we care about the characters, even if we wish we knew a little more about them. There is a gritty realism in the performances that matches the story as the terrific ensemble capture the human spirit. Parkinson does the rest, delivering a gripping throwback thriller in what is his rock-solid narrative feature debut.

VERDICT – 4 STARS