Ryan's Reviews 18: One Night Only (2026)

Ryan's Reviews One Night Only (released 2026)
Ryan's Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars

    This movie is far better and more enjoyable than many of the reviews make it seem. I think many believe it will be a raunchy sex comedy film, which it really is not; there's very little nudity and all the sex is off screen. The film is a more traditional romantic comedy with a silly sex premise, but all the Rom-Com hallmarks are here, a meet cute, then the two leads spend most of the film pretending not to like each other before the big romantic gesture conclusion. Also like many of the best romantic films it is filmed on location in New York City, and the city makes some of the sillier moments seem believable.

    In the film there is a government mandate that bans all pre-marital sex except on one specific night of the year. This has been in effect for three years when the movie begins and we also learn all people have been outfitted with tracking devices that look like little tattoos on the inside of your left wrist. They are red except on the one night, when they turn green.

    Allie (wonderfully played by Monica Barbaro, she really carried the movie), a singer who longs to connect with an audience but makes a living singing songs for commercials advertising psoriasis medications. She really wants to meet a nice guy that she connects with but keeps winding up alone. She is outgoing but would rather be playing sad songs on a piano in a bar than jumping in bed with a magician or accepting offers of threesomes.

    Owen (also well played by Callum Turner) is a New York pizza restaurant owner, whose girlfriend (played by Maya Hawke) has decided to spend this one night with their neighbor (there's a humorous photo cameo of the neighbor for savvy viewers). This leaves Owen searching for a one night stand partner. There's also a neat moment where he holds a big cube of ice in his hand that plays to a nice reveal early in the film. There are some other surprises in the cast including Molly Ringwald and LeVar Burton.

    The film is directed by Will Gluck who is no stranger to the romantic comedy, he previously had success with Easy A (2010), Friends with Benefits (2011), and Anyone But You (2023) and he does well here though much like his last film this feels a little padded even at 102 minutes. There is probably a smashing 90 minute movie in here.

    While this is not a perfect movie I found it very enjoyable and the type of film they don't make as much anymore. The two stars and Gluck's ability with the genre pull it through. For a fun time check this out.

Ryan's Reviews 17: Last Embrace (1979)

Ryan's Reviews: Last Embrace (released 1979) Ryan's Rating: 3 out of 4 stars.

    A covert agent for the U.S. government, Harry Hanon (well played by Roy Scheider), witnesses his wife's murder during an ambush in a Texas restaurant. Her death causes a mental breakdown and as the film opens he is being released from a psychiatric hospital (ostensibly for government agents) but still suffers from nightmares of the incident and sudden extreme tremors in his hands. Almost immediately he begins to suspect people are after him but is it real or simply paranoia?

    When he returns to his New York City apartment he finds it has been sublet by his "company" to a PhD student studying anthropology, Ellie (Janet Margolin). She gives him an envelope which was slipped under the door with his name on it. The envelope contains a paper with two Hebrew words and a mysterious symbol. Harry takes the letter to a Rabbi (David Margulies) and also a Princeton University Hebrew Studies professor (John Glover) who inform him the note means "Avenger of Blood" and everyone who has received similar notes has been killed. Ellie begins to feel the need to help Harry and Harry soon realizes he needs all the help he can get to figure out what is going on and to save his own life.

    A very Hitchcock inspired film, those familiar with Hitch's work will notice references to his films especially in the last ten minutes but also peppered throughout the story. Last Embrace is an early film by director Jonathan Demme (who later won a Best Director Oscar for Silence of the Lambs in 1991) and released a year before his breakthrough with Melvin and Howard (1980). One of Demme's trademarks are characters who appear to speak directly into the camera but are not breaking the "fourth wall" (think of the scenes between Clarice and Hannibal in Lambs). While it only happens a few times here when I saw it happen a big smile spread across my face. I love seeing a director early in their career finding their hallmarks. He also uses real locations to his advantage, for instance the brief scene in NYC's Paley Park is simply and wonderfully staged to make use of the water feature and water tunnel; the Niagara Falls sequence is also exciting. Aside from his adept use of locale I appreciate the time capsule feel of seeing the areas in 1979.

    This film is ostensibly a Neo-Noir but also a bit of the 1970s paranoia thriller genre and definitely a Hitchcock inspired tale (though the story is based on the 1977 novel The 13th Man by Murray Bloom). It is one of those movies you have to go with the flow to enjoy. For instance the opening sequence seems a bit hokey and over the top but we soon learn it is one of Harry's recurring nightmares so the style quickly makes sense in that regard.

    From a story sense the narrative is not perfect (also some of the 1970s mores are obviously dated) as the plot takes some odd turns and some threads vanish with no explanation. Christopher Walken (fresh off his Oscar winning role the year before in The Deer Hunter) has two brief scenes as Harry's Agency boss but then vanishes completely from the rest of the film. As well when the mystery begins to be unraveled it all becomes a bit too implausible, one revelation comes in such an odd way I thought it was another dream sequence.

    Yet when the film was over I was truly drawn in and cherished the viewing experience. Even with its flaws the suspense works, I cared about the characters, and I would like to watch the film again.

Ryan's Reviews 16: To Catch a Killer

Ryan's Reviews 16: To Catch a Killer (released 2023). 
Ryan's Rating: 2 out of 4 stars. 

    On midnight New Year's Eve 2023 a sniper kills 29 people throughout the city of Baltimore (though it could be any city and is clearly filmed elsewhere as the credits indicate Canada and Buenos Aires). A young troubled Baltimore police officer Eleanore Falco (played by Shailene Woodley who also co produced with the film's director/co-writer) is on patrol during the shootings and is inexplicably drawn to see who the sniper is. When they find the sniper's perch, during a neat moment using laser beams to triangulate all the deaths throughout the city, the Baltimore FBI office sends in Special Agent Lammark (Ben Mendelsohn), a once legendary agent who has been disgraced, to lead the search for the sniper. Lemmark senses something in Falco and selects her to be "liaison" for the FBI but she is actually his right hand investigator and she often provides key and quick insights to the case. The film continues from there.

    Ostensibly, the movie is in the same vein as those 1990s and early 2000s mystery thrillers like, Silence of the Lambs, The Bone Collector, and several of the Ashley Judd star vehicles. But To Catch a Killer is nowhere as good as any of them because it never really decides what kind of movie it wants to be. At times it is a character driven mystery thriller very close to Lambs or Bone Collector at others it is closer to something like Patriot's Day where we are documenting the investigation of a tragic event (though this one is fictitious unlike the Boston Marathon bombing it is still unfortunately very believable). In the last thirty minutes it wants to be a deep drama and makes the story anticlimactic.

    Woodley at first seems miscast, in her opening scenes as the patrol officer she seems out of place, but once she "joins" the FBI she fits in much better. She is also given semi-interesting character scenes, swimming alone in a pool at night, looking conflicted while in the bathroom, but they never give us more insight into her character aside from what we know. There is even a late moment where we are shown a heroin spoon and strap in her kitchen drawer which seems like it should be a big issue but is never mentioned. All these moments are intriguing because most movies would not take the time with these little character details but they don't really add up to anything. Mendelsohn is not bad as the seasoned FBI agent but most of his dialogue consists of elaborate speeches that don't give us more insight into his character. I also found they never really explain the connection Lemmark sees between Falco and the killer. This aspect is repeated many times during the movie but I didn't really see a connection aside from both being loners.

    The story seems to want to comment on the state of the country with every scene and speech a way to highlight an issue facing America. The issues range from the very first scene where Falco is called to a diner because a homeless woman (who has paid for a meal) has been sitting in the diner for hours eating very slowly and has a liquor bottle in her bag. The social inequality is mentioned multiple times but there are comments on others such as: media over stimulation, mental health, mistreatment of our veterans, environment (during a dinner scene one of the characters talks about plastic pollution), how refuse companies don't actually sort out the compost/trash/recycle like they advertise, gun control, political image making, scapegoating, cover ups, and finally a sequence in a beef slaughterhouse to talk about the harm of our meat heavy diets. All these issues are important and I don't really disagree with any of the comments but the movie doesn't do anything with the issues once mentioned. They seem there simply as a catalog of American problems while never fully engaging in any of them

    Directed by, cowritten, and co-produced by Damián Szifron, a successful Argentine director in his English debut, has some imposed some style to the movie. There is a lot of use of deep focus with something in the foreground and background equally clear, similar to Brian De Palma's style. There are also some good widescreen set ups and a clear framing style which is more than can be said of many movies today. The movie is also decently paced which will hold your attention for the first ninety minutes but everything falls apart in the end which is really a let down.

    Overall I don't recommend the movie, it has good moments but is never a good complete film. You would do better watching those 1990s and early 2000s films like The Bone Collector or Copycat.

Ryan's Reviews 15: Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1

 Quick Note: Changing the title of these little movie reviews but keeping the numbering system continuous, unlike Marvel comics numbering haha.

Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 (released 2024) Ryan's Rating: 2.5 out of 4 stars.

Now don't let the 2.5 make you think I did not enjoy this movie because I did but it is only a portion of the movie. Unlike say the Lord of the Rings where each installment feels like its own story, Horizon Chapter 1 feels like only a portion of the story. The set up we see here is engaging but the film ends with a "To Be Continued" as this is planned as a four part film series. It is a sprawling epic it feels like a kindred spirit to the epic How the West Was Won (1962) which Costner has said over the years is one of his favorite films. He emulates that film as this is an ensemble piece with a grand cast of familiar faces. For example even though Kevin Costner is top billed he is only in a portion of the film and doesn't appear until about an hour into the three hour story. 

The film has about four or five storylines (like How the West Was Won) that partially intersect but I have a feeling will fully intersect when all four Chapters come out. The first (Story 1) is the land development named Horizon, which is being advertised to people in the East Coast to start a new life for cheap land prices. The person selling (who we don't see until a brief moment at the end of the film) does not actually own the land and we quickly come to find it is in "Indian Territory". There is an excellent opening sequence with a land surveyor and then a family building a house that all learn this fact very quickly. Eventually a large settlement has developed and we meet Sienna Miller's character who becomes one of the several protagonists. Yet the Apache warriors soon stage a raid on the town in an excellently staged battle. This story continues with the addition of Calvary officers (including Sam Worthington) and a hunting party to find the Apache raiders (story 2). There is also a story from the Apache point of view that is left hanging in this installment but I hope will be given more screen time in the next Chapters (story 3).

The next story (story 4) involves Lucy (Jena Malone). The transition to this story line is a bit abrupt but as it continues the story becomes more organic. She is an abused young mother stuck with the wealthy and ruthless Sykes family. When Lucy shoots the baby's father and flees with her infant son the Sykes brothers set out to find her and bring the baby back to the family. This leads to the meeting of Hayes Ellison (well cast and well played Kevin Costner) an experienced cowboy and gunfighter. He is driving a cattle herd through Wyoming and stops in a a small town to have bath where he gets entangled in Lucy's plight. 

The last new story line (story 5) is a wagon train heading west to the town of Horizon. Focusing on the trials of traveling cross country, there is a wealthy couple from England who do not understand they must pull their own weight on the trail, a poor family who is doing more work to help the others (including Will Patton) and the trail "boss" Weyden (played by Luke Wilson) is stuck dealing with all the issues as well as some trail hands who are clearly going to be trouble at some point.

There is a stirring montage near the end which is like a trailer for the future Chapters of this four part saga. One thing to note, some of the scenes shared in previews of this Chapter 1 are only in this ending montage. If you are really looking forward to the scene where Costner is being chased on a horse while firing his rifle over his shoulder that scene is from the ending montage and we will  unfortunately have to wait until the next installments to see how it plays out.

The cinematography by J. Michael Muro, who previously worked on Costner's excellent western Open Range, is first rate bringing out the vastness of the plains, the mud and cold of the mountains, and the arid landscape of the Santa Fe Trail. The story is old fashioned but held my interest. I am excited to see the next installments Chapter 2 is finished but was held back from distribution due to the low box office of this first Chapter. Hopefully it will be released to theaters in 2025. I am a fan of well made westerns like this, I do recommend it (especially the fans of How the West Was Won) but I have to see how the full story plays out before I can add it to my favorites list. Happy film viewing everyone.

Quarantine Reviews 14: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Harrison Ford in his signature role as Indiana (photo credit: Lucasfilm)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (released June 30, 2023)
Ryan's Rating: ✯✯1/2 (out of four)

"If Adventure has a Name it's Indiana Jones"

I was going back and forth between 2.5 and 3 stars. I initially chose 2.5 but went to 3 and now am back to 2.5. Overall the movie a fun though overlong ride not as good as the previous Indy films but better than many of the recent re-boot/sequels to come along.

The majority of the story takes place in 1969,  shortly after the Apollo 11 moon landing, with our favorite Dr. Jones retiring from teaching at Hunter College in New York City (a seeming step down from the vast Marshall College he and Marcus Brody worked at in the 1940s). He lives alone in a small apartment and is basically a man out of his time which has made him a curmudgeon. Then his estranged goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) shows up asking for Indy's help in locating Archimedes' Dial which is said to have magic powers. If you know anything about Indiana Jones you can probably guess this leads to a globe trotting adventure.  

First off Ford is (still) wonderful as Jones, and it is exciting to see him put on the hat and whip one last time. He gives a great performance adding real pathos to some scenes and acknowledging that time is passing Indy by and he's seen so many things both great and terrible yet he still has one more run in him. It also has the meta quality of Ford himself as he has seen the movie industry change through the years and we as his fans have seen him change. Waller-Bridge's performance is great and engaging though her character occasionally is given odd changes in the beginning of the film in what seems an attempt by the screenwriters to give her unneeded depth, this is a heroes and villains story people. I would watch a stand alone period piece adventure movie starring Waller-Bridge, she is a great addition to the film.

The villains led by Mads Mikkelsen (always a fine villain remember Casino Royale) and his group of "former" Nazis are never as memorable as the ones in Raiders or even Cate Blanchett's Soviet in Crystal Skull. They serve their purpose but I feel Jones is better when he is taking on an army of endless soldiers with tanks as opposed to a set group of bad guys.

As we see in the movie trailer there is a sequence where Ford is made to look like he did forty years ago through CGI effects. And this opening sequence on a Nazi train is one of the most imaginative and engaging in the whole film. Though the CGI seemed a little off almost as if Ford is wearing a mask but I suspended my critique to thoroughly enjoy the sequence. Some of the later chases in the movie are often so clearly CGI creations it may take some viewers out of the moment.

The film is overlong at 2 hours and 45 minutes. The makers forget Indy is based on the old time Saturday Matinee Serials which are little short films from the 1940s which ran on TV in the 1950s and 1960s. All the previous Indy adventures were right around two hours yet here when we start heading for the three hour mark the story gets overwhelming where exposition drags and the chase scenes feel repetitive. I will say the dialogue is far better than the JJ Abrams TV banter of the recent Star Wars trilogy.

Director James Mangold is a good filmmaker and I've enjoyed a number of his previous films (I think Knight and Day from 2010 is one of the most enjoyable and underrated action comedies). He knows how to film big widescreen action chases and get good performances yet he has the unfortunate task of following Steven Spielberg and Mangold is not Spielberg (not many are). Spielberg is one of the most imaginative and greatest filmmakers of the last fifty years and probably in the history of all cinema. He is able to imbue a film with a true sense of awe and wonder and joy that few others can (Remember the crew of the cargo ship cheering as Indy is riding the top of the Nazi sub from Raiders, the wind blowing his hat back to him after surviving the tank going over the cliff from Last Crusade, etc).

All this being said the movie is fun and I had a good time. The film is a nice finale to the series (a better closing than Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was fifteen years ago).It also reminded me how great John Williams' theme song is, the few times it is used brought me great joy. I saw it in a historic old movie theater which is how it is meant to be seen, a place where the seats aren't silly recliners, where you don't have to pick your seat in advance on a diagram that never resembles the actual auditorium, and the popcorn is not more expensive than the ticket. Maybe I have a little bit of Indiana Jones in me as well. "Give 'em Hell Indiana Jones". 

Quarantine Reviews 13: The Batman

Hello Readers, 2022 marked the return of the "only in theaters" movie releases. Here is a review of one of the movies I saw in 2022.

The Batman (released March 2022) Ryan's rating ✯✯✯ (out of four)

In Gotham City (here perpetually gloomy and often raining) a new to the cape Batman (Robert Pattinson) is working to clean up the crime in the city when a psycho calling himself The Riddler (Paul Dano) begins killing high level politicians and public servants (the mayor, the DA, Police Chief) in increasingly elaborate ways. Each death is accompanied by a riddle addressed to Batman and also gruesome videos shared on the internet with a greater conspiracy pointing to the late Thomas Wayne and family. This leads Batman to team up with Lt. Jim Gordon (the always reliable Jeffery Wright) and cat-burglar/club hostess Selina Kyle (Zoe Kravitz) to figure out the bigger picture and stop the madman. 

This is just part of the plot of this three hour film, there is also the Penguin (an unrecognizable Colin Farrell), Carmine Falcone (John Turturo), bigger societal issues of the wealthy vs. the working class, corruption in institutions, the internet creating extremism, etc. There is a lot going on in the film but it is very well made and well put together. The story by Matt Reeves and Peter Craig focuses more (compared to other Batman films) on Batman's detective origins with a lot of time spent investigating the Riddler's riddles, though savvy viewers will be able to figure out some of the clues far quicker than the people in the story. 

Reeves also serves as director and he and his team have fashioned a visually stunning film. Reeves knows how to stage scenes both big and small. The sequence where the Batmobile first appears is excellent, or when Batman first fights his way into the Iceberg Club with its bright red lights cutting through the darkness. The film often has one more trick or surprising gadget to showcase. In the final climax when Batman makes his entrance, it is truly exciting. The use of Nirvana's music in some key scenes is debatable, I personally was not a fan of its use here but I may be in the minority. Also note the movie is visually dark so if you're watching in a daytime room you may have a hard time seeing parts of the film. In the theater it was occasionally hard to see.

Pattinson is very good as Batman and to a degree Bruce Wayne. I say this because in the course of the long film he only appears as Bruce Wayne in a handful of scenes. Dano is very creepy as the Riddler (miles removed from Jim Carrey in the 1990s) though he has the unfortunate place of being behind Heath Ledger's Joker from The Dark Knight and some of his sequences are fairly similar (videos of his crimes, his long monologues, his crazed posse).

If you have no interest in a Batman movie then this is probably not for you. If you have the slightest interest there are rewards in watching the movie. I will say some of the content is pushing the limit of PG-13, the Riddler is intense and his murders are pretty graphic even if the most graphic moments are kept just out of frame there is enough shown. For example one victim's face is eaten by rats.

I am a fan of detective and investigative noir style movies so this was in my wheelhouse. It was a good film to get back into the theater to see.

Quarantine Reviews 12: AIR see this movie in the theater

 Air (released 2023). Ryan's Rating: ✯✯✯1/2 (out of four)

It's only a movie until someone goes to see it. 

This is the type of movie I truly wish there were more of in the theaters. Air directed by Ben Affleck and written by Alex Convery (in his first produced script) tells the story of Sonny Vaccaro (played by Matt Damon), the down on his luck Nike, Inc. recruiter who in 1984 bet his career and Nike's fledgling basketball shoe division on the wild idea to sign a rookie named Michael Jordan. We have all bought a pair of Air Jordan shoes and we know Michael Jordan would become one of, if not, the greatest basketball players but even with these foregone conclusions the film is still able to hold the tension, suspense and drama. While some may think this is a basketball movie or a story of Michael Jordan it really is not. It is the classic underdog story about the behind the scenes players when Nike was just a jogging shoe.

Damon, who gained a bit of weight for the role, is in a part similar to that of 2019's Ford v Ferrari (a movie I was also a big fan of and recommend). He brings an honesty, everyman quality, and screen presence and turns in a fine performance. It is also a joy for a fan like me who has seen him from his reckless young roles like Will Hunting and the gambler in Rounders through Jason Bourne actions, into these mature roles where he still carries the same determination and we stand for something attitude of those early films. To me he is the Jack Lemmon of today. The way Lemmon was to the 1970s and 1980s, a sturdy leading almost character actor who we can identify with and believe in.

The cast is filled with familiar faces and they fit their roles perfectly: Affleck plays Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight with his Buddhist aphorisms and his purple running suits. Chris Tucker as Howard White a Nike executive who eventually became the VP of the Air Jordan line, Tucker is very good as a supporting character actor at this point in his career while still employing the energy from his youth. I hope he does more of these dramatic supporting roles (similar to his work in Silver Linings Playbook). Jason Bateman plays the marketing executive and his deadpan expressions and delivery was made for this type of dialogue. Chris Messina, in a patented Messina role, as foul mouth sports agent David Falk. Matthew Maher steals his scenes as the odd designer who created the Air Jordan shoes. And the always wonderful Viola Davis (apparently requested by Michael Jordan to play this role) brings a gravitas and power to her handful of scenes as Mrs. Jordan, Michael's mom. The close-ups of her talking on the phone are a master class in performance. 

Convery's screenplay is well done with eloquent yet believable dialogue that is delivered in a fast back and forth manner it reminded me of Aaron Sorkin's work as well as those Howard Hawks 1940s films. Affleck's direction is also strong, he gets good performances and knows how to stage scenes while there aren't any big actions sequences he knows how to move the camera and he knows how to pace a film (neither of which are no longer givens in the movie industry sadly). The film also comes in just under two hours it knows how to tell its story. The omnipresent songs from the 1980s (Cyndi Lauper, Night Ranger, Big Country, etc) on the soundtrack was distracting and at times seemed overkill but I did appreciate the use of Tangerine Dream songs from other 1980s films, a nice nod to film buffs.

Produced by Amazon Studios they have decided to release it only in theaters and while it is not a special effects extravaganza it reminded me of how satisfying seeing a solid well made film on the big screen can be. Almost as satisfying as my Air Jordan shoes from when I was a kid.