Crime 101

Not so much a thriller as a “puzzler.” There are three protagonists: a thief, an insurance investigator, and a cop. We’ll call them Thor, Storm, and Hulk. They each have mean bosses and personal problems. And the only way to solve the plot puzzle and get the bag of diamonds is to combine as a trio and work together. Like a rotating Rubik’s cube, Tetris, or some other geometric brain teaser, committing to one thing often offsets another thing. Also, with any puzzle, there’s misdirection. And that’s when my brain starts misfiring and rewiring. Next thing you know, Thor gets rear-ended in traffic by a pretty love interest and all I can think is, “She’s in on it!” Because puzzles, right? Unfortunately, it’s not really a thrilling action movie. All of the action is happening in my poor brain as it tries to solve and write the movie. Unlike a quintessential noir (which this very much is), there’s a hopeful ending not akin to William Holden floating dead in a swimming pool. And that’s nice.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die

It's a breath of fresh air to welcome back Gore Verbinski doing his signature sci-fi/comedy nuttiness. Sam Rockwell bursts in like he just teleported from a Terry Gilliam movie and spirit-guides the hapless diner jockeys on their free-form psychic adventure. This AI cautionary tale features lots of the deranged sci-fi greatest hits including ranting homeless-guy costumes, brain-dead drone children, squiggly squirmy electrical wires, and giant cats. Verbinski and company aren’t offering a lot of hope for the future here, but the journey dazzles with non-sequiturs and maniacal fun.

"Wuthering Heights"

A lot of people seem to know a lot more about actor/director Emerald Fennell than I do. As I understand it, there’s a point-of-view for her that’s part of her brand – an elevated kinky, studied sauciness. Caricatures of characters in historical novels are deployed as a delivery system into the pleasure center of the psyche as a means to sell popcorn to corset-flick cinephiles. As a Fennell novice, this reminded me of that old episode of Gilligan’s Island where Gilligan was Doctor Jekyll and Mary Anne was Eliza Doolittle. Or maybe a Simpsons episode where they’re goofing on a romance novel. It’s pretty, but less-than subtle. Fingers stand-in for lots of sexy things (if you catch my drift) and the wind machines could probably get top billing. The take-away is the experience itself, I guess. A five on the tissue-meter. Apparently, also, it’s based on a famous, old novel? It’s hard to tell.

Frankenstein

Not as emotional watching for the second time, this time on the big screen. It’s still a marvel, and beautiful to behold. The emotional part was the appearance afterwards from actor Jacob Elordi and Guillermo, who gave almost a sermon about how much he loved movies and how important they are to our culture. What. A. Guy.