Showing posts with label Rock Bands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rock Bands. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

"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)



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)!

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

My Movie Picks & Pans for May 2025: "Another Simple Favor," "Becoming Led Zeppelin," "Holland," "A Family Affair" and a bit of a rant about Nicole Kidman.

[I review the movies "Another Simple Favor," "Becoming Led Zeppelin," "Holland" and "A Family Affair," with a bit of a rant about Nicole Kidman at the end]


Another Simple Favor (2025)


The sequel to "A Simple Favor, a 2018 movie about two friends - Emily Nelson and Stephanie Smothers - in which Emily goes missing and Stephanie does some sleuthing. This time there is a murder and Stephanie is back to sleuthing.

If you saw the first film, this one begins five years later. 

Emily (Blake Lively) is in jail (that happened in the first film) and Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) is now a true crime vlogger and has written a book about Emily and all that happened leading up to her imprisonment (if you didn't see the first film,you might be confused because there is not a lot of exposition about what happened in the first film.  And even if you did see the first film, it's been seven years between films so if you care, click on the link for my review above for a synopsis of the first movie). But then, Emily appears at Stephanie's book signing. Turns out, Emily has been released on appeal and is getting ready to marry Dante Versano (Michele Morrone), a wealthy Italian with mob connections.  She wants Stephanie to be her maid of honor at her wedding in Capri.  If you saw the first film, you might go "Huh?"  But basically Emily blackmails Stephanie into being in the wedding.

Arriving in Capri with her agent, Vicky (Alex Newell), Stephanie meets Dante and discovers that Emily's ex-husband, Sean (Henry Golding), and her son, Nicky (Ian Ho), are also there along with Emily's addled mother, Margaret (Elizabeth Perkins), her aunt, Linda (Allison Janney), and Dante's mother, Portia (Elena Sofia Ricci, who doesn't like Emily.  

And then Sean is murdered and Stephanie, suspecting that Emily may have something to do with it, puts on her sleuthing hat once again. However, then Stephanie becomes a suspect. Crazy twists and turns and surprises ensue, none of them very believable.

What I liked:

Blake Lively's clothes.  She wears the biggest hat you have ever seen in a movie.

The beautiful Capri landscapes (I have been there and it is indeed gorgeous).


What I didn't like:

Everything else.

It's an all-star cast with all of the characters engaging in snappy dialogue. Lively and Kendrick are good but not good enough to save this overlong film, snappy dialogue notwithstanding.  By the way, did I mention I don't like snappy dialogue?  I mean, who talks like that? And there are many "Huh?" moments.  Written by Darcey Bell, Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis and directed by Paul Feig, much of the film was not realistic and did not make sense. I like twists and turns but sometimes there can be too many that are obviously there to explain unrealistic stuff. C'mon, is it realistic to think that Stephanie would have anything to do with Emily after the first movie (again, you had to have seen that one)? I say no.

There is a hint at the end of the film that yet another sequel is in the offing.  Please...I say no again.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you didn't see the first film, this one might confuse you. Should you go back and see the first film so this one makes more sense? Not really. See the first one to see the first one because I liked that one. But you can skip this one. (Amazon Prime)



Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)



How the rock band Led Zeppelin came to be.    

The title of this documentary is literal.  It's all about "becoming." The film does not go beyond the early journeys of Jimmy PageJohn Paul JonesJohn Bonham and Robert Plant to their place in rock history. It covers their childhoods in post-war Britain, a time of hardship, when British kids discovered American music; their meeting in the summer of 1968; and meteoric ascendancy culminating in their breakthrough second album and first U.S. tour in 1970 when they become the No. 1 band in the world. 

As a kid, Jimmy Page was obsessed with his guitar. John Paul Jones' parents were both entertainers, his mother a singer and his dad, a comedian. Bonham was married and Plant was basically homeless as he tried to make his way as a singer.  Jones and Page were friends and both were session musicians with successful careers and both played on Shirley Bassey's recording of "Goldfinger" and John Paul Jones did the arrangement for the hit song "To Sir, With Love." 

So you have two established session players, a homeless singer and a drummer whose wife was going to kill him if he took a chance on an unknown band. Page had already been in the Yardbirds band and was trying to keep that band going but when the four played together, he realized they were going to be something totally different from a New Yardbirds. Critics didn't like their first album because you couldn't really sing along with their songs or dance to their music and it took awhile to win over audiences.  There is some amazing footage of one of their first performances where the audience seems confused.  Some members are digging it; some have their hands over their ears. There are all kinds of little "ah-ha" tidbits and moments like that in this fascinating film. 

The surviving band members all tell their own stories with the late Bonham, who died in 1980 and gave few interviews when he was alive, represented by a never-before-heard audio interview. The film written by Bernard MacMahon and Allison McGourty and directed by MacMahon features full, never-before-seen footage of the band's early American and British concerts and unseen material from the band's personal archives. This is not a gossipy behind the scenes tell-all.  It's an authorized documentary that the guys are all in on, and it's all about the music (there is lots and lots of music) with the band members sharing their musical influences, how they wrote their songs, instrumentation decisions etc.

I am reviewing this completely from the perspective of someone who did not know that much about Led Zeppelin.  Somehow, as a young girl and a die-hard Beatles fan, I missed them.  The hardest rock I liked was the Rolling Stones, but when I met Hubby, who was a fan, I learned about them and after seeing this wonderful documentary, I learned even more. Now I am also a fan. I just wish I could sing along with their songs!

Rosy the Reviewer says...a must for rock and roll enthusiasts and especially for Led Zeppelin fans. (Amazon Prime)



Holland (2025)

When teacher Nancy Vandergroot discovers a secret, her picture-perfect life in Holland, Michigan is upended.

It's 2000 and Nancy Vandergroot (Nicole Kidman) is a teacher in the small Midwestern town of Holland, Michigan.  She lives a stereotypical middle-class existence with her husband Fred (Matthew Macfadyen), an optometrist, and 13-year-old son Harry (Jude Hill).  But due to frequent absences, Nancy begins to suspect that perhaps Fred is having an affair and living a double life. 

She confides in Dave (Gael Garcia Bernal), a fellow teacher, and he helps Nancy find out what Fred has been doing. Romantic feelings ironically develop between Nancy and Dave, and what Nancy and Dave discover about Fred doesn't have anything to do with romance but, yes, he has a double life and it's something much more sinister than an affair. Oh, the secrets that abound in little midwestern towns like Holland, Michigan.

I was drawn to this film because I actually grew up only 30 miles from Holland, Michigan. Holland is a relatively small town with a, you guessed it, Dutch theme complete with a tulip festival where everyone dresses up in Dutch costumes.  I visited there many times. But in general, it's a typical midwestern little town with the usual midwestern values. I chuckled at the Michigan accents which were spot on and Fred even had a huge model train set which my Dad also had. 

Written by Andrew Sodroski and directed by Mimi Cave, the film tries to be a satire about the secrets behind the pleasant facade of small town life and how people try to hide from reality behind costumes and a make-believe world, but sadly despite what is supposed to be a sinister mystery with twists and turns, nothing much happens and Nicole, Matthew and Gael don't have much to do. It could have used some dark humor.  Where are the Coen Brothers, when you need them? 

Rosy the Reviewer says...probably one of the most odd little movies I have seen in a long time. I would love to have heard the pitch that got this thing made. (Amazon Prime)



Older-woman, younger man...yada, yada, yada.

Chris Cole (Zac Efron) is a self-absorbed actor who meets the much older, Brooke (Nicole Kidman), a widowed author.  Her daughter, Zara (Joey King), had been Chris's personal assistant and he has come over to her house to apologize for mistreating her. He is actually a rather arrogant, dim, creep.  She quit because of it. Zara isn't home.  She is out running errands and... what?  By the time she gets home, Chris and Brooke are having sex. Chris may be an arrogant, dim, creep but he's a hot arrogant, dim, creep. 

Zara catches them and is appalled (so was I). Chris promises Zara it won't happen again, and he lures Zara back to work by offering her a position as an associate producer. He then invites Brooke to dinner, and guess what happens again?  Yep!

Written by Carrie Solomon and directed by Richard LaGravenese, the film has the usual ups and downs of a May/December rom com except not very much rom and not very much com, despite the daughter trying to break Chris and Brooke up. And there isn't enough drama for it to be a drama, either. Sadly, despite the presence of Nicole and Zac, the characters aren't likeable, the film isn't particularly hot or interesting nor does it add anything new to the older woman/younger man genre.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Older-woman, younger man...yada, yada, yada. (Netflix)


Okay, here is the rant I promised...


What is the deal with Nicole Kidman?  

So, "A Family Affair (reviewed above) is yet another older woman/younger man movie starring Nicole Kidman. Can't she do any movies where she is not a repressed woman who needs to have sex with younger men to feel alive?  I recently reviewed "Babygirl," and I thought the movie was so cringey that, despite Nicole's usual all-in performance, I concluded it was the movie that was the reason she was overlooked for an Oscar nomination. It was bad.  And that's not the only repressed older woman/younger man themed movie or TV series that she has starred in recently. In addition to "A Family Affair" and "Babygirl," there was also "The Perfect Couple," all within the last two years! And I could add "Holland (see above).  It's not older woman/young man but she once again plays a repressed woman.  

Now I am not against older women and younger men getting together.  I like younger men myself.  And she is certainly not the only older actress in movies like that but the problem for Nicole is that those older woman with a younger man kinds of roles are becoming a cliche with her, and worse, the movies haven't been that good. I hated "Babygirl" and neither "A Family Affair" or "The Perfect Couple" were stand outs. Maybe she realized she was playing the same roles over and over and that's how she ended up in that strange little film, "Holland."

Now don't get me wrong. I really like Nicole and have been a fan for years. Nicole is a nice looking woman but she is 57 years old. That's like 100 in Hollywood years, so I guess that could explain her acting choices.  I know it's not easy for a woman of a certain age in Hollywood, even if she is still beautiful, but she has been in three movies with that theme in the last two years. And I am not alone pointing this out.  She is becoming known as The Queen of the Age Gap Movies.  

But maybe this rant isn't really all about Nicole.  Maybe it's a rant about how actresses of a certain age are treated in the film industry, forcing them to perhaps make career choices they might not otherwise make.  At any rate, I just want Nicole to make films worthy of her talent.

Rant over.


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)!