Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022)

The real and not-at-all completely made-up story of "Weird Al" Yankovic, who rose up from humble beginnings as an accordion-playing parodist to become one of the greatest original pop icons of all-time, to the envy of other artists. 

In the same vein as Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, it skewers a lot of usual biopic tropes and goes off the rails in a big way, although it's never quite as funny as it could have been if it leaned completely into spoof territory. Once you're in on the joke, it gets hard to top itself. Daniel Radcliffe feels weirdly miscast as the lead, but it's fun to see the likes of Dr. Demento (Rainn Wilson), Madonna (Evan Rachel Wood) and other famous names pop up along the way.

3 Yankovic bumps out of 5

Note: This film is so low-budget, they couldn't actually use the rights to many of Al's songs, which is inconceivable since he remains the producer on this. Maybe that's part of the joke.

The Amateur (2025)

A bookish CIA code breaker takes the law into his own hands as he seeks revenge for his wife's murder in this increasingly convoluted conspiracy thriller. Rami Malek was excellent in Mr. Robot, one of my favorite TV shows, but his performance lacks in this standard, formulaic action flick that quickly wears out its welcome and lags in the second half. While the initial premise is intriguing, it feels curiously low stakes and I just kept waiting for it to be over.

A remake of the 1981 film, based on Robert Littell's novel of the same name.

2½ Inquilines out of 5

Dream Scenario (2023)

This is the film Nicolas Cage was made for. Paul Matthews is the dull professor of evolutionary biology at a local university who suddenly finds himself the subject of national intrigue when people randomly start dreaming about him. At first, it's treated as a passing novelty, until the implications grow much darker. It's a high concept black comedy that's teeming with great ideas and has so much fun with its central conceit. It probably doesn't fulfill the wild limits of its potential, but that doesn't mean it isn't a great time at the movies.

4½ David Byrne suits out of 5

BLACK MASS [2015]

After an extended string of crappy films, Johnny Depp returns to form in director Scott Cooper's American true crime film, Black Mass.
The film depicts the rise & fall of the infamous Irish-American crime boss, Whitey Bulger who became an FBI informant in order to get away with as much as he possibly could in Boston during the 70's and 80's.
Aided by an impressive cast, Depp gives a subtle yet empowering performance that kept me uncomfortably mesmerized.  However I couldn't help but feel the story needed a good extra hour of padding to really give it the impact it appeared to be aiming for.  There was so much going on that they briefly skimmed over, as a whole it never really explores anything we haven't seen before with a film like this.  In the end it's a slightly above average film with some really great performances.

3 confused doormen out of 5

AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY [2013]

John Wells adapts Tracy Letts' dysfunctional family stageplay August: Osage County for the screen with a most impressive cast ensemble.
It's Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts who do most of the heavy lifting but it's hard to find a weak link in the bunch as each actor brings tragic dedication to their own role.  While there are some wickedly funny bits of dialogue throughout the film, I found this to be one of the saddest films of the year with it's story about a family falling to pieces after a funeral.  Each character gets their own introduction and since there are so many you start to wonder where it's all going after awhile until the middle of the film when it kicks into high gear.  With the addition of some painfully awkward and uncomfortably funny scenes, I'd watch it all over again just to pick each individual performance because there's so damned much going on at once.

4 catfish out of 5