Tom Hanks Movie Review: ****Elvis (2022)

 This film stars Tom Hanks as Colonel Tom Parker and Austin Butler as Elvis Presley.  The cast also includes Olivie DeJong as Priscilla Presley.  It is a biopic of Elvis' life through the etes of Colonel Parker.  Parker is an act promoter, and when he latched onto Elvis he didn't need any other acts.  Elvis showed great loyalty to Parker.  Early in the movie it shows public discrimination against Elvis for his firations, and in fact at one tie he was threatened with arrest.  Instead of arrest, Elvis is drafted into the Army.

When he leaves military service he ow has a wife, and Parker pushes him into movies.  He starred in 31 films, 17 of which were top ten.  The movies were pretty cookie cutter with Elvis singng songs in the movies.  He continued to record and had many number 1 hits.  He would have like more international tours, but Colonel Park as an illegal immigant had to visa.  He kept Elvis close to home.  He hooked him up in Las Vegas and kept working Elvis very hard.  Parker had gambling debts so he had to keep signing Elvis to more deals.  Elvis developed a prescription drug problem which resulted in the end of his marriage.  He died August 16, 1977.  He was overweight and drugs caught up with him.  

The family later sued Colonel Park over his fiancial abuse and he was cut off from the Presley estate.  Parker narrates the film trying to justify his actions; but I am not sure if it convinces anyone.  Hanks also had to gain weight for his role as Colonel Parker but he does a good job portraying the character even though he is not very likable.

Movie Review: ***^The Midnight Sky (2020)

 This movie was produced by George Clooney and stars George Clooney and Felicity Jones as Augustine Lofthouse and Sully Sullivan.  It is a futuristic show about a post apocolytic earth due to a disease.  Lofthouse has been living in the Arctic.  When they were evacuated he refused to go as he is dying.  With his time left, he discovers a ship in space returning to Earth from a mission to one of Jupiter's moons.  They do not know of the problems on Earth--just that they have lost communication.  Lofthouse takes it as his mission to let them know and to turn around.  However he discovers the communications on his base are inadequate.  He must travel to another base.  Meantime the space ship is hit by asteroids and a dear friend is killed.  Lofthouse is finally able to contact them; but they are not sure what to do with the information.  They do land to bury their friend and take off again for Jupiter.  Lofthouse many years earlier discovered the moon.  He also fathered a child and it turns out he saves her.  

This movie is available through Netflix.  Likely because of Covid it did not do well at the box office.  

Alfred Hitchcock Movie: **** The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

 Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart star as a couple who happen to be in the wrong place when someone is murdered.  The victim whispers something to Dr. Benjamin McKenna (Stewart) and asks him to tell the authorities.  He and his wife Josephine Conway McKenna (Day) are then in a race to find their son.  They become entangled in an international espionage case when their son is kidnapped to keep them quiet.  They follow their son to England when they realize he has been taken by a British couple who was watching him and they have also disappeared.  They do not tell the authorities but decide to intervene themselves.  They uncover a plot to murder an ambassador.  They are successful in thwarting the plot--but still have not located their son.  They go to the embassy where the think their son is being held, and Conway (Day) who is a famous singer, sings very loudly.  That song, "Que Sera Sera" won the Oscar for best song.  

Movie Review: ****Ant-man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

 There are a whole cast of characters.  The movie starts after Janet Van Dyne has been rescued from the  Quantumverse.  Cassie Lang has developed a love for science and has created a way to communicate with the Quantumverse.  Her message is sent, which upsets Janet Van Dyne who shuts it off, but too late.  Someone has heard their mesage and sucks the five into the Quantumverse.  Here mother Van Dyne must face her past.  Worse than facing her past, she must face Kang the Conqueror.  She at first helped him, then realized his goal was to destroy time lines and universes.  She sabotaged his project.  He now wants it restored to give himself ultimate power and captures Cassie and uses her as leverage to get Ant Man to help fix his device.  This is done and now he turns very rageful.  Only through Antman's many intelligent ant can everything be put right.  But is it?  Future Antman movies will let us know

Paul Rudd as Scott Lang/ Ant Man

Evangeline Lilly as Hope Van Dyne or the Wasp

Michael Douglas as Dr. Hand Pym

Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne

Kathryn Newton as Cassie Lang

Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror

Tom Selleck in Jesse Stone: Lost Innocents. Movie Review

 This is a movie in he Jesse Stone series in which Jesse Stone (Tom Selleck) is at unrest over the death of a young woman, Cindy Van Alden (Eileen Boylan) he had befriended, but then lost track of.  Thought of her and what could have been different keep haunting him.  He is determined to find who is responsible.  STone previously had resigned as the chief and is in a point of trying to find himself.  Lots of therapy with Dr. Dix (William Devane) and lots of nightmares.  The young woman had gone through therapy at a rehab mill, which was more interested in getting money than actually helping.  They did not track her after her discharge but did start her on medications, which lead to harder drugs.  An employee who had been fired had a habit of preying on young women and prostituting them.  Such was the case here.  Stone, uses unconventional methods to get this predator off the streets.  

I really like the relationship Stone has with his dog, as well as the nun, Sister Mary John (Kerri Smith) who provides insight, and Gino Fish (William Sadler) who gives him information.

At the Movies: ***^Light of the World (2025)

 This is a very good portrayal of the life of Jesus from the perspective of John the Beloved.  They portray John as being much younger than I had imagined.  However they do hit all the high points of Jesus' life, the miracles, feeding the 5000, changing water to wine etc.  It does a good job of showing the anger towards Jesus of the Pharisees and ties this into loss of political clout with the people.  Most importantly they really focus on how Jesus brings light to a fallen world.  Ian Hanlin voices Jesus and Benjamin Jacobsen voices John. 

Movie Review: **^Spy Kids (2002)

This is the first in a series of five movies.  THe first three feature the original actors.  I can see how this movie might entertain a certain age group of people; but for me it was just too much.  The bad people were over the top as the evil scientist kept designing them that way.  They were actually spies that he had captured and then transformed into strange creatures for his cartoon show.  

Anyway back to the story.  A family of four.  The mother tells the children of a Spy Couple who fall for eachother and are married.  This is Gregorio Cortez and Ingrid Cortez (Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino).  This is actually their own story.  They pretend to have left the spy game, but keep their toes in the water.  As a resut they are both captured by Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming) and his henchman Alexander Minnion (Tony Shalhoub).

When the parents are taken the children Carmen and Juni (Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara) are accosted by thugs, literally thumb men, and discover quickly they are a family of spies.  They get into their parent's lair and take off in a funny looking amphibious vehicle.  They are on their way to rescue their parents.

Ont their journey they are taken to Uncle Machete (Danny Trejo)who provides spy tech gadgets.  It is Uncle Machete who makes the difference in the end.  There are numerous robots created by Minnion just laking intelligence.  They are made to look like others and the pair that look like Carmen and Juni manage to get the third brain from them.  With this device, after replicating it they are able to give the robots intelligence.  zThey make a formidab le force.  However after Minnion turns on Floop, he begins putting brains in all his robots.  THe brother and sister rescue Floop, who then reprograms the robots to have a conscience.

If you can follow that you would likely enjoy this movie.