"The Pickup," "Death of a Unicorn," "The Woman in the Yard" and "Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me:" My Movie Picks and Pans for August 2025

[I review "The Pickup," the new Eddie Murphy-Pete Davidson buddy movie as well as two horror films and a documentary - "Death of a Unicorn," "The Woman in the Yard" and "Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me," a documentary about a rock band you might not know about]

The Pickup (2025)

Two mismatched armored car drivers find themselves in a heist situation.

I have always been a big Eddie Murphy fan ever since he was on SNL. He created some of the funniest characters of all time. But is it me?  Do comedians get less funny as they get older?  I noticed it with Richard Pryor, Chevy Chase and others. It seems as they age like they start to take themselves too seriously and suddenly aren't funny anymore. I think that has happened to Eddie.

Russell Pierce (Murphy), a veteran armored car driver close to retirement, and Travis Stolly (Pete Davidson), a rookie who aspires to be a police officer, team up for the first time on duty. It's Russell's 25th Wedding Anniversary and he needs to get home to take his wife, Natalie (Eva Longoria), out for dinner and surprise her with the ring he had reset for her, so he is not happy that they have a particularly long day of pickups. And he is really unhappy when young criminal mastermind Zoe (Keke Palmer) and her cohorts, Banner (Jack Kesy) and Miguel (Ismael Cruz Cordova), ambush them. 

After an intense car chase with cars blowing up and money containing dye thrown all over the place, Zoe manages to hijack the armored car. Travis recognizes Zoe because...wait for it. Wouldn't you know? Travis and Zoe had "met cute" the day before and had a one-night-stand where he had just coincidentally told her everything about his work including his schedule and the route he was going to take. Assuming that Banner and Miguel are dead after both of their vehicles have violently crashed, Zoe reveals that it's not the money in the truck that she wants, it's the armored truck itself because her plan is to use it for a pickup of $60 million from an Atlantic City casino, and she wants Russell and Travis to help her. Since she has a gun on them, they figure they don't have much choice.

However, Banner and Miguel survive and now they are mad that Zoe has abandoned them so they are on the hunt for Zoe, Russell and Travis. In the meantime, Zoe reveals her real reason for wanting to rob the casino and Russell's wife, Natalie, has tracked them down, because, hey, it's her 25th Wedding Anniversary and she wants to know where the heck Russell is.  Now she is also involved but why she is even in this movie is a mystery. Eva must have needed the work.

More car chases, more shenanigans, more I don't care anymore.

Written by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider and directed by Tim Story, this is the #3 most popular movie on Netflix right now, so I guess Eddie Murphy can still pull an audience but, like I said, sadly he just isn't funny anymore, nor is this movie. Eddie used to have the funniest facial reactions and doesn't even do that here for a cheap laugh. Pete does Pete, that Chad character he created on SNL, but the relationship between Eddie and Pete just didn't work. This is supposed to be a "buddy movie" but these guys have zero buddy chemistry. And I have never been a Keke Palmer fan. She always tries too hard to be perky, but at least here she has toned it down so I didn't mind her as much. And Andrew Dice Clay as the armored truck company boss was unrecognizable. He used to be funny too. 

I think this movie was supposed to be fun, but it wasn't. Even the car crashes weren't fun. They were over-the-top and unrealistic. How many car crashes in slow motion do we have to see?  

Rosy the Reviewer says...predictable and dumb. Cliche after cliche after cliche. I felt used. I liked Eddie better when he was funny.  (Amazon Prime)

Death of a Unicorn (2025)

While on his way to a weekend retreat at his boss's house with his daughter, a man who works for a pharmaceutical company kills a unicorn which leads to mayhem.

I like the occasional horror film, but for some reason this month I have been drawn to them.  Maybe it's because pretend horror takes my mind off the real life horror of world events. And I am not alone. It's actually been documented that in times of economic and political upheaval, more people are drawn to horror films. 

Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his teenage daughter, Ridley (Jenna Ortega), are travelling through the Canadian Rockies on their way for a weekend at the estate of Elliot's boss, Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant) and his family- his wife Belinda (Tea Leoni) and son, Shepard (Will Poulter). Elliot is up for a promotion in Odell's pharmaceutical company. Odell is suffering from cancer. 

On the way, Elliot accidentally strikes and injures a unicorn with his car. Okay, I know. Unicorns don't really exist.  Suspend your disbelief.

When Elliot and Ridley inspect the unicorn, Ridley touches its horn and is cosmically transported until Elliot bashes it with a tire iron, splashing them both with blood.  They stash the unicorn in the trunk and head to the Leopolds' estate. Elliott plans to bury the unicorn after everyone is asleep.  Ooo---kay. Not sure that's a good plan. But then something really strange happens. Ridley discovers that her acne is gone and Elliot's vision suddenly improves and so do his allergies. It looks like unicorns have healing powers.

After arriving at the Leopolds' estate, they all discover that the unicorn wasn't dead. They shoot it but when Odell learns that the unicorn has healing powers, he brings in a bunch of scientists who grate pieces of the unicorn's horn off.  Odell ingests it and suddenly Odell's cancer is gone. Still with me?

Gee, Odell runs a pharmaceutical company.  I wonder what his plans are for the unicorn. Yes, he plans to exploit it.  In the meantime, Ridley remembers seeing the famous Unicorn Tapestries and gets the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Ya think? Well, she's right. Turns out, there is more than one unicorn, and they don't like that their friend is being taken off to be experimented on. All hell breaks loose.

Written and directed by Alex Scharfman, this is one of those "what if" stories.  What if unicorns are real and have curative powers and also get violent when Big Pharma tries to exploit them? 

All of the characters in this are larger than life which is sometimes fun but here could be interpreted as over-acting. There is lots of guts and gore (there is a fun homage to "Alien"), but is this film really a horror film?  It wants to be, but since it's so over-the-top, it's not really scary. It's more of a cartoon. Yes, it is funny at times, makes fun of rich people and it's a statement about the greed of Big Pharma, but I'm not sure the presentation really makes that hit home. Though the film has some originality and may have meant well, it has a one note premise: unicorns gone wild, and it went on way too long with a very strange ending. When the police arrived, I couldn't help but wonder, how do you tell the police, "Unicorns did it?"

I like Paul Rudd. He does "dufus" really well. Jenna Ortega is everywhere these days and Poulter has made a name for himself playing bullies (he does it again here) but redeemed himself in his recent stint on "The Bear." Leoni and Grant are veteran actors but despite all of this star power, it wasn't enough to save this movie. I liked the idea of unicorns running wild in a horror film and there were some fun moments, but not enough for me to recommend this movie. 

Rosy the Reviewer says...much as I sometimes like to watch horror films to take my mind off real life horror, sadly, this movie just reminded me that I don't like silly, over-the-top horror. But if that's your jam, you might like it. (HBO Max)

The Woman in the Yard (2025)

What would you do if a mysterious woman clad in black appeared sitting in your yard and she wouldn't leave?  Call the police?

Well, that's not what Ramona (Danielle Deadwyler) did. She should have.  Ramona is a widowed mother living on an isolated farm.  She was in a car accident that killed her husband. She is grieving, hobbling around on crutches, and not doing well, distancing herself from her two children, Taylor (Peyton Jackson) and Annie (Estella Kahiha).  

Suddenly, a woman all in black appears sitting in their front yard and says  "Today's the day."  There are repeated attempts to get the woman to leave by both Ramona and Taylor but the woman remains, and in fact, appears to be moving closer and closer to the house. Then the cell service and power goes out and Charlie, the dog, goes missing.

Turns out there is more to the car accident than Ramona has revealed.

Not sure if it's Deadwyler, the screenplay by Sam Stefanak, or Jaume Collet-Serra's direction, but Ramona was not a sympathetic character. Yes, she is a grieving widow but she is actually a pain in the butt to her kids and to the audience watching this film.  She is useless.  As she hobbles from her bedroom down the stairs, I couldn't help but say to myself, "Why doesn't she sleep downstairs?" And why is the crashed car sitting on the property? I rolled my eyes more than once, and finally said out loud to the TV, "What the Hell?"  If Deadwyler had generated a bit more warmth or smarts, I might have cared, but I didn't. It doesn't take much to figure out what the woman in the yard represents but even figuring that out, I still didn't care.

I was hopeful going into this film.  I usually like Blumhouse horror films, but I can't say this film was actually a horror film.  It was more of a psychological look at grief and guilt with a few gotcha moments, but even so, not that well done.  And I am not a fan of an ambiguous ending that makes me go "Huh?"

Rosy the Reviewer says...when it comes to horror, I have been a big fan of Blumhouse productions but they have their ups and downs and this one was definitely a down. Not recommended. (Peacock)

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (2012)

A rock documentary about the rock band, Big Star, that received critical acclaim but commercial failure though today it is a success as a cult band phenomenon.

Remember The Box Tops and the song "The Letter?"  Alex Chilton was the lead singer for The Box Tops and was only 16 when he recorded that song.  He had huge success at a young age and later formed the band Big Star with Chris Bell.  This documentary tells the story of what happened to Chilton and Bell as they starred in the most famous band you have never heard of. 

Founded in 1971 in Memphis, the band found a home at Ardent Studios, noted for its connection to Stax Records (Sam and Dave, Led Zeppelin and Isaac Hayes recorded there). Their albums were critically acclaimed but a series of events caused distribution issues, and despite their getting credit for influencing other bands like R.E.M. and Cheap Trick, they never really had success until much later, when they had a cult following in the 90's. Their song "In the Street" was the theme for "That '70s Show," though it was performed by Cheap Trick.  

Written by Drew DeNicola and directed by DeNicola and Olivia Mori, the film uses archival materials and all kinds of talking heads to track the history of Chilton, Bell and Big Star, but the talking heads are people you will probably not recognize nor are they routinely identified, and that's the problem with this movie. It is never clear who is talking and what their connection to Big Star was. 

The story of Big Star is an intriguing one but the film goes on too long with too many people talking and conjecturing with little actual footage of the band performing and the film doesn't really manage to make a point about why Big Star didn't make it big. There are hints at drug and alcohol use that contributed to Chilton and Bell never really finding their niches, but there is never enough information to understand what really happened and why they didn't become big stars during their lifetimes.  Both died young - Bell is in the "27 Club" and Chilton died at 59.

Big Star was clearly a band ahead of it's time with an interesting story, and I am glad it is getting some props. However, even though I am a big fan of music documentaries, this film just did not come together for me.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are/were a fan of Big Star or are a rock documentary nerd, you might enjoy this, but otherwise, not recommended. (HBO Max).

See You Next Time!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, X, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer where I share short reviews about TV shows I am watching, books I am reading and all sorts of other fun stuff that doesn't appear here!

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critics Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

When There Is Nothing Playing At The Movie Theatres That Makes You Want To Leave Home: Some Good Movies You Can Watch in Your PJ's! Part 2

[I review "A Man Called Otto," "Murder Mystery 2," and "M3gan"]

My local theatre has still not been able to lure me back, so here I am in Part 2 of sitting home in my PJ's with a glass of wine enjoying some good movies.  Join me?

A Man Called Otto (2022)

A grieving widower just wants to end it all but something always happens to interrupt his suicide attempts.

Based on the 2012 novel "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman, this is a remake of the 2015 Swedish dramedy made from that book.  I am usually against remakes of perfectly good foreign language films but since I didn't see that film, I am going to pretend this isn't a remake because FINALLY a movie I really loved!

Otto Anderson (Tom Hanks) is a 63 year-old widower living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Otto is not a happy man. He has not taken the death of his school teacher wife well.  In fact, he plans to commit suicide.  But Otto is also a control freak, and one of his roles in life is keeping order in his housing project, telling people off, making sure his neighbors are doing what they are supposed to do and that people don't drive down the private street in his complex, so these concerns keep interrupting his attempts to end his life.

Through a series of flashbacks, we meet the young Otto, played by Hanks' real life son, Truman. We witness his courtship of his wife, Sonya (Rachel Keller), see their lives together and get glimpses into why Otto is the way he is.

Speaking of neighbors, during a suicide attempt, Otto is interrupted by his new neighbors: Marisol (Mariana Trevino), Tommy (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo), and their two daughters, Abbie (Alessandra Perez) and Luna (Christiana Montoya). In fact, despite his gruffness and unfriendly demeanor, Marisol worms her way into Otto's life, asking for his help babysitting the children when her husband needs to go to the hospital and helping her learn to drive, all once again interrupting his attempts to kill himself. 

Likewise, other events happen to keep Otto alive.

Planning to kill himself by jumping in front of a train, Otto saves an old man who falls onto the tracks right before him. It goes viral and Otto is a hero.  Likewise, despite Otto's desire to die and his innate grumpiness, he has a soft spot for his neighbor, Reuben (Peter Lawson Jones), who had a stroke and is cared for by his wife, Anita (Juanita Jennings). A real estate company is trying to swindle them out of their home and Otto goes to bat for them. Otto also takes in Malcolm, a transgender youth, who was one of Sonia's students and whose parents have kicked them out of their home.

Slowly but surely, though Otto wants to die, he learns to live.

Many Brits consider Judi Dench a "National Treasure." I propose that Tom Hanks be given that moniker here in the U.S.  From his beginnings on TV as a guy pretending to be a woman so he could live in a women's only apartment complex ("Bosom Buddies") to his Oscars for "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump" to his AFI Life Achievement Award, Tom has proven himself to be one of our foremost actors and this performance is the cherry on top. I am shocked that it didn't give him an Oscar nod or that this film did not get any nominations.  It's one of the few films I actually liked this year and the acting ensemble is first rate with special kudos to Mariana Trevino.

With a screenplay by David Magee (based on the book by Backman and the screenplay by Hannes Holm from the 2015 film) and directed by Marc Forster, this is a sentimental, sometimes heart-wrenching story of finding meaning in life after tragedy.

Rosy the Reviewer says...finally, a movie I am not going to complain about.  In fact, I loved it.  You will too.  And I proclaim Tom Hanks a National Treasure! (on DVD and for rent on Amazon Prime and Apple+)

Murder Mystery 2 (2023)

Audrey (Jennifer Aniston) and Nick Spitz (Adam Sandler) are back but now they have started a detective agency but working together has taken a toll on their marriage.

This is the follow-up to "Murder Mystery," which premiered on Netflix in 2019.  I guess it was very popular, because here we are again for the sequel. I guess despite my verdict about it (that it was fun but you probably wouldn't remember it a few days later), someone did remember it and deemed it sequel worthy. I actually didn't remember it and had to read my review of the first one to remind myself.  I won't go into my usual rant about sequels (I don't like them), but this is timely since Sandler just won the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Award for American Humor and was roasted and raved about recently during the ceremony broadcast on CNN. And it's a fun movie.

So as a recap, in the first "Murder Mystery," we met Nick and Audrey Spitz.  He was a New York cop and she was a hairdresser and on a European vacation they got involved in a murder on a yacht and actually became suspects and had to solve the murder to save themselves. 

This time around Audrey and Nick have started their own detective agency and you know how working together can be for married couples..sometimes it doesn't promote togetherness.  Let's just say the two have a lively marriage with lots of bickering. Think Nick and Nora Charles from "The Thin Man," except less sophisticated banter, but I guess nothing brings two people together like solving a murder together.  And that's what happens.

Their friend, Vikram ‘The Maharajah’ Govindan (Adeel Akhtar), invites them to attend his wedding on his private island, all expenses paid, which the pair accept. Enter the soon-to-be usual suspects: Vik’s French fiancé Claudette Joubert (Melanie Laurent), his  business partner Francisco Perez (Enrique Arce), his former fiancé Countess Sekou (Jodie Turner-Smith), her lady-in-waiting Imani (Zurin Villanueva), Vik's sister Saira (Kuhoo Verma) and Colonel Ulenga (John Kani), minus his left arm courtesy of saving Vik from an assassination attempt.

At Vik and Claudette's reception, Vik makes a grand entrance on an elephant except it's not Vik, it's his bodyguard, Lou (Larry Myo Leong).  Lou has been stabbed and Vik has been kidnapped and the kidnappers want $70 million.  Enter hostage negotiator Connor Miller (Mark Strong) who doesn't think much of Nick and Audrey, and during a botched exchange of money with the kidnappers and more people dying, Nick and Audrey realize they are being framed once again and must solve the mystery to absolve themselves, the same thing that happened the first time around!

Written by James Vanderbilt and directed by Jeremy Garelick, there are lots of twists and turns, car chases, an out of control helicopter and Audrey hanging from the Eiffel Tower in what looks to be an homage to "True Lies" and an ending in true Agatha Christie style with all of the suspects in one room being interrogated by Nick and Audrey and the true killer and kidnapper unmasked.

Jennifer has perfected the twitchy, nervous character she inhabited for "Friends" and, Adam Sandler, well he has always been Adam Sandler from Stud Boy on the MTV game show "Remote Control" to SNL to feature comedy films like "Billy Madison" and "Waterboy," though now, in his maturity, he has shown his ability to take on drama ("Uncut Gems"). So if you are an Adam Sandler fan, he delivers his usual schtick, though toned down a bit and Anniston is at her fluttery best.

So when all is said and done, as we expect (so this is not a spoiler!), the mystery gets solved and their relationship is repaired. In fact, Nick has a romantic surprise for Audrey.  He takes her to Paris's Love Lock Bridge and they hang up their lock and then they are off to a "honeymoon" in Greece via helicopter.  But, uh oh, wouldn't you know, the pilot turns out to be a bad guy and we are all set up for "Murder Mystery 3!"

(By the way, this wouldn't be Rosy the Reviewer without a personal side note so here it is: Hubby and I also went to the Love Lock Bridge in Paris and left our lock there!  I'm just saying... but glad we didn't have to solve a murder to get there).

Rosy the Reviewer says...Anniston and Sandler deliver their usual schtick helped by some exotic locations and the occasional laugh. It's not "Citizen Kane," but do we really expect that when we watch an Adam Sandler movie? Yes, it's silly but maybe it's just the kind of diversion we need in this world of school shootings and government unrest and if you are an Aniston and/or Sandler fan, you will enjoy this. (Netflix)

M3gan (2022)

A robotic doll takes on a life of its own (as they do).

Yes, I enjoy the occasional horror film.  In my mind, there are two kinds of horror films - the really gory, bloody, scary ones like "Hostel" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and then there are the ones that aren't meant to be particularly scary or bloody and are actually kind of fun and funny like "Shaun of the Dead" and "Happy Death Day."   

This story of a life-size robot looking after a little girl falls into the latter category. 

Little Cady's (Violet McGraw) parents were killed in a car accident and she is now being cared for by her not particularly maternal Aunt Gemma (Allison Williams), who just happens to be a busy robotics engineer.  Her toy company, Funki, makes Perpetual Pets, AI toys, and her boss is pressuring her to come up with a toy that is cheaper than the competition, but she has been secretly working on her own project - a robot that can bond with its human owner.  Because Cady is still grieving, Gemma creates M3gan, a Model 3 Regenerative Android with a Titanium core and gives her to Cady. M3gan can do everything from telling Cady a bedtime story to reminding her to flush the toilet.  She even can sing "Titanium!"   

But wouldn't you know...M3gan decides she not only needs to play with Cady and remind her to flush the toilet, but also become her protector. And who wouldn't want a robot friend to look after you and do your dirty work? But then as time goes by M3gan takes it a bit too far. Those who threaten Cady must be taken care of.

• Hostile neighbor - check.
• Hostile neighbor's vicious dog - check (warning for dog lovers.  Possible triggering)
• A bully that hurts Cady - check

But despite some graphic ear pulling and all hell breaking loose in the last half hour, you will chuckle. This is one of those fun horror films.

With a story by James Wan, a screenplay by Akela Cooper and direction by Gerard Johnstone, this is a sort of modern day "Frankenstein," all about creating a monster and what can go wrong when technology runs amok.  One could argue, it already has. The monsters have already been created.

This is a timely story especially with the advent of AI's latest invention - ChatGPT - which can write essays and make art and even take your MCAT for you and get you into medical school.  Pretty soon we won't be able to tell the real from the AI. But this is also a cautionary tale about being a lazy parent.  Let a robot take over parenting duties and you get what you deserve.

This is a Blumhouse (Jason Blum) production.  Blumhouse has practically taken over the horror film genre but that's a good thing because Blumhouse can be counted on to dish up everything from scary, gory, bloody to scary, gory funny to just plain funny and sort of scary.

Side note: Though M3gan is played by Amie Donald (voice by Jenna Davis), I couldn't help but think that M3gan looked uncannily like Chloe Grace Moretz.  Sorry, sometimes my mind goes off in tangents! 

Rosy the Reviewer says...revenge is a dish best served cold and our little M3gan serves her revenge cold as ice but believe it or not the film is actually heart-warming. (on DVD and for rent on Amazon Prime and Apple+)

Thanks for reading!

See you next time!

If you enjoyed this post, feel free to like it and share it on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites; email it to your friends and/or follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/rosythereviewer 

And next time you are wondering whether or not to watch a particular film, check out my reviews on IMDB (The International Movie Database). Go to IMDB.com, find the movie you are interested in.  Scroll over to the right of the synopsis to where it says "Critic Reviews" - Click on that and if I have reviewed that film, you will find Rosy the Reviewer alphabetically on the list (NOTE:  IMDB keeps moving stuff around so if you don't find "Critics Reviews" where I am sending you, look around.  It's worth it)!

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