Let's Cee a Movie

Odysseus In Paradise

An action movie letdown (Spoilers)

Much like another character created by Derek Kolstad, Hutch Mansell (Bod Odenkirk) has to deal with “dipping his pinkie” back into his previous life come the sequel. He’s returned to his job as an “auditor” to pay off this massive debt, but that’s led to him working long hours away from his family. So, he decides to take his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen), his father, David (Christopher Lloyd), and his kids, Brady (Gage Munroe) and Sammy (Paisley Cadorath), on a vacation.

Predator

An okay thriller (spoilers)

Sasha (Charlize Theron) is an adrenaline junkie whose husband Tommy (Eric Bana) passes away during a freak accident on one of their adventures. Five months later, she travels to her husband’s native Australia for another excursion, venturing alone in this remote park where several visitors have gone missing. What could possibly go wrong?

In Bad Days

A remake that’s fine (spoilers)

Warning: This article contains Scream series spoilers

In this remake of I onde dager or The Trip (which is a way worse title if you know what I onde dager translates as), Dan (Jason Segel) and Lisa (Samara Weaving) are a couple going through some difficulties. They travel up to a remote cabin ostensibly to reconnect. In reality, Dan is planning on murdering Lisa. However, his plan quickly goes awry when he discovers that Lisa has not only caught on, but is planning to kill him as well.

I Contain Multitudes

A beautiful movie about life (Spoilers)

The Life of Chuck is a 2024 film adaptation of Stephen King’s novella of the same name. It was written and directed by Mike Flanagan. The plot is hard to describe beyond saying it follows the life of one Charles “Chuck” Krantz, played as an adult by Tom Hiddleston. I should probably warn Hiddleston fans that he doesn’t appear as much as you might think, partly because he’s one of four actors who play Chuck throughout his life.

Clearest Blue

A good if pragmatic adaptation (spoilers)

In this film adaptation of Jordan Harper’s novel of the same name, Nate McClusky (Taron Egerton) is a recently released ex-con who’s been marked for death by Aryan Steel, a gang of meth-dealing white supremacists. Worse, the greenlight was issued not only against him but also against his family. Though he’s too late to save his wife, he ends up going on the run with Polly Huff (Ana Sophia Heger), the daughter he barely knows.

Please Please Please

An entertaining enough thriller (Spoilers)

Millie Calloway (Sydney Sweeney) is a young woman with a dark and troubled past. Living out of her car and desperate for a job, she accepts a position as a housemaid for the Winchester family. The wife, Nina (Amanda Seyfried), is the boss from hell. The husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), is a handsome hunk. The daughter, Cece (Indiana Elle), belongs in a Children of the Corn movie. The groundskeeper, Enzo (Michele Morrone), seems suspicious.

Lady Orpheus

An interesting rock opera (Massive Spoilers)

O’Dessa is a rock opera set in a post-apocalyptic world that’s been all but ruined by pollution. One of the last civilized places, though I use civilized very loosely, is Satylite City, which is ruled over by a media dictator named Plutonovich (Murray Bartlett). Meanwhile, O’Dessa Galloway (Sadie Sink), a dirt farmer and the seventh child in a line of traveling musicians called the ramblers, has been prophesied to save the world.

It’s time for hide and seek (again)

A fine sequel that slays (spoilers)

Let’s start with a quick recap of Radio Silence’s Ready or Not. Grace (Samara Weaving), whose maiden name is revealed to be MacCaullay in the sequel, marries Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien), a member of a rich gaming dominion. However, she quickly learns that her new in-laws are satanists who intend to sacrifice her as part of a game of hide and seek. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up in the aftermath of what might be the worst wedding night in the history of cinema.

Unlucky Number 7

The seventh time is not the charm with Scream (Spoilers)

It’s hard to talk about Scream 7 without mentioning the controversy, so let’s get that out of the way. The movie was originally going to be directed by Christopher Landon and star Melissa Barrera. Except then Barrera was fired after she spoke up in support of Palestine in a way that Spyglass deemed anti-semitic. Landon also dropped out after receiving death threats over the situation, though he also said he didn’t want to make Scream 7 without Barrera.

GLHFDD

A timely, weird movie (Massive Spoilers)

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die starts with a man (Sam Rockwell) walking into a diner and taking the people eating their hostage. He says he’s from the future, the whole world is going to end because of an artificial intelligence, and he’s travelled through time to collect a group of people to stop it. What we have here is another “you should watch the movie first” and “proceed with caution” review because the above is all I can say without spoiling something.