Movie Review: Crime 101

The new movie "Crime 101" that stars many known actors: Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Monica Barbaro, Nick Nolte and Halle Berry, tells the story of a worn-down police officer, Ruffalo, a jewel theif, Helsworth and an unhappy employee of a high-end insurance company. This story is not told sequentially like most movies, but within a series of parallel events where about 6 different stories are told simultaneously, and at the conclusion, several of these stories intersect in a climactic scene. This kind of storytelling is innovative, but most of the scenes are about jewel heists, chase scenes, and gunfights that we have all seen before.

By far the best part of this movie is the story about Helle Berry, who plays Sharon, an 11-year employee of a large, upscale insurance company that caters to the super-rich. Now at age 53, Sharon has been lied to for years and promised a promotion to a partner of the firm she works for, and has been strung along for years, with lies including "we will see in January", "just hold tight", "we are putting a pin in this for now", "it is right around the corner". Sharon's frustrations about years of being lied to, understandably, turn into overwhelming anger, leading her to make a huge mistake - becoming involved with a criminal named Davis, played by Hemsworth. The one scene with Sharon confronting the lowlife CEO of the insurance company when he tries to groom a much younger employee to take Sharon's place is extremely well written and well-acted. This one scene makes it worth seeing this movie, for all of us who have worked for companies and have been lied to, and treated with injustice and disrespect.

As far as the ending, I thought it was very close to not being believable, considering the circumstances and the decisions of the long-suffering police officer, Lou, played by Ruffalo, that in the real world he would very likely never make.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating for Crime 101 is a too high 86%, with my rating around 80% and a moderate recommendation.

Movie Review: Solo Mio

According to ChatGPT, of the 2 million-plus marriages in the United States each year, around 50,000 end in a last-minute breakup or in a left-at-the-altar situation, resulting in devastation for the person left waiting for their partner who never arrives. The most well-known left-at-the-altar celebrity instance was when Julia Roberts left Kiefer Sutherland at the altar in 1991.

The new movie "Solo Mio" is about a man, Matt Taylor, played by Kevin James, who is in Tuscany, Italy, about to be married, and is left standing at the Church altar. The rest of this movie is about Matt's inability to get his money back for the huge cost of the planned Hotel and honeymoon in Italy, and being surrounded by other married couples to try to help him get over the worst day in his life. The screenplay for this film is surprisingly simple and mostly mundane, with some minor humor and an ending twist that I found very well done, and impossible to predict - essentially saving this movie into one that is more memorable.

The Rotten Tomatoes for this average January movie is a too high 77% with my rating around 70% and a very marginal recomendation.

Movie Review: Shelter

The latest Jason Statham January action movie is called "Shelter," and it has all the ingredients of a typical Statham January quality movie. A man, Mason, living alone in an abandoned lighthouse with his dog, receives ongoing deliveries from a young girl, Jessie, played by Bodhi Rae Breathnach. Then there is a major storm, and Jessie almost drowns before being rescued by Mason. The remaining story is how their friendship grows, and while they are chased by agents of MI6, who have been after Mason for years after he failed to follow orders to assassinate a target, instead following his conscience to do the right thing.

The problem with this movie is that it represents nothing we have not seen many times before, no new idea, the same expected Statham action scenes where he easily defeats any number of enemies trying to kill him - another thing we have all seen way too often.

Actor Bill Nighy (he has no character name on IMDB) plays a high-ranking MI6 agent who was in charge of a special forces group, where Mason was the best agent. This is about the same idea behind all of the Matt Damon "Jason Bourne" movies, "including "a former high performing agent is running for his life from people trying to kill him and his female partner". Unfortunately, this movie plays almost like a poor man's Jason Bourne screenplay, this time with a young girl rather than a grown woman. This is another example of an average to below-average "January movie", where it is just released to try and recover some of the production costs of a finished production that ordinarily would be shelved and lost money.

The Rotten Tomatoes reviews for this film are a below-average 64% rating, and I agree with this rating and recommend this movie only for the most die-hard Jason Statham fans. For the rest of us, save your money.