ginocox-206-336968
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Dracula: A Love Tale (2025) is a re-imaging of the classic Dracula story by French writer/director Luc Besson, whose prior directorial efforts include Anna (2019), Lucy (2014), The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec (2010), The Fifth Element (1997), Léon: The Professional (1994), and La Femme Nikita (1990). He also has numerous writing credits, especially for high-octane action films, including Taken (2008) and The Transporter (2002).
Besson's Dracula is a tragic love story, set primarily in Victorian England, with Caleb Landry Jones as Vlad Dracula and Christoph Waltz as a sort of Van Helsing character.
Like The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, Dracula melds several genres. Filmed in Finland, the film has opulent scenes with dozens, if not hundreds, of background characters, including battle scenes, ballroom dances, and an extended scene at a period carnival. Unfortunately, the film avoids any hint of eroticism. An extended bedroom scene of Vlad and his young wife has all the intensity of a couple of high school students making out at a drive-in movie in the 1950s. Rather than being tormented by several blood-thirsty succubi in flimsy nightgowns, the lawyer fights with CGI gargoyles.
The film is visually stunning. Jones's Vlad is conflicted, torn between the Catholic faith he abandoned and his vow to oppose God. Unlike Gary Oldman's Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 production, this Dracula is unpredictable. Christoph Waltz delivers an excellent performance, as do the other actors. Production values are superb, with close attention to detail.
The film offers an interesting re-interpretation of a classic horror tale with emotional depth and complex characters. While the mummies in Adèle were interesting, the gargoyles were less interesting and less convincing than a group of blood-thirsty seductresses might have been. The eroticism could have been cranked up from about three to the upper two-digit range. Waltz could have played a more prominent role. Mina's transformation seems a bit abrupt.
Overall, an excellent take on a familiar tale.
Besson's Dracula is a tragic love story, set primarily in Victorian England, with Caleb Landry Jones as Vlad Dracula and Christoph Waltz as a sort of Van Helsing character.
Like The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec, Dracula melds several genres. Filmed in Finland, the film has opulent scenes with dozens, if not hundreds, of background characters, including battle scenes, ballroom dances, and an extended scene at a period carnival. Unfortunately, the film avoids any hint of eroticism. An extended bedroom scene of Vlad and his young wife has all the intensity of a couple of high school students making out at a drive-in movie in the 1950s. Rather than being tormented by several blood-thirsty succubi in flimsy nightgowns, the lawyer fights with CGI gargoyles.
The film is visually stunning. Jones's Vlad is conflicted, torn between the Catholic faith he abandoned and his vow to oppose God. Unlike Gary Oldman's Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 production, this Dracula is unpredictable. Christoph Waltz delivers an excellent performance, as do the other actors. Production values are superb, with close attention to detail.
The film offers an interesting re-interpretation of a classic horror tale with emotional depth and complex characters. While the mummies in Adèle were interesting, the gargoyles were less interesting and less convincing than a group of blood-thirsty seductresses might have been. The eroticism could have been cranked up from about three to the upper two-digit range. Waltz could have played a more prominent role. Mina's transformation seems a bit abrupt.
Overall, an excellent take on a familiar tale.
Heads of State (2025) has the necessary elements to be an outstanding comedic action/adventure buddy road-trip film, including talented leads with action film credentials in John Cena and Idris Elba, decent fight choreography, car chases, pyrotechnics, and foreign locations.
However, it lacks one element which has been essential in the success and popularity of many buddy road-trip films: credible conflict between the leads. Consider Rain Man starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman; 48 Hours starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy; Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) starring Steve Martin and John Candy; and Midnight Run starring Robert DeNiro and Carles Grodin.
In each of these films, two flawed characters must make journeys of self-discovery partnered with somebody whom they dislike fairly intensely and become better persons through the experience.
In Heads of State, U. S. President Derringer (Cena) and U. K. Prime Minister Clarke (Elba) find one another a bit annoying and don't respect each other's styles, but it's not a fundamental hatred.
The film could be highly relevant to current geopolitical conflicts. The United Kingdom and United States have much in common, but are at odds over the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza, and globalist policies. But rather than exploring relevant ideological differences, the filmmakers make both men politically liberal, minimizing the potential for drama and conflict.
The film starts strong with an intricate scene set in a massive food fight with overripe tomatoes featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas. There is also an over-the-top scene starring Jack Quaid at a C. I. A. Safehouse. Overall, the film scores high marks for its action scenes and production values, but the script seems weak and often derivative of films like Safe House with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington; and London Has Fallen with Aaron Eckhart, Gerald Butler, and Morgan Freeman.
However, it lacks one element which has been essential in the success and popularity of many buddy road-trip films: credible conflict between the leads. Consider Rain Man starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman; 48 Hours starring Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy; Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) starring Steve Martin and John Candy; and Midnight Run starring Robert DeNiro and Carles Grodin.
In each of these films, two flawed characters must make journeys of self-discovery partnered with somebody whom they dislike fairly intensely and become better persons through the experience.
In Heads of State, U. S. President Derringer (Cena) and U. K. Prime Minister Clarke (Elba) find one another a bit annoying and don't respect each other's styles, but it's not a fundamental hatred.
The film could be highly relevant to current geopolitical conflicts. The United Kingdom and United States have much in common, but are at odds over the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza, and globalist policies. But rather than exploring relevant ideological differences, the filmmakers make both men politically liberal, minimizing the potential for drama and conflict.
The film starts strong with an intricate scene set in a massive food fight with overripe tomatoes featuring Priyanka Chopra Jonas. There is also an over-the-top scene starring Jack Quaid at a C. I. A. Safehouse. Overall, the film scores high marks for its action scenes and production values, but the script seems weak and often derivative of films like Safe House with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington; and London Has Fallen with Aaron Eckhart, Gerald Butler, and Morgan Freeman.
Honey Don't! (2025), starring Margaret Qualley, Aubrey Plaza, Chris Evans, and Charlie Day, is a neo-noir dark comedy detective film collaboration between Ethan Coen and longtime Coen brothers editor Tricia Cooke. It is the second film in their lesbian B-movie trilogy, after Drive-Away Dolls (2024).
The Coen brothers have written, directed, and produced several outstanding contemporary noir films, including Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men. Honey Don't! Shares their trademark Byzantine plot with several characters pursuing goals that conflict with one another with deadly consequences.
With an intentional B-movie vibe, Honey Don't! Lacks the stylish finesse of Miller's Crossing or Hail, Caesar! It is set around the early 2010s, but feels like a 1970s film, except with cell phones which seem thrown in in later scenes to patch plot holes.
The film invests significant time and effort developing background stories for several characters. We spend several minutes with a young Mexican teen and his grandmother, which gives the characters depth, but they are minor characters with little impact on the main plot. Honey (Qualley) spends a longish scene with her sister's dysfunctional family, which adds credibility to a character's actions, but a scene in which a different character talks about prior life experiences seems more effective and credible. Conversely, the ending seems a bit rushed. Several significant actions occur offscreen and several loose threads aren't tied up satisfactorily. Instead, we get an unconventional denouement which might have been much more impactful if positioned earlier in the film.
Chris Evans does as well as can be expected in a part that seems underwritten. He plays a sleazy evangelist who delivers a sermon comparing the Biblical Philistines to macaroni, which seems less authentic than Mike Myers hamming it up as Guru Pitka in The Love Guru, an unfairly underrated film. Margaret Qualley seems more credible in her graphic lesbian scenes than in her detective scenes, although she definitely ups her game in the climatic showdown.
Honey Don't! Is unlikely to make anybody's top ten list of Coen brothers films or contemporary neo-noir comedic mystery films. It seems a bit like Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse productions: a talented artist toying with a paean to an unfamiliar genre. Interesting to watch, but disappointing to realize the filmmakers could have done so much better.
The Coen brothers have written, directed, and produced several outstanding contemporary noir films, including Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Fargo, and No Country for Old Men. Honey Don't! Shares their trademark Byzantine plot with several characters pursuing goals that conflict with one another with deadly consequences.
With an intentional B-movie vibe, Honey Don't! Lacks the stylish finesse of Miller's Crossing or Hail, Caesar! It is set around the early 2010s, but feels like a 1970s film, except with cell phones which seem thrown in in later scenes to patch plot holes.
The film invests significant time and effort developing background stories for several characters. We spend several minutes with a young Mexican teen and his grandmother, which gives the characters depth, but they are minor characters with little impact on the main plot. Honey (Qualley) spends a longish scene with her sister's dysfunctional family, which adds credibility to a character's actions, but a scene in which a different character talks about prior life experiences seems more effective and credible. Conversely, the ending seems a bit rushed. Several significant actions occur offscreen and several loose threads aren't tied up satisfactorily. Instead, we get an unconventional denouement which might have been much more impactful if positioned earlier in the film.
Chris Evans does as well as can be expected in a part that seems underwritten. He plays a sleazy evangelist who delivers a sermon comparing the Biblical Philistines to macaroni, which seems less authentic than Mike Myers hamming it up as Guru Pitka in The Love Guru, an unfairly underrated film. Margaret Qualley seems more credible in her graphic lesbian scenes than in her detective scenes, although she definitely ups her game in the climatic showdown.
Honey Don't! Is unlikely to make anybody's top ten list of Coen brothers films or contemporary neo-noir comedic mystery films. It seems a bit like Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse productions: a talented artist toying with a paean to an unfamiliar genre. Interesting to watch, but disappointing to realize the filmmakers could have done so much better.