The new movie "In the Grey" is one of those rare, below-average January movies that are released in May. This film is another example of several well-known stars agreeing to appear in a bad movie due to a favor, contract, or previous verbal agreement, forcing them to act in a movie with a bad screenplay. This film was both written and directed by Guy Ritchie, and I was surprised by how low-quality this movie is, considering the huge experience Guy Ritchie has as both a screenwriter and director.
In the Grey has five well-known bankable actors, including Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, Fisher Stevens, Eiza González, and Rosamund Pike. It is possible that the screenplay below average was on hold for a long time, with money already committed to its production. Then a decision was made to hire these five well-known actors to try to save the box office. Due to the very low 47% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, saving the box office for this movie is highly unlikely.
Eiza Gonzalez plays Rachel, who is an independent operative who is hired to coerce huge debts from very wealthy criminals around the world. She works with mercenaries, played by Gyllenhaal and Cavill, with much of this story explaining how they will try to force a wealthy drug dealer Manny Salazar, played by Carlos Bardem to pay them 1 billion dollars. The story is erratic, too disconnected, and too convoluted to recommend as an action or drama movie. The acting is just OK, with action scenes that are nothing we have not seen many times before.
I agree with the low 47% Rotten Tomatoes rating and recommend this B-movie for right-to-DVD.
Movie Reviews From a Screenwriter's Perspective
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Movie Review: Marty, Life is Short
The new Netflix documentary "Marty, Life is Short", is an outstanding look into the life of Martin Short, who is one of the most talented and funny actors and comedians we have ever seen. Despite his talent, Short has seen more than his share of tragedy. Short's brother Gordon died in a car accident when Martin was only 12 years old. Both of Martin's parents died before he reached 20 years old. In 2010, Martin lost his wife of 30 years, Nancy Dolman, to Ovarian Cancer, the same disease that Gilda Radner died of in 1989. A few months ago, Martin lost his adopted daughter, Katherine, to suicide.
Through all this tragedy and an extremely difficult career in show business, there were years where Short was making movies regularly, but a large percentage of them were not financially successful. As Martin says in this documentary, you succeed only about 10% of the time, and have to weather years of no work and bad times when nothing seems to work. There is a scene where Short bought a house with his wife, thinking that the two movies he was about to make would pay for it, only to lose one of the movies. The reaction from his wife was, "We will just move".
Martin Short's appearances on the Johnny Carson show were as memorable as his close friend Steve Martin and Robin Williams (see videos below). Short's timing and delivery were always flawless as were his impressions of many celebrities, including Katherine Hepburn, Betty Davis, and even Magician Doug Henning. Like the many celebrities who appeared on the Johnny Carson show, Martin was one of the very few who could turn his appearances into a major event.
In 1985, along with Billy Crystal, Martin Short helped rescue Saturday Night Live, which was close to being cancelled, and created one of the best seasons of the show, which included some of Short's most famous characters.
This documentary also shows the many family events at Martin Short's house, which even included friends, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Steven Martin, and even Steven Spielberg. This documentary is very well directed by the well-known director Lawrence Kasdan and includes many interviews with Martin Short about his life and career.
Marty, Life is Short is receiving perfect 100% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and I agree with this rating, giving this documentary my highest recommendation.
Through all this tragedy and an extremely difficult career in show business, there were years where Short was making movies regularly, but a large percentage of them were not financially successful. As Martin says in this documentary, you succeed only about 10% of the time, and have to weather years of no work and bad times when nothing seems to work. There is a scene where Short bought a house with his wife, thinking that the two movies he was about to make would pay for it, only to lose one of the movies. The reaction from his wife was, "We will just move".
Martin Short's appearances on the Johnny Carson show were as memorable as his close friend Steve Martin and Robin Williams (see videos below). Short's timing and delivery were always flawless as were his impressions of many celebrities, including Katherine Hepburn, Betty Davis, and even Magician Doug Henning. Like the many celebrities who appeared on the Johnny Carson show, Martin was one of the very few who could turn his appearances into a major event.
In 1985, along with Billy Crystal, Martin Short helped rescue Saturday Night Live, which was close to being cancelled, and created one of the best seasons of the show, which included some of Short's most famous characters.
This documentary also shows the many family events at Martin Short's house, which even included friends, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Steven Martin, and even Steven Spielberg. This documentary is very well directed by the well-known director Lawrence Kasdan and includes many interviews with Martin Short about his life and career.
Marty, Life is Short is receiving perfect 100% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and I agree with this rating, giving this documentary my highest recommendation.
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Movie Review: Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D
For a human being, only 24 years old to have already achieved huge success in music at the level of Billie Eilish is most likely unprecedented. Eilish has already won ten Grammys and two Academy Awards for Best Original Song, the youngest person to ever win this award. She has performed in huge concerts around the world, where her fans are as devoted and rabid as Taylor Swift's.
During Eilish's performances for the concert movie "Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft", her fans know every lyric to all of her songs and sing along with her for every performance, many of them crying. After the concert was over, almost all of her fans, most of them young women, were still crying profusely, as if they had just seen the greatest performance in their lives. Many of Eilish's songs are somewhat slow and sad, making the emotional impact on her audience greater than most other performers, with the possible exception of Taylor Swift.
Eilish's achievements at such a young age, even caught the eye of the great director James Cameron, who directed this impressive concert movie, which shows from the beginning the huge logistical effort it takes to assemble the scaffolding, lights, sound, and software within a huge concert venue. Then all of these man-hours of construction and testing have to be taken down, then driven by trucks to be reassembled in another huge stadium. For this tour, this happened an incredible 106 times with 1.5 million attendees grossing 225 million dollars worldwide.
Everything about Elish's performances is highly unusual, including lying down on stage while singing and looking up at the sky. She wears loose-fitting athletic shirts and pants, a baseball cap, and continuously walks around the huge stage. At times, Eilish takes the risk of stepping into the audience to shake many hands. Eilish, along with her brother Finneas, writes all of her own music, another thing she has in common with Taylor Swift. It is hard to imagine a life like this to be so rich and world famous at such a young age, with so many millions of fans so devoted. Then to have the amazing ability to stand in front of so many thousands of people and remember all of the lyrics to so many songs. Also, like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish has not let her huge success go to her head, and she also seems like a well-adjusted, normal person.
There are several scenes of Cameron and Eilish directing this concert movie, which also include several interviews in which Eilish is asked by Cameron to give her own perspective on her incredibly blessed life.
I put this concert movie on a par with "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" concert film, released in 2023. I agree with the 90% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and give a high recommendation to this movie.
During Eilish's performances for the concert movie "Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft", her fans know every lyric to all of her songs and sing along with her for every performance, many of them crying. After the concert was over, almost all of her fans, most of them young women, were still crying profusely, as if they had just seen the greatest performance in their lives. Many of Eilish's songs are somewhat slow and sad, making the emotional impact on her audience greater than most other performers, with the possible exception of Taylor Swift.
Eilish's achievements at such a young age, even caught the eye of the great director James Cameron, who directed this impressive concert movie, which shows from the beginning the huge logistical effort it takes to assemble the scaffolding, lights, sound, and software within a huge concert venue. Then all of these man-hours of construction and testing have to be taken down, then driven by trucks to be reassembled in another huge stadium. For this tour, this happened an incredible 106 times with 1.5 million attendees grossing 225 million dollars worldwide.
Everything about Elish's performances is highly unusual, including lying down on stage while singing and looking up at the sky. She wears loose-fitting athletic shirts and pants, a baseball cap, and continuously walks around the huge stage. At times, Eilish takes the risk of stepping into the audience to shake many hands. Eilish, along with her brother Finneas, writes all of her own music, another thing she has in common with Taylor Swift. It is hard to imagine a life like this to be so rich and world famous at such a young age, with so many millions of fans so devoted. Then to have the amazing ability to stand in front of so many thousands of people and remember all of the lyrics to so many songs. Also, like Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish has not let her huge success go to her head, and she also seems like a well-adjusted, normal person.
There are several scenes of Cameron and Eilish directing this concert movie, which also include several interviews in which Eilish is asked by Cameron to give her own perspective on her incredibly blessed life.
I put this concert movie on a par with "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour" concert film, released in 2023. I agree with the 90% ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and give a high recommendation to this movie.
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