Daisy Ridley gets a meaty non-Star Wars role in “The Marsh King’s Daughter”, the new film from director Neil Burger. His latest is based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Karen Dionne that tells the story of a young woman haunted by unthinkable events from her childhood. It’s a good character for Ridley who gets some solid material to work with. At least until the last act which is where the story slips off track and squanders some otherwise exciting potential.

The movie begins with a beguiling prologue set in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There, deep in the wilderness near a long winding marsh, a 10-year-old girl named Helena (played by Brooklynn Prince) lives off the grid with her quietly reserved mother Beth (Caren Pistorius) and her backwoodsman father Jacob (Ben Mendelsohn). Helena is a daddy’s girl and is constantly by his side as he teaches her how to live off the land. But her understanding of a normal life is shattered by the discovery that her dad is a psychopath (something you might have guessed by just by seeing Mendelsohn’s named attached).

We learn that Jacob abducted Beth twelve years earlier and has held her captive since. The two had Helena who Beth has tried to protect. I won’t spoil how it plays out, but Beth manages to escape with a confused Helena and a pursuing Jacob is arrested. Altogether it’s a well-shot, well-written, and well-executed opening that sets the movie on an intriguing trajectory.

From there the story (penned by Elle and Mark L. Smith) jumps ahead twenty years. Helena (now played by Ridley) is married to the well-meaning but in-the-dark Stephen (Garrett Hedlund) and she has a daughter of her own named Marigold (Joey Carson). She’s kept her true identity hidden from everyone except her step-father Sheriff Clark (Gil Birmingham). But when Jacob (since dubbed “The Marsh King”) manages to escape during a prisoner transfer, her deep dark secret is forced into the light.

From there the movie had the opportunity to go in several different directions. It could have dug into the relationship with her now estranged mother. It could have went deeper into the effects of attempting to bury such intense trauma especially on her marriage. It could have added depth to her thinly sketched relationship with her father-in-law. It could have defied expectations and done something more psychological and suspenseful.

But rather than keeping us guessing or catching us by surprise, the movie goes the more conventional route, leading to an ending that’s as far-fetched as it is predictable. It ends up being a letdown considering the many more interesting avenues it could have traveled. Meanwhile a really good Daisy Ridley performance gets lost in a movie that may have a hard time finding an audience. Why? Because “The Marsh King’s Daughter” doesn’t stand out. It could have, but the unfortunate decision to play it safe holds it back. “The Marsh King’s Daughter” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

I tend to like it when a movie knows exactly what it is. That certainly seemed to be the case for “Meg 2: The Trench”, a delightfully goofy looking sequel to 2018’s delightfully goofy “The Meg”. While based on author Steve Alten’s series of deep sea horror novels, the first film embraced the classic creature-feature formula while maintaining a self-awareness that made the unashamedly silly adventure a lot of fun. The sequel…not so much.

“Meg 2” is directed by Ben Wheatley whose last film (2021’s terrific “In the Earth”) was a creepy and unsettling low-budget indie. In a rather sharp contrast, “Meg 2” comes with a considerably larger budget and a big studio backing. But here’s the thing – “Meg 2” is a movie that didn’t have to do much to win me over. All I wanted was the proudly preposterous romp from the gonzo trailers and the equally amusing posters. In a nutshell, I just wanted what they advertised.

Unfortunately “Meg 2” turns out to be a baffling misfire. It’s a movie that seems to have the biggest and easiest target to hit, yet it misses it on every side and from every angle. The vast majority of its issues comes from the screenplay – quite easily one of the worst of the year so far. Not only is the story itself littered with inexplicably bad choices, but characters are handcuffed to some of the most excruciating dialogue you’ll hear.

I truly wish that I was just spouting hyperbole. But the screenwriting trio of Jon Hoeber, Erich Hoeber and Dean Georgaris never seem to have a firm grasp of what kind of movie they’re making. For example, it gets off to an incredibly slow start with some lengthy table-setting that wouldn’t be so bad if it were building up to something good. Instead it launches the movie into a direction completely unfitting for something called “Meg 2”. Basically the megs (and yes that’s plural) get back-burnered for over an hour, replaced by some potentially interesting ideas that I’m sure looked better on paper than they do on screen.

One of the big draws for me was Jason Statham returning as Jonas Taylor, a deep sea search and rescue diver who in the first film joined up with a team of oceanographers, engineers, and researchers to kill a prehistoric man-eating shark known as a megalodon (a meg for short). When we meet him here he’s described as an “eco-warrior” and a “green James Bond”. He leads an organization that does ocean research and exposes those who harm the ecosystem. Noble work for sure, despite the corny titles.

The ramshackled story begins in earnest after Jonas and his team set out in two submersibles for a research mission some 25,000 feet below the ocean’s surface in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench. While exploring an unmarked sector where megs are believed to live, the team discovers a mysterious underwater station ran by a rogue mining operation. Intent on keeping their nefarious environmentally unfriendly activities secret, the ridiculously shallow corporate money-grubbers order their paper-thin henchman (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) to take out Jonas and his expedition.

What follows is a lengthy sequence where Jonas and his crew attempt to breach the station and find their way back to the surface, all while megs swim around in the background, only occasionally getting the chance to pose a threat. There’s actually a cool idea for an underwater thriller somewhere in this overly long stretch. But it’s hard to find among the countless clichés and (again) that glaringly bad dialogue which saturates the entire film.

The movie plods along before finally reaching Fun Island, a sun-soaked tropical getaway for the rich and privileged that provides ample human fodder for our much neglected computer-generated behemoths to (finally) feed on. And by that time I was rooting for the megs. With the exception of Statham’s Jonas and maybe his painfully bland yet reasonably charming 14-year-old daughter Meiying (Shuya Sophia Cai), the human characters aren’t easy to get behind.

I hate it for the cast – the woefully misused Cliff Curtis, an astonishingly bad Page Kennedy, a cringe-inducing Wu Jing, just to name a few. These are real talents and it’s hard to put the blame on them. In reality Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington, and Meryl Streep couldn’t do anything with this material. And no cast member is able to escape without uttering at least a few mind-numbing lines.

Like I said, I like it when a movie knows exactly what it is. I wish “Meg 2” was that kind of movie. Instead it ends up being a surprisingly bizarre botch that doesn’t work as a thriller, a comedy, horror, an action flick, a creature feature, or even late-night B-movie schlock. It just exists in this almost undefinable state of confusion. I’m still not sure it knows what it wants to be. But it certainly missed out on what it could have been. “Meg 2: The Trench” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

For me the Mission: Impossible movies have become the epitome of Hollywood blockbusters done right. Tom Cruise has taken the series from its early days of experimenting with different directors and their different styles to its more cohesive current state as a consistently jaw-dropping action franchise that has thrived under the winning watchful eye of writer-director Christopher McQuarrie.

As most know, the Mission: Impossible films are famous for steadily upping the ante in terms of mind-blowing action set pieces that repeatedly push the boundaries of practical effects and stunt work. And of course leading that charge is Tom Cruise himself whose passion for giving audiences truly memorable big screen experiences has led to him constantly one-upping himself in terms of wild death-defying stunts.

The seventh installment in the franchise is finally here and it once again delivers exactly the kind of big-budget cinematic thrills that I’ve come to expect. “Dead Reckoning Part One” is the first of an epic two-parter with its direct sequel set to release June 28, 2024. McQuarrie returns to helm the massive project and the cast is overflowing with fan favorite characters and some really intriguing new ones. But once again it’s Cruise who is the linchpin both on screen and off.

Cruise reprises his role as IMF agent Ethan Hunt who this time finds himself on an unsanctioned mission to hunt down a sentient A.I. called the Entity (how timely) that has gone rogue. Different governments around the world want to harness and weaponize the Entity, but Ethan believes it to be too dangerous to control and sets out to destroy it. That puts him odds with the world’s intelligence agencies including his own.

The hunt begins with the search for a key that’s said to unlock the ability to control the Entity. The key is broken into two pieces, one believed to be in the possession of Ilsa Faust (the superb Rebecca Ferguson), an ex-MI6 agent and close ally to Ethan. IMF director Eugene Kittridge (Henry Czerny making his first appearance since the 1996 original film) has put a bounty on Ilsa’s head yet tips off Ethan to her whereabouts.

The other part of the key is tracked to Abu Dhabi International Airport where Ethan is joined by his loyal friends and team members Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames). But they aren’t the only ones trying to retrieve it. A mysterious face from Ethan’s past named Gabriel (Esai Morales) is working for the Entity and is determined to get to the key first. Meanwhile an intelligence collective called The Community has sent a force led by Jasper Briggs (Shea Whigham) to secure Ethan dead or alive.

The wild card in the story is also the film’s best new addition. Hayley Atwell plays Grace, a smart and resourceful professional thief with (as Atwell herself described them) rather ambiguous loyalties. She snatches the key in the airport but soon finds herself in way over her head. Atwell has an infectious charm and her chemistry with Cruise fuels some of the movie’s best scenes.

As the story unfolds McQuarrie and company take us all around the world, making stops in Amsterdam, the Bering Sea, the Arabian Desert, Washington DC, Abu Dahbi, Rome, Venice, and the Austrian Alps. They’re all beautifully shot by DP Fraser Taggart. McQuarrie utilizes the numerous locations incredibly well resulting in a number of strikingly unique yet equally thrilling action scenes that pop off the screen.

The story itself is compelling yet clearly building towards a proper conclusion which we should get in Part Two. Still it’s energized by the committed and often nuanced performances from a truly spot-on cast. Cruise, Ferguson, Rhames, and Pegg have a well-established chemistry which once again forms the centerpiece of the story. I’ve mentioned how great Atwell is. The same can be said for Morales who makes for a formidable antagonist who remains somewhat of a mystery even after the credits roll. Vanessa Kirby returns as the always fascinating White Widow while Pom Klementieff adds a cool maniacal twist.

It doesn’t have many, but there are a few shortcomings. For example, Ethan and Gabriel’s past certainly has a role to play in the film. Yet it doesn’t get the attention it needs to feel meaningful. Also as an unapologetic fan of Ferguson’s Ilsa, I really wish she had been given more to do. There’s a lengthy stretch in the first half where she’s nowhere to be found and then just pops up with no explanation. Same with Rhames in the third act.

But let’s be real, those are minor quibbles especially for a movie that delivers the kind of exhilarating entertainment we get from “Dead Reckoning Part One”. Cruise and McQuarrie have once again collaborated to make a poster boy summer blockbuster that lovingly embraces what makes the big screen experience so uniquely special. It’s kinetically paced and action driven, yet anchored by great characters and with more than a few laughs to break up the tension. Altogether it makes for a wonderful first part to what could be a truly unforgettable mission. “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

It’s definitely not the easiest title to write or even say, but it’s fitting of this wonky genre cocktail from director (yes, director) John Slattery. “Maggie Moore(s)” sees Slattery reteaming with his old “Mad Men” foil Jon Hamm for a film that is certain to throw some viewers for a loop. In relatively small portions it manages to be a dark comedy, a murder mystery, a police procedural, a true crime thriller, and a sweet adult romance all in one.

There’s a fun throwback quality to “Maggie Moore(s)” and it’s hard to miss the Coen brothers inspiration. Yet the movie stands on its own thanks to its snappy dialogue penned by Paul Bernbaum and a crackling cast led by the always reliable Hamm, the infinitely likable Tina Fey, and the film’s scene-stealing MVP Nick Mohammed. It’s uneven in places and perhaps not as suspenseful as it could have been. But Slattery knows how to hold his audience’s attention and he shows good instincts in keeping things moving forward.

Borrowing ever so slightly from a true account (the movie actually opens with the tag “Some of this actually happened”), the story sets us down in rural New Mexico. There we meet Police Chief Jordan Sanders (Hamm), a recent widower who’s having a tough time getting back into the swing of things. His small town is rocked when not one, but two women named Maggie Moore are brutally murdered. He and his often inappropriate yet fervently loyal deputy (Mohammed) immediately get on the case.

The movie doesn’t really hide its culprits. The only real mystery is in how things are going to play out. Bernbaum introduces us to a slew of slightly offbeat characters to tell his story. There’s Jay Moore (Micah Stock), an obnoxious cash-strapped schlub whose illegal dealings with a local miscreant named Tommy T (Derek Basco) gets him in hot water with his wife, Maggie #1 (Louisa Krause). She’s ready to turn him in to the cops and he’s desperate to make sure she doesn’t. Of course she ends up dead.

Fey plays their observant and recently divorced neighbor named Rita who overhears an argument between the couple that leads to Jay being thrown out of the house. She shares what she saw to Chief Sanders and the two hit it off. The light yet charming romance that follows isn’t all that fleshed out. But there’s a genuine sweetness to their relationship and Hamm and Fey have such a good rapport and it’s hard not to fall in with them.

And then there’s the other Maggie Moore (Mary Holland), a successful suburban businesswoman who’s married to a slimeball named Andy (Christopher Denham). She too ends up dead which adds an entirely new layer to Sanders’ investigation. Corporate fraud, child pornography, a cold-blooded hitman – they all find their way into this twisted and quirky neo-noir tale.

The movie ends with a violent blood-splattered finish and then tops it with a genuinely heartwarming final scene that really serves the movie well. It’s a final 15 minutes that could have easily clashed. But Slattery brings it all together and makes it gel, leaning on his terrific batch of characters who truly are the film’s biggest strength. They have so much individual personality and together make the movie’s more obvious issues feel like little more than nitpicks. “Maggie Moore(s)” is now showing in select theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

When you describe yourself as “a modern grindhouse epic” and “the world’s first Swissploitation film” you instantly have my attention. That’s the case with “Mad Heidi”, the patently trashy and gleefully gory ode to the grindhouse exploitation films that found a home in rundown movie theaters during the 1970s. Now audiences will have a chance to experience it for themselves during a special one-night engagement on Wednesday, June 21st courtesy of Fathom Events.

Co-directors (and first-time filmmakers) Johannes Hartmann and Sandro Klopfstein crowdfunded their movie and put it together over the course of several years. “No studios. No corporations involved. Just love for film.” But don’t let that fool you. The movie is actually very well made. It’s nicely shot, has a good production design, and features some impressively gory effects, all while maintaining the throwback style it’s going for.

Hartmann and Klopfstein have clearly done their homework and put great effort into recreating the grindhouse experience. From the bad writing, corny acting, and gratuitous content to more specific details such as the cheap grainy intro, the funky 1970s music, and even an unexpected instance of film burn. It’s all glaringly self-aware and it’s custom made to be seen with an audience who knows exactly what they’re in for.

The utterly absurd story goes something like this. 24-year-old Heidi (Alice Lucy) lives a cozy and simple life high up in the beautiful Swiss Alps. She lives with her loving but overprotective grandfather Alpöhi (David Schofield) and is not-so-secretly dating a local goat-herder fittingly named Goat Peter (Kel Matsena). Altogether it makes for a sweet idyllic setting plucked straight out of a storybook.

But following what may be my favorite opening credits sequence of the year so far, we quickly learn that this dystopian Switzerland is no sweet and innocent fairytale land. The country is ran by a ruthless President (Casper Van Dien) who is always addressed by his terrified underlings as “Our Very Swiss Leader”. He’s a megalomaniacal dictator who believes dairy is his key to world domination and that lactose intolerance is a threat to the Swiss way of life. And yes, it’s every bit as absurd as it sounds.

When Goat Peter is caught illegally selling goat cheese like a crack dealer the President’s second in command, the cartoonishly sadistic Kommandant Knorr (Max Rüdlinger), has him publicly executed. And after learning of his relationship with Heidi, Knorr hunts her down, burns her house to the ground, and leaves her grandfather to die. She’s taken away to a women’s prison ran by the oppressive Warden Rottweiler (Katja Kolm). There she befriends a fellow prisoner named Klara (Almar G. Sato) and absorbs the abuse of two rather beefy cellmates, all while planning her escape.

The utterly wacky final half of the movie follows Heidi satisfying her insatiable hunger for revenge. Hartmann and Klopfstein ramp up the silliness and the violence as the President merciless pushes for dairy dominance and Heidi trains “Kill Bill” style into an ultimate killing machine. It’s hard not to appreciate the willingness to embrace the ridiculous. And some of the comedy bits are nothing short of hysterical.

That said, over time the central conceit gradually begins to wear thin and the movie slowly starts to run out of steam. Still its admirable that the filmmakers would stick so close to their vision. In doing so they pull from a variety of fun B-quality genre influences including spaghetti westerns, blaxploitation, and chop-socky cinema. And while it’s little more than disposable entertainment, I can see it being a good time. As long as you keep your expectations in check.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

I’m always excited when a new Paul Schrader movie comes our way. Interestingly the acclaimed and often outspoken director, screenwriter, and former movie critic has seen his cinematic voice evolve in recent years. Traces of the same thematic DNA in his work on films like “Taxi Driver” and “American Gigolo” can still be seen in his movies today. He’s still exploring many of the same interests that have fascinated him throughout his near 50-year career.

But movies like 2017’s “First Reformed” and 2021’s “The Card Counter” have revealed a more thoughtful and introspective approach. Both are methodical and precise in execution and focus. Both film’s are steeped in melancholy and revolve around tortured men in their own fiercely private states of crisis. Both feature stories that uncoil under Schrader’s patient and restrained watch.

His latest film, “Master Gardener” slides right in with “First Reformed” and “The Card Counter” to form a thematically connected trilogy of patiently searing character studies. Joel Edgerton operates on a similar bandwidth as Schrader’s other stars, Ethan Hawke and Oscar Isaac. They all play men navigating their own existential minefields. They all are burdened by their own remorse, repression, and self-abnegation. The ever sturdy Edgerton gives an intensely cryptic performance that proves to be a terrific fit for Schrader’s style and interests.

Much like the previous two films in this unofficial trilogy, “Master Gardener” is simmering with subtext about past sins, present day reckoning, and an uncertain future. Interestingly, this is the least cynical of the three movies although Schrader doesn’t shy away from holding a magnifying glass to and giving a sharp-edged critique of a number of relevant topics of our day. Still, there are shimmers of optimism and hopefulness – not many but more than you would expect from a movie with so many similarities to “First Reformed” and “The Card Counter”.

Edgerton plays Narvel Roth who (as the title intimates) is a master gardener. He’s low-key and taciturn yet he’s fastidiously dedicated to his craft and a veritable encyclopedia when it comes to horticultural facts and history. He oversees Gracewood Gardens, an estate of “curated botany” that’s owned by the wealthy and peremptory Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). Narvel lives in a small but quaint cottage on the property where he spends his spare time filling pages of his journal with observations about gardening that mask deeper self-reflections.

Narvel and Norma have an interesting relationship. We learn that Norma took on Narvel despite his dark and troubling past which (in typical Schrader fashion) doesn’t come fully into focus until later in the movie. The gardens have been in Norma’s family for decades and she entrusts him with their care. And over time they have developed a mutual respect. He’s very honest and upfront with her and she seems to take his words to heart. But there’s no question that she clearly calls the shots and ultimately expects her wishes to be fulfilled.

One afternoon Norma tells Narvel about her grand-niece, Maya (Quintessa Swindell) who recently lost her mother. Soon after Maya dropped out of school and got in with a bad crowd. Norma describes her as being of “mixed blood”, her use of words and tone giving away her poorly veiled disapproval. Maya is coming to Gracewood and Norma wants Narvel to take her troubled grand-niece on as an apprentice, teaching her the ins and outs of gardening.

Much of the movie follows their relationship which evolves from teacher and pupil to father figure and daughter figure to potentially something more. Both are kindred spirits with pasts they are trying to overcome. And as you can probably guess, those pasts inevitably seep through the story. As they do Schrader plays around with our expectations, avoiding the more obvious path and taking things in some unpredictable directions. A part of me still questions where their relationship ends up, yet I found every facet of it compelling.

I do love Edgerton’s performance as it offers a beguiling portrayal of a solitary man seeking atonement. Whether it’s the current day scenes or the brief yet unsettling flashbacks, Edgerton captures our attention and keeps it clutched as the layers of his character are slowly peeled back.

But perhaps most interesting is the question of how certain viewers will respond to Narvel. In a day when social media too often decides both judgement and forgiveness, I can see some people recoiling to such a degree that they’re unable to accept where the character goes (vague, I know). I think that’s a struggle Schrader wants people to have. And as with the other two films in this loosely bound trilogy, he’s all about getting his audience to wrestle with uncomfortable themes.

VERDICT – 4 STARS