Apex (2026)
The mountain/rock climbing bits were more interesting than the “Most Dangerous Game” main plot. Nice locations, though.
Lorenzo’s Oil 1992 Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, Peter Ustinov
It’s based on a true story. The parents of a child slowly dying from ALD feel abandoned by cautious medical research and the lack of any treatments for ALD. Augusto and Michaela Odone pursue their own research and consult with research scientists. A treatment based on two oils is found and helps stabilize their son.
It’s interesting to watch this movie forty years after Lorenzo began taking the oil treatment. Lorenzo Odone lived until May, 2008. Michaela, the furiously determined mother died June, 2000. Augusto died in Oct, 2013.
Ironically In the US, Lorenzo’s oil is only available to patients participating in a clinical trial. That’s after forty years of clinical trials.
It brings into perspective the fierce resistance that Augusto and Michaela Odone faced in 1983-85.
Web MD linked earlier.
Lorenzo’s Oil is a very powerful and thought provoking drama. I strongly recommend watching it at least once.
Susan Sarandon was nominated for a Best Actress, Academy Award for her portrayal of Michaela Odone.
The film earned a Academy Award, Best Screen Play nomination.
The Elixir - (Netflix)
Recommended.
Indonesia’s attempt at a Train to Busan level film. It falls short, sadly. It’s a good movie, but if you haven’t seen Train to Busa, stop now and go watch that vastly superior movie.
A youth-regenerating exlir has a zombification side effect. Madness, zombie apocalypse, and intense zombie action ensue.
It’s well done. Not quite good enough to be great, but if you are looking for the zombie genre, this is very well done. I had hoped for it to blow me away, though, and it did not.
If you haven’t seen a zombie movie in a long time, this will impress you more. We have many other contenders that are better, though.
What makes Train to Busan hard to beat is the set pieces, the compelling (and individuated) characters, and the plot momentum created by, well, being on a train headed to a destination.
I think the weakness of needing light to see their targets was a relatively unique zombie movie attribute leading to decent set pieces and originality too… And the train!
It’s also great how the zombies tumble over each other and so forth. I’m sure it has been done before, but not as well.
Final Destination Bloodlines 2025
Starring
Kaitlyn Santa Juana, Teo Briones,
Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Rya Kihlstedt
Ever wonder what happens if Death can’t kill people on schedule? W e l l, there’s a branch on the family tree that shouldn’t have sprouted and multiplied.
Death has to set things right. 
I admire the writers ability to reboot a movie franchise that had become too repetitive.
This is a fine, new chapter.
7.5 out of 10.
This is tangential, but every day I do a puzzle called framed.wtf (that’s the web address) that serves up stills from a movie each day, starting with an obscure one, and becoming more obvious as you miss guesses. You’ll never guess what today’s movie was… Got it on the first try!
Just got back from preview showing of The Sheep Detectives!
You are expecting me to say it was baaaaad, but nope, it was a lot of fun! If you think that a sort of hybrid of the Knives Out and Minions and Aardman Animation franchises is fun, which I do, so no notes.
(Completely understated but delightful feature: keep your eyes open for the handiwork of this traditional English rural village’s neon sign artist.) 
Send Help on Disney + / Hulu
Very dark and funny. A clever subversion of an old romcom trope.
I enjoyed the visuals during the final credits.
I also watched Send Help tonight. It was okay, and understandably graphic at times, but I don’t think I liked the ending. It made the main characters unlikeable, and I lost my sympathy for them. But it’s not bad, it’s an okay time if you’re a fan of Sam Raimi comedy/horror.
The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins
I’ve watched it many times since childhood. It’s so much better without commercials every 10 minutes.
Anyone else notice that William Holden plays a very similar character in Stalag 17, in 1953?
Bridge on the River Kwai desperately deserves a remake without the Treacherous Alex Guinness character. I want to vomit every time the scene plays with Guinness and Colonel Saito walking across the finished bridge. Guinness is blathering on about the beautiful sunset and lifes accomplishments.
This story needs to be told more accurately.
Without William Holden prancing shirtless on a beach with a blonde nurse.
Holden’s character was added for American audiences. He wasn’t in the novel, which I’ve read several times over the years. (The ending of the novel is quite different from the heroic ending of the movie, but I won’t spoil it for you.) The love interest was ridiculous, but when that movie was made, there was a Hollywood belief that movies needed something like that to get women into the theaters.
The movie Nonnas came to the wife’s attention and she said she wanted to watch it (NFLX). I reluctantly agreed after seeing the cast. I’m not a fan of Vince Vaughn, who I think is pretty one-dimensional as an actor, nor am I crazy about Lorraine Bracco. It was a slog, as it turned out. While the story was based on true events, it just wasn’t done well.
I need to read the novel. I didn’t realize it’s better than the movie. Still fiction, but less exaggeration.
The BBC2 made a documentary “Return to the River Kwai” made by former POW John Coast. A transcript of the interview and the documentary as a whole can be found in the new edition of John Coast’s book “Railroad of Death”.
I’ve never found the documentary. I guess it’s worth buying John Coast’s book “Railroad of Death”.
It’s revealing that I still enjoy watching The Bridge on the River Kwai, Stalag 17, and The Great Escape. They are highly enjoyable works of fiction.
Viewers in the 1970’s didn’t know they were inaccurate. Viewers today can appreciate these movies as well-made works of fiction. The actors in these films delivered extraordinary performances.
I’ve always enjoyed The Great Escape movie for what it is, but you should read Paul Brickhill’s book. It’s the real story, and what those men accomplished was nothing short of incredible. My dog-eared paperback from the 1960s is one that I’ve picked up and re-read several times over the years. No one motion picture could possibly do justice to it.
I’ll order both books today. I enjoy books on military history.
Written by the same guy who wrote Planet of the Apes! Pierre Boulle.