The new movie "The Friend" has a very simple logline. An older man, Walter, played by Bill Murray, decides to commit suicide and leave his Great Dane, named Apollo, with a friend Iris, played by Naomi Watts. What follows in this story is the grief that Iris experiences after losing a close friend, the many difficulties in trying to take care of a giant dog, and her landlord's constant reminders that dogs are not allowed in her rent-controlled apartment.
This movie is filmed entirely in New York City, following Iris continuing with her professional and personal life despite the many challenges she suddenly faces after her friend dies, coping with both grief and anger. There are more flashback scenes with Bill Murray towards the end of this film, that show the depth fo this friendship between Ira and Watler.
Most of the good moments of this story are about the personality and likability of the dog when he demonstrates a high level of intelligence including several moments of sadness in his eyes, after Walter dies early in the film. From ChatGPT: "Great Danes are considered a giant breed, and unfortunately, larger dogs tend to have shorter lifespans compared to smaller breeds. Some of the most common health issues that can affect their longevity include: Bone Cancer, Heart Disease, Hip Dysplasia and Gastric Torsion."
I thought the ending was well done, with Iris struggling to find a solution to the landlord forcing her to get rid of the dog that she has grown to love.
The Rotten Tomatoes rating for The Friend is a very high 86% with my rating around 80% with an overall running time that could have been shorter, due to the very simple story.
Movie Reviews From a Screenwriter
Movie Reviews and Opinions From a Screenwriter's Perspective
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Sunday, March 30, 2025
Movie Review: October 8
The October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by Hamas are the worst attacks on Jewish people since the Holocaust. What happened on October 7th included: Mass Shootings, Rocket attacks, Kidnappings and executions, Arson and explosives, and even torture and beheadings. Over 1100 people were killed and 250 were kidnapped.
The new documentary "October 8" is about the day after these horrendous terrorist attacks and the unbelievable backlash, not against Hamas, but against Isreal within Ivy League colleges, including MIT, Harvard, Columbia, and Yale. The level of hostility towards Israel which suffered a terrorist attack where over 1100 people were murdered was an unexpected after-effect showing the high level of antisemitic hatred among the most intelligent, wealthy, and privileged college students in the United States. This entire documentary attempts to uncover the reasons for this hatred and hostility and at the end of these two hours, no answers to this insane backlash that is still ongoing was satisfactorily explained.
Two well-known actors, Debra Messing and Michael Rapaport are the only two members of the movie industry who actively supported Israel during the time after the Hamas attacks - another insane fact about October 7th that makes no sense. Other celebrities including Sheryl Sandberg, Bari Weiss Kirsten Gillibrand and Scott Galloway also have cameos throughout this film. All of them try to make sense of the hostility towards Israel without any satisfying answers.
I mostly agree with the 79% middle-of-the-road ratings for this film on Rotten Tomatoes, and I am surprised at the very low 5.1 IMDB ratings, given its importance to history. I give this film a moderate recommendation.
The new documentary "October 8" is about the day after these horrendous terrorist attacks and the unbelievable backlash, not against Hamas, but against Isreal within Ivy League colleges, including MIT, Harvard, Columbia, and Yale. The level of hostility towards Israel which suffered a terrorist attack where over 1100 people were murdered was an unexpected after-effect showing the high level of antisemitic hatred among the most intelligent, wealthy, and privileged college students in the United States. This entire documentary attempts to uncover the reasons for this hatred and hostility and at the end of these two hours, no answers to this insane backlash that is still ongoing was satisfactorily explained.
Two well-known actors, Debra Messing and Michael Rapaport are the only two members of the movie industry who actively supported Israel during the time after the Hamas attacks - another insane fact about October 7th that makes no sense. Other celebrities including Sheryl Sandberg, Bari Weiss Kirsten Gillibrand and Scott Galloway also have cameos throughout this film. All of them try to make sense of the hostility towards Israel without any satisfying answers.
I mostly agree with the 79% middle-of-the-road ratings for this film on Rotten Tomatoes, and I am surprised at the very low 5.1 IMDB ratings, given its importance to history. I give this film a moderate recommendation.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Movie Review: Working Man
The new movie "A Working Man" has many similarities to the great Liam Neeson movie "Taken" from 2008. The entire screenplay plays like Taken with one man taking on significant gangs of criminals, in this case, three different gangs, corrupt police, a young woman kidnapped into a human trafficking ring, and a dramatic ending with Levon Cade, played by Jason Statham finding the young woman named Carla, played by Noemi Gonzalez also very similar to the ending of Taken.
The attempts to make this movie different than Taken, with Levon Cade an employee of a family of a construction company to find their kidnapped daughter are not enough to erase constant reminders of Taken throughout this two-hour movie. A Working Man was written by Sylvester Stallone, David Ayer, and Chuck Dixon making it more unusual that with three writers nobody could think of enough new ideas to turn what could have been a much better new story idea, into an obvious clone of Taken.
The acting in this film is good, with David Harbour and Michael Peña and the action scenes are what anyone would expect with a Jason Statham movie. The ending has a major flaw with about 20 bikers running into a bar trying to kill Cade, and later they are nowhere to be found, with Cade fighting the lead biker at the end. As with all movies like this one, when there are multiple people shooting guns and machine guns against one other person, there is no way one person would survive with that many bullets. But this is a movie, not real life.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 53% are accurate and I do not recommend this movie, that did not try to be more original.
The attempts to make this movie different than Taken, with Levon Cade an employee of a family of a construction company to find their kidnapped daughter are not enough to erase constant reminders of Taken throughout this two-hour movie. A Working Man was written by Sylvester Stallone, David Ayer, and Chuck Dixon making it more unusual that with three writers nobody could think of enough new ideas to turn what could have been a much better new story idea, into an obvious clone of Taken.
The acting in this film is good, with David Harbour and Michael Peña and the action scenes are what anyone would expect with a Jason Statham movie. The ending has a major flaw with about 20 bikers running into a bar trying to kill Cade, and later they are nowhere to be found, with Cade fighting the lead biker at the end. As with all movies like this one, when there are multiple people shooting guns and machine guns against one other person, there is no way one person would survive with that many bullets. But this is a movie, not real life.
The Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 53% are accurate and I do not recommend this movie, that did not try to be more original.
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