In can be difficult giving a nostalgia-driven movie a fair shake when you have no emotional connection whatsoever to what it’s reflecting on. It’s why I almost didn’t review “Space Jam: “A New Legacy”. I wasn’t a fan of the original “Space Jam” back in 1996 so understandably I hold no attachment to it today. Perhaps that lack of connection or attachment is one reason I sat with a cold blank stare through most of this stand-alone sequel. Perhaps that explains why I not only entered it with utter indifference but left caring even less. Or maybe it’s just a bad movie. That’s what I’m going with.

“Space Jam: A New Legacy” is one big airball for Warner Bros. and the film’s star LeBron James. It’s not so much a movie as it is one massive marketing exercise with WB using it to highlight their many IPs and James using it to boost his brand. Some have called it “a shameless cash grab” and I’m sure there’s some of that. But for the most part the entire production plays like one big, long, excessive advertisement that ends up being one of the most grating movie experiences I’ve had in 2021.

The film comes from director Malcolm D. Lee working from a script written by a team of SIX screenwriters. That’s often a pretty good sign of where things are heading. The story is your basic father-son reconciliation bit. Playing himself, Lebron is an overbearing dad who can’t understand why his youngest son Dom (Cedric Joe) would rather design video games than play basketball. Lebron’s wife Kamiyah (Sonequa Martin-Green in a thankless role) chides her husband, telling him that Dom needs a father, not a coach. Wise words but of little value in a movie like this.

Later, LeBron and his family are invited to the Warner Bros. lot for a pitch meeting with some empty-headed studio execs. They want to make LeBron their next big movie star (hilarious considering the god-awful performance he gives in this movie). The studio’s cutting-edge algorithm named….ahem…Al-G Rhythm (poor Don Cheadle) has developed a way to scan LeBron’s likeness and inject it into their other properties like “Justice League” and “Game of Thrones”. LeBron hates the idea and turns down the offer which infuriates the fame-craving algorithm.

Al-G Rhythm lures LeBron and Dom into the Warner Bros. server room where he somehow sucks them into a digital world that he calls the “Serververse”. In order to get out with his son, LeBron will have to assemble a team and defeat the algorithm’s Goon Squad in a no-rules basketball game. As dumb as it sounds there is a method to the algorithm’s madness. It’s just so glaringly inconsequential that you won’t care. The main thing is LeBron puts together a team of classic Looney Tunes characters including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, Tweety, and so on.

In truth, none of the family stuff carries much weight and none of Al-G Rhythm’s mischief really matters. It’s all there just to get us to the big basketball game which is nothing more than a deluge of chaotic slapstick and cringe-worthy gags that seems to goes on for eternity. And while there are no rules to the game, there doesn’t seem to be any rules for the filmmaking either. Lee and company apparently threw everything that came to mind at the screen resulting in a hollow 40-minute assault on the senses. And for anyone looking to torture me, making me sit through that excruciating Porky Pig rap sequence again would be unbearable.

Back to James, no one is going into “Space Jam: A New Legacy” expecting him to be a revelation. And most people would probably be content with him being forgettably average. But his performance here ranges from remarkably bland to so bad it’s distracting. And while I don’t mean to pile on him, we laughed more his stiff and unnatural line delivery in any of the film’s countless gags. Michael Jordan was never in any danger of getting an Oscar nomination for his performance in the original film. LeBron should be the instant front-runner for a Razzie.

Some may argue that this is just a kids movie and such scrutiny is unfair. But Pennywise, The Matrix, Game of Thrones, A Clockwork Orange, Casablanca, The Godfather – these are references we get that certainly aren’t aimed at children. And those are just a few of the movie’s innumerable cameos and callbacks. It ends up being hard to choose what’s most annoying, the relentless lionizing of LeBron or WB’s brazen self-promotion. Either way, it’s pretty clear that story, characters, good humor, and heart took a back seat to the misguided corporate priorities. Even the classic Tunes, the only real reason to watch this thing, feel like props there to fill space rather than have any fun and meaningful impact. “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is now showing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.

VERDICT – 1 STAR

The provocative French drama “Spring Blossom” looks at an ill-advised romance between a teenage girl and an older man from the perspective of a 20-year-old first time filmmaker. Suzanne Lindon writes, directs, and stars in this evocative coming-of-age story that she penned when she was fifteen and directed five years later. Her debut has a very French sensibility and introduces the audience to a young filmmaker with a really bright future.

Lindon (the daughter of French actor Vincent Lindon and actress/singer Sandrine Kiberlain) approaches her story from an interesting angle. She makes no judgments throughout the film’s lean 73-minute runtime, only observations. And she doesn’t make this about predatory seduction or angry teen rebellion. It’s more specifically a film about adolescence and a 16-year-old girl caught in that hard-to-navigate space between childhood and adulthood.

Image Courtesy of Kimstim

Cozily set in Paris’ picturesque Montmartre, Lindon plays the lead character also named Suzanne who has a life many kids would envy – good grades, plenty of friends, a stable home with loving parents. Yet despite comforts and privilege, she finds her self disillusioned with people her own age. It’s not that she’s an outcast. All of her classmates seem to genuinely like her. But she’s bored with them and feels as if she doesn’t belong. It’s perfectly encapsulated when Suzanne is asked to rate the boys at party on a scale of 1 to 10. “If I really had to do it, I’d give everyone a 5“.

Lindon shoots the scenes with Suzanne and her friends in a way that really highlights this disconnect. Suzanne looks like a puzzle piece that doesn’t quite fit. Even her deep black hair stands out in the seas of blonde and reddish tints. Lindon also uses several clever touches that illustrate Suzanne’s position between childlike innocence and burgeoning maturity. My favorite may be two posters on her bedroom wall. One is of Disney’s animated children’s classic “Bambi”. The other is of the much more adult Maurice Pialat film “À nos amours” (which once had the working title “Suzanne”).

During her walks to and from school, Suzanne begins noticing and soon becomes infatuated with a frustrated theater actor named Raphaël (Arnaud Valois). In a harmless stalker-like fashion she begins observing him, watching as he sits at a cafe, takes a smoke break outside the theater, or works on his broken-down scooter. Inevitably he starts to notice her too and after a few awkward encounters the two begin a lightly breaded romance.

Image Courtesy of Kimstim

You would almost call it sweet and innocent if not for the discomfort of the one big detail. He’s 35 and she’s 16. The film’s mostly chaste treatment of the relationship still doesn’t hide its ickiness. And having Suzanne not only instigate the romance but also control its direction doesn’t make it easier to digest. Interestingly it takes a while for her preoccupied parents (Frédéric Pierrot and Florence Viala) to notice something’s up. For a while they greet Suzanne’s wave of unusual questions or her sudden interest in wearing makeup with puzzled looks and a shrug of the shoulders. Yet the daughter/parents relationship that Lindon gives us is built on a very organic picture of love, trust, and maybe a dash of naïveté.

Yet there’s a lot to say for the film’s honesty especially coming almost exclusively from the younger girl’s perspective. And Lindon’s point-of-view is an intriguing mix of style and empathy. Take the handful of impromptu interpretive dances that are used to express true emotional connection between Suzanne and Raphaël. Some of these scenes don’t fully feel in sync with the rest of the movie but they are bold and audacious. And it’s a far cry from conventional storytelling which is pretty impressive coming from a filmmaker just beginning what could be a wonderful career in cinema. “Spring Blossom” releases in select theaters May 21st.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

Before getting into the new film “Spiral: From the Book of Saw” I have a confession: I’ve never really connected with the “Saw” series. I haven’t seen all of the movies. I don’t fully understand the allure. The franchise’s success is a puzzle I just can’t solve. I say all of that to stress that I’m not well versed in the Saw-verse (is that a term?) and that I don’t come to this ninth installment (yes…nine!) with any sense of attachment. Does that help or hurt my thoughts on “Spiral”? Considering the sometimes hard to read pulse of fandom, I’ll let you determine for yourself.

I will say the trailers for “Spiral” caught my attention in a way “Saw” movies never have before. They teased a new direction for the franchise – going the route of a gritty and grisly crime thriller in the vein of Fincher’s “Se7en”. Despite hesitations over casting Chris Rock as the film’s lead, I was still interested to see if “Spiral” could pull the series away from its tortuous central conceit and onto something fresh and inspired. To the film’s credit it does try something (kinda) new, but suffice it to say “Spiral” is certainly no “Se7en”.

In case die-hard franchise fans were worried, the movie kicks off with a gruesome Saw-like opening, assuring the audience that there would be no shortage of blood and viscera. From there it shifts to Rock’s character, Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks. He’s a homicide detective living in the shadow of his father and former police chief Marcus Banks (Samuel L. Jackson). Zeke is generally hated by the other officers in his precinct who have labeled him a rat for turning in a dirty cop. Unable to trust the other detectives, he often goes at it alone much to the chagrin of his shouty and perpetually angry Captain (Marisol Nichols).

As punishment for failing to report his undercover work, Zeke is assigned a rookie partner Detective William Schenk (Max Minghella). You’ve seen it before – the sour and cynical veteran paired with the young enthusiastic family man who carries around a picture of his wife and newborn baby and can’t wait to get out on the streets. He doesn’t have to wait long. Soon the two are neck-deep in a murder case that has all the markings of a Jigsaw copycat. But this is a psychopath with a social conscious and on a not-so-subtle crusade for police reform.

“Saw” alum Darren Lynn Bousman directs from a script written by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger. In one sense their movie does precisely what it intends to do – it manages to differentiate itself from its predecessors by offering a new spin on the series. But on the other hand, “Spiral” does little to distinguish itself from countless other better made police thrillers. The film is overflowing with hard-boiled cop movie tropes and head-scratching details and oversights that you can’t help but laugh at. It does maintain a grim and nasty tone, so much so that its few vain attempts at humor land with a thud. But tone alone can’t immerse you into a world. You can see “Spiral” working hard to pull in its audience much like Fincher did with “Se7en”. Sadly it never happens.

And then you have Chris Rock . The 56-year-old comedian goes for it and gives it his all, yet I was never convinced I was seeing his character. Instead I was always seeing Chris Rock playing Zeke. From his confused squinty expressions to his constant yelling, comedic traits he’s always been known for end up seeping into his performance. And he’s not helped by the relentless f-bomb saturated dialogue which calls back to so many of his earlier stand-up routines. In his defense, there are a handful of welcomed moments where he dials down the volume and we see flashes of the dramatic turn he’s going for. But the character and the story need considerably more than he can ultimately give.

At times “Spiral” can be gnarly, brutal, and borderline sadistic which is exactly what the “Saw” movies have always promised. Yet it barely feels like a “Saw” film. If not for the three or four signature torture contraptions scattered throughout you could easily dismiss this as just another bland and uninspired police procedural. It makes an effort to add some weight, but the ham-fisted social commentary and the not-so-big twist does little to help. So we’re left with something that feels kinda new for the long-running franchise, but deep down is nothing we haven’t seen before. “Spiral” opens in theaters tomorrow (May 14th).

VERDICT – 2 STARS

There’s an undeniable sweetness to comedian Melissa McCarthy making movies with her frequent collaborator and real-life husband Ben Falcone. Not to be a wet blanket, but they may need to rethink their filmmaking strategy. Prior to this one, Falcone had directed McCarthy in three previous films: “Tammy”, “The Boss”, and “Life of the Party”. At the risk of sounding sour, they are three pretty dreadful movies that I have no interest in ever seeing again.

“Superintelligence” came out last November on HBO Max after a nixed big screen release. First off, it isn’t as glaringly bad as something like “Tammy”. At the same time, it doesn’t exactly set McCarthy and Falcone team-ups on a fresh and exciting course (just look at their latest “Thunder Force” as evidence). Instead “Superintelligence” languishes somewhere in the middle. I guess you can call it an inoffensive but unimaginative comedy that feels right at home on a streaming platform.

Photo Courtesy of HBO Max

Set in Seattle, Melissa McCarthy plays Carol, an unemployed former tech company executive who left a lucrative job at Yahoo so she could “make a difference in the world“. Now she spends her time as a west coast activist and social worker, scraping by while working for various non-profit organizations. She tries re-entering the work force with the help of her best friend Dennis (Brian Tyree Henry), a computer techie working for Microsoft. It leads to Carol going for an interview with an old college “friend” (Jessica St. Clair) who runs a trashy but popular online dating service. That scene comes in the first few minutes and it’s the film’s funniest. From there the humor dries up pretty quick.

In a nutshell Carol is the most ordinary person on planet Earth (the movie’s description, not mine). That catches the attention of a powerful artificial intelligence who has unlimited access to the world’s entire digital network and speaks in the voice of talk show host James Corden (and is of course voiced by Corden). You’re probably wondering why a super-intelligent A.I. would be interested in someone like Carol. Well, it’s because the A.I. needs someone aggressively average for its weird social experiment. For three days the superintelligence will observe our plain Jane and then determine whether to save, enslave, or destroy humanity. Why? I guess A.I.’s just do that sort of thing.

Photo Courtesy of HBO Max

The majority of the film follows Carol as she is empowered by the A.I. with several million dollars in her bank account, a fancy makeover, a state-of-the-art Tesla, and a swanky downtown penthouse. There’s also a pretty hamfisted reunion with her old flame named George (Bobby Cannavale), a creative writing professor and the proverbial ‘one that got away’. Meanwhile the A.I. sits back and takes notes, inexplicably using all of that stuff as a means of understanding (and ultimately judging) the whole of humanity. So much for A.I.’s being smart.

All of this silliness would work if “Superintelligence” infused it with anything interesting or insightful. But the film is content with just being as average as its protagonist. There’s a touch of sweetness in the reconnection between Carol and George and the 100 minutes zips by fast enough. Also kudos to McCarthy, an actress I’ve always been hesitant to embrace. Here you can see a performer who is much better than her material working hard to make the movie work. Sadly it doesn’t, but it’s not because of her. “Superintelligence” is streaming now on HBO Max.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

Throughout my many years of covering and reviewing movies I’ve been pretty vocal about my belief that Guy Pearce is (and for a long time has been) one of the most underrated and undervalued actors in the business today. He’s charismatic, incredibly diverse, and easily one of the industry’s busiest workers (he has FOUR films coming out in 2021). Sure, occasionally he will lay an egg and attach himself to a really bad movie (look no further than last year’s “Disturbing the Peace”). But far more often than not, Pearce delivers the goods and he deserves bigger and more prestigious roles.

Unfortunately (and it pains me to say it) his latest film “The Seventh Day” is closer to a rotten egg than a tasty omelette. The supernatural buddy-exorcist flick from writer-director Justin P. Lange teases us with some cool albeit wacky potential. But that’s not where his interests lie. Instead Lange shoots for a more serious horror movie – one that borrows too much from other films and struggles to muster any energy much less genuine chills.

Image Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Pearce plays Father Peter, a renowned exorcist known for his “unconventional” methods. He’s both scarred and driven by the loss of his mentor (Keith David) who was slain during a harrowing exorcism that also saw a child burn alive in their bed. That was 25 years ago. Now Father Peter is one of the few exorcists remaining after the Vatican stepped away from the ritual following some bad headlines. So he works underground for the New Orleans Arch Bishop (Stephen Lang), training new recruits to help fight the growing number of demonic possessions.

Next under his wing is a young rookie priest named Father Daniel (played by a dry and ever dour Vadhir Derbez). With a pinch of “Training Day” and a tiny dash of “Se7en”, the two head out into the field where the seasoned but offish Peter tosses Daniel headfirst into a demon encounter (‘baptized by fire’ for those itching for a bad pun). Soon they’re investigating a particularly gruesome murder where a young boy named Charlie (Brady Jenness) butchered his parents and sister with an ax. The state says the boy is mentally incompetent to stand trial and belongs in an institution. But Peter suspects something far more sinister at work and sees this as the perfect case for Daniel to cut his teeth on.

Image Courtesy of Vertical Entertainment

Pretty simple plot but enough for a reasonably entertaining diversion. The problem is “The Seventh Day” keeps everything on a surface level – no depth to the characters, no depth to the story. It also doesn’t help that the two lead actors are so terribly mismatched on screen. Pearce at least looks comfortable and you can buy him in his role. Although watching him maneuver through the erratic dialogue is pretty funny and his ability to utter lines like “the epitome of darkness” with a straight face is a testament to his commitment. Derbez on the other hand goes through the entire movie with the same stunned, deer-in-the-headlights expression. It’s not entirely his fault, but at times he seems lost and unsure especially when next to Pearce.

Aside from an occasionally unnerving image from DP Nick Remy Matthews or a creepy chord from composer Gavin Brivik, “The Seventh Day” doesn’t do enough to get under our skin. Material like this should be unsettling and make us squirm. But it all comes across as pretty generic despite having an enticing general premise and at least one capable lead. And as for Pearce, this probably won’t be included in his end-of-career highlight reel. “The Seventh Day” is now available to stream on VOD.

VERDICT – 2 STARS

Last year Netflix ventured into space with the George Clooney directed “The Midnight Sky”. It was a low-key, yet soulful and penetrating slice of science-fiction that deserved more buzz than it received. The streaming giant is back among the stars with their new film “Stowaway”, a similarly understated sci-fi drama that probes the human experience as much as it does the vast wonder of deep space. It may not dive as deep into its central premise as it could have, but it’s both thoughtful and immersive which is exactly what I was hoping for.

“Stowaway” is the sophomore effort from director Joe Penna. His previous film was 2018’s “Arctic”, a terrific Mads Mikkelsen survival thriller that introduced Penna as a filmmaker of remarkable restraint and focus. “Stowaway” sees him pulling out those same traits in telling yet another survival story although one with a few more characters and more moving parts.

Image Courtesy of Netflix

The story (written by Penna and Ryan Morrison) begins with a space capsule launching from earth, its three-person crew set for a two year research mission to Mars. Space junkies should love the exhilarating opening sequence which gives a cockpit view of the craft as it leaves the atmosphere and then docks with their main ship high above the planet. Once connected, Dr. Zoe Levenson (Anna Kendrick), team biologist David Kim (Daniel Dae Kim), and ship commander Marina Barnett (Toni Collette) begin settling in for their long journey.

While it may not play well with everyone, one of my favorite things about “Stowaway” is the way it shows the crew’s meticulous operation of the ship. Penna’s observant camera allows us to watch the crew members work rather than listen to long drawn-out scientific explanations for everything they do. Of course we do get conversations about magnetic radiation proofing and the CDRA, but they’re very organic. We don’t always understand what they’re doing or saying, but the characters know and we believe them. And don’t worry, it’s never monotonous, just authentic.

A few hours into the mission while running a routine systems check, Marina makes an alarming discovery. She finds a man (Shamier Anderson), wounded and unconscious in a large overhead compartment. He wakes up in a panic, realizing he’s in space and with no recollection of how he ended up onboard. Once the crew settles him down they learn his name is Michael, a launch support engineer with the ground team. As Marina works to confirm his identity with Mission Control, Zoe and David show Michael around the ship and try to help him feel like a part of the crew.

And then things start to get hairy. Marina discovers that the ship’s life support system was critically damaged during Michael’s incident. Even worse, calculations show there’s only enough oxygen for three people to make the trip to Mars. So the original trio are faced with a unenviable dilemma. Do they remove the new and virtually untrained Michael from the ship in order to save themselves and the mission? And if they do, could the guilt-burdened crew ever safely complete their mission? The moral conundrum infuses the story with a psychological tension that could have been explored deeper but that is fascinating nonetheless.

Image Courtesy of Netflix

The cast of four turn in solid performances and serve up some interesting characters even though they aren’t given much in terms of backstory. Zoe is an energetic young doctor who sees the mission as a chance to give her life meaning. David is a dedicated scientist with a wife back home who loves Harvard and experimental jazz. Marina is a seasoned space traveler with two missions under her belt and this one set to be her last. And of course Michael is a bit of a mystery by design but we do learn he has a sister back on earth who he looks after. Those handful of facts are pretty much all we get. It’s not a huge issue but it softens our emotional attachment to the crew.

“Stowaway” doesn’t break any new ground nor does it move the genre into any new directions. But it is an entertaining and assured science-fiction effort from a talented and tightly-focused filmmaker. It also looks great, from its terrific set design full of cool and highly-detailed ship interiors to the obligatory yet harrowing spacewalk sequence. And while they may lack some depth, Penna doesn’t allow his characters to turn into stale predictable types. They’re just four people using their know-how to navigate a hopeless situation while fighting to keep their moral integrity in tact. “Stowaway” premieres today (April 22nd) on Netflix.

VERDICT – 4 STARS