Quick Take: Charlie's Angels (2019)

Director: Elizabeth Banks. Starring: Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, Ella Balinska, Elizabeth Banks, Patrick Stewart, Djimon Hounsou. Release: VOD.

Time for another reboot of Charlie's Angels, a concept that frankly wasn't all that great to begin with. At least the original show had some hot babes, and the McG movies from 2000/2003 had a spirited, energetic approach. This version has neither.

The plot is dull and overly familiar and the film often gets caught up in lengthly expositions. And what is the plot? Some barely memorable nonsense about a high tech weapon. We have twelve Mission: Impossible films about that, thank you very much.

The effects look cheap, the fightscenes are badly edited, and there isn't a single memorable set-piece. Generally the film just seems weirdly detached from its own mission. No one here seems to have much fun making this. Well, except for - surprise, surprise - the often surly Stewart! She's created a delightfully off-center character, with weird mannerism and a crooked smile. She seems to get the tone right. Even if everyone else around her doesn’t.

And finally, although I applaud giving the reigns of this franchise to a female director, resulting in less fetishizing of the lead characters' bodies, I could do without the crass man-hating tone that also runs throughout the film.

Quick Take: The Navigator (1924)

Directors: Donald Crisp, Buster Keaton. Starring: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire. Release: Blu-ray.

I know these are dark times. I also know it can sometimes be hard to pull yourself together and watch a black and white silent film from 1924.. But trust me on the this: You won't regret checking out The Navigator.

Buster Keaton plays a man who prematurely books a honeymoon cruise, only to end up adrift at sea on the ship with the very same girl who turned down his proposal. They're both spoiled and clueless rich folks, so they're in for quite an ordeal as they try to survive alone on the enormous boat.

I like the premise right off the bat. It seems ripe with opportunities, the kind of crazy antics and daredevil stunts Keaton is so famous for. And sure enough. Keaton find comedy everywhere. In everything from cooking breakfast, to finding a quiet place to sleep, to fixing a leak in the ship by breaking out a diving suit. The ship is attacked by cannibals (they're chased off using fireworks, since you ask), there's a sword fight, with a sword fish, and there are countless other inventive and amazing gags I won't spoil here.

This is not a laugh-out-loud kinda film, but the kind that generate a delightful non-stop chuckle from start to finish. The casual sight-gag humor is utterly delightful, and the elaborate stunt-action sequences impress even today. And best of all: It's all over in an hour! I guarantee you'll find it more delightful than any hour of almost any modern blockbuster.

Quick Take: A Bluebird in My Heart (2018)

Director: Jérémie Guez. Starring Roland Møller, Lola Le Lann, Veerle Baetens, Lubna Azabal. Release: US Blu-Ray from RLJ Entertainment.

An ex-con finds refuge in a motel run by a mother, with a young daughter and an incarcerated husband. The man tries to stay out of trouble, while dodging advances from the curious teenager, but trouble finds him anyway, when the girl is assaulted by a local drugdealer.

Coming across like a gentle European art house version of Taken, this Belgian movie has nothing new to add to the genre. However, the pensive tone is charming and the lean story comes across as heartfelt and honest, while Roland Møller’s tortured ex-con anchors the film with an impressive reserved and soulfull performance.

Those looking for bombastic heroics and intense danger will be sorely disappointed, but  watched in the right mindset this quiet, unambiguous movie may just works its magic. It even has a few scenes that are downright heartbreaking.

Quick Take: Spenser Confidential (2020)

Directed by Peter Berg. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Alan Arkin, Bokeem Woodbine, Iliza Shlesinger, Winston Duke and  Marc Maron. Release: Netflix.

Wildly uneven movie that wobbles between slapstick and ice-cold crime-drama, featuring both comedic vignettes and brutal machete murders. The unimaginative story fails to impress, as does the movie's intelligence which seems to lie somewhere between third-tier HBO show and dumb-as-a-doornail Michael Bay movie - closer to the latter, obviously.

Charisma-free Mark Wahlberg desperately wants to be as cool as Tom Cruise was in the (first) Jack Reacher movie, a feat unobtainable for the former underwear model, even on his best days, and this is NOT one of his best days. The inclusion of Alan Arkin in the cast may momentarily convince the casual viewer that this film has class, but the seasoned actor does absolutely nothing with the underwritten part, leaving Iliza Shlesinger to steal the whole show as the brash ex-girlfriend.

On the most basic level Peter Berg has managed to conjure up a serviceable Netflix filler film, but make no mistake about it, this doesn't need to exist on any level, no one needs to see it, and everyone involved could do better.