Not to be confused with last week’s debacle titled “THE Runner“, Scott Waugh’s action comedy “Runner” is a vastly different movie in terms of style, tone, and overall quality. It’s every bit a straightforward, hard-hitting, fast-paced actioner. But it’s just as much a breezy buddy comedy built upon some good chemistry between its two leads. It certainly doesn’t break either mold. But what it does, it does well.

Written by Miles Hubley and Tommy White, “Runner” is set in Brisbane, Australia. Alan Ritchson plays Hank Malone, a former Navy SEAL who now works as a “runner” in Brisbane. A runner is someone who transports all sorts of important items, sometimes legally and sometimes not. Hank is a recovering alcoholic whose drinking cost him his marriage to his ex-wife Monica (Geraldine Hakewill). But he has worked hard to turn his life around, and has just reached one year of sobriety.

Hank gets a call from his handler, Iggy (Gyton Grantley) informing him of an urgent high-paying run. He’s to travel to the airport where he will receive a highly sensitive medical package from Honolulu, Hawaii. From there he is to take the package to the address provided by Iggy and they will get a big payday. But at the airport, Hank is surprised to learn the package has an escort named Ben Bishop (Owen Wilson). Ben reveals to Hank that inside of his state-of-the-art cooler is a liver that’s a rare match for a little girl awaiting a transplant.

So Hank heads to Gold Coast Children’s Hospital with his unexpected passenger and their precious cargo. But the unlikely duo learn that there are other people after the priceless liver, namely Damian Zaldívar (Rodrigo Santoro), the psychopathic son of a powerful Columbian cartel boss. He and his heavily armed goons set their sights on Hank and Ben. And they’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on the cooler and its invaluable contents.

That sets the table for what is a steady wave of action as Hank and Ben bounce from one violent encounter with Damian to another. At the same time, they’re racing against the clock. If they don’t get the liver to hospital before its window of viability closes, her body will no longer accept the organ and she will almost certainly die. Meanwhile at the hospital, the little girl’s mom, Kate (Leila George) desperately holds out hope that Hank can get Ben and his cooler there in time to save her daughter.

The action scenes are ferocious and at times push the limits of its PG-13 rating. As a former stuntman, Waugh leans into practical effects and old-fashioned stunt work. As a result we get some exhilarating sequences, from brutal fight scenes that fully utilize Ritchson’s massive physique to high-speed car chases, many of which tear through the bustling city streets. It’s pure throwback action entertainment that rarely lets off the gas.

While the action is a major strength, the movie would sink without the chemistry between the beefy straight-faced Ritchson and the infinitely likable Wilson. Together they generate some good laughs without overdoing it, and create a believable and eventually heartfelt camaraderie between their two polar opposite characters. In many ways, the story is about Hank finally dealing with his personal trauma and forgiving himself for his failures. And Ben ends up playing a crucial part in that process.

“Runner” can be a little over-the-top with the violence and it may throw a few too many twists at us, especially in its second half. But it never fails to be entertaining. The action is routinely hard-hitting and thrilling, with Ritchson fully committing himself physically and emotionally. As for the chatty and charming Wilson, he adds levity and heart, often at the most unexpected times. They help make “Runner” a wildly satisfying, action-fueled romp that fully embraces some familiar formulas yet still goes places I wasn’t quite expecting.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Gal Gadot does a lot of running in her new Prime streaming feature aptly titled “The Runner”. Sadly, even at a lean 84 minutes, her latest film ultimately comes across as an endless jog to nowhere. To Gadot’s credit she gives it her all, firmly committing herself both physically and emotionally. But you’ll need more than a suspension of disbelief to stick with this preposterous, often tedious, and suspense-free thriller.

Gadot plays Maia Marten, a prosecutor living in London with her young diabetic son, Noah (Rory Wilmot). Maia is on the verge of closing out a high-profile double murder case against a powerful criminal kingpin named Boyd. Her entire case hinges on the testimony of a key witness, Tafa (Phoenix Di Sebastiani). After walking Noah to school, Maia takes off on her daily jog to her office. But her run is suddenly interrupted by a terrifying phone call from Noah’s phone.

The Caller informs Maia that he has abducted Noah and placed him in a diabetic coma. He tells her that he will kill her son if she doesn’t do exactly what he says. And he has hacked her phone and smartwatch to ensure she complies. He orders Maia to start running to the Excelsus Hotel which is where Tafa is being held by Witness Protection. Once there, she is to kill Tafa with a gun he provides. If she doesn’t do it within one hour, Noah will die.

So she runs…and runs…and runs. And just when you think the movie is taking a turn, she runs some more. Director Kevin McDonald and screenwriter Mark Gibson throw in a few encounters that break up the monotony. But these moments struggle to generate any excitement and they certainly don’t add any much-needed suspense. Even the handful of technical flourishes do little to energize this frustratingly flat and mostly empty affair.

“The Runner” throws in some rather shallow commentary about our addiction to digital devices only to completely forget it by the halfway mark. It also introduces some past trauma that never factors into the story in any truly meaningful way. There’s even a former (or is he current – who knows?) love interest who only seems to exist because the final act needs him (vague, I know). All of these are admirable swings at adding story depth. Unfortunately none of those swings connect.

Again, it’s a toughie for Gadot who simply can’t keep this film afloat. It’s not for a lack of trying. But the subpar material routinely lets her down, right through to its ridiculous and utterly predictable finish. It’s such a half-baked production that’s lacking in nearly every important category. Thankfully it’s only 84 minutes, so it won’t eat up too much of your time. Then again, you may be ready to check out well before those 84 minutes are done.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

[“The Rivals of Amziah King” will be screening on August 14th at Filmland 2026 followed by a Q&A with its star, Matthew McConaughey.]

With 2019’s “The Vast of Night”, director Andrew Patterson delivered one of the most impressive feature film debuts in recent memory. The film was a smart and stylish genre-bender set in 1950’s New Mexico that took a familiar B-movie science-fiction concept and enriched it with two entertaining central characters, absorbing dialogue, and a mystery that was easy to get involved in. Altogether it was an absolute treat for those who love genre filmmaking.

Patterson’s much anticipated follow-up is the wildly different yet equally terrific “The Rivals of Amziah King”. It features some of the same ingredients that made “The Vast of Night” such a delight – a distinct rural setting, a vibrant sense of community, and the shrewd blending of genres in a number of surprising ways. Yet Patterson’s latest stands out most for its sheer unpredictability. It never stops surprising us. And it certainly doesn’t hurt having the star-wattage of Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey, who manages one of his very best performances.

“The Rivals of Amziah King” is a movie that is impossible to pigeonhole. Just when you think it’s one thing, it suddenly morphs into something else. It begins as a charming, community-rich comedy laced with the kind of absurd laughs that will have you grabbing your side. Then we get a scene where the music takes over, and songs full of local flavor transport us to a drive-in or a living room in rural Oklahoma. And just as our hearts are full, Patterson breaks them with a second half coming-of-age angle that evolves into a crime thriller/heist movie hybrid, punctuated with a crowd-pleasing finish.

That may sound like a lot of movie, and in many ways it is. But the miracle is in Patterson’s ability to weave it all together into a richly detailed tapestry of the American South. His love for the people, the region, and the culture seeps from every pore of the production, from his storytelling to his craftsmanship. And who better to anchor it all than the cinematic face of Southern charm, Matthew McConaughey. From his very first scene, this is a role that feels custom-made for him.

The 56-year-old McConaughey slides right into the skin of Amziah King, a small-town Oklahoma honey-maker who loves nothing more than tending to his bees and making folk music with his friends. He owns and operates a small business called King Honey where he and a modest crew collects honeycomb frames from his bee hives, extracts the honey, drains it, strains it, and bottles it up to be sold. When not making honey he’s making music with his friends, plucking his mandolin and singing his heart out.

One day Amziah runs into a young waitress named Kateri (Angelina LookingGlass). We learn that when Kateri was a little girl, she and her brother spent a couple of years with Amziah and his late wife. The children ended up with another foster family and the two haven’t seen each other since. Their sweet reunion leads to Amziah offering Kateri a job helping him tend to his bees. From that moment it’s hard not to be drawn to their unique relationship.

The first half offers up the film’s most endearing moments, whether we’re watching Kateri and Amziah as protégé and mentor or as a young woman and her only real father figure. McConaughey and LookingGlass have an easygoing chemistry that makes their scenes all the more authentic. Then there is the humor which pops up at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected ways. It may be a bonkers experience with a honey extracting machine or a hilarious elementary school sequence that nonchalantly descends into pure comic chaos.

But the second half begins with an unexpected jolt that catapults the story in an entirely new direction. Stolen beehives, a powerful criminal enterprise, a daring heist – all are significant plot points that turn this big-hearted slice-of-life dramedy into a high-stakes mystery/crime thriller. Yet somehow Patterson makes this dramatic shift both smooth and organic. And he does so in ways that keep us immersed in his world and even more invested in his growing collage of characters.

That vast array of characters is one of the film’s biggest strengths. McConaughey is effortlessly great and LookingGlass gives a fabulous debut turn. But it’s the supporting cast that seasons the story: a perfectly cast Kurt Russell as a corrupt businessman, the great Rob Morgan as Amziah’s friend and spur-of-the-moment lawyer, Scott Shepherd as a good-hearted but nearly unintelligible local (think Boomhauer from “King of the Hill”), Cole Sprouse as a fast-food tech guru, and Jake Horowitz as a loyal bee worker who comes through in the clutch.

Six years ago Andrew Patterson wowed us with a sparkling feature film debut. Now he’s made one of the best movies of the year. “The Rivals of Amziah King” is a full-hearted celebration of community and culture that pulsates with Southern flavor and rural charm. It transports us to the very real world of potlucks, pickups, and folksy bluegrass jam sessions. It’s also a genre lover’s delight, taking us down roads we never expected to travel and entertaining us in ways we never could have imagined. And all from a young filmmaker who possesses the kind of fresh and invigorating voice that doesn’t come along too often.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS

Adapted from Shelby Van Pelt’s 2022 best-selling novel of the same name, “Remarkably Bright Creatures” is a heartwarming drama that’s not made for the more cynically minded. It’s an earnest and empathetic tearjerker, yet one with enough restraint to make its handful of cliches easier to digest. Most importantly, it never loses sight of the humanity at the core of its story. And that’s what makes the film resonate.

Director Olivia Newman, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Whittington, gives ample time to the book’s central themes of tragedy, grief, aging, isolation, etc. And she does so through the unconventional pairing of 79-year-old Sally Field and 33-year-old Lewis Pullman. Both give emotionally rich and textured performances in bringing to life two broken people who find solace in each other and one deeply empathetic Pacific octopus.

“Remarkably Bright Creatures” gives an especially touching role to Sally Field. She plays Tova Sullivan, a withdrawn widow working as the overnight cleaning lady at an aquarium in the small fictional town of Sowell Bay, Washington. Tova is still struggling from the deaths of her beloved son Eric thirty years earlier, and more recently her husband Will. Rather than lean on the local townsfolk who clearly care for her, Tova only shares her heart with Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus voiced by Alfred Molina who serves as the film’s wise and witty narrator.

The similarities between Tova and Marcellus are many. Both are elderly. Both can be a little cantankerous. Both are lonely. And both face their own sense of captivity, with Marcellus longing to be out of his tank and back in the ocean before he dies, and Tova facing a big decision on whether to sell her family home and move into a senior care facility. The two form a sad yet heartwarming bond that takes an unexpected turn after another person enters both of their worlds.

Cameron (Lewis Pullman) is passing through Sowell Bay when his beat-up van, which also serves as his home, breaks down in the middle of town. With no money to pay for the repairs, Cameron gets a part-time job at the aquarium filling in for Tova after she takes a fall. But ever the perfectionist, Tova immediately takes issue with Cameron’s methods. “There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things,” she preaches with the conviction of an evangelist.

At first the two seem utterly incompatible. But over time a connection is formed between them as Tova sees reminders of her son in Cameron. But we learn there is more to Cameron than just some drifter passing through. We discover he has his own painful past and has come to the area for a very specific reason. But his fateful meeting with Tova opens the door to lives both of them had given up on. But carrying so much pain through that door proves difficult.

While Tova and Cameron are terrific centerpieces, Newman surrounds them with a host of entertaining supporting characters. Colm Meaney plays a kindly general store owner Ethan who has eyes for Tova. Joan Chen, Kathy Baker, and Beth Grant are a lot of fun playing members of Tova’s knitting group. Sofia Black-D’Elia’s plays Avery, a paddle board shop owner who instantly catches Cameron’s attention. And of course there’s Alfred Molina, whose soothingly voiced observations range from keenly perceptive to bitingly funny.

“Remarkably Bright Creatures” is almost certain to find resistance from those with an aversion to warm and tender dramas. But for everyone else, it’s a film that will pull at your heartstrings but with an emotional honesty that is hard to deny. Yes, it tries to weave together a few too many story threads and the way things play out are…convenient. Yet Newman delivers a film adaptation that’s full of charm, warmth, and hope. And it features a delightful Sally Field performance that will bring a tear to your eye and put a smile on your face.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Writer-director Tom Botchii serves up a genre smorgasbord with his new film, “Relentless”. It’s fun to even consider the various thrillers it qualifies as. For starters it’s an action thriller, a revenge thriller, a psychological thriller, even a home invasion thriller. It dips its toe into exploitation cinema. It sometimes plays like a bruising character study. At other times you’ll swear you’re back in the grindhouse theaters of the late 1970s.

Whatever you consider it to be, far more important is that Botchii keeps things entertaining. “Relentless” might not live up to its name, and it certainly has its flaws, some of which become noticeable early on (more on them later). But Botchii’s vision and inspiration, helped by two firmly committed lead performances, keeps the audience engaged, even as the story struggles to fill its lean 93 minutes.

“Relentless” is a tightly focused two-hander that begins with introductions to its main characters. Teddy (Jeffrey Decker) is a homeless man living out of his car. We meet him as he’s listening to old voicemails from his ex-wife before going to sleep in his cramped backseat. Elsewhere, Jun (Shuhei Kinoshita) sits in his ultra-modern two-story home, enjoying a nice meal of fine sushi. He pecks away on his laptop before climbing into his warm comfy bed for the night.

Their two paths cross the next evening when Teddy shows up at Jun’s home posing as a salesman. After Jun brushes him off, Teddy forces his way inside with a sawed-off shotgun, stalking Jun like his prey. After a brief brawl, Jun grabs his precious laptop and flees into the night with Teddy in pursuit. Jun manages to get away but loses his laptop in the process. Determined to get it back, he follows Teddy to a gas station only to be knocked unconscious and kidnapped.

Jun wakes up tied to a chair in an old abandoned house with Teddy sitting across from him. From there the two men have a verbal standoff, with Jun swearing he doesn’t know who Teddy is and Teddy insisting he does. Botchii lets the mystery linger, leaving us with a number of consequential questions. Who are these two men? What is their connection? And what’s on this laptop that both seem fixated on? It makes for an intriguing setup with Botchii maneuvering Decker and Kinoshita like chess pieces until he’s ready to reveal more.

The eventual revelations catapult the story into an ultra-violent mano-a-mano showdown that isn’t afraid to let the blood gush. At the same time, the characters are never as fully-formed as they could be. Their individual pasts are merely referenced through exposition which doesn’t allow the story’s themes to resonate as they should. And it’s attempt at social commentary is wobbly at best, with certain motivations playing like wild swings rather than meaningful considerations.

As mentioned, “Relentless” does struggle to find enough story to fill its already lean 93 minutes. Botchii eats up some of the time with stylish visual flourishes that look good but are otherwise weightless and repetitive. Still, this is a solid sophomore effort from an ambitious filmmaker with an interesting vision. Botchii may not hit all of his marks, but he squeezes everything he can out his modest budget and two sturdy lead performances. And to his credit, he’s not afraid to take chances in the process.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS