Supergirl (2026): A Review (Review #2234)

SUPERGIRL (2026)

I will not argue that the 1984 Supergirl is a good movie. It is not. However, I find it an oddly endearing movie. There is something delightfully camp about it all. Faye Dunaway as a literal witch! A plot that revolves around two powerful women fighting over a hunky gardener! Peter O'Toole wandering around the Phantom Zone in varying degrees of sobriety! What's not to love? The 2026 Supergirl, conversely, will struggle to be as beloved as its wackier, offbeat predecessor. I would say that Supergirl, rather than being a "bad" movie, is a frustrating one. The elements are there for a good film. They just were not mixed in right.

Kara Zor-El aka Supergirl (Milly Alcock) is wandering the universe on a 23rd birthday pub crawl. Her cousin, Superman (David Corenswet) checks in on her via video link from time to time but cannot persuade her to return to Earth. Kara is too busy drowning her sorrows in intergalactic booze and being as obnoxious to everyone that crosses her path. 

One person that crosses her path is Ruthye (Eve Ridley). She is seeking revenge against Krem of the Yellow Hills (Matthias Schoenaerts). This Brigard has killed her family, and Ruthye wants to avenge them. Kara, while willing to protect Ruthye against beings attacking her, wants no part of Ruthye's vengeance quest. Things change when Krem himself attacks Kara's abode and poisons her beloved dog, Krypto. Kara now has three days to take the antidote from Krem to save Krypto.

With that, Kara hops on an intergalactic bus. Ruthye continuously shows up, determined to get her vengeance. Kara, stumbling about the universe, eventually learns where the Brigands are. She and Ruthye also learn that the Brigands are abducting girls to be breeders for their all-male species. Eventually, Kara and Ruthye track the Brigands down. Kara does manage to hold her own, but she is thwarted on occasion by mercenary Lobo (Jason Momoa). He is after Krem's lieutenant, Drom Baxton (Diarmaid Murtagh). Kara manages to stop Ruthye from enacting her revenge, convinced that this will doom Ruthye rather than bring her peace.

There are still more troubles and travails for Kara and Ruthye to stop Krem and save Krypto. The green and red suns do not help Kara. Ruthye and Lobo eventually form an uneasy alliance. Kara, thanks to a now-yellow sun, is able to don the wardrobe of Supergirl. Will Ruthye find vengeance in this life or the next? Will Kara save Krypto and herself from the guilt of being a Kryptonian survivor? Will she and her cousin finally see Earth as their true home?

While watching Supergirl, I kept thinking that a story, a true and heartfelt story about Kara's isolation and need for integration was always bubbling underneath. Some of the best moments from Ana Nogueria's screenplay where when we were in Argo City, where Kryptonian survivors managed to live after Krypton's destruction. These moments, where we see Kara and her family, were moments of genuine warmth and tragedy. Apart from my wondering out loud, "Is that David Krumholtz as Zor-El?" (and yes, he was Kara's father), everyone and everything in these flashbacks worked. 

We saw genuine emotion from Milly Alcock on the separation and loss of her world. We saw the evolving tragedy of Argo City's doomed fate. Argo City was only a temporary reprieve from Krypton's total destruction. In the flashback scenes, Milly Alcock gave a genuine performance. Her comments to Ruthye about regret and the cost of vengeance work well. We even have a bit of gentle humor when Kara arrives on Earth. David Corenswet as Superman has a good rapport with Alcock. He also shows Superman to be more Clark than Kal-El. Corenswet seemed sweetly bumbling and stumbling, realizing that despite their family relationship he cannot communicate with her because he doesn't know Kryptonian.

One wonders if Supergirl would have done better to be a genuine origin story. It probably would have worked better if we'd spent time early in Argo City or at least flashed back long before we did. These scenes had a bit of heart in them. Alas, that is not the movie we got. 

Instead, we got a long time with an unlikeable lead who almost goads you into practically hating her. I did not hate Milly Alcock or Supergirl. I was just frustrated at Supergirl's need to make her "edgy" by being a drunk. Sorrowful, mournful, I get. Obnoxious, partier and a lush, I do not.

As a side note, it is nice to learn that Clark Kent/Superman is 33 in this universe. A bit of dialogue between Ruthye and Kara reveals that Kara is 23 and ten years younger than Kal-El. 

Supergirl seems more set to hit various tropes than give us a character we care about. You have the various fight scenes punctured to pop songs. You have some unintentionally hilarious dialogue, such as Kara telling Ruthye, "Ruthye, your revenge is not going to get in the way of me saving my dog". You have uninteresting villains. The Brigands from what I saw were punk aliens with vaguely Russian accents. 

Probably the oddest moment is when Kara takes an intergalactic bus to get from one planet to another. Why exactly there is such a thing as intergalactic public transportation is anyone's guess. Far be it for Ruthye to either have her own mode of transportation or hire someone. I trust Supergirl knows she can fly across space.

I do not know if having her "race against the clock to save Krypto" would make the public sympathize with her. Ruthye at least saw her family killed off, though to be fair, we barely saw them. It's hard to build up much sympathy when someone is killed after literally jumping in front of Ruthye and essentially (if not literally) going "BOO!". 

Credit where credit is due. Eve Ridley was strong as Ruthye. She showed a steady, steely determination to avenge her family. It is unfortunate that the screenplay often forced her to step aside from battle. She did not have to be a mistress of the sword. It would have been nice if she had wielded it from time to time. As stated, Alcock was best when playing regret and mournful. When called to show action or strength, she did neither. Part of that is Alcock. Other parts of that are from both Noguera's screenplay and Craig Gillepsie's directing.  

I am not well-versed in Supergirl lore to know what or who Lobo is. I do see that Jason Momoa had fun being so broad. I am not sure that he served a major purpose in Supergirl, save perhaps for name recognition. He never formally joined forces with Kara and Ruthye. He just wanted Drom Baxton's head (which he eventually got). Lobo never had a personal stake in any of this. He just popped up when he needed to. 

This is a rare time when the CGI and green screen was strongly visible. Supergirl was loud and bombastic, but I don't think that this is what audiences really wanted. I put that down, again, to how the quieter moments were the best ones.  

I again think that Supergirl is not a bad movie so much as it is a frustrating one. A lot of it felt remote and distant for me. I think Supergirl could have lived up to its name. As it stands now, I think it fell a bit short of its potential. 

DECISION: D+

The Social Reckoning: A Review (Review #2233)

THE SOCIAL RECKONING

I am not much on Facebook. I was never a devotee of the platform. While I do have an account, I have gone weeks to months without so much as looking at it. Therefore, I wonder if I would be the target audience for The Social Reckoning. I cannot say whether or not The Social Reckoning can truly be called a sequel to The Social Network. I can say that The Social Reckoning is misdirected on a myriad of levels.  

The Social Reckoning is divided into four sections. We have Prologue: White Girl Wasted, then Part One: Cassandra, Part Two: Meaningful Social Interaction (MSI) and Part Three: We're Going to Get Blamed for This. The film hopes hither and yon from 2019 to 2021, flipping back and forth along with way. I'll try to give a more straightforward synopsis.

Prologue: White Girl Wasted has us encounter Kaylee (Portia Doubleday). She is both stranded on the side of the road and visibly intoxicated. Two officers, one male and one female, attempt to help but find that Kaylee is obnoxious, entitled, and defensive. Kaylee, who is white, decides to videotape her encounter with these obviously racist cops. She belittles the black man and the Hispanic woman, down to threatening them. This is all livestreamed and uploaded to the Voices of Reason Facebook page, which is, I think, alt-right.

As it so happens, Kaylee was once a friend to a Facebook employee, Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison). Frances is surprised and dismayed because she remembers when Kaylee was a firm progressive. As a Facebook employee, Frances feels some responsibility for her friend having been radicalized from progressive to alt-right. Frances works for the Civic Integrity Group section in Facebook but has concerns.  While she believes in Facebook's claims of wanting to connect people, she thinks that the company does not care about its users. No one will listen to her Cassandra-like warnings. No one appears to know who the mythical Cassandra was either.

Into this comes Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White). He's a political reporter, not a tech one. He couldn't even figure out how to use the GPS to get to the San Francisco office on time. Nevertheless, there is a story here, and Horwitz will find it. Horwitz is a threat to Facebook, which quakes at the mention of his name. Fortunately for him, Frances has decided to become whistleblower. She does not want her name used nor to hand over documents. Jeff does his best with his inside source, nicknamed "Fred". San Francisco Wall Street Journal bureau chief Christina (Betty Gilpin) hates the name but won't let Jeff change it.

Wrong Fred

COVID hits, and initially Frances is allowed to work in Puerto Rico remotely. The CIG is eliminated, and now Facebook wants to go into Meaningful Social Interactions (MSI). This will allegedly increase interaction. What it does is put profit over people and allow all sorts of dangerous information and groups to infiltrate, manipulate and recruit people to their nefarious worldview. Eventually, Frances opts to go all-in to secure the documents and even reveal her identity.

In the future, Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg (Jeremy Strong) is being coached and trained on how to answer at a Congressional hearing. His handler Raya (Wunmi Mosaku) struggles to get Zuckerberg to come across as human. His various lackeys fret about what kind of tie he should wear. Only former Facebook investor Charlie Garrigan (Bill Burr) is able to speak truth to power. Charlie's continuing sniping at Zuckerberg irks the latter, who openly questions why Charlie is there given that he sold his Facebook shares and lives to tell Zuckerberg off. This training day culminates with the riot on January 6, 2021, which Facebook is responsible in part for. As everyone watches in horror as the Capitol building burns to the ground, Zuckerberg finally orders "shut it down" (meaning the various pages that instigated the second fall of Washington).

Frances Haugen gives her own Congressional testimony and does something she never thought she could. She pumps her arm in the air. 

I was a bit facetious with some of my The Social Reckoning summary. The January 6 riot did not literally burn the Capitol building to the ground. I think the riot was monstrous and a sign of the overall sickness in our political discord. I take this tone, however, because The Social Reckoning takes itself far too seriously. We see and hear this at Fraces' testimony which closes out the film. As Alexandre Deplat's swelling music plays, we hear Frances' lengthy statements about the dangers and greed of Facebook. I get where writer/director Aaron Sorkin is going with this. He wants us to see this as a triumph of the human spirit, a moment where we the audience will see our heroine rising while lifting up the nation to the light of universal truth.

It is unfortunate, though, that Sorkin never built up this moment. He would have done better to let her testimony speak for itself (no pun intended). The music, apart from being almost cartoonishly exaggerated in its nobility, is cliched and veers dangerously close to parody. Nobility is earned, not granted, at least in this case.

Right from the start, The Social Reckoning is almost universally poorly acted. The entire Prologue scene has some of the worst, exaggerated acting that I have seen this year. It is as if Sorkin told his three actors (Doubleday, Sierra Capri as Deputy Diaz and Michael Braugher as Deputy Otumbo) to be as silly and over-the-top as they could be. Doubleday is probably the worst. She was a parody of a parody of an entitled girl with "white privilege". Capri and Braugher were just saying lines. They weren't convincing as these deputies. The fact that we had a black man and a Hispanic woman facing off against this obnoxious white female lends itself to suggestions that it felt a bit too pat.

Furthermore, we never saw Kaylee's radicalization from progressive to alt-right. We just had to take Frances' word for it. I'm not even sure that we saw a scene where Kaylee and Frances ever interacted.

It is not just the smaller roles that were so poorly directed. You have an Oscar winner, an Emmy winner and a couple of Oscar nominees in The Social Reckoning. For reasons that only Sorkin may know, they were all apparently directed to speak their lines as if they were in a screwball comedy. Just about everyone in The Social Reckoning has a staccato-like delivery in their dialogue. The rapid-fire patter between Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White was cringeworthy. Constant quips about how Horwitz was technologically inept and how Haugen loved her job soon became dumb. Near the end, Haugen snapped at Horwitz, "Did you go to a Baptist school where math was like witchcraft?". That came across as bizarre. Earlier, Horwitz was asked to settle a debate at the Wall Street Journal office. "Is 'spatula' a Yiddish word?", he's asked. You sit there and wonder, "Are they serious?".

Let's get to the best performance in The Social Reckoning. In this case, though, "best" is damning with faint praise. Jeremy Strong is an excellent actor. If the goal was to make Mark Zuckerberg into a human audio-animatronic figure, then Strong and Sorkin succeeded beyond anything they could have aimed for. Strong gave us an excellent impersonation of Zuckerberg, capturing his voice convincingly. However, I do not know if making Zuckerberg into a person unaware of how to interact with others be they employees or lackeys was a good idea. The real Mark Zuckerberg may be robotic. However, The Social Reckoning's Mark Zuckerberg is a robot in all but name.

It does not help matter when Bill Burr pops up throughout Zuckerberg's training. Who is he? Why is he there? Why does he get allowed and away with making snippy comments about Zuckerberg and Facebook? At one point, Zuckerberg himself asks why Charlie is there. It is a perfectly valid question.

Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White, as mentioned, are not well-served by Sorkin's screenplay or directing. Every time Madison's Frances speaks to others, she comes across as more updated version of Zuckerberg's audio-animatronic figure. Right from the start, when she is prevented from asking a question to Facebook media guru Teddy Marks (Billy Magnussen), we see Frances less as a noble figure who grew disillusioned with Facebook's direction than a perpetual scold. Whether in dealing with disinterested employees, disastrous dates or clueless journalists, Frances seems only able to correct people.

Other elements also fail. Frances' few efforts at dating seem to be there to show how her arrogant dates take Facebook misinformation at face value. Horwitz has two interns, Zach (Adrian Zepete) and Evelyn (Kelly Pereira). They endure Horwitz's clumsy management and at one point end up schtupping. The who, why, when, where or how of any of their subplot is thrown out there but never fully introduced or used. 

As mentioned, Alexandre Desplat's score lays it on far too thick in its efforts to be stirring or tense. At one point, Desplat uses a somber drumming that is supposed to be menacing. The end result, judging from the audience reaction, was laughter. 

As a side note, The Social Reckoning made me think how short both Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White are. The former is listed as 5'3.5" and the latter is listed as 5'7". In their various scenes together, they both look quite tiny. I do not know why that stood out.

This is more The Social Wrecking than The Social Reckoning. Well-intentioned by poorly guided, The Social Reckoning never made its case as to why Facebook is the danger the film thinks it is. Friends don't let friends make bad movies.

DECISION: D+

Clayface: A Review

CLAYFACE

Beauty may be only skin deep, but what if your skin could shift to forms beautiful and monstrous? Clayface does pretty much everything right. It has a well-crafted origin story without tying itself to a larger mythos. It has solid visual effects. It has mostly strong performances from the cast. Clayface works on many levels. 

Up-and-coming actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) has just received the best news possible: he's received an Academy Award nomination. Hagen has risen from the lowest rung of Gotham's ghettos to being the toast of the city. He and his BFF, Corey Bowery (Joshua James) celebrate by hitting the Vesuvius nightclub. Here, Hagen meets the beautiful Mia Torrez (Joana Riberio). Corey warns Matt that Mia is the girlfriend of ruthless mob boss Markos Szabo (David Densick). Despite this warning, Hagen goes to bed with Mia.

Poor career choice. Szabo tracks them down to Hagen's apartment the next morning. Szabo lets his mistress go, but Szabo's goons slice up Matt's pretty face in brutal fashion. Worse, Matt can't fight Szabo in court, as the mob kingpin holds major power over the courts and police. Matt finds himself out of money, out of a career and back at Gotham's slums.

An unexpected source of hope comes when Matt stumbles onto an article on Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie). She's pioneering new nanotechnology that will help restore disfigurements. Corr insists that she's years away from human trials, but she's also facing financial struggles to keep her lab. With that, a measured, small trial begins. Initial results appear promising, but soon, complications make Matt's face unstable. Desperate, he injects himself with an excessive amount of the serum.

At first, it looks like the problem is not only restored but has unexpected benefits. Matt not only looks stable but heals immediately from all wounds. Corr, along with her long-term fiancée, Detective John Borelli (Max Minghella), are cautiously optimistic. Things take a turn for the worse when Matt finds that anger and stress create two separate physical effects. His face and body take on freakish shapes. His body also can take the shape of anyone he thinks of. 

Matt's physical instability is outdone by his mental instability. Enraged at seeing how his former business manager not only swindled him but works for Szabo, Matt loses control and kills him. Borelli, one of the few honest Gotham cops, wonders if Szabo is cleaning house over the Hagen case. There will be more murders and deep tragedies for those near Matt. Will Matt Hagen find peace within or unleash a monster?

Clayface has many great positives to it. First is that the story works as a pure origin story without needing to get into the larger Batman mythos. Apart from taking place in Gotham, Clayface does not involve anything else that ties it into other others. There were no in-jokes or winks to the audience in Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini's screenplay (with story by Flanagan). To be fair, I am not so well-versed in Batman lore as to positively declare that there were no nods to Batman in Clayface. I can say that if there were, I did not notice them.

Another strong positive in Clayface is that the title character was portrayed in a sympathetic light. Matt Hagen is not a bad man. In fact, we see throughout Clayface that he is actually at heart a decent, ordinary person. Early in the film, he steps away from the hubbub of the Oscar nomination to find a quiet space. There, he breathes in the moment while softly thanking his mother, saying that this was for her. Later on, Dr. Corr sees video of Hagen talking to kids from the old neighborhood. He points out that he had a mentor who guided him into acting, and that he managed to get out of the ghetto. If he could, Matt argues, they could too. We also see that after his first killing that Matt is filled with genuine shock and remorse at his actions.

It is a credit to director James Watkins that the cast gives solid performances throughout. Tom Rhys Harries makes Matt Hagen into a fully fleshed character (no pun intended). He is sympathetic and frightening whenever the character needs to be. Harries has enough of a physical appeal to make his transformation into Gotham's newest It Boy believable. He also shows a lighter side early on, coupled with a deadly confidence that made his initial decision a disastrous one. One sympathizes whenever his face starts collapsing. One recoils at his unrequited and imagined love towards Dr. Carr. 

One is also horrified at some of his actions. Harries' performance and characterization allows us to be understanding that Matt's actions were prompted by a cruel twist of fate. We also, however, can be appalled at said actions. This is especially true at the end, when Matt seems dead set on having a romantic relationship with Caitlyn despite her loyalty to John and never showing any romantic feelings for Matt. There is enough to suggestion that not all is what it appears to be when Matt and Caitlyn see each other for the last time. The end result is both sad and necessary.

Naomi Ackie is equally strong as Dr. Caitlyn Carr. Ackie makes Carr into an intelligent and capable figure who is methodical in her methods. A particularly effective moment is when she is studying Matt's sleeping to see how his stress levels affect his physical transformations. Carr is shocked to see Matt transform into his enemies but is more shocked to see him transform into her. This is an effective jump scare that also shows Carr's distress at how things are going for Matt. She is, to be fair, not as strong when it comes to romantic scenes with Max Minghella. Minghella himself was not that strong as John Borelli. He seemed a bit too casual and trying a bit hard to be a tough cop. It is serviceable but not great.

What is great is the body horror elements in Clayface. The film does not shrink from moments of terror in Matt's physical disintegration. Of particular note is when he is on a plane that hit turbulence. Matt is desperately attempts to literally pull himself together while a stewardess attempts to get him back to his seat. In between jolts, Matt has to start cutting to reshape his face. The audience sees how his figure starts reshaping, potentially with gruesome results. A certain killing is quite shocking, but I did not find it graphic. Curiously, I found that particular killing sad albeit understandable. Clayface does not hold back from Matt's body reshaping into sometimes horrifying manners. It shows that large budgets do not necessarily result in better results. For what was spent on the film, Clayface works very well. Running a bit over an hour and a half, Clayface never wears out its welcome.

I think Volker Bertelmann's score works well with the story. I think also that Rod Hardy's cinematography does mostly well, though sometimes I did think it was too dark or overtly hazy.

Overall, I found Clayface to be an effective and entertaining film. Clayface blends body horror with an origin story to a surprisingly sympathetic villain. Strong performances, an engaging story and enough of a fright element all make Clayface into a rare thing: a good comic book adaptation. 

DECISION: B+

Primetime: A Review

PRIMETIME

I have some memories of To Catch a Predator, the 2004-2007 NBC show where alleged sexual predators were confronted on camera. I was not a regular viewer, finding the entire thing sordid. Now we see the rise and fall of To Catch a Predator and its host, Chris Hansen, in Primetime. I figure it aims to be something like Network but ends up being a cross between On Patrol: Live and The Gong Show.

Chris Hansen (Robert Pattinson) has been working with the vigilante group Perverted Justice to catch several predators. Hansen's NBC reports profile various men who go to what they think is a rendezvous with an underage girl or boy. In reality, the various schmucks end up facing this scowling, theatrical figure repeating the lurid messages these men sent to the decoys. Hansen believes that he is doing great, noble work. However, he is perennially under the shadow of NBC News main newscaster, Stone Phillips (Bill Heck). Try as Hansen might, he is not taken seriously as a major news anchor the way Phillips is.

Enter young Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo). Dan is an aspiring actor who is looking to get into the Screen Actors Guild. For that, he needs screen credits. He is advised by his friend and fellow actor Troy (Eric Rahill) to "stay in his lane". With Dan's thin frame and youthful looks, I think his "lane" would be what would now be called a "twink". That, however, is perfect for To Catch a Predator, who need faunlets to be decoys for the men lured into this web of sordid sleaze. Dan is rushed to the latest location and given virtually no time to prepare and pretty much no information about the scene. To his absolute shock and horror, "Decoy Dan" finds himself in front of a man, naked from the waist down, pleasuring himself. 

Despite this freakish beginning, Dan soon starts getting into character. It is an acting job for him, with the small bonus of doing good for the children. For Chris Hansen, however, To Catch a Predator is making him look like he's starting to go bonkers. The primary problem Hansen faces is his mistress, Krystle (Caroline Hebert). Hansen may have a loyal wife in Mary Joan (Anna Faris), but he is not above indulging in the pleasures of the flesh with someone other than Mary Joan. Hansen is caught himself on camera with his mistress, with the National Enquirer tabloid chomping at the bit to release the info.

Hansen has more problems. To Catch a Predator has been moved up to primetime, where it could topple Lost in the ratings. Hansen and Perverted Justice are looking for a "whale", an alleged predator with a big name or position to build up big ratings. That "whale" might be in Texas. Perverted Justice operative Xavier Von Erk (Matthew Maher) may have finally broken through to get a potential political figure. Dan Plumb is becoming distressed by his typecasting and by Hansen's vague God complex. "We're cleaning the world of an ancient evil", Hansen tells the actor. Hansen keeps pushing Plumb to keep the lure going. The whale ends up committing suicide, but will anyone else fall morally or emotionally?

Again, I am not in a position to say how accurate or inaccurate Primetime is. I judge only by what I see and am shown on the screen. By that standard, Primetime ends up making Chris Hansen a bit of a nut driven by jealousy and a messianic sense of self. Right from the beginning, Primetime made Hansen look rather loony and creepy. Our first introduction to the To Catch a Predator host is seeing him move his hands about, reciting "I will undress you, you will undress me". I do not think that director Lance Oppenheim and/or screenwriter Ajon Singh intended Hansen to echo The Silence of the Lambs' Buffalo Bill. With Ari Balouzian's music and Robert Pattinson's performance, however, one almost expected Hansen to come out from behind the curtains cuddling a poodle. 

It is established that the dialogue was just Hansen reciting what one of the alleged predators (Tony Revolori) had written. It is in how Pattinson's Hansen recited the words that makes him look bonkers. It luxuriated in the words, suggesting that Hansen found the situation almost exciting versus taking a more professional stance. Throughout Primetime, Oppenheim, Singh and Pattinson seemed determined to make Chris Hansen look like he was closing in on leaving sanity. 

They also made Chris Hansen look like an insecure narcissist. He kept insisting on redoing the To Catch a Predator voiceovers. He bristled whenever he encountered or even saw Stone Phillips on television. His declarations about "cleaning the world of an ancient evil" made him look either crazy or totally self-important. At one point, Hansen couldn't get to the potential predator waiting for his fly. He was too hazed by the thought of the National Enquirer reporting on him. Poor Dan, desperate to not let the potential predator escape, is forced to improvise. 

That leads me to one of Primetime's greatest points of contention. I do not think that Primetime made the alleged predators sympathetic. If it did, it was probably due to some bad choices Oppenheim and Singh made. There is the issue of how Hansen comes across. Compared to him, the other men look almost decent (the naked man pleasuring himself in front of a horrified Dan notwithstanding). One of the alleged predators is disabled, walking into the meetup with dual walking sticks. It is almost hard not to feel for someone struggling to walk while walking through a major rainstorm. When another potential predator, a rabbi no less, shouts at a belligerent Hansen, "YOU'RE DOING THIS FOR TELEVISION?!", one almost again thinks that the bad rabbi is right. Hansen may see himself as a vigilante ridding the world of an ancient evil. Primetime, intentionally or not, paints him as pretty whacked out.

This perception of malevolence from the hunters and not the hunted is compounded by not just Hansen's behavior. The various people at Perverted Justice do not come across well either. Matthew Maher's Xavier Van Eck comes across as the stereotype of an online stalker. His eagerness, almost glee, at finding a "whale" seems to come not from a sense of saving kids but like someone winning an online video game. The entire reason Plum is on set is because their regular decoy refused to appear unless Perverted Justice's merch site took down questionable underwear. I asked at that point, "Perverted Justice has a merch site?" and "They sell underwear?". It looked tawdrier than the men who thought they were going to get at some teenagers. That, again, was not the intent. That is how it ended up looking like. 

As a side note, part of me wondered if Dan Plum would have almost literally been thrown into his first encounter without knowing anything about the premise. It might have happened, or it might have been for dramatic effect. I just struggled to believe it.

The concluding section of Primetime should fill the viewer with horror. Instead, it had me literally howling with laughter. When the Texas police learn who the "whale" is (Assistant District Attorney Bill Conradt, played by Alex Winter), the police chief (Bokeem Woodbine) shouts, "THAT G--D-- DEMOCRATIC POS!" (I've opted to not use the entirety of his statement). I did actually start laughing at this moment. The dialogue and Woodbine's performance seemed so outlandish as to slip into open parody. 

Robert Pattinson has received wide praise for his performance as Chris Hansen. I cannot join in that chorus. Pattinson seemed overtly theatrical and exaggerated in his manner. There seemed to be something grandiose and overt about Pattinson's acting in Primetime. For me, it came across as broad and silly. It was as if he was Acting with a Capital A. I do not know why people are touting Pattinson for award consideration. 

Much better is Skyler Gisondo as Dan Plum. I wonder if Primetime did not make a mistake in not having Dan and not Hansen be the center of the film. Seeing how To Catch a Predator and Perverted Justice became more about ratings than about keeping kids save through his eyes would have been interesting. Gisondo has several good moments in Primetime. There is when he, single-handed, stops one of the alleged predators from leaving. There is the shock at seeing another man show himself off. His scene when Hansen speaks about his quasi-messianic mission is quiet but effective. I'd put Skyler Gisondo up for consideration in Supporting Actor. 

The only other performance that I remember was that of Bill Heck as Stone Phillips, Hansen's one-sided rival. Heck came across as doing a Chris Parnell impersonation of a Stone Phillips impersonation. I actually thought that it was Parnell as Phillips. Why exactly Chris Hansen had this deep-seeded rivalry to animosity towards Phillips' stiff manner one can only guess. 

Ari Balouzian's score made Primetime sometimes come across as a horror film. Granted, that might have been the intent. However, the score seemed better suited to something like Obsession than Primetime. 

Primetime had the odd moment prior to the screening of having Chris Hansen advertise his own venture, TruBlu. I was puzzled by why Hansen opted to use Primetime to promote his own subscription channel. Given how odd almost all of Primetime is, I should perhaps not be surprised by any of this. 

DECISION: D+

Digger: A Review (Review #2230)

DIGGER

In 1961, Jackie Gleason signed a thirteen-week contract to host You're in the Picture. This game show had four celebrity panelists attempting to figure out what tableaux they were reenacting via yes and no questions. You're in the Picture, when it premiered, was an unmitigated disaster. The panelists struggled to figure out what scene they were in. Gleason struggled to ad-lib jokes, his hints were unintelligible to the panelists, and he grew visibly angry. He was desperate to get out of the contract but couldn't. He did find a loophole in it, however. Gleason had been contracted to do a show. The contract, however, did not specifically state what kind of show it had to be. With that, The Great One took to the screen the next week and offered a half-hour apology/postmortem on the disaster that was You're in the Picture. "Last week, we did a show called 'You're in the Picture', that laid, without a doubt, the biggest bomb", Gleason remarked to the laughing audience. "I'm telling you, friends, I've seen bombs in my day. This would make the H-Bomb look like a two-inch salute!". 

Gleason's summation of You're in the Picture came to mind after watching Digger. I think Digger could be the cinematic version of You're in the Picture. Wildly misguided, needlessly convoluted, Digger is an unmitigated disaster. At least You're in the Picture, with all its flaws, made a genuine effort to entertain its audience. I doubt that Digger, conversely, had such lofty ambitions.

Digger's plot is surprisingly straightforward, though it takes excessive turns all over the place to get there. Digger is actually not about the title character; it really is about the dress rehearsal and premiere production of the play Fossil Fools. Actor Curtis Markson is playing Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise playing both roles). Markson finds Fossil Fools' version of Digger to be cartoonish. He also objects, as Digger goes on, about the historical inaccuracies in Fossil Fools. Markson is facing a great crisis during this run-through. His daughter, who had called him during this rehearsal, is now missing after her flight hit a weather disturbance. Markson's wife or ex-wife, (I can't remember) Agatha (Annabel Mullion) assures him that their child will be all right. Help comes from an unlikely source: Kenny (Jesse Plemons), Fossil Fools' angel (the major investor that will get Fossil Fools onto the Great White Way). Kenny will use his resources to locate Markson's daughter.

The majority of Digger is about the events that make up Fossil Fools. Digger is a crazed Texas oil tycoon whose only love is his pussy named "Maggie". Yes, he literally has "Maggie the Cat". He's been repeatedly warned that his Greenland oil field is emitting high levels of methane. To quote Pete Seeger, the big fool says to push on. That decision triggers an explosion that kills the oil field workers and breaks off a large chunk of the glacier. That chunk, called Judy, is headed towards Europe, whose impact will send a tsunami through Sweden. The wise Dr. Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) warns both Rockwell, President Compson (John Goodman) and Compson's Cabinet of the impending disaster. He urges them to act fast and warn the Europeans. Compson, suffering from as he puts it, "cancer in the ass", conspires with Digger to set up a firewall, not to save lives but to stop news from spreading online.

Wrong Maggie the Cat

This naturally fails. Millions of Scandinavians are killed, with a visibly ill Compson, his Cabinet and Digger all recoiling when they see the footage. Again, the big fool says to push on. Digger defends himself to the European Parliament, denouncing them for their own greed and reliance on oil while condemning him for providing what they want. Oil is the mother's milk of Earth, he declares to them. Ganesh, now drunk, gives him more bad news. Another chunk of ice has broken off, this time from Mother Russia, and is headed towards Alaska. The chunk, called Kimberly, has the added bonus of being filled with nuclear waste. 

Over Ganesh's repeated warnings, Digger along with a whacked-out and dying President Compson decide to bomb the hell out of Kimberly. The plan is to break the glacier up. Ganesh insists that this will cause more problems. Yet again, the big fool says to push on. Unsurprisingly, Kimberly is cut down but not destroyed. At this point in Fossil Fools, Markson objects to all of this. Fossil Fools is historically inaccurate: neither Compson nor the weak-willed Vice President (Michael Stuhlbarg) were aboard the planes that dropped the bombs on Kimberly. Fossil Fools is also mocking the millions of dead that resulted out of Rockwell and Compson's actions. Fossil Fools director Hannah (Sophie Wilde) insists that people need this satire because it's funny. The public needs to laugh at these imbeciles. Fossil Fools, which Hannah says is a "cult classic for twenty years", is an outlet for people. Eventually convinced by Kenny, whose connection to Rockwell are revealed, Markson continues.

Fossil Fools reveals Digger Rockwell's fate. I would have said "sad" fate, but the audience gives the show a standing ovation. However, as the play ends, we find that they are warned about being at "Level Four". Up come the masks, as we exit Fossil Fools and enter a dystopian world of sludge, flood and unbreathable air.

While watching the credits, I was astounded that Digger has four screenwriters: Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Sabina Berman and director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (with Jez Butterworth, Berman and Iñárritu receiving "story by" credit). This might be a case of "too many cooks in the kitchen". Digger, I think, wanted to have its cake and eat it too. Iñárritu and company figured that they could get away with having all the performances be broad and cartoonish by having Digger be a "play-within-the film". 

It did not work. 

At about the twenty-to-thirty-minute mark, we get that "shocking" twist about Digger. We find that what we are actually seeing is not a straightforward film about a crazed, senile oil baron. Instead, it is what is called a "satire" about said oil baron. Once that happens, the suspense (and the thrill) is gone. You sit there, somewhat in frustration, knowing that what you are watching are a group of people being overtly, manically unhinged. The jutting in of Markson's family crisis do not inject anything into Digger except a bloated runtime. Digger never made the case for either story: that of Digger Rockwell, oligarch spoof, or Curtis Markson, frustrated and worried actor. Knowing that you are watching a play, you do not have any vested interest in Markson or in Rockwell. Digger never makes the case for why you should care about anything or anyone here.

I admit that I laughed exactly once while watching Digger. It was when Hannah told Curtis that Fossil Fools was a "cult classic for twenty years". If I take the premise of both Digger and Fossil Fools at face value, the latter would not have been a cult classic, let alone one that would receive thunderous standing ovations. That idea is self-congratulatory BS from everyone involved.

I say this because Fossil Fools, as presented, is not funny. Had it actually been presented on the stage, it would be clear that everything was played so broadly. I do not think anyone would enjoy watching people screaming at each other for two hours. Herein lies one of Digger's greatest faults. Once we learn that we are watching, not a story about Digger Rockwell's disastrous choices, but an overexaggerated rendition of "true events", it becomes torturous. 

There is a strong undercurrent of meanness and anger in Digger. That is, in my view, deadly for what is called a "satire". I've long believed that a good satire, at heart, has if not love at least affection for what it is spoofing. Digger looks to be inspired by Dr. Strangelove, down to a variation of the latter's War Room. However, while Dr. Strangelove is farcical, it still plays everything straight. Digger, conversely, revels in being so over-the-top that both audiences (Digger and Fossil Fools) would sit rather stupefied that people thought any of this was actually funny.

We saw a bizarre scene where Compson's Cabinet gathered around him to pray over him. The presumably evangelical Christian was so blatantly exaggerated in his manner that had it been any other religion, it would have qualified as a hate crime. Said evangelical even slips into speaking in tongues. It makes no sense on any level, even on the deliberately cartoonish manner of Fossil Fools. Later on, a drugged up Compson tosses the Bible and the evangelical advisor/Cabinet member out of his bedroom. "The Bible was written by Hebrews, not Americans", Compson rants. You cannot have good satire if you have contempt to downright hatred for what you are spoofing. You don't have to like the subject of parody. You don't, however, have successful parody/satire if all you do is yell and not give anyone an ounce of intelligence.

I can see why Tom Cruise would be attracted to the role, or rather, roles in Digger. He gets to go all cray-cray as Digger Rockwell, speaking and raving seven thousand miles per minute. As Digger Rockwell, Cruise can never ham it up enough to meet the demands of the role. As Curtis Markson, Cruise can have more toned-down moments. It is unfortunate that, based on his performance, Tom Cruise based Digger on The Simpsons' Rich Texan. All he needed were the two revolvers. It is not clever for "Curtis Markson" to point out that "Digger Rockwell" is cartoonish. Having the revelation that Digger IS a cartoonish version in Fossil Fools does not help. 

While Cruise as Digger did make me think of The Simpsons' Rich Texan, I also thought that he came across as a more unhinged Cyril Sneer from The Racoons. At least Cyril Sneer showed that he was a good father to Cedric. Digger's only positive was his obsessive care for his pussy, Maggie the Cat. 

I will say that Tom Cruise's performance is "correct". I will not that it is "good". He played the parts exactly as written. They were poorly written, especially Digger. Still, Cruise played them as written and directed.

I think the same goes for everyone else. John Goodman leaned in heavily on the overexaggerated caricature of President Compson. He bellowed and yelled to his heart's content. Goodman too toned it down a bit when playing the actor playing Compson. Again, like everyone else, Digger's broad, broad, broad manner was deadly. Sandra Huller, in a small role as Digger's half-sister, seemed unnecessary. I think she did her best, but there is only so much anyone can do with an underwritten role. 

Riz Ahmed is not good as Dr. Ganesh. He seemed closer to a Wes Anderson character than an Alejandro G. Iñárritu character. Jesse Plemons looked rather freakish as Kenny, part psychopath part bumbler. Sophie Wilde's Hannah just came across as a bad director.

Digger has some truly odd moments. In Digger's crazed "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" moment with the European parliament, he makes a bizarre statement even for him. He declares that if not for him, Europeans would be "writing in Cyrillic and speaking in Mandarin". Make of that what you will.

Digger is a meandering, disjointed, self-important piece of junk. It is cinematic torture. It is a terrible shame that whatever it wanted to say about anything was drowned by its own belief in its greatness.

DIGGER: THE ANIMATED SERIES

DECISION: F

Days of Heaven: A Review

DAYS OF HEAVEN

Days of Heaven is a remarkably simple story told in a lyrical, almost poetic manner. Widely celebrated for its visual splendor, Days of Heaven does veer slightly into eccentric territory. However, it still has more than enough to make it an intelligent and beautiful viewing experience. 

Told in voiceover by young Linda (Linda Manz), we learn that her hot-tempered brother Bill (Richard Gere) murdered a foreman at the Chicago steel mill that he worked at. Linda and Bill flee to the Texas Panhandle. Joining them is Bill's long-term lover, Abby (Brooke Adams). Here, they are hired hands for The Farmer (Sam Shepard). Bill and Abby pose as brother and sister, though that does not stop whispers about their closeness from being spoken by the other temporary laborers. 

The Farmer is a quiet, retiring man. He is very wealthy. He is also very ill. The Farmer is drawn to Abby. Finding a way to make some quick cash, Bill prods Abby to encourage The Farmer's attentions. Bill has learned that The Farmer has, if he's lucky, a year to live. By the season's end, The Farmer and Abby are married. As Linda observes, however, "he didn't get sicker. He didn't get better. He stayed the same". I would say that The Farmer did actually get better, or at least no longer appeared to be at Death's door.

This frustrates Bill, who is waiting less and less patiently for the Farmer to kick the bucket. Abby, however, seems to have genuinely fallen in love with the Farmer. For his part, The Farmer begins to wonder exactly what Bill and Abby are. They seem far too close physically to be mere siblings, especially since Bill and Linda are not as affectionate as Bill and Abby are. 

Things take a strange turn after Bill departs, when a literal flying circus lands on The Farmer's land. Things take a tragic turn when locust arrive. There will be more deaths, and a sad separation for Abby and Linda, who will perhaps not stay where she is supposed to.

Days of Heaven is a quiet film. At a crisp 94 minutes, Days of Heaven is a short film. In that time, however, writer/director Terrence Malick puts in so much. The film foregoes flash for a mostly still serenity. Everything in Days of Heaven is simple. However, that should not be confused with simplistic. There is an undercurrent of tragedy and strong drama within the film's softness. 

The story is simple and direct. The performances are simple. The pacing is simple. Yet, Days of Heaven, I would argue, has great emotion within it. Sam Shepard's Farmer may be quiet and still. However, we see his genuine hurt to rage at seeing Abby's longing for her "brother". Shephard may not have been an actor at the time. Known primarily for his writing, Sam Shepard made his feature film debut in Days of Heaven. I think his relative inexperience in front of the camera helped Shepard. It made his quietness and hesitancy in approaching Abby stronger and again, simpler, in its portrayal. 

Bill is probably the most openly emotional character. He, for example, does not shrink from killing a man. However, Richard Gere was not ranting and raging as Bill. He too had a soft manner, at times almost tender. Gere showed Bill's temper, such as when he throws his food at another worker for suggesting he and Abby were far too close for brother and sister. Even here, however, there was a cool and controlled manner that fit all of Days of Heaven. 

Brooke Adams and Linda Manz as Abby and Linda also did well. Adams made Abby into a woman who did love one man and fell in love with another. The push-and-pull between Bill and The Farmer was well-played by Adams. "I think I love you", the Farmer tells Abby. She replies, quite simply but with no hint of sarcasm or amusement, "What a nice thing to say". Adams shows Abby is flattered by the comment, but neither impressed nor enthusiastic about it.

Manz was precocious without being cloying. She played Linda as a straightforward teen making sense of things. In her voiceover, she reflects on things with a slight distance. I think this is correct, to have that dispassionate tone. Linda is, in her voiceover, reflecting on those lost days. As such, it should be with that simple, direct quality. She is not speaking to us with her opinions or feelings. She is speaking to us with the facts, stripped from any emotional reflection. Bill killed a man. The Farmer did not die of his illness. These are things that happened. How Linda felt about them is secondary to her telling us what happened.

Days of Heaven is mostly now known for two elements: its score and its cinematography. Both are beautiful. Ennio Morricone received his first of an eventual six Original Score Oscar nominations for this film (finally winning for The Hateful Eight, his sixth and last nomination). Like the film itself, Morricone's music is simple, direct, lush and I would say quiet. Days of Heaven's greatest claim to fame is Nestor Almendros' cinematography, which won him the Oscar for that category. It too matches the film's manner of beautiful sedateness. 

The fiery conclusion with the locust did bring to mind The Good Earth. It is probably the most action Days of Heaven has. It leads to a tragic conclusion, but it is also visually impressive. 

I think perhaps the part where the flying circus comes to the farm might be a bit too eccentric for what we have seen. Days of Heaven had been pretty grounded until then (no pun intended). A bit where President Wilson passes by Amarillo (the closest town to them) seemed there more to let us know the time setting than anything else. 

Days of Heaven is a quiet, elegiac film. Soft and still, I think the viewer will still be rewarded by the time the film ends. These are days that are worth visiting.  

DECISION: A-

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): A Review

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956)

The 1956 film The Man Who Knew Too Much as a few interesting historic footnotes. It is the only remake that director Alfred Hitchcock made of his own film (the original made in 1934). It is the last Hitchcock film to win a competitive Oscar in Best Original Song. That song's title is, according to the screen credits, Whatever Will Be, Will Be. Most of us know it as Que Sera, Sera. I think more than a few people forget that Que Sera, Sera came from a Hitchcock film. We even forget that there were two songs written for The Man Who Knew Too Much. Well-acted, with an engaging story, the second version of The Man Who Knew Too Much works quite well.

American doctor Ben McKenna (James Stewart) is on holiday in exotic Marrakesh. With him are his wife, former professional singer Jo Conway (Doris Day) and their son, Hank (Christopher Olsen). Dr. McKenna had just finished off a medical convention in Paris and was showing his family where he fought in World War II. On their way, they encounter the mysterious Louis Bernard (Daniel Gelin). Bernard has a very curious fascination with the McKennas. Ben happily gives Bernard all the information he wants. Jo notices how Bernard pumps Ben for information but never reciprocates no matter how hard she tries.

In Marrakesh, the McKennas also encounter the Edward and Lucy Drayton (Bernard Miles and Brenda de Banzie). They are a British couple also staying at their hotel. The Draytons recognize Jo from her former singing career. They help Ben and Jo by showing them around and translating what they hear in French to English. That comes in handy when the four of them, along with Hank, encounter Bernard staggering towards them. He is in brown makeup, with a knife literally in the back. Bernard whispers to Ben a shocking secret: there is to be an assassination of a head of state in London. He is told to find "Ambrose Chappell". 

What Ben is not told, at least initially, is that Hank has been abducted to keep Ben quiet. Ben is forced to drug Jo before revealing that Hank has been kidnapped by the Draytons to ensure his and Jo's cooperation. This almost completely shatters Jo. However, they are determined to both rescue their son and stop the assassination. Now, it is off to London. Jo is still a wildly popular and beloved singer in Britain. She has a circle of friends eager to reunite with her and her husband. First Ben and later Jo search for "Ambrose Chappell". Jo is the one who finds that the name is not of a person but of a place. 

Hank, however, is still being held prisoner by the duplicitous Draytons. Edward is committed, but Lucy is starting to waver, the thought of harming a child playing at her conscience. Eventually, the McKennas learn that the assassination is set to take place at the Royal Albert Hall. Will they be able to stop the killing? Will they manage to also rescue Hank?

One of The Man Who Knew Too Much's strongest element is how it keeps things grounded. Ben and Jo McKenna are not superheroes. They are ordinary, average people caught up in terrifying circumstances. It speaks well of the film that Jo is the more sensible of the two. Ben is not dumb. He is, rather, very trusting and open. Jo, for her part, is quickly suspicious about Louis and aware that her husband is being duped. A good way that Hitchcock shows the dynamic is in a restaurant scene.

James Stewart has a lot of physical comedy attempting to both sit and eat. Stewart's tall, lanky frame and struggle to eat according to the local custom shows how clumsy he is. It makes the transition to making him a more forceful figure desperate to save his son all the more impressive.

The Man Who Knew Too Much also showcases Doris Day's strengths as a dramatic actress. She displays Jo's intelligence when dealing with Bernard. Her best scene, though, is when she learns that Hank has been abducted. In his efforts to protect Jo before telling her about Hank's abduction, Ben has pushed her into taking tranquilizers. The mix between her terror at hearing of her only child's fate and the drugs lulling her to sleep create a great moment. Day is excellent throughout the film. She similarly has a strong sequence at the Storm Cloud Cantata section. She shows the immense struggle between keeping silent to save her son and saying something to save the Prime Minister. 

The other performances work almost all well. Bernard Miles shifts easily between the kindly Mr. Drayton and the villainous Mr. Drayton. He makes it believable that the same man who was so helpful to Ben and Jo would not shrink from murdering a child to protect himself. Similarly, Brenda de Banzie's evolution from being cold towards Hank to realizing the evil of killing kids is strong. I was not too keen on Daniel Gelin's Louis Bernard. He seemed to try too hard to be mysteriously charming.

Music is one of The Man Who Knew Too Much's strongest points. The film introduced what would become Doris Day's signature song, Que Sera, Sera. She sings it twice, and each time its use illustrates something about the Jo character. The first time, it plays like a nice lullaby, expressing optimism. The second, it plays like a way to release tension. The joyful lyrics and melody by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans play counter to the tension of the scene.

As stated, there are actually two songs that Livingston and Evans wrote for The Man Who Knew Too Much. It is unfortunate that We'll Love Again has been pretty much forgotten, eclipsed by Que, Sera, Sera. That is understandable, as We'll Love Again plays, almost inaudibly, when Ben is cornered by the assassin in the latter's efforts to escape. The other major piece is Arthur Benjamin's Storm Cloud Cantata, the piece of music that is meant to cover the fatal gunshot. "There came a whispered terror on the breeze", the cantata begins. Intentionally or not, the Storm Cloud Cantata fits into the story. I would say that it was intentional, as the Storm Cloud Cantata was used, per my understanding, in the original version. Here, we get to see Bernard Herrmann, who wrote the remake's score, conduct. It is a nice touch to have the film's composer (and regular Hitchcock scorer) appear on screen. 

I think that John Michael Hayes' adaptation of the original version's screenplay spent too much time on the wrong "Ambrose Chappell". The fact that there was an Ambrose Chappell Senior and Junior did not help. Neither did adding what I trust were comedic elements in the taxidermist's shop involving swordfish and tigers.

That, I think, was a misstep. Still, it was a small one. The Man Who Knew Too Much works well as a thriller that keeps things going to the end. The last bit did add a nice comic punch, which was needed after all the suspense. The future may not be ours to see, but it is well worth watching The Man Who Knew Too Much.

DECISION: B+