This Guy at the Movies

“Love, Divided” (in Spanish, “Pared con pared) (Spanish; 2024; rom-com/music; running time 1 hour, 38 minutes; directed by Patricia Font, written by Marta Sánchez; rated TV-14 for language, suggestive dialogue; streaming on Netflix on April 12, 2024) exists. And for fans of the genre, that might be enough. For everyone else, it means there’s not much – beyond its overall implausibility — in this sunny, feel-good love story to hate. But there’s not much reason to watch, either. The concept, that two people on the opposite sides of a wall could fall in love without seeing each other — is a mildly interesting one, even if it was lifted from a 2015 French film called “Blind Date” (this version qualifies as a remake). But everything else here is been there, done that a thousand times over. And perhaps that’s all you ask of your rom-coms.

Valentina (Spanish pop star Aitana) is an aspiring concert pianist whose real dreams center on performing her own pop songs. She moves into a brightly decorated apartment, one provided to her by her discoverer/mentor/manipulator Óscar (Miguel Ángel Munoz), to rehearse for an upcoming audition. Valentina, who is timid and flighty, takes a job that was arranged for her by her cousin (Natalia Rodriguez as Carmen) at a neighborhood juice bar. Living next door to Valentina, separated by a ridiculously thin wall (especially since its made of bricks), is a mad scientist type, albeit a handsome one, David (Fernando Guallar). He is a game designer and, because of one of those plot-device rom-com tragedies, has not left his apartment in three years. David, inexplicably, has built a steampunk-looking contraption that makes ungodly noise designed to drive new tenants out of the apartment next door. Does Spain not have noise laws? Does the building not have an apartment manager? David also is annoyed by Valentina practicing the piano. Valentina is not going to budge, and (through their common, easily heard through wall) they argue, reach a compromise and then, somehow, fall for each other. Will they ever meet face-to-face?

The filmmakers give Aitana, dubbed the “Princess of Spanish Pop,” ample room to do her thing, which is good considering her acting is serviceable at best. Both her and Guallar (and their characters) are bland but likeable. The wall and the romantic leads’ positions on opposite sides of it provide for many ready-made miscommunication/misunderstanding jokes that deliver consistently mild chuckles and little more. If there’s a big problem here is that almost none of this is believable, even by light rom-com standards. And just when “Love, Divided” starts delivering legit emotional moments (thanks largely to that tragedy), it reverts to dumbness. It culminates with Valentina’s audition, one in which she talks to someone backstage while she is playing a Beethoven piece and the judges don’t blink an eye. Ditto the final scene, in which Valentina and David, now in the throes of love, decide to see each other but not use the doors provided with their apartments. Symbolism, anyone? Valentina and David, tear down this wall!

My score: 29 out of 100

“How to Have Sex” (British; 2023; coming-of-age drama; running time 1 hour, 31 minutes; written and directed by Molly Manning Walker; rated TV-MA for teen drinking and drugs, sexual assault, thematic material; made debut at the Cannes Film Festival on May 19, 2023, available on VOD and streaming services, including Amazon Prime Video and Mubi) would at first glance appear to be a loud, flashy movie. The story of British teens on unsupervised vacation in the resort town of Malia in Crete, Greece, it plays like an extended episode of “MTV’s Spring Break,” with scantily clad young people dancing almost nonstop to a thumping beat, drinking almost nonstop and looking to hook up almost nonstop. But Walker has more than that on her mind. “How to Have Sex” is a surprisingly subtle look at young people, especially teen women, navigating a challenging time in life, one in which they will make decisions (not always good ones, and not always ones made while sober) that will shape the rest of their lives. Walker’s film addresses young peoples’ desire to fit in, the awkward dance of intimate relationships and the line between consent and sexual assault. It can at times be an awkward, even painful watch for anyone who can remember what their teens, which often are romanticized as the best times of our lives, were really like.

The focus of the film is Tara (Mia McKenna-Bruce), who has come to Malia with Em (Enva Lewis), who has plans to start college next school year; and Skye (Lara Peake), the hardest partier of the three. Staying next door to them in a high-resort are three other British teens – Badger (Shaun Thomas), who has a bad boy appearance but is shy about making sexual advances; his buddy Paddy (Samuel Bottomley), who is more aggressive and a little strange; and a sexually ambivalent girl Paige (Laura Ambler), with whom Em will form a brief relationship. Tara is a virgin and feels pressure to match the exploits of her friends. She flirts with Badger, but when he becomes part of a public sex exhibition during a pool party, she instead leaves with Paddy, who does not like to hear the word “no.” Will Tara give in to the pressure to lose her virginity? If so, with whom?

“How to Have Sex” is low on dialogue and story. Instead, much of the emotion is conveyed through McKenna-Bruce’s expressions and body language. Her Tara is the smallest of the three girls. She is pretty and wears a pendant that says “ANGEL” around her neck. She is naïve but pretends not to be when her friends are around. She’s all in for the weeklong party, but her demeanor changes as the events unfold. And by the time the girls catch their flight back to Great Britain, she behaves like a different person. While much of the film is immersed in flashing neon strobe lights in various clubs and parties, Walker’s film also has moments of arrestingly beautiful scenery and arthouse-style visuals and framing. And it at times is gritty, including shots of the empty streets of Malia the morning after, in which the town looks like a war zone. Teen virgin movies are frequently handled as raunchy comedies, usually from the perspective of male characters whose friends are trying to get them laid. “How to Have Sex” takes a far more serious, more subtle, female-centric approach. That makes it low on laughs but far more observant, relatable and rewarding.

My score: 79 out of 100

“Hard Miles”

Genre: Sports drama

Country: United States

Directed by: R.J. Daniel Hanna

Written by: Hanna and Christian Sander, based on a true story

Starring: Matthew Modine, Cynthia McWilliams, Jahking Guillory, Leslie David Baker, Sean Astin, Jackson Kelly, Damien Diaz, Zach Robbins, Jaxon Goldenberg, Judah Mackey

Rated: PG-13 for thematic content, some teen drinking, suggestive references, strong language

Run time: 1 hour, 48 minutes

Release date: Made debut at Bentonville Film Festival on June 13, 2023; in theaters April 19, 2024

Where I saw it: Yes Cinema in downtown Columbus, Ind., on a Thursday evening, $5, about 10 other people in the theater

What it’s about: A 60-something social worker (Modine as Greg Townsend) at a Colorado youth facility that is in danger of losing its state accreditation teaches four troubled teen boys (Guillory as Woolbright, Kelly as Smink, Diaz as Atencio and Robbins as Rice) to build their own bicycles, then they form a peloton to make a transformative 762-mile journey from Denver to the Grand Canyon, overcoming obstacles and in-fighting along the way.

What I liked about: “Hard Miles” is a nice, inspiring, feel-good movie that is just heavy enough in the dramatic department to be convincing and add heft to what could have been a sugary underdog film. As with almost all stories of its ilk, it’s predictable (this movie would not have been made if terrible things had happened to the cyclists during their journey or they had failed to reach their destination), and it’s told in familiar fashion (buildup, the journey starts, obstacles are overcome, a few happy moments happen, characters don’t get along but eventually form a bond, lessons are learned, goals are reached), but the filmmaking is so sincere and so unforced that the familiarity doesn’t breed contempt. A couple of wrinkles, including a surprising turn in the final scene, help. … Modine, an avid cyclist in real life, delivers the type of performance you would expect from a seasoned actor in this type of movie. He’s never not believable as a man who has been driven to be tough even when it works against his own well-being. He, like his teen cyclists, is harboring hurt that both drives him and haunts him. McWilliams, as Haddie, a social worker at the teen facility who drives the team’s SAG vehicle, has an important role as the female voice of reason paired with a pack of hard-headed males. Her Haddie never comes across as nagging but knows when the riders’ machismo has crossed the line and needs to be addressed for their own good. She gives a story that has heart and palpable emotion even more of it. … The scenery is beautiful, though you’ll likely be glad you are seeing it on the big screen and not from the hard seat of a bike during a 762-mile ride into the mountains and through the desert.

What I didn’t like about it: I wasn’t quite convinced that some of the teens, at least as portrayed in the movie, would have had the ability or physique to make such a long bicycle trek. Likely because of time constraints, not much of the training that would have been required to make such a trip is shown. … The score at times tries too hard to punctuate the drama.

Who it will appeal to: General audiences (especially ones ages 50 and older), cycling enthusiasts.

My score: 82 out of 100

“LaRoy, Texas” (American; 2023; crime/black comedy/neo-noir; running time 1 hour, 52 minutes; written and directed by Shane Atkinson; N/R but includes language, graphic violence; made debut at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 8, 2023, available on VOD services April 12, 2024) is like “Fargo” but in the Texas plains instead of the snowy upper Midwest. And though it never reaches the lofty heights of the Coen Brothers classic, it doesn’t miss by much. It’s a noir, so bad people do bad things inside a tangled web of deceit, sex, blackmail and murder for hire, and Atkinson’s story always seems to have another compelling twist just around the corner. It’s violent, of course, and dark but also consistently hilarious. It’s a touch too long, and you might become frustrated with the protagonist, whose haplessness drives the story. But “LaRoy, Texas” is a little film big on entertainment value.

Ray (John Magaro) is a sad sack, a meek middle-aged man who co-manages the family hardware store with his brother (Mattew Del Negro as Junior). Junior inexplicably makes enough money to afford the finer things in life. Ray, on the other hand, is broke, and that does not please his wife (Megan Stevenson as Stacy-Lynn), who can’t let go of her glory days as a beauty pageant winner. Stacy-Lynn wants to open her own hair salon and expects Ray to come  up with the cash. Ray desperately wants to provide for her even after a bumbling but well-meaning wannabe detective (a hilarious Steve Zahn as Skip) shows Ray photos he took of Stacy-Lynn coming and going at a cheap motel. Ray doesn’t believe his wife is cheating and would be too pathetic to do anything about it anyway. At the end of his rope, Ray is sitting in his car in the parking lot of the motel his wife has been frequenting when a man (Brannon Cross as Brian Tiller) pulls up beside him, gets in Ray’s car and gives Ray a lot of money for “taking care” of a local lawyer (Vic Browder as James Barlow). Ray has been mistaken for a real hitman (Dylan Baker as Harry) who already was in town to do the job. Ray is in over his head, but he is intrigued by the opportunity to prove himself. Will he, with help from friendly detective Skip, pull it off, steer clear of Harry and get away with it?

Magaro and Zahn are perfectly cast, and their chemistry is the film’s strength. It’s difficult to tell which of the men, Ray or Skip, is dumber, though Skip seems to know he is the butt of jokes and just sort of rolls with it, never wavering in his enthusiasm for his job and his desire to be buddies with Ray. Ray is sensitive and kind to a fault, and no matter how many people tell him his wife is cheating (and even after he finds out who she is cheating with), he believes he is in love with her and vice versa. Baker also is well-cast as a stoic, all-business hitman who can be charming in a sociopathic sort of way when he needs to pry someone for information. Like with the Coen Brothers’ work, “LaRoy, Texas” is rich in fun supporting characters who boost the movie even in the briefest of appearances. The deeper Ray gets into the situation, and the more he and Skip unravel, the more complicated (and more violent) it becomes, but never to the point that the story becomes challenging to digest. Bad (and dumb) people being this bad (and dumb) are not the sort of folks you’d want to tangle with in real life. But they make for a deliciously fun watch in a movie.

My score: 85 out of 100

“Civil War”

Genre: Dystopian action/war

Countries: United Kingdom/United States

Directed by: Alex Garland

Written by: Garland

Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen Henderson, Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman, Jesse Plemons, Nelson Lee, Alexa Mansour, Jefferson White, Karl Glusman, Juani Feliz, Jin Ha

Rated: R for intense violence, language, disturbing imagery

Run time: 1 hour, 49 minutes

Release date: In wide release in theaters April 12, 2024

Where I saw it: VIP Legacy 9 in Greenfield, Ind., on a Monday afternoon, $8, six other people in the theater

What it’s about: Set in the near future in a United States at war with itself, a team of military-embedded journalists – Dunst as photographer Lee Smith and Spaeny as photographer Jesse, Moura as reporter Joel and Henderson as reporter Sammy – race toward Washington, D.C., to interview the third-term president (Offerman) as rebel factions including the Western Forces (an alliance of California and Texas) descend upon the White House.

What I liked about: “Civil War” is anxiety-inducing, occasionally shocking, gritty, violent, a challenging watch throughout and ultimately angering. And that’s why it’s a great piece of filmmaking. Garland (“Ex-Machina,” “Annihilation,” “Men”), who has said this is his final directorial effort, tackles a larger-budget (at least by A24 standards; “Civil War” reportedly cost $50 million) action war movie without sacrificing arthouse sensibilities. The result is a movie that is in turns a punch to the gut and visually arresting, and the two never seem to work against each other. … As a former journalist, I can appreciate that Garland has made a film that is more about the effort to objectively report on a war than the war itself, and that his film is (mostly) politically ambiguous. The audience learns little about why the United States is in a civil war, and most of the time (until the climactic storming of Washington) it’s difficult to tell which side soldiers (and gun-toting individuals not officially in the war) are fighting for. That stance is captured perfectly when the journalists encounter soldiers in position as they are being shot at by someone in a house, and the soldiers are asked which side they are on, and one replies that it doesn’t matter when you have a gun aimed at someone and they have one aimed at you. The only hints of political statement are that Offerman’s “president” is somehow serving a third term, has disbanded the FBI and has ordered missile strikes on his own people (it might not be hard for some to connect the dots there) and that Lee took iconic photos a few years earlier of “The Antifa Massacre” (Did antifa carry out the massacre, or were they massacred?). Garland’s refusal to comment on the United States’ fractured political environment is bound to bother those on both sides of the political aisle. But both sides deserve to be bothered. … If I’ve said this once, I’ve said it a dozen times. A movie gets better when Jesse Plemons arrives on the scene. He’s in this film for less than 10 minutes as the xenophobic leader of a militia that is dumping bodies into a mass grave. And he is absolutely terrifying just with his presence. … The timing and placing of the music seems a little, umm, adventurous (or even strange), but “Civil War” features a brilliantly varied list of songs by artists including Suicide, De La Soul, Skid Row (!) and Sturgill Simpson.

What I didn’t like about it: The buildup to the road trip was not terribly exciting, though the movie kicked into gear the closer the journalists got to Washington. … The editing seems choppy (some scenes just sort of end abruptly), though that adds to the anxiety. … This is the type of movie I live for, but I can see how some in the audience would have difficulty stomaching not only the violence but the concept of a civil war in the U.S.

Who it will appeal to: The intersection of the arthouse movie and action movie crowds

My score: 91 out of 100

“Scoop” (British; 2024; biographical drama; running time 1 hour, 43 minutes; directed by Philip Martin, written by Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil, adapted from the 2022 book of the same name by Sam McAlister; rated R for language; streaming on Netflix on April 5, 2024) takes the true story of Prince Andrew’s relationship to convicted child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and the British royal family’s efforts to control the damage to the prince’s reputation and mixes it with fictionalized moments and dialogue that focus mostly on behind-the-scenes wrangling between those at Buckingham Palace and the BBC. The result is a mildly engaging, mildly tense story that builds to a nice crescendo, the BBC’s interview of a self-incriminating Prince Andrew, but doesn’t say much about the situation that hasn’t been said before. It’s an above-average drama by Netflix standards but not much more.

In 2010, Prince Andrew (Rufus Sewell) was photographed walking with Epstein (Colin Wells), who by then had pled guilty to a charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below age 18, in New York City. Prince Andrew and royal family staff tried to control the damage, mostly by waiting and hoping the situation would go away. It didn’t, especially after Epstein killed himself in prison in August 2019. That year, young BBC “Newsnight” guest producer Sam McAlister (Billie Piper) comes across the photo. The BBC had just made massive layoffs and was desperate for a big story that wasn’t about Brexit. McAlister contacts the photographer, and that leads to negotiations, mostly with Prince Andrew’s private secretary, Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes). McAlister and Thirsk strike up a working relationship. The BBC sees an interview with Prince Andrew as an opportunity to get the truth about his relationship with Epstein; Prince Andrew and his staff hope to clear his name. When Prince Andrew faces off with “Newsnight” host Emily Maitlis (Gillian Anderson), the results are a public-relations nightmare. Soon afterward, Prince Andrew stepped down from his royal duties, and the Queen removed his honorary military affiliations and royal charitable patronages in 2022. A lawsuit alleging Prince Andrew had sex with a girl younger than age 18 was settled out of court.

By far the most intriguing aspect of “Scoop” is the drama in the BBC newsroom, especially after the royal family agrees to the interview. BBC staffers are torn about how to approach the interview, mostly (and this is a theme in the movie) along male/female lines. Male producers want Maitlis to be relentlessly aggressive with Prince Andrew. But the women involved opt to give Prince Andrew more freedom to talk, sensing he would dig a hole he couldn’t get out of. And he does. “Scoop” frames much of its story as men against women, and the men don’t fare well, and not just Prince Andrew, who comes across as a socially clueless mommy’s boy. The staff of “Newsnight” is dominated by women, and McAlister faces what seems like an unusual amount of criticism from a male co-worker, Freddy (Jordan Kouamé). The performances are solid, but the filmmaking is of the standard issue variety. What makes “Scoop” worth a watch is seeing a fictionalized version of Prince Andrew, who thinks he is in control of the situation, unknowingly end his own career. But you can always cut to the chase if you like by watching the real thing play out in news footage online.

My score: 65 out of 100

“It’s Pat” (American; 1994; “comedy”; running time 1 hour, 18 minutes; directed by Adam Bernstein, written by Julia Sweeney, Jim Emerson and Stephen Hibbert, based on a “Saturday Night Live” character created by Sweeney; rated PG-13 for gender-related humor; in limited theaters Aug. 26, 1994, available on VOD services) feels like a mistake, like it was made and released as the result of a drunken bet between movie producers at some dive bar at 2 a.m. It’s such a misguided, ill-conceived and poorly executed one-note idea of an alleged comedy film that you wonder how it ever saw the light of day. And it barely did, released in just 33 theaters in three American cities before the plug was pulled after a box-office haul of about $60,000. And it somehow cost about $8 million to make (that’s about $17 million today). Painfully unfunny and dull, with a “protagonist” who somehow went from popular “Saturday Night Live” recurring character to a narcissistic jerk with little regard for others, “It’s Pat” beats its one joke (Is Pat a man or a woman?) to death, as if doing so would produce laughs. Or a laugh. As in just one. There are none to be found here.

Pat (Sweeney) is an androgynous person, and  you will be reminded of that 50 times or so in a mercifully short 78-minute movie. Pat lacks direction, bouncing from job to job because he/she/they is/are socially awkward, inappropriate and obnoxious. Pat meets Chris (Dave Foley), also androgynous, and they fall in love (I guess) but have a tumultuous relationship because Pat is such a self-centered a-hole. Meanwhile, a couple (Charles Rocket as Kyle and Julie Hayden) move into the apartment complex where Pat lives, and Kyle inexplicably becomes obsessed with Pat and determining his/her sex. And that’s about all there is to the story, with the rest of it loosely tied-together moments in which characters ask Pat about their sex and Pat making awkward gestures and sounds and then wriggling out of the situation, leaving everyone guessing because the movie would be over with anything closely resembling closure.

Nothing here qualifies as clever (or remotely funny), though the Kyle storyline is mildly interesting, at least compared to the rest of the script. Rocket plays Kyle, a proxy for the audience, almost cartoonishly, his character a man who himself does not understand why he is obsessing over Pat. The concept that someone could literally go mad from not being able to determine a person’s sex would have been funnier in a better movie; here, Rocket’s character produces a couple of mild chuckles (at least for me), including when Pat catches him wearing a Pat-like wig and glasses. The movie reaches many low points, like when Kyle sends a video of a drunken Pat performing karaoke to a show called “America’s Creepiest People,” androgyny apparently deemed creepy 30 years ago. Or when Kyle asks Pat, “Is that a banana in your pants or are you happy to see me,” and Pat, of course, pulls a banana out of his/her/their pants. “It’s Pat” was universally panned by critics, and it often is cited as one of the worst movies ever made. And it’s not so bad as to be ironically good; it’s just awful. Thirty years later, we’re all still wondering if Pat is male or female. Nope. No we’re not.

My score: 1 out of 100

“Monkey Man”

Genre: Action/thriller

Countries: Canada/United States

Directed by: Dev Patel

Written by: Patel, John Collee and Paul Angunawela

Starring: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma, Sikandar Kher, Adithi Kalkunte, Sobhita Dhulipala, Ashwini Kalsekar, Makarand Deshpande, Jatin Malik, Zakir Hussain 

Rated: R for sexual content, nudity, language throughout, drug use, strong bloody violence

Run time: 1 hour, 53 minutes

Release date: Made debut at South by Southwest Festival on March 11, 2024, in theaters April 5, 2024

Where I saw it: Republic Studio 10 Cinemas in Shelbyville, Ind., on a Saturday afternoon, $7, eight other people in the theater

What it’s about: A young Indian man known only as “Kid” (Patel) who wears a gorilla mask (taking inspiration from the Indian legend of Lord Hanuman) while participating in underground fighting infiltrates a private nightclub/brothel where the city of Yatana’s sinister elite hang out and seeks revenge on those who destroyed his life when he was a child.

What I liked about: “Monkey Man,” a labor of love and change of pace for Patel (“Slumdog Millionaire,” “Lion,” “The Green Knight”), is an unapologetically and relentlessly brutal action film that bites off more than it can chew (see below) but delivers on its often unfocused promise in a thrilling and satisfying final act in which it earns its comparisons to the “John Wick” franchise. Patel, making his directorial debut, proves he is a capable action hero to look out for (will sequels follow?), an actor versatile enough to convince during the dramatic parts who also possesses the physicality to dish out a vicious beating. Though the setup is slow and the story tries to cover a lot of ground, the Kid’s motivation (teased to throughout the film) comes into focus during the final act, the pacing settles down, and “Monkey Man” becomes a top-level revenge action movie with heart, purpose and much blood. … Most of the side characters are of the plot-driving variety, but Copley (as a slimy underground fighting promoter and ringside announcer) and Pitobash (as a gangster working at the brothel who is befriended by Kid) stand out in parts that add welcome humor. Sharma, as Alpha, the keeper of a local transgender community that rescues Kid during a police chase, adds warmth, helping Kid channel the hurt and anger he carries from his past. “Monkey Man” incorporates India’s trans community without being exploitive.

What I didn’t like about it: “Monkey Man” was besieged by production problems, and it shows. It’s a mess until the final act, with long periods of largely dull setup followed by flourishes of action. The fight scenes are exciting and well-staged but often difficult to comprehend. This (until the final 30 minutes) is one of the busiest movies I have ever seen, with imagery (some of it out of focus, some of it of the “shaky camera” variety) flying past at a dizzying pace. Like the story, the cinematography and editing try to do too much. … An understanding of Indian culture and sociopolitical/religious situation would undoubtedly help the audience comprehend what is going on, and I don’t possess much of that understanding. And I struggled to decipher the dialogue that is in English because of the thick Indian accents (some of the movie is subtitled).

Who it will appeal to: Those who like their action movie violence brutal and don’t mind waiting on it

My score: 74 out of 100

“When You Finish Saving the World” (American; 2022; indie dramedy; running time 1 hour, 28 minutes; written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg; rated R for language; made debut Jan. 20, 2022 at Sundance Film Festival, in theaters Jan. 20, 2023, available on VOD and streaming services, including Netflix) is the type of quirky indie movie that normally is right up my alley. You know the ones: a tad pretentious, slow, chatty, low on plot, high on mood, message and often unhappiness. Eisenberg’s directorial debut is all of those and, like a lot of films of its ilk, features characters that are unlikeable (they’re usually privileged intellectuals who think highly of themselves but are somehow flawed) but will be redeemed when all is said and done. Only here, there’s not a lot of redemption, at least not in an emotionally satisfying way. The characters who inhabit “When You Finish Saving the World” are insufferable at best. They’re annoying, then boring in a film that feels much longer than 88 minutes. Julianne Moore and Finn Wolfhard deliver performances that deserved a better movie, and the supporting cast is solid. But there’s not much here to suggest that general audiences (that is, the ones outside the arthouse crowd) will find it at all entertaining.

Moore is Evelyn, a 50-something married woman and political activist who founded and operates a shelter for abused women and their children in an undisclosed city in Indiana. Wolfhard is Ziggy Katz, a high-schooler who performs original indie folk rock for an international online audience that gives him upvotes and tips. Evelyn and her son have a contentious relationship; neither can understand the other’s world. Instead of working on their relationship, they go looking for proxies. Ziggy has a thing for schoolmate Lila (Alisha Boe), the kind of woke girl who can’t enjoy life for a second when there’s so much suffering going on in the world that she must raise awareness of. Evelyn takes an interest (and then too much of an interest) in a teen boy (Billy Bryk as Kyle) who is living at the shelter with his mother (Sara Anne as Becky). Ziggy wants his mother to teach him to be “political” so that he can impress Lila. Kyle wants his future to include working at his father’s auto repair shop, but Evelyn, because she looks down on blue collar types (and just about everyone else), wants “more” for Kyle and tries to coerce him into going to college. Both Ziggy and Evelyn cross all sorts of boundaries. Will Kyle and Lila put a stop to Ziggy’s and Evelyn’s awkward and creepy pursuits? And will Ziggy and Evelyn learn lessons that could better their relationship?

Moore and Wolfhard do what they can with abrasive characters that aren’t fully developed. Wolfhard’s Ziggy is self-absorbed (like many a teen) and too willing to bend his persona, whether it’s for his online audience or the girl he wants. Moore’s Evelyn is condescending, even to her co-workers and the shelter’s temporary residents. Both are unhappy, as is Evelyn’s husband/Ziggy’s father, Roger (Jay O. Sanders), who is barely present but full of snobbery when he is. Bryk’s Kyle is the good kid who doesn’t want to be like his father, and Evelyn is drawn to his kindness before she takes things too far, culminating with when she takes the boy to a fancy restaurant and then tells her husband she went out with a female co-worker. Boe’s Lila writes politically-tinged poetry, including a piece about the plight of those living on the sinking Marshall Islands, who certainly must be thankful that a high-schooler in Indiana is on their side. When Ziggy and Evelyn learn their lessons and vow to better understand each other, it’s too little, too late and too predictable. “When You Finish Saving the World” moves so slowly that I was stunned when I, after what felt like 90 minutes, checked to see how much of it was remaining and it was 24 minutes. A slog of a movie with despisable characters had better pay off in the end, and this one doesn’t.

My score: 31 out of 100

“Heart of the Hunter” (South African; 2024; crime drama/action thriller; running time 1 hour, 45 minutes; directed by Mandla Dube, written by Deon Meyer and Willem Grobler, based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Meyer; rated TV-MA for language, smoking, violence, suicide; available on Netflix on March 29, 2024) has much going for it but ultimately is disappointing because it relies so heavily on by-the-numbers action thriller construction and a by-the-clichés script. But that will matter little to fans of the genre, who ask only for tension and exciting action sequences. Dube’s film provides enough of that to satisfy those looking for a mindless diversion and little else.

Set in South Africa, Zuko Khoza (Bonko Khoza) is a retired black-ops assassin enjoying a simple by satisfying life with his girlfriend Malime (Masasa Mbangeni) and her young son Pakamile (Boleng Mogotsi). One day an unhealthy older man (Peter Butler as Johnny Klein) shows up at his door and – wouldn’t you just know it? – wants Zuko to get back into the killing game. Seems Johnny has some info on a corrupt presidential candidate (Sisanda Henna as Mtima) who has more than a little influence on the current presiding government. Zuko just wants to live in peace, but we know that’s not going to happen because otherwise we’d have a movie about a guy’s dull family life. Soon, Zuko is on the run, the hunter having become the hunted, chased by those working for the corrupt Presidential Intelligence Agency and its leader, Molebogeng (Connie Ferguson). Zuko gets help from an agent who has infiltrated the PIA (Nicole Fortuin as Naledi) and a grizzled, alcoholic, chain-smoking journalist Bressler (Deon Coetzee), among a lengthy list of side characters. This time it is, of course, personal, when the feds seize Zuko’s girlfriend and her boy. Can one man take down an entire corrupt government with his weapon of choice, a spear?

Here’s what “Heart of the Hunter” has going for it: 1) It’s South African, not American or British, and has a much more diverse cast than most action thrillers. It dabbles, too briefly, in the politics of apartheid, but that is limited to the evil Mtima delivering a short monologue about how it’s Blacks’ turn to benefit from corruption. The location also figures prominently when Zuko heads out of Cape Town and into the mountains and plains, and the scenery is gorgeous; 2) Women figure more prominently in the story than in a lot of action thrillers. In fact, the PIA is made up mostly of women. And Naledi will be the one who has Zuko’s back; 3) The camerawork and editing are aggressive without being a distraction. And the action sequences are well-staged, though many are difficult to see because the lighting is so dark. Now, the bad news. There’s little here you haven’t seen before, and because it sticks so closely to the action thriller manual, it’s all so predictable. Also, lines like, “I’m getting too old for this sh*t,” and “You don’t pay me enough for this sh*t,” and “Protocol? F*ck protocol!” suggest this could have been written by an A-I bot. And isn’t it a tad convenient when Zuko is riding a motorcycle into a government roadblock and a truck loaded with flammable tanks pulls into his path right in front of the government agents? One well-placed shot and boom! If you can forgive those sorts of laughable moments (and there are a few) and don’t mind if characters who are mere plot devices deliver clichés with straight faces and minimal effort, “Heart of the Hunter” will hold you over until Netflix releases another version of basically the same movie.

My score: 55 out of 100