(CLICK HERE to read my full review in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

These days there is an inescapable buzz that surrounds anything with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s name attached to it. The mastermind behind the stage musical and cultural phenomenon “Hamilton” has been venturing more and more into the world of film – producing, voice acting, and writing music for several recent movies. Now Miranda steps behind the camera for the first time to tell the story of a Broadway star-to-be who never had the opportunity to see his dream realized.

Jonathan Larson’s “Rent” was an influential stage production that inspired a generation of theater playwrights and performers. “Rent” played on Broadway for 12 years and grossed over $280 million. Tragically, Larson never saw its success. He died January 25, 1996 of an aortic dissection, the very day of Rent’s first Off-Broadway preview performance. He was only 35-years-old. He would go on to win three posthumous Toney Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Among those influenced and driven by Larson’s work was Lin-Manuel Miranda. His new film “Tick, Tick…BOOM!” plays as both a tribute to Larson’s legacy as well as a celebration of New York City theater. The script is by Steven Levenson, a Toney Award winner himself who also wrote the screenplay for the woeful film adaptation of “Dear Evan Hansen”. Don’t worry, this is an imperfect yet considerably better effort.

Andrew Garfield leads the way, who playing Jonathan Larson with an unbridled commitment. Garfield pours every bit of himself into the role, acting and singing with an infectious enthusiasm. He paints a fascinating portrait of Larson with his unruly crop of hair, manic energy, and an obsessive drive. It’s impressive work that articulates the struggle to be successful while creating something meaningful. It also highlights the personal costs that come with an all-consuming single-minded vision. I just wish it was as interested in the man as it is his art.

“Tick, Tick…BOOM!” was the name of Larson’s autobiographical production that preceded his smash hit “Rent”. The one-man “rock monologue” mixed music, lyrics, and spoken word to tell the origin story of the composer and playwright’s first major stage project – an ambitious futuristic rock musical called “Superbia”. This isn’t easy material to adapt and to Miranda’s credit he takes no shortcuts. Instead, he and Levenson do some crafty tweaking, reorganizing the one-man show into a three-person chamber piece similar to the ones performed on stage since Larson’s death. The difference is Larson himself (through Garfield’s performance) leads the film’s three-person gig.

Miranda’s imagining of a Larson-led stage performance of “Tick, Tick…Boom!” is a good framing device that opens up the broader story. His film cuts back-and-forth between the singing of Larson’s songs on stage and the moments from his past that inspired them. These scenes transport us back to 1990 when Larson was bursting with confidence yet burdened with an eerily prophetic sense that he’s running out of time. With his 30th birthday only days away, he feverishly works to complete “Superbia” as if it were his last shot at fame.

We see Larson living out of a cramped apartment spending his time jotting down ideas and pecking away on an old Macintosh. When not waiting tables at Soho’s Moondance Diner, he hangs out with an eclectic bohemian blend of aspiring artists and art lovers. Some, like his girlfriend Susan (an underused Alexandra Shipp) and his childhood friend/roommate Michael (Robin de Jesús) are abandoning their dreams of performing. But Larson’s rabid desire to succeed won’t allow him to quit, even if it hurts his relationships with those closest to him.

As far as the music, Miranda wisely sticks with Larson’s own songs which often conveys more feeling than the movie’s dialogue. As with any musical, some tunes are better than others. The rousing “Louder Than Words”, the cameo-filled “Sunday”, and the catchy “Boho Days” stand out most. And while I wouldn’t say Garfield has a great voice, he certainly manages the songs well enough, performing them with such spirit and verve.

Miranda’s structure is certainly bold, but it leads to some of the film’s frustrating issues. Most notably, it’s frenetic pace. The movie never slows down long enough to let us see beyond Larson’s creative zeal. By the end there’s still so much about him that we don’t know. Also, not all of Miranda’s choices make sense. Take the decision to intercut one of the few dramatic scenes with the movie’s most comically upbeat musical number (“Therapy”). It’s a case where it probably sounded good on paper, but the style-first approach ends up shortchanging two really good bits.

As it is, “Tick, Tick…BOOM!” is more of a biographical sketch laced with catchy tunes than an actual exploration into the man who was Jonathan Larson. Miranda’s admiration for his subject is never in doubt, and he makes honoring Larson’s artistry his chief focus. And while the film is full of emotion, there’s very little drama. Thankfully a magnetic Andrew Garfield elevates and carries the entire film. This is without question his movie, and he gives the kind of spellbinding portrayal that makes it a lot easier to digest the film’s noticeable shortcomings. “Tick…Tick…BOOM!” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

One of my favorite things about each movie year is coming across something completely new and unexpected. Movies that I had never heard of and that were never on my radar, yet caught me completely by surprise. Netflix has done that very thing with their new foreign language flick “The Trip”, an impossible to label Norwegian film from director and co-writer Tommy Wirkola.

I call “The Trip” impossible to label because it can’t be put into any box or assigned to any one genre. It’s a movie that defies any and all expectations and is full of surprises both narratively and visually. It leaps back-and-forth between genres never staying in the same place for very long. To give you an idea, it sometimes plays like a serious marital drama and other times like a pitch-black comedy. One second it’s a crime thriller and then it hits you with gruesome body horror. There’s even a terrifying “Funny Games” sequence complete with the emotional and physical savagery of that Hanake film.

Noomi Rapace and Aksel Hennie play Lisa and Lars, a dysfunctional couple on the outs who set out on a weekend trip to the mountains where they own a rustic lakeside cabin built by Lars’ father. Lars is a dissatisfied director who’s stuck making cheap television soap operas. “You’re no Hitchcock”, his cantankerous father (Nils Ole Oftebro) gruffly reminds him. Lisa is a struggling theater actress who loves performing but has recently been turned down for several big parts. Both are frustrated; both are unhappy. But at least they have each other, right?

Well…..

So they head to the mountains for a much needed getaway, yet they can’t even make it to the cabin without an argument breaking out. It quickly becomes clear that these two despise each other. But maybe this trip is exactly what they need. Could they end up where most couples do in movies like this? You know, rekindling an old flame and rediscovering that love that first brought them together? Well, they’ll first have to overcome a pretty significant obstacle. As it turns out, both have come to cabin with plans of killing their spouse. See what I mean? That’s a pretty big obstacle.

I don’t want to say more because this truly is a case of ‘the less you know the better’. One of the film’s biggest strengths is its ability to broadside its audience with something they never see it coming. It begins practically as soon as they arrive at the cabin. “Home Sweet Home”, Lisa wryly says signaling that we’re in for a twisted ride. Both lead performances are strong especially from Rapace who has an often underrated ability to express emotion without uttering a single word.

Let me stress, “The Trip” isn’t for the faint of heart. Some scenes are extremely intense and the further it goes the gorier the movie gets. Yet it’s all fused with this wicked sense of humor that often pops up in the most unexpected moments. There were times where I was physically jolted by the violence and other times where I caught myself laughing out loud. What’s most amazing is how Wirkola keeps it all together. Not perfectly (the poop gag is certainly a low point), but more than enough to keep his audience entertained and always wondering what’s coming next. “The Trip” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

The title for the new Netflix horror movie “There’s Someone Inside Your House” has a straightforward old-school ring to it. Too bad it doesn’t come close to the numerous movies it draws from. This drab and forgettable slasher lacks all of the energy, fun, and frights the bloody sub-genre is known for.

And about that title, I’m sure there’s some reason behind it that I don’t know, but “There’s Someone Inside Your House” seems like a generic name slapped on for the heck of it. It certainly doesn’t fit with anything in the movie. Well, there is that one kid who is killed in a house. I guess that’s supposed to be enough?

Directed by Patrick Brice (“Creep”, “Creep 2”) and written by Henry Gayden (“Shazam!”), the film is an adaptation of a 2017 novel of the same name by Stephanie Perkins. Most surprising are the names listed among the producers – Shawn Levy and James Wan. I’m not sure how the two became attached to the project, but you’ll have a hard time finding any of their influences on the finished product.

The movie begins as many of these things do, with an unsuspecting teen being brutally murdered (ala “Scream”). Here it’s an Osborne High School football player who (like everyone else in the movie) has an ugly secret that the killer takes pleasure in exposing. His or her reasons, we learn later, are unbelievably shallow. It’s one of many things you’ll be asked to go with during the film’s mercifully short running time.

After the opening, it’s slasher formula 101 – introduce the killer’s fodder (most often a group of insufferable teens) and then slice them, carve them, chop them, and impale them one by one. That’s this movie in a nutshell. They do throw in a few lightweight personal stories, but none of them amount to much and none move things forward in any meaningful way.

Rather than concentrating on storytelling, the film’s only dedicated interest is in showing how progressive it is. Not through any keen insight or smartly conceived characters. Instead we get it in bad on-the-nose dialogue and laughably shallow characterizations of progressives and conservatives. Thankfully not many from the left or right go to slasher flicks hoping for profound and invigorating political commentary. For those who do…I have some bad news.

From there the movie plods along on repeat with the killer targeting another kid and then releasing their darkest secret, usually through a massive group text (good thing the killer has the entire community’s phone numbers). Then of course they’re killed in one of several (mostly) uninspired ways. And when it finally reaches its end, the mystery of who’s behind the mask lands with a thud and offers no meaningful payoff.

Netflix has a wild yet interesting track record when it comes to horror films and they’ve had several stinkers lately. And with the aftertaste of the disappointing brain-mush that was the “Fear Street” trilogy lingering, I was hoping “There’s Someone Inside Your House” would be a nice palate cleanser. Not so. It’s a slushy, forgettable, scare-free movie that’s content with riding the coattails of better ones. “There’s Someone Inside Your House” is now streaming on Netflix.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

(CLICK HERE to read my full review in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

“Together” shouldn’t be tossed out as just another pandemic movie. It’s true that it takes place during the U.K.’s coronavirus lockdown, but at its heart, “Together” is about a marriage on the rocks. It’s about a warring couple reassessing their relationship while confined inside of their London townhouse. It’s combative, toxic and often unpleasant. But the real challenge for audiences won’t be the film’s nastiness. It will be the aggressive style of storytelling that forces the viewer to play a part in every scene.

The story literally begins on March 24th, 2020, “the first day of national lockdown“, and ends approximately one year later. We’re introduced to a well-off London couple in their 40’s who we only know as He and She (James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan – both brilliant). It only takes a few seconds to see that their relationship is strained and has been since well before the virus hit. In fact, their opening salvo of insults makes their disgust with each other pretty clear.

But not everything is so caustic. There’s just as much needling and petty bickering as the two characters find all sorts of ways to unload years of resentment. Ultimately He can’t stand the sight of her. She hates being in the same room with him. They’ve stuck together this long for their 10-year-old son Arthur (Samuel Logan).

While the quarrelsome couple have their heated one-on-ones, the vast majority of their conversations are with us, the viewer. Kelly’s script makes us quite literally the third adult in the room, and over half of the movie sees McAvoy and Horgan breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the camera. At different times throughout the film’s 90 minutes we’re asked to be the couple’s silent mediator, therapist and confidant. It adds an unexpected intimacy, but it also puts us right in the middle of some pretty fiery exchanges.

All of that may sound unbearable, but over time the hateful sparring takes a different tone. Instead of constantly being at each other’s throats, we begin to see cracks in the couple’s hardened exteriors as the lockdown affects them both in different ways. Their mutual contempt begins softening, only to be replaced by feelings of fear, isolation and despondency. It doesn’t necessarily make the movie easier to watch, but it brings new dimensions to the characters and adds some much-needed layers of humanity.

While Kelly’s script begins by using the lockdown to introduce his two characters, the film’s second half sees him turning the tables and using his characters to comment more openly on the pandemic. Nothing captures the film’s fury quite like She’s experience with her ailing mother who is put in a nursing home just as the pandemic starts, but later catches the virus after the government decides to move COVID-positive patients into elderly care facilities. That’s the kind of maddening hard-to-swallow truth that will make “Together” resonate with some while alienating others.

VERDICT – 4 STARS

A hotheaded dad loses his cool on the interstate and ends up tailgating the wrong fellow. That’s what kickstarts the fittingly titled “Tailgate”, a new horror thriller from the Netherlands that begins similar to the 2020 Russell Crowe thriller “Unhinged”. But road-rage is about all the two films have in common. “Tailgate” spirals into a perplexing stew with more logic-defying moments than actual thrills.

The story revolves around a family of four who are unfortunately led by their inane patriarch Hans (Jeroen Spitzenberger). We first meet them as the short-tempered grump is chewing out his wife Diana (Anniek Pheifer) and their two daughters for being late. They’re supposed to be going to his parents house for dinner but his oldest daughter won’t get off her pogo stick and Diana forgot her sunglasses – just normal family stuff. But not for the irritable Hans.

When they finally get on the road Hans drives like a maniac while still fussing at his family (what a guy). As he weaves through interstate traffic he gets stuck behind a white van poking along in the passing lane. Unable to get around, the incensed Hans lays on his horn and starts riding the van driver’s bumper. He finally gets by and speeds down the highway only to notice the van following him. Behind the wheel is a tall older man (Willem de Wolf) who wants an apology and will do anything to get it including terrorizing this family for the next 80 minutes.

While “Tailgate” builds itself around an unsettling premise, all-in-all it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. There is a little nuance to its psycho – an everyday man in his early sixties armed with toxic herbicide rather than a gun or a knife. There are also some clever visual touches and snappy pacing which keeps things moving forward. But the story doesn’t do enough to distinguish itself from countless other thrillers and the head-scratching choices it makes defies any hint of logic.

Which gets back to Hans who is not only one of the most unlikable people, but he’s quite possibly the dumbest single character I’ve seen in a movie. I wish I could say that’s just hyperbole, but I genuinely mean it. The things this guy does throughout the film goes beyond simply bad decision-making. It’s aggressively stupid and often throws common sense out the window. With that guy calling the shots it’s no wonder the family is in constant danger.

To make matters worse, the version I watched was dubbed with truly awful voiceovers rather than the original language which became somewhat of an endurance test. But even looking past the horrid voice work, “Tailgate” is a movie that latches onto some pretty familiar material but does nothing new with it. It’s made worse by chaining us to an asinine lead character who is as witless as he is insufferable. “Tailgate” is now available on VOD.

VERDICT – 1.5 STARS

When it comes to the new film “The Tomorrow War” you could waste a lot of time pointing out its flaws or picking apart the science. But that would be far more boring than the actual movie itself. Following some fairly mediocre promotion, I didn’t have high hopes for this sci-fi action blockbuster. But to my surprise “The Tomorrow War” is pure popcorn entertainment that delivers. It’s fun, energetic, and a visual feast that left me wishing I could have seen it on the big screen.

Originally slated as Paramount Pictures’ big budget 2020 Christmas Day release, “The Tomorrow War” was delayed due to COVID-19 and then shuffled around on their release schedule before eventually being sold to Amazon Studios. In a way the film highlights both the strengths and frustrations with the potential “streaming future”. By dropping it on Prime streaming, Amazon saved it from oblivion and gave their subscribers quick and easy access to it. At the same time this is a movie clearly made for the big screen and not having that option robbed viewers of that experience.

“The Tomorrow War” is the first live-action feature for director Chris McKay whose previous film credit was helming “The LEGO Batman Movie”. Here he’s working from a screenplay by Zach Dean that borrows from countless other sci-fi movie concepts and puts them all together in a filling, check-your-brain-at-the-door stew. The ever likable Chris Pratt puts on his best regular-guy charm and earnestness to play a cardigan-wearing high school biology teacher named Dan Forester. He has a loving wife Emmy (Betty Gilpin) and a 9-year-old sweetheart of a daughter daughter Muri (Ryan Keira Armstrong). But since leaving the military where he ran combat missions during his two tours in Iraq, the seemingly happy Dan has struggled to find his purpose.

Quite literally everything changes when a misty, crackling portal opens up on the field of a globally televised soccer match. Out of it walks a handful of super-serious soldiers from 28 years in the future who plead with the present day world to help them fight a war that humanity is losing. Their arrival sends the globe scrambling to help stave off human extinction. In the future war humanity is on its heels and has taken catastrophic losses. In an act of desperation, scientists from 2051 develop a shaky time travel tech in hopes of recruiting and bringing back soldiers and researchers from the past to help defeat the alien invaders.

Obviously a lot of questions pop up with the introduction of time travel into the story. Most notably, why not just travel to the time the aliens arrive and meet them head-on? For the most part McKay and Dean answer them all by stressing the technology’s unreliability and limitations. The scientists are able to jump people back-and-forth from these two set points on the timeline but not without some potentially deadly risks. Still have questions? Don’t worry, things happen later in the movie that plug a few more holes. It doesn’t all fit together seamlessly, but easily enough to get by.

Before long a world-wide draft is instituted and civilians including Dan are called to duty. It doesn’t sound bad at first with the news that deployments only last seven days. But the mood changes a bit when they’re informed the survival rate is less than 20%. Dan hits it off with a fellow draftee named Charlie, a chatty scientist full of nervous energy. He’s played by a terrific Sam Richardson who provides some perfectly modulated comic relief. With practically no training the ragtag group of ‘soldiers’ are sent to war-ravaged Miami Beach in 2051. But a fatal malfunction in the time jump forces Dan to lead what’s left of his unit. He’s contacted by a hardened Colonel (Yvonne Strahovski) who begins walking him through their mission. But Dan and his team quickly learn that it won’t be easy, especially after getting their first look at the alien threat.

The creatures are designed by Ken Barthelmey and have small resemblances to the Xenomorphs in “Aliens”, the Arachnids in “Starship Troopers”, and even the alien monsters in “A Quiet Place”. But Barthelmey’s creatures are distinctly his own. They’re labeled White Spikes because of their milky colored exterior and the piercing bone-like spikes they shoot from their flailing tentacles. They’re ferocious, terrifying, and sometimes attack in overwhelming packs (think the zombies in “World War Z”). They bring an palpable level of tension the film really needs.

While the story builds itself around a cool and interesting concept, it’s the sheer action spectacle that stays with you. This movie really is a sight to behold from its pulsating man-versus-alien combat to some truly exhilarating set pieces. I was also caught off guard by its sprawling epic scale. McKay, cinematographer Larry Fong, and the busy digital effects team put together one visually impressive scene after another and you can see the bulk of the film’s hefty budget on the screen.

The story has its moments too in large part thanks to the performances. Pratt is just naturally down-to-earth and amusing which is very much his character here. He also has some good and crafty chemistry with both Armstrong and Strahovski. We even get the always welcomed J.K. Simmons playing Dan’s father, an off-the-radar Vietnam vet with a intense distrust of the federal government. There are some pretty deep daddy issues there that don’t get the full attention they deserve, but Simmons is terrific as always.

Still the storytelling isn’t without flaws. There are some cool revelations in the final act, but the entire setup to it is just too far-fetched even for a movie about humans traveling to the future to fight a war with aliens. And while fun, the movie is unquestionably familiar, especially in its ultimate execution. You can guess how things are going to turn out almost to the detail. But put those knocks aside. I had a blast with “The Tomorrow War” and it was just the kind of movie I needed right now. And in a tender way it has a moving message for us fathers – spend your time on what’s most important. Because your greatest purpose in life may be those sweet little eyes adoringly looking up at their daddy. “The Tomorrow War” is now streaming on Amazon Prime.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS