Rocky II (1979)

It had been a while since my last viewing of any part of the franchise. I gained interest in the higher-rated sequels after discovering how well I could tolerate less cherished Sylvester Stallone movies. When this title came up among Netflix suggestions, I selected it right away. It's leaving soon, I might add.

Right after narrowly losing the bout at the end of the first entry, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) retires from boxing and marries Adrian (Talia Shire), who's soon expecting. Alas, he has trouble getting and keeping another job he can stand, so he's thinking of returning to the ring. His brother Paulie (Burt Young) supports the idea, but Adrian and trainer Mickey (Burgess Meredith) initially disapprove, because Rocky's right eye took permanent damage last time and he could go fully blind next.

The Odyssey (2026)

Around the same time that I read Homer's epic, I saw the 1997 miniseries thereof, which didn't blow me away but helped cement a few memories. Not enough that some parts didn't feel new again, as I would discover. If nothing else, I could count on director Christopher Nolan to make it his own, even without Cillian Murphy or a male character mourning a dead wife or girlfriend.

Royalty has a somewhat different meaning in ancient Greece, where King Odysseus of Ithaca (Matt Damon) sees no choice but to fight in the Trojan War himself, shortly after the birth of his son, Telemachus. His side wins, but the return journey is fraught with episodes of supernatural peril, keeping him and his troops away much longer than other veterans. Queen Penelope (Anne Hathaway) holds out hope despite a widespread assumption of Odysseus's death, which leads to dozens of suitors taking up residence at the palace. She can't dismiss them without breaking the oft-cited Zeus's Law (i.e., show hospitality in case a guest is a disguised god). By young adulthood, Telemachus (Tom Holland) is thinking of ascending the throne, but the suitors, unofficially led by Antinous (Robert Pattinson), conspire to kill him first.

Supergirl (2026)

Going by reviews, I did not plan to see this, at least in a theater. But a friend had already bought tickets, and after his disappointment that I didn't join him for Joker: Folie à Deux, I opted to grin and bear it. Besides, I'd watched two seasons of the Supergirl TV series, and that's not supposed to be much better.

Very little of this movie takes place on Earth. Supergirl (Milly Alcock), 23-year-old cousin of Superman (David Corenswet), has been vacationing on planets near a red sun, which suspends Kryptonian powers and thus lets her get drunk more easily. The first halfway heroic thing we see her do is defend 13-year-old Ruthye (Eve Ridley) from thieves. Ruthye asks for help avenging her family, murdered by Brigand leader Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts). Supergirl doesn't really care until after Krem poisons her dog, Krypto, while holding the only known antitoxin sample. Even then, she wants Ruthye to step aside. Yeah, right.

True Romance (1993)

I rather liked this movie in young adulthood but totally forgot what happens in it, besides a happy ending. Since Quentin Tarantino wrote it, you know it's not just a romantic comedy/drama; it's an R-rated crime flick with antiheroes. At least having Tony Scott direct instead means there's no fixation on a woman's bare feet.

Detroit comic store clerk Clarence Worley (Christian Slater) hits it off with Alabama Whitman (Patricia Arquette) before knowing she's a call girl hired by his employer as a birthday present. Nonetheless, she does fall for him, and they elope. Hearing how rotten her pimp Drexl Spivey (Gary Oldman) is, Clarence confronts him, ends up killing him, and orders another call girl to pack Alabama's things. Only after Clarence takes the suitcase home does he see that it's full of stolen cocaine bags. He hopes to sell it fast in L.A., but he'll have to worry about getting tracked down by previous owners as well as police.

Walking Tall (1973)

I didn't recall hearing about this cult movie when YouTube suggested it, but it got two sequels, a TV series, a TV remake, and a big-screen remake trilogy starring Dwayne Johnson. It also takes inspiration from real events, tho they've since been disputed enough that I won't add my "true story" tag. Indeed, last year, investigators accused the long-deceased protagonist of uxoricide. That would not affect my feelings about the film version.

In 1964, ex-wrestler Buford Pusser (Joe Don Baker) moves back from Chicago to Adamsville, Tennessee, with his wife (Elizabeth Hartman) and kids (Leif Garrett and Dawn Lyn Nervik), planning to work as a logger for his dad (Noah Beery Jr.). His mom (Lurene Tuttle) cryptically warns him to ignore changes in town, but that's not easy when an old buddy (Ed Call) invites him to a casino. He catches the staff cheating, and they beat him within an inch of his life and steal his car. Then he discovers that the sheriff he used to look up to (Gene Evans) is worse than useless and the local judge (Douglas Fowley), while apparently staying within the bounds of the law, is not much better. So much for Buford's promise not to fight anymore....

The Secret Life of Pets (2016)

Yeah, it's been less than a month since my last talking animal cartoon review. This one, despite numerous award nominations and a few minor wins, gets a mostly middling reception. So why did I bother to see it, especially after a decade? Because I was in the mood for something short (86 minutes) and cute.

Max (Louis C.K.), a Jack Russell, basically enjoys life in Manhattan until owner Katie (Ellie Kemper) brings home a large rescue Newfie, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), prompting covetous competition. An outdoor kerfuffle results in both of them losing their collars and getting caught by dogcatchers. Before they can reach the pound, a gang of sewer-dwelling, human-hating abandoned pets busts a member out of the van, and Max and Duke persuade lead rabbit Snowball (Kevin Hart) to take them too. When their overture of rebellion proves false and they accidentally cause the demise of the biggest and nastiest ex-pet while escaping, Snowball becomes determined to hunt them down. As the two dogs seek a way home, Gidget (Jenny Slate as yet another small fluffy white critter), a neighboring Pom with a crush on Max, organizes a search squad of various pets.

Perhaps most useful to the search is antiheroic hawk Tiberius (Albert Brooks), tho he's not as acquainted with Max as most of the others. Chloe the cat (Lake Bell) stands out for pretending not to care as much as she does. Pops the basset (Dana Carvey) may be old and paraplegic, but he knows a few key points. Frequently present if less important are Buddy the dachshund (Hannibal Buress), Mel the pug (Bobby Moynihan), Sweetpea the budgie (Tara Strong), and Norman the lost guinea pig (Illumination Entertainment mainstay Chris Renaud). The gang members are too numerous to list, but I'll mention Tattoo (Michael Beattie), a highly inked pig.

Not exactly an epic tale; most events take place before Katie comes home for the day. It sure doesn't take long for a shared crisis to get Max and Duke to soften toward each other, with only a slight echo of their prior hostility around the start of Act 3. After all, the story tries to be heartwarming when it's not going pure comedy or adventure. Even Snowball is more redeemable than Lulu.

The comedy aspect gets priority. It usually takes the form of pets fulfilling stereotypes, pets defying stereotypes, slapstick, or vulgarity. On the last part, eh, it could be worse. Dont expect much of interest from the humans.

TSLoP is almost exactly what the ads led me to expect. Indeed, it borders on predictable, never trying for innovation. That's not altogether a bad thing when you choose a movie. I probably won't bother with the sequel, but I got what I came for.

Desperado (1995)

I watched most of El Mariachi in junior high Spanish class and the rest in young adulthood. It didn't particularly grab me, but it worked pretty well on $7,000. When Netflix suggested the immediate sequel, I got curious how different it would be with a budget 100 times higher.

EM had ended with the unnamed title character (subsequently played by Antonio Banderas) killing drug lord Moco (Peter Marquardt), who had killed the guitarist's love interest and shot him in the left hand. Alas, his thirst for vengeance has not been quenched; he now seeks Moco's boss, Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida). El Mariachi's buddy Buscemi (yup, Steve Buscemi) discovers compelling evidence of which small town holds Bucho's base of operations. It doesn't take long for a trail of destruction to put Bucho on high alert. Meanwhile, El Mariachi must have a type, because he falls for yet another drug lord affiliate, bookstore owner Carolina (Salma Hayek, paired with Banderas for the first time), who tends his wounds.

Man on Fire (2004)

Not to be confused with Man on Wire, this title had turned me off for a long time. When I saw that I could watch it free on Hulu, I looked it up and found that it was much better received by the general audience than by critics. That gets me curious.

Since holding rich kids for ransom is rampant in Mexico, troubled ex-Marine John Creasy (Denzel Washington), at the advice of a buddy (Christopher Walken), becomes a bodyguard to Lupita or "Pita" (Dakota Fanning), preteen daughter of automaker Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony). At first he is highly standoffish, but as she urges him to be as sociable as others, he learns to like her. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a story if he never failed at his job....

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

I was a little surprised when this became slightly more popular than its predecessors, especially with critics. I thought that Shadow the Hedgehog's star had faded, judging by his near absence from recent video games and TV shows. But perhaps his signature angst really speaks to modern cinema's favorite demographic, teens. When the movie came up on a menu at the Red Cross, I went right for it.

The three ET friends who make up "Team Sonic" -- Sonic (Ben Schwarz), Tails the Fox (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), and Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba) -- are not world-famous yet, but the government has an improved opinion of them, as evidenced by a request that they help neutralize a powerful threat. Shadow (Keanu Reeves, once again playing an alleged ultimate life form) has escaped from a secret facility, and despite 50 years of stasis, he can hold his own against all of Team Sonic together. Also newly free after 50 years is the spry grandfather of Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Jim Carrey), Prof. Gerald Robotnik (also Carrey), who used to study Shadow with his consent. Both of them are so furious at what the government unjustly did in connection with their project that they plan to kill far more than the guilty parties.

Upgrade (2018)

This has nothing to do with the Blake Crouch novel of the same title. Pity; that could make a great movie. This one is only vaguely similar in premises, but at least it promised to be similarly exciting.

A few decades from now, in an unspecified U.S. city, thugs paralyze mechanic Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) from the neck down and murder his wife, Asha (Melanie Vallejo). Engineering genius Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson), one of Grey's customers, offers him a computer chip called STEM to let him move the rest of his body, but since STEM isn't government-approved yet, he must keep it secret and pretend to still be quadriplegic. Little does Grey know that STEM has a mind of its own and can speak (with Simon Maiden's voice) such that only he can hear. Indeed, STEM's superior mental acuteness and reflexes help him track down and take on his attackers when the police have had no luck.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

I was a casual fan of the 1988 original, having regularly viewed the tamer TV adaptation before that. When I felt like going to a theater again, this sequel was the only feature to grab me. Ordinarily, I'd save its genre for next month, but that slipped my mind.

The decades have not been very kind to Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder). Her husband (Santiago Cabrera) died in an unlikely accident, and despite her success as a televised ghost whisperer, she hasn't been able to contact him. Disbelieving teen daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega, fresh off Wednesday) wants as little to do with her as possible. Lydia still freaks out every time she sees someone wearing black and white horizontal stripes, rightly suspecting that the titular source of her PTSD (Michael Keaton) hasn't given up on coercing her hand in marriage so he can return full-time to the land of the living. In some ways, she has it together even less than her eccentric artist stepmother (Catherine O'Hara), who now reports that Lydia's father also died in an unlikely accident. At his wake, Lydia's unorthodox producer (Justin Theroux) aggressively talks her into an imminent Halloween wedding. And when Astrid gets involved with a local boy (Arthur Conti) who's not as harmless as he acts, Lydia fears that her worst nightmare has become her best hope.

Kill Bill: Vols. 1 (2003) & 2 (2004)

Sometimes I bewilder myself. I have now watched every feature film directed in full by Quentin Tarantino, despite not expecting to like them overall. These two are popular -- the first is still in IMDb's top 250 -- but what I knew of them gave me reasons to deprioritize. Perhaps a warning that they would stop streaming on Netflix this month increased my interest, along with a realization that people still talk about them from time to time. I split the four-hour collective runtime over two days. I wasn't sure I'd go on to the second volume, but the first ends very unsatisfying by design.

Beatrix (Uma Thurman) is a globe-trotting hitwoman until a pregnancy inspires her to turn over a new leaf. She tries to marry under an alias, but jealous ex-boss Bill (David Carradine) has everyone at the wedding rehearsal shot. Only Beatrix survives, waking from a four-year coma and swearing to kill all five of her former co-workers (among them Vivica Fox, Lucy Liu, Michael Madsen, and Daryl Hannah) for their part in the massacre, along with anyone else who gets in the way.

Mean Girls (2004)

That's right, the original, not the musical currently in theaters. I had no desire to see it when it debuted, but people have continued to make references to it. Then I put it on my Netflix list and kept passing it over. What finally persuaded me? A limited DVD selection at the Red Cross while I gave platelets. (That unit was having technical difficulties with streaming.)

Cady (Lindsay Lohan) has been homeschooled up until age 16, leaving her good at grades but naive about the social environment at her new high school. Her first friends are outcasts, Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese), who warn her about the elitist clique known as the Plastics, especially leader Regina (Rachel McAdams), Janis's former friend. Nevertheless, when the Plastics invite Cady to join, she doesn't resist. Janis sees this as a golden opportunity to gather dirt on them and possibly engineer revenge. Cady agrees after discovering how bad Regina is -- and then comes dangerously close to becoming just like her.

Batman: The Long Halloween (2021)

This isn't the first time I've watched a two-part Batman animated direct-to-DVD movie for my October set at a friend's suggestion, but it is a more appropriate choice than before. I won't split this into two reviews, partly because I watched both halves back to back and partly because it doesn't feel like two stories stuck together.

In contrast with The Dark Knight Returns, this takes place pretty early in the Caped Crusader's (Jensen Ackles) career: Old-school mafias are still big in Gotham, Barbara Gordon (Amy Landecker) is a little girl, and a moderately sane Harvey Dent (Josh Duhamel) has just become the district attorney. From one Halloween to the next, an anonymous killer code-named "Holiday" picks off people close to Carmine "The Roman" Falcone (Titus Welliver) on major holidays, leaving a seasonal decoration and a handgun with a bottle nipple for a suppressor. (Seems a bad strategy to leave the weapon in plain sight every time, but Batman enemies aren't known for their caution.) As usual, Gotham police protection is inadequate. Any number of people could have a reason to get at a mob boss, so Batman and Commissioner Gordon (Billy Burke) must examine many a suspect.

47 Ronin (2013)

I didn't remember whether this was supposed to be good, but its 118-minute run made it seem a decent choice to keep me occupied while donating platelets. I later learned that it bombed at the box office but still managed to get a Netflix sequel last year. Go figure.

Circa 1700, half-English, half-Japanese Kai (Keanu Reeves) is rumored to have been raised by demons or perhaps be one, which doesn't stop Lord Asano (Min Tanaka) from giving him shelter since boyhood. But one day, power-hungry Lord Kira (Tadanobu, heh, Asano) uses demonic connections of his own to deceive Asano into an act bad enough to demand seppuku. The shogun (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) awards Asano's domain to Kira and orders Asano's daughter Mika (Ko Shibasaki), Kai's love, to marry Kira after a year of mourning. Asano counselor Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada) spends a year in jail, then frees Kai from slavery as a combatant. Regretting his earlier acquiescence to such injustice, Oishi now plans to lead Asano's former samurai to illegal revenge on Kira before the wedding. Since ronin are considered honorless, they become more amenable to accepting help from Kai, who really does know a thing or two about demons....

The Hateful Eight (2015)

I previously mentioned my friend's interest in this movie. He had seen the first maybe half of it before. Now he would know that it wasn't all predictable from there.

In an 1877 Wyoming blizzard, former Union soldier Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) hitches a ride on the stagecoach of fellow bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and John's captive, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), toward the nearest town to collect rewards. Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), who claims to be the town's imminent sheriff, joins later. They and their driver, O.B. Jackson (James Parks), seek shelter at a haberdashery already occupied by Señor Bob (Demián Bichir), Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth), Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and former Confederate General Sanford Smithers (Bruce Dern). Marquis smells something fishy, and John is sure that at least one man there plans to either help Daisy escape or claim the bounty himself.

Police Story (1985)

Had I realized I was about to see another action flick, I would not have put this next on my queue. Still, it's not all that similar. No sci-fi here, just the slightly off physics of Jackie Chan.

Hong Kong policeman Chan Ka-Kui (Chan) gets some positive attention for arresting crime lord Chu Tao (Chor Yuen), but convicting him will be tough. Ka-Kui is assigned to guard a reluctant witness, Chu's secretary (Brigitte Lin), who manages to slip away, disbelieving his claims of danger. A subplot involves his girlfriend (Maggie Cheung) getting the wrong idea about the two of them. Not content to beat the charges, Chu arranges to frame Ka-Kui for murder. Chief Inspector Raymond Li (Lam Kwok-Hung) trusts Ka-Kui but is too by-the-book to forgo an arrest, so Ka-Kui runs off to deal with matters irregularly.

The Harder They Fall (2021)

I would not have thought to see this if my friend hadn't asked to while visiting. I'm not sure I'd even heard about it before, despite a few familiar names involved (he knew the cast better). Some rating sites score it highly; others deem it fair to middling. At worst, we could enjoy snarking together, but we both hoped it wouldn't come to that primarily.

On-screen text warns up front that the story is fictitious, but the main characters -- seven of them, at least -- are not. The lead is Nat Love (Jonathan Majors), a late-19th-century outlaw who makes a point to target fellow outlaws, as by robbing robbers. Marshal Bass Reeves (Delroy Lindo) ostensibly arrests him but means to enlist his help against a mutual foe: Rufus Buck (Idris Elba), who had killed Nat's parents in front of preteen Nat and carved a cross on his forehead. Buck has just been released, and while his intentions for the town of Redwood might be honorable, he will stop at nothing to acquire the money to fix it up, even at the citizens' expense.

Conan the Barbarian (1982)

This is one of those movies I watched for education more than entertainment. It still gets cited now and then, particularly for a handful of quotable lines, but I was warned that it could really use a best-of cut. If it weren't streaming, I probably wouldn't have bothered checking it out.

In an unspecified land and century evocative of early medieval Europe, young Conan (then Jorge Sanz) sees the army of Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) slaughter all the adults in his village and sell the children into slavery. Between manual labor, pit matches, and oriental training, Conan becomes quite the brawny fighter (now Arnold Schwarzenegger in his star-making role) before his voluntary release. He allies himself with two thieves, archer Subotai (Gerry Lopez) and fellow swordmaster Valeria (Sandahl Bergman), in his quest for vengeance. But Doom is worse than a mere warlord; he leads a snake-themed cult whose adherents readily kill themselves at his bidding, even tho he himself is reportedly more than a millennium old.

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

I might as well tell you up front how to pronounce the last word of the title: "in-uh-SHARE-in." I won't provide similar guidance for the character names, because you're not likely to say them until after you've watched.

On a tiny ficitious isle in 1923, Pádraic (Colin Farrell) suddenly finds that his drinking buddy Colm (Brendan Gleeson) wants nothing more to do with him. Colm eventually explains that he'd rather pursue a legacy as a composer for the fiddle than listen to Pádraic's unenriching blabber. Pádraic won't give up on him that easily, thinking he's just going through a depressive phase. Colm threatens self-mutilation if Pádraic won't stop talking to him. Things get uglier from there.