OUR HERO, BALTHAZAR (2026)

April 2, 2026

Greetings again from the darkness. If you see something, say something. If you know something, say something. If you fear something but aren’t sure, say something. Such is the world we live in today … the world our children live in today. Somehow that same world also revolves around social media and the insatiable desire to be ‘seen’. The first feature film from writer-director Oscar Boyson and co-writer Ricky Camilleri takes on these somewhat conflicting societal issues, and they do so with an approach that’s at times absurdist, often comical, and always a bit frightening (in a real world way).

Jaeden Martell (IT, 2017) stars as the titular Balthazar … known as Balthy to his friends and family. Balthy is unmistakenly a product of wealth, as evidenced by his elite private school, his ‘life coach’, and the $50 million penthouse suite overlooking NYC he lives in with his socialite mother (Jennifer Ehle). He’s a wannabe social media influencer with an innate ability to shed tears on demand – especially while filming his latest video. A “Mass Shooting Preparedness Seminar” held at school leads Balthy to believe – a surefire way to being a hero is to stop a school shooting before it happens. This leads to a beyond-awkward attempt to woo a classmate (Pippa Knowles) with his plan. She, of course, shuns him.

Online research (using a secret identity) connects Balthy to Solomon (an outstanding Asa Butterfield, GREED, 2019), a young man in rural Texas whose tough online persona clashes with his real life insecurities. Solomon certainly has access to guns, and a life of poverty with his grandmother means his online threatening posts are the red flags Balthy needs in his quest for heroism. An obvious contrast between the rich NYC boy and the poor country Texas boy also shares commonality. Both boys feel isolated and not part of the mainstream. Their family lives are not ideal, and both feel at risk of being invisible.

Balthy heads to Texas and the initial meet with Solomon doesn’t go smoothly, but the mutual need to bond with another brings them around. Whether Balthy can actually succeed in his mission to stop a school shooting plays out in his relationship with Solomon. The two fine actors perfectly capture the awkwardness of the age, as well as the differences and similarities of those growing up in such distinct environments.

Chris Bauer appears as Solomon’s estranged father, and his personality and ‘job’ explains a great deal about the boy’s outlook. For Solomon, this appears to be about exhibiting (toxic) masculinity, while for Balthy, it’s about pre-fab heroism. The need for real attention is the shared space in their Venn Diagram, and the NYC-to-Texas extremism is there to make a point. The filmmakers smartly use humor to avoid over-bearing heaviness, yet the film remains a reminder to heed red flags and say something.

Opened in NYC on March 27, 2026 and opens in LA on April 3

WATCH THE TRAILER

Leave a Comment » | Comedy, Drama | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by David Ferguson

EENIE MEANIE (2025)

August 22, 2025

Greetings again from the darkness. Car chases are prevalent throughout movie history. Some are quite exhilarating and famous: BULLITT (1968) and THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971). Some are over-the-top: pretty much every driving sequence in the F&F franchise. The directorial debut of writer-director Shawn Simmons revolves around a talented getaway driver, and there are certainly a couple of heart-pumping sequences, but the movie is as much a look at how bad decisions impact one particular character, Edie.

We first see Edie as a 14-year-old (played by Elle Graham), who is coerced by her father (Steve Zahn) to “punch it” to save her mother from an unfortunate (and illegal) occurrence. Flash-forward a few years and we find Samara Weaving (so good in READY OR NOT, 2019) as Edie, now stressed out over being robbed at her bank job, her relentless poverty, a broken-down car, and prepping for her college exams. Her bad day is topped off by an unwelcome surprise from her doctor at a check-up.

This surprise leads Edie (nicknamed Eenie Meanie) to track down the bad news boyfriend she’s been diligently working to move on from. John (Karl Glusman, who exposed his full talents in LOVE, 2015) is the kind of guy that creates chaos simply by living. If he doesn’t find trouble, it’s not long before trouble finds him. So when Edie finds John, she of course also finds trouble. This time her man-child owes crime lord Nico (Andy Garcia) so much money, that Edie agrees to be the driver in a high-risk casino robbery that Nico says will save John’s life.

We get the expected montage of heist planning, and along the way, Edie crosses paths with characters played by Jermaine Fowler, Randall Park, Chris Bauer, Mike O’Malley, and most memorably, Marshawn Lynch – a rival driver in a fancy red mink robe and customized Continental. The movie feels like it’s Shawn Simmons answer to Edgar Wright’s superior BABY DRIVER (2017). The fallout from bad decisions are the recurring theme, and it’s really the screen presence of Samara Weaving (Hugo’s niece) and her interactions with Andy Garcia that provide a bit of interest here.

Premieres on Hulu beginning August 22, 2025

WATCH THE TRAILER

Leave a Comment » | Action, Thriller | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by David Ferguson

THE LITTLE THINGS (2021)

January 30, 2021

 Greetings again from the darkness. When a script has bounced around Hollywood for 30 years without getting produced, there is usually a good reason why. Written by John Lee Hancock in the early 1990s, a handful of directors have been attached at various times, but it’s the writer himself who has managed to get it on screen all these years later. Mr. Hancock has found his niche as a director by targeting the precise middle of mainstream with such films as SAVING MR BANKS (2013) and THE BLIND SIDE (2009), an approach more challenging when the topic is chasing a brutal serial killer.

Of course, casting three Oscar winning actors is always a wise choice. Two-time Oscar winner Denzel Washington (TRAINING DAY, 2001, GLORY, 1989) stars as Joe Deacon, a defrocked L.A. homicide detective banished to the California desert as a Deputy Sheriff in Kern County. “Deke” suffered a heart attack, went through a divorce, and lost his job as a result of being haunted by an especially grisly unsolved case. When Deacon is tasked to pick up evidence in Los Angeles, he stumbles into a case being worked by his hotshot replacement, Jim Baxter. Oscar winner Rami Malek (BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, 2018) brings his unorthodox mannerisms to the role and soon (and unsurprisingly) the ‘old school’ and ‘next gen’ detectives are teaming up to work a serial killer case with (unsurprising) similarities to Deke’s old case.

Denzel is especially effective in the first half of the film. His Deke is a quiet man with extraordinary observational and listening skills, and he brings none of his patented histrionics to the role. Deke’s ‘little things’ process quickly identifies a suspect, and it’s a doozy. Oscar winner Jared Leto (DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, 2013) is Albert Sparma, a greasy-haired appliance repair man (who let’s this guy in their house?) with a penchant for following news of the city’s crimes. Soon enough he’s taunting Deke and Baxter, and enjoying every minute of their frustration at the lack of evidence. It’s the cat and mouse game we’ve seen many times.

I’m a fan of retro movies, and Hancock announces upfront that this one is set in 1990. There are two reasons for this: that’s the era when he wrote the script, and it corresponds to a time when the Night Stalker was fresh on the minds of L.A. citizens. (side note: Netflix is currently showing the superb docuseries, “Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer”). The idea of mismatched partners with polar opposite personalities is another aspect that we are quite familiar with, and Hancock even uses flashbacks to show us exactly what haunts Deke.

Supporting work comes from Chris Bauer, Terry Kinney, Glenn Morshower, Natalie Morales, and Michael Hyatt, with the latter two providing a non-victim female presence – although neither is given much to do. The most interesting aspect of the story is how Baxter is falling into the same emotional void as his new mentor, but unfortunately, not much time is devoted to this. In fact, the story has very little to keep us interested, and instead that burden falls to Washington, Malek, and Leto. Hancock has delivered a dark, brooding crime thriller that fails to deliver the thrills. It certainly pales in the obvious comparisons to David Fincher’s Fincher’s SE7EN (1995) and ZODIAC (2007), but is fine for killing time while stuck at home during a pandemic.

Now available on HBO Max

WATCH THE TRAILER

 

2 Comments | Drama, Thriller | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by David Ferguson

WOLVES (2017)

March 3, 2017

wolves Greetings again from the darkness. Anthony is a good kid with a bright future. He’s a star basketball player and a bright student, and has a loyal girlfriend and seemingly normal home life. It comes as no surprise that most of those elements either aren’t as smooth as they seem, or are more complex than on the surface.

Writer/director Bart Freundlich (known for his 1997 debut feature The Myth of Fingerprints, and for being married to Julianne Moore) slowly unveils the cracks in Anthony’s (Taylor John Smith) façade. His college professor dad (the always great Michael Shannon) is a drunk, abusive man with a short fuse and severe gambling addiction. He’s the kind of guy who is always working on his great American novel, while juggling gambling debts and throwing down quiet jealousy of his son. His mother (Carla Gugino) has good intentions and clearly wants the best for her son, but she’s just not capable of standing up to the menace. It plays like a Maslow’s hierarchy of crappy parenting.

There are plenty of clichés that we’ve seen in many movies, but it’s a pleasure to see so much real basketball being played. Anthony has a sweet jump shot and a sweet girlfriend named Victoria (Zazie Beetz), and the interpersonal relationships all have nuances that come across as real life. Even Uncle Charlie (Chris Bauer) seems torn about which family member most needs his protection. Emotional-physical-financial strains abound and it all seems to crash down on Anthony as he strives to earn a college scholarship by impressing the coaches from Cornell.

As Anthony navigates the choppy waters towards independence, the film teases us with some sub-plots that could have been further explored. Anthony hits it off with an older, wiser street baller (John Douglas Thompson) who starts mentoring him. We also are given hope that Anthony’s mom will actually do something for her son rather than regretting what she hasn’t done. Lastly there is a quick tease as to an alternative past that would make some sense – though whether that’s real or imagined is left up to the viewer’s perspective.

The film ultimately plays like a Disney film that utilizes an inordinate number of “F-words”, and it even reminds a bit of the Paul Giamatti movie Win Win. It’s the acting and the periodic sequences of real emotion that allow us to remain interested in the characters right up until the end … even if our hopes differ from one of Anthony’s own parents.

watch the trailer:

Leave a Comment » | Drama | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by David Ferguson