Normal

The pacing is screwy. Plot devices peter out or disappear altogether. Characters played by famous actors are way, way underused and vanish unceremoniously. Some characters know karate who probably shouldn't know karate. There's a sizeable Yakuza subplot. The story has several endings. But something makes this charming. It has a lot to do with Bob Odenkirk and his mustache and his gee-whiz friendly personality. Somehow he became an action star at age 60, and it's been a pleasure to watch. (Doesn't his back hurt?) Otherwise, story- and plot-wise, this is a jumbled, disjointed action movie hodgepodge. Is it a kung-fu movie? Is it a Fargo? There are Twin Peaks/Northern Exposure attempts at surrealism. There are moose jokes. It feels like maybe the editors were fired or distracted by something -- like maybe the editing room air conditioner was broken. But the more of a mess this is, the more you realize how much Bob brings to the table.

Raygun: Breaking Badly

A fascinating and moving (pardon the pun) documentary about Australian Rachael Louise Gunn and her famously weird breakdancing performance at the Paris Olympics. She comes off as authentic and sincere, and so the weirdest part about the whole saga isn’t her routine, but how certain influencers and Tik Tokers spewed vitriol and spread lies about her as though she’d shat in church. The bottom line is: there needs to be a sanctuary at the Olympics for the weirdos and outliers: Eddie the Eagle, Eric "The Eel" Moussambani, and the Jamaican bobsled team. The Olympics should be open to everybody. If you qualify, you qualify. It’s not a wildly original or innovative doc, but it captures the essence of Raygun: to dance like no one is watching even if everyone is watching.

The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist

Let me start by saying this title is terrible. Did they ask Claude? They should have run it by Claude. But I digress… The Oscar-winning Nevalny team (including producer Diane Becker) has made an interesting, watchable and humanistic essay about the possibilities and dangers of the recent, major breakthroughs in machine learning. It’s primarily composed of talking-head interviews which thankfully don’t devolve into a bunch of techno-jargon and cyber-lingo. Clever animated sequences explain some of the larger concepts, while experts discuss what could be the  consequences of making computers that are way, way more powerful than they’ve ever been. The allegories and examples are poignant, which might calm down the doomsayers about A.I. by proposing that all is not lost as long as we behave ourselves. A very worthwhile watch. 

Tony

19-year-old Anthony Bourdain had to get out of the house. We can all relate. So he lies and he cheats and he's kind of a prick about the whole thing, but he manages to make it… out of the house. And while it's true that he's on an existential quest, he's also trying to get laid. And like most things Tony tries to do, he lies and he bullshits and he cheats to get what he wants. Therefore, the moments when he decides not to lie, and to do the right thing, seem minor, but are absolutely pivotal to his future.

Antonio Banderas makes a nice turn as a small-time, low-key chef and, according to this movie, the guru and Jedi Master who helped give the world the larger-than-life chef, author, and professional eater. Dominic Sessa, who was SO, SO excellent in The Holdovers, embodies the troubled, shitty Tony we're all rooting for. A brat who, in one summer in the 1970s, becomes Anthony.