The Mule: Stubbornly substandard

Here we go again with a based-on-a-true-life story that doesn't quite make it movie-wise, despite Clint Eastwood in the starring role.

It's a cool caper about a down-and-out 90-year-old guy who winds up as a courier for a Mexican drug cartel. But somehow it falls flat. The Movie Slut isn't sure who to blame. Is it the script? The actors that include Bradley Cooper (who seems to be phoning it is), and Alison Eastwood, Clint's daughter.

Let's just say it doesn't gel. Kinda like pudding left out in the sun.

Bumblebee: A touch of honey

On her 18th birthday, Charlie buys herself a junkyard yellow VW Beetle and learns that sometimes you receive more than you ever dreamed of.

It turns out her little fixer-upper is a transformer, a huge yellow robot from another universe that's fleeing evil enemies.

Charlie names her car-bot Bumblebee, the two bond, and save the Earth. What more do you need to know?

Sure there are other transformer flicks, some better than others. But in the Movie Slut's estimation, this flick is a standout thanks to endearing performances by Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie and the lovable Bumblebee voiced by Dylan O'Brien.

The Movie Slut doesn't want to get all feministy here, but she totally appreciated seeing a female action hero

Mary Poppins Return: A spoon full of pablum

The Movie Slut and 8-year-old Sid left the multiplex singing "A Spoon Full of Medicine."
"Great," you say.
Not so much.
That song from the original Mary Poppins movie was not in this remake. Neither were any of the other tunes that have become beloved classics. As for the new music—feh.
Sid and Slut were underwhelmed by the entire production. So maybe you're thinking they were misremembering the first movie, letting nostalgia color their assessment.
Nope.
As it happens, the original was on the plane MS took home from her visit with Sid. And even on the small airplane screen and with substandard ear plugs, Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke and the wonderful soundtrack and story soared leaps and bounds over the sorry sequel with Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Mirander. In fact, when Van Dyke appeared in a cameo near the end of this disappointment, the screen was finally electrified.
The moral of this review: There's no improving upon perfection.

Instant Family: Instant Fun

In an instant, this flick could have devolved into an infomercial for foster care parenthood. But like a mighty retaining wall, Mark Wahlberg is on hand to make sure that doesn't happen.

He's Pete,  one half of a couple who are moved to bring unwanted children into their family. Not because they can't have kids of their own, but because they're motivated by the plight of the youngsters. Next thing you know, he and his wife Ellie (Rose Bryne) are contending with a teenage girl and her younger siblings, each with problems that would test the mettle of the most experienced parents.

Does this flick sugarcoat foster care parenting. At times, yes. At other times, it appears to be a honest account—funny and sad— of the foster care process, from beginning to never-ending relationship.

The World Before Your Feet:

Eight thousand miles.
Six years.
Five boroughs.
Two feet.
One guy.

Matt Green is the walking man. For some reason, not completely clear even to him, he decided to walk on every street in New York City. Why not? He'd already traipsed across the country.

The Movie Slut thinks it was a nifty idea. And appreciates his passion to undertake a project with no reward in sight. She also loves walking and is a major fan of the city.

She thoroughly enjoyed this documentary and yet, at the same time, thought that it was a missed opportunity. She would have loved to see him walking by some of the city's little known treasures like the street where she lived for five years: Chittenden Avenue. High above the Hudson River with sweeping views of the George Washington Bridge and the bridge formerly known as the Tappan Zee, this unique one-block street also figures in MS's soon-to-be-published mystery: Men, Madness, Murder. Look for it soon on Amazon.com.

Robin Hood: Slings & Arrows

Oh those bows.
Oh those arrows.
Oh those bow-and-arrow battles.

If you want to see two hours of the above, then by all means, buy a tic for Robin Hood. On the other hand, if like the Movie Slut, you think one such scene is enough, then wait for the sequel.

Oh yes, there will be a sequel. In fact, this entire flick is nothing more than a prequel to the real Robin Hood story. You know, the one in which Robin, Maid Marian, and the Merry Men, are hiding out in Sherwood forest when they're not swooping into Nottingham to redistribute the wealth.

Taron Egerton makes a serviceable, smart alecky Robin. Returned from the Crusades to find his castle a shambles and his city taken over by a corrupt sheriff, he teams up with Jamie Foxx (Little John) and Eve Hewsen (Marian), and does his best to bring some fun into this dark, brooding film.

The Front Runner: The first shall be last

It's difficult to like a movie with characters who are unlikable. And that's not the biggest problem with The Front Runner.

Anyone over the age of 50 is well aware of the Gary Hart story. In 1987, he had the Democrat nomination for president all but locked up. And then there was a boat called Monkey business and a broad named Donna Rice.

So what did the Movie Slut want from this movie? How about an understanding of why he did what he did. Was it rampant lust? Love? A self-destructive tendency that coursed through his psyche?

Alas, this flick offers no insights. Meanwhile movie goers are subjected to a whimpering Donna Rice with mascara dripping down her face; a mawkish Mrs. Hart barking at her philandering hubby; and a peevish, petulant, utterly arrogant Hart (Hugh Jackman).

Call her crazy, but MS thinks she deserved more than that.

Green Book: Driving Dr. Shirley

The Movie Slut can understand comparisons between Green Book and the 1989 flick, Driving Miss Daisy. Only here there's a white guy behind the wheel and a black guy in the back seat.

But the Movie Slut thinks this new movie has more in common with A Walk on the Moon. Both films are set in the 1960s, an era when the times were a-changing and changing with the times proved more difficult for some people than others.

The movies have another commonality: Viggo Mortensen. He stars in both films.

Here Mortensen is a lovable thuggish bouncer who takes a job driving and protecting an African-American piano virtuoso ( Mahershala Ali) on on tour of the Deep Douth. Along the way this odd couple finds their common humanity.

Some critics complained about the predictability of it all. The Movie Slut does not agree. She thinks like A Walk on the Moon, Green Book is a must-see.

A Private War: Doesn't live up to its title

War is hell.
And so is this flick starring Rosamund Pike as British war correspondent Marie Colvin.

It takes viewers into most of the contemporary war zones. Bosnia. Afghanistan. Sri Lanka. Syria.

After losing an eye when she's hit by a grenade, Marie soldiers on. Maybe if the Movie Slut learned more about Marie's early life, she would have been more involved in her story and more impressed by her devotion to bring news of war atrocities to the citizens of the peaceful world.

But lacking context, Marie comes across as a woman motivated less by righteous courage and more by foolish risk-taking.

Widows: Girls just wanna have some

Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Rodriguez, Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki

So you think politics has become an unbreachable chasm. In Steve McQueen's new thriller that's nothing compared to the gender divide.

After their thieving husbands are killed in a heist gone bad, the innocent wives are left to pay the debt owed to a murderous thug.

And they prove more than up to the task.

With Liam Lesson, Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall rounding off the exceptional cast, the viewer quickly learns there's not a good man among them. And not a woman who can't do it better if she has to.

Go grrrls!

Halloween: Trick or Treat?

Somewhere between a trick to get viewers to the sequel to a 40-year-old movie and a treat that can be compared to a Payday candy bar, Halloween, the 2018 edition, is a serviceable slasher flick.

Four decades after her world was upended by a knife-wielding lunatic, Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) is busy with her daughter and granddaughter and living in Haddonfield in a fortress-like home. Now, the day she's dreaded, and prepared for, has come. Michael Myers has escaped and he's coming to get her. And everyone else.

Like any horror movie worthy of the genre, Halloween has its hokey moments. The police know the maniac is at lodge. But hey, let's not ruin the kiddies' fun by alerting the community.

And so the stage is set for a bloody, gory frightfest. Enjoy

The Girl In the Spider's Web

The Movie Slut met Lisbeth Salander in 2005 in Stieg Larsson's riveting bestseller, The Girl With the Dragon tattoo. She was, and still is, one of the most intriguing fictional characters of all time.

A wisp of a woman who's a crackerjack hacker and a physical force who can take out men three times her size, she's a tattooed, pierced, bisexual with a moral code of her own. A traumatic childhood molded her. A harrowing adulthood reinforced her alienation. Now she is the avenging anti-angel— the woman who hurts men who hurt women.

That's what she's doing when we first see her in this movie, based on the book by David Lagercrantz written after Larsson's death. The scene is classic Salander. But the film moves on from there and while it held the Movie Slut's interest, a niggling question crawled through her mind. What's missing?

The answer: Lisbeth. She's lost her edge. Claire Foy (The Crown) is too pretty for the part, not tough enough, and isn't given material to work with that would reveal her genius or explore her tortured soul. She could be any action character. But she's not.

She's Lisbeth Salander and we need to hear her roar.

Boy Erased: An indelible expeience

Nicole Kidman, Lucas Hedges, Russell Crowe

  Boy Erased isn't the first movie about the bogus conversion therapy that some people mockingly call "praying away the gay." Earlier this year, Chloe Grace Moretz starred in "The Miseducation of Cameron Post."

The Movie Slut has now seen both films and believes the subject warrants a double take. Of the two, Boy Erased, based on a memoir by Garrard Conley, about his teenage years as the son of a Baptist Minister and homemaker mom living in the deep south is the unforgettable one.

The misguided, uninformed, unscientific notion that sexual orientation is a choice that can be changed is resonant in both films, but what makes Boy Erased the standout is the bottomless motherly love that saves Jared (his movie name) from the clutches of the ignorant "therapists" who claim they can "fix" him. While his father takes more time to accept his son due to his deep religious belief, even he, after a mighty struggle, comes around.

This is not only a movie about the stupidity and danger of gay-conversion therapy. It's also a film about the triumph of love. 

 

Wildlife: Sad but True

When we meet Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) it's 1960 and they live in small-town Montana with their 14-year-old son. Jerry is a golf pro. Jeanette is a housewife. They seem to have a good marriage and happy family.

But problems arise and their relationship splinters. What's interesting about this sad, but realistic, film is that neither husband nor wife is at fault— or faultless— for the unraveling of this family.

Watching Wildlife, which is based on a novel by Richard Ford (one of the Movie Slut's faves—The Sportswriter, Independence Day) feels like stepping into an Edward Hopper painting. It's as Jeanette and Jerry are created on canvas and have as little control over their actions as the subjects in a painting.

Their loneliness and unhappiness are in the strokes that make them who they are. It's Mulligan and Gyllenhaal's performances that give this movie depth and meaning. 

Bohemian Rhapsody: A Royal Flush

Even if you weren't a Queen fan in the 1970s and 80s, you're sure to love the rousing beat of "We Will Rock You," the sweeping sounds of "We Are The Champions," and the operatic flourishes of this rockin' bio-flick's title song, "Bohemian Rhapsody.

Rami Malek (Mr. Robot) brings Queen's lead singer, Freddie Mercury, back to life and we accompany him as he meets the band and makes the music.

So it's a little kitchy now and then. So was the band. But that doesn't take away from the brilliant music, which generously punctuates this film. All is a build up to the final scene, a mini-concert that recreates the band's 1985 Live Aid performance.

Movie-goers will be excused for foot stomping, hand clapping or jumping out of their seats to dance to this.

Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Melissa McCarthy is Lee Israel. She doesn't merely play the part of the down-on-her-luck celebrity biographer, she invades the character. And if she doesn't get an Oscar nomination, the Movie Slut will be pissed.

But back to Lee. We meet her when she can't pay the rent, when she drinks like a lush, when she's alone and friendless (except for her cats) in Manhattan, when her agent tells her to find another way to earn a living. And that's exactly what she does.

Sadly, her new "job" is not exactly on the up and up.

Based on a memoir of the same title, we follow Lee as she gets deeper and deeper into her shady endeavor encouraged by her new, and equally morally challeged pal (a terrific Richard E. Grant).

You'll want to see this movie to find out what happens. 

Free Solo: Takes you to new heights

For those not versed in the art and science of rock climbing, here's a primer.

"Free" means no ropes attached.
"Solo" means no climbing companions.

Scary? You bet.

But that didn't stop Alex Hannold, who became the first free solo climber to make it to the top of El Capitan, the 3,000-foot rock wall in Yosemite National Park.

Twenty-five climbers lost their lives trying to maneuver their way up the sheer granite wall and this National Geographic documentary never lets the viewer forget how dangerous the undertaking it. The doc also tries to shed some light on why Alex climbs.

A team of photographers, strategically-place on El Cap, take viewers through his meticulous preparation and practice sessions (with ropes). And then they treat us to his grand finale, a spectacular hand-by-hand, foot-by-foot ascent to the summit.

Wow!

Mid90s: Middling Fun

It's 1994 and 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic) is living in L.A. with his bully of a brother and clueless mother. His life sucks until he meets a group of older teens into skateboarding. He hangs around until they welcome him into their slacker lifestyle.

The Movie Slut was hoping for lots of cool 90s music and nifty skateboarding. Alas she was disappointed on both accounts. And the banal, sophomoric conversations were quite a bore, particularly when the character nicknamed Fuck Shit opened his mind.

Still, there were scenes that elevated the film, including Stevie's Rocky-like attempts to master the skateboard, and an early morning scene in which the ragtag group skateboard along the median of a roadway as the day awakens.

The Movie Slut was not impressed by this flick written and directed by actor Jonah Hill. Perhaps she's not its target audience.

The Hate u Give: A groundbreaking flick

Gun violence. Police brutality. We've seen it, heard about it, lamented over it. What's new about this excellent heart-wrenching movie is that it takes us into the life of someone who suffers first-hand because of it.

Her name is Starr Carter (an amazing Amandla Stenberg). She's sixteen when her oldest, dearest friend is shot to death in her presence by a jittery young policeman. Starr has grown up knowing the danger of such injustice, but nothing has prepared her for its impact.

The movie follows her ambivalence about going public with her information and her transformation from frightened teen to a brave, determined activist, who reminded the Movie Slut of the Marjory  Stoneman Douglas students who survived the mass school shooting and are devoted to ending this outrage.

The movie, based on a bestselling YA novel by Angie Thomas, is all the richer for painting a realistic portrait of the community, people, and issues involved. It's real. So real it hurts. But it should be seen. This is no Hallmark movie of the week.

The Sisters Brothers: It's Golden

French director Jacques Audiard brings us the best Western since...forever. The brothers (John C. Reilly & Joaquin Phoenix) are hit men during the California gold rush and unwitting employees of a creep known as The Commodore. It's 1851 and they're in pursuit of a guy with a so-called foolproof formula for finding the shiny stuff.

A detective (Jake Gyllenhaal) is also on this gold diggers trail.

The beauty of this flick is in the vast green expanses and jutting mountain ridges of the West and within the hearts and souls of the four men who come together on this fool's errand.

Sure there's violence. But never gratuitous.

Merci, Jacques for giving the Movie Slut this cinematic gem.

Bad Times At The El Royal

Jon Hamm, Lewis Pullman & Cynthia Erivo

The Movie Slut had a love/hate/love relationship with this Coen Brothers-meet-Quentin Tarantino movie.

She loved the first and last thirds of the flick. In the middle, she contemplated walking out.

The story revolves around seven strangers who arrive at a run-down hotel on the California/Nevada border. They share one thing in common. They all have dark pasts. Except maybe John Hamm, who's a federal agent investigating who knows what? Hamm is the only actor with a comic edge in the movie and MS thinks it would have benefited if others were equally quirky.

Still in the end, it all comes together quite beautifully, and is greatly enriched by the soulful performance of Cynthia Erivo, a British singer, actress, and Tony Award winner. Also in the excellent cast: Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, and Chris Hemsworth.

The Old Man And The Gun: No Bang

Here's one reason to see this based-on-a-true-story flick: Robert Redford in a fedora.

The story is okay: A guy who committed 17 robberies, went to jail 17 times, and smiled throughout. In this movie, he meets a gal (Sissy Spacek) who, despite her law-abiding ways, falls for him.  But then, he is Robert Redford in a fedora.

In real life, it seems the guy became a bit of a folk hero, but the movie doesn't make much of that. It focuses instead on the detective (Casey Affleck) who can't get a grip on the slippery character.

The Movie Slut wishes this movie about a guy with a gun had more bang.

But then, it does have Robert Redford in a fedora. 

A Star is Born: Take four

The long-awaited and much ballyhooed fourth remake of the 1937 David O. Selznick film is rich with talent. (*Can you name the other three female leads? Check below.)

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga just might be the best duo in their roles. Still, while the Movie Slut was prepared for a cinematic swoon, it didn't happen.

Gripe No. 1: At 2 hours and 17 minutes it was 20 to 30 minutes too long.
Gripe No. 2: The MS didn't leave the theater humming. Where were the catchy tunes?
Gripe No. 3: While she should have broken down when the sad part happened (no spoiler here), MS was relieved that the flick had mercifully ended.

Many, especially critics, are raving about the movie, but not the MS's companion or two young women seated to her right. She could tell they were bored by the way they yawned and checked their cells.

* Janet Gaynor (1937); Judy Garland (1954); Barbra Streisand (1976).

Colette: The right to write

We meet Colette (Keira Knightley), the girl who would become the foremost French female writer, in 1892. She lives with her parents in the French countryside. We first meet Uncle Willy (Domonic West) when he comes to dinner. We first realize they're lovers when they hook up in the hayloft after dessert.

The couple soon marry. He's a writer/publisher who can't write. She's a writer who doesn't know it. Soon he's publishing her stories under his name. Until she rebels and strikes out on her own.

While the movie could be considered just another story of a man stealing from his talented wife and hogging the accolades, we have to step back and remember that readers of the time were not clamoring to read female writers. We also see how Willy shaped her early stories, published them, and promoted them.

In many ways, Colette was a woman whose lifestyle didn't catch on until the sexual revolution of the 1970s. Her escapades spice up this film about a gal who spends hours behind a desk with a fountain pen in her hands. 

Lizzie: Revisiting an infamous murderess

Kristen Stewart & Chloe Sevigny

She gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.

We all know the poem more than 120 years after Lizzie Borden offed her parents and got away with it. In this flick, there's no doubt that she did it.

The question is why.

The answers are many, and yet, they don't add up. Lizzie, with Sevigny in the title role, and Stewart as her maid and lover, is a beautiful period piece that doesn't rise to the darkness of the plot. We still don't know what made Lizzie tick. Maybe that's for the best.

Fahrenheit 11/9: More Moore

Michael Moore loves his country.
And he hates and fears what's happening to it.
The way he sees it, there's enough blame to go around.

In his inimitable way, Moore traces Donald Trump's pathway to the presidency, the 45th president's steps to undermine our democracy, and a possible escape route. (Hint: Attention Democrats, VOTE in November.)

At times, brilliant, at times undisciplined, the Movie Slut, who's seen all of Moore's movies and praises them all, thinks this is his best.

Sure at times he's a blowhard. But as David Edelstein of Vulture put it, "the air is blowing hard in the right direction."

Bel Canto: Sing for your supper

Julianne Moore & Maria Mercedes Coroy

We've got a hostage situation.

But one like we've never seen. Captors and captives are held up in an elegant mansion to which fresh food is delivered daily. They even sit down together for a sumptuous dinner party. We hear that the gunmen are not murderers. They're rebels, part of the resistance to a fascist regime in South America whose only demand is the release of political prisoners.

And so it follows, as the unbelievable follows wishful thinking, that captors and captives fall in love, enjoy soccer games and musical evenings with celebrated opera star Roxanne Coss (Julianne Moore channeling the voice of Renee Fleming).

Music is only one of the universal languages in this film, based on a bestseller by Ann Patchett. It's all very utopian, a bit of a fairy tale. And fairy tales have their place on the big screen. In the end this is one worthy of the Brothers Grimm.

White Boy Rick

Father & Son: Matthew McConaughey & Richie Merritt

The Movie Slut wanted to like White Boy Rick, the movie and the kid. It was based on a true story about a teen living in Detroit in the the 1980s at the height of the crack epidemic who becomes a drug dealer due to extenuating circumstances. The kid gets no breaks. A sleazy, oily Matthew McConaughey is his dad. His sister is a bug-eyed, sloppy junky. The hardhearted Feds use and abandon him.

But try as she might, the MS just couldn't care.

Maybe it was because the story got lost under an avalanche of drugsploitation. How many drug-infused parties attended by Neaderthalian lowlifes can you sit through before losing you patience and screaming at the big screen?

The MS will now say words rarely seen on her blog: Skip this flick.

A Simple Favor: Simple it's not

Stephanie (Anna Kendrick) and Emily (Blake Lively) are two suburban moms who bond over extra dry martinis in this delightfully diverting mystery/thriller/comedy, which also takes a nod to sociology by examining an unlikely 21st-century friendship.

Not only do cool chick and nerd gal click glasses in friendship, one is a working mom, the other stays at home.

And they said it couldn't be done.

But is this a friendship? Is Stephanie really a goody two shoes? And what's with Emily? As one character put it, and the Movie Slut paraphrases: Never did such a beautiful women want to be so invisible.

As the plot twists and turns in unlikely ways, it seems this flick might also be a soap opera satire. Still, it's the acting chops of Kendrick and Lively that elevates it to must-see status.

The Bookshop: For the love of reading

The seaside town of Hardborough, England appears to be an ideal spot to open a book store in 1959. At least that's what war widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) believed.

How wrong she was unfolds in this beautiful, melancholic movie, also starring Bill Nighy and Patricia Clarkson.

The dream was born before the war when Florence met her beloved husband while working at a book store, and after initial success with her shop, the dream was dashed.

Still, without giving anything away, the Movie Slut will say that Florence was not a failure. Her love of books and reading lived on. You'll have to see this lovely film to learn how.

Juliet, Naked: Dream team

The movie slut has been in love with Nick Hornby since 1998 when she read "About a Boy." And then there was the movie in 2002 starring Hugh Grant.

She's been an Ethan Hawke fan going way back to "Dead Poet's Society" in 1989.

Now, you can imagine how lit she was to hear of this film, based on a Hornby book and starring Hawke. So let's get right to the post mortem. This flick didn't live up to her lofty expectations, but it was not a full-fledged disappointment either.

The rom-com hinges on a girl, Annie (Rose Byrne), meeting a guy, Tucker (Hawke), a has-been musician and the obsession of Annie's live-in boyfriend. When it comes to meeting cute, it doesn't get more adorable than this. What unfolds, however, is less inspired.

As in "High Fidelity," Hornby's novel and subsequent movie, music enriches this flick.

The movie didn't live up to the Movie Slut's great expectations, however, it did leave her with an interesting message: While living a risky life can be dangerous, always playing it safe can be a bigger mistake.

Searching: every which a-way

Movie mavens familiar with the Taken flicks know the drill. Liam Neesom's daughter goes missing and he zooms around the globe to find her. Lots of car chases, gun battles, blood and gore.

In Searching, when David Kim's (John Cho) 16-year-old daughter disappears, he lets his computer mouse do the running. And if you think that sounds boring. It's anything but.

What makes this techno thriller work so well is the relationships and backstory that open the film. By the time Margot goes missing, the viewer is invested in her well-being and her father's deep love for her.

When the police detective on the case (and excellent and almost unrecognizable Debra Messing) gets nowhere, Dad turns to his daughter's laptop to follow her digital footprint.

The audience watching the movie with the Movie Slut couldn't contain their involvement, which leached out in gasps and moans, and filed out of the theater, eyes moist with tears.

The Wife: Or is it the good wife?

The Oscar buzz is deafening. Finally, after six nominations, Glenn Close is this close to taking home the gold statuette.

And well it might be.

But anyone hearing this chatter might think Glenn is great as the behind-the-scenes wife of a celebrated American novelist on the verge of becoming more celebrated, while the rest of the movie is feh. That would be wrong.

The Wife is a smart, engrossing film about marriage and not the cliche the Movie Slut expected. Like an E.M. Forster movie, society and era emerge as central characters. Joan and Joe (Jonathan Pryce) Castleman are very much of their time.

Based on a book by Meg Wolitzer, the action with the help of flashbacks, begins in the 1950s and unfolds over several decades. It's a feast for thought.

Operation Finale: A real life monster movie

It's not just the fedora. There's an old-fashioned feel to this historical thriller. And so it should be. It takes place in 1960.

It's the story of how a team of Israelis find, capture, and bring Adolf Eichmann to Israel to stand trial. Eichmann (Ben Kingsley) was hiding in Argentina, and had created a new life and family when the team, headed by Peter Malkin (Oscar Isaacs), apprehend him.

The movie doesn't rise to the level of other historical thrillers like Seven Days in Entebbe, about how the Israelis freed hostages of a hijacked plane in Uganda. It tries to be a bit more cerebral, taking us into the home and mind of the Nazi architect of the "final solution." And Isaacs doesn't quite pull off the role of a rogue—but right—Masada agent.

Still, whatever its weaknesses, the exquisite ended more than makes up for them.

Alpha: A move for the dog days

We all know who man and woman's best friend is. As they say in geometry, it's a given. But it wasn't always that way.

Once, dogs were wolves and our enemies. So what happened?

According to this prehistoric adventure film, we learn that a teenager separated from his tribe encountered a wounded wolf and the two helped each other brave the elements and return to safety.

The movie's realism will be tough for most children under ten and some older one's, too. Still, this flick has a lot going for it and it's conceivable the domestication of wolves began in circumstances not unlike what you see on the screen.

If you're looking for a doggie flick that's perfect for the whole family, read the previous review.

Pick of the Litter: Only the best will make it!

Don't take the Movie Slut's word for it when she says this dogumentary about the journey of a litter of pups from birth to graduation is cute, smart, and more fun than a room full of bubble wrap. After all Dana Nachman, who co-directed the film with Don Hardy, is the Movie Slut's daughter.

To back up her claim, MS tells you that the doc won Audience Awards at more than five festivals since its January debut. IFC purchased the film before the Slamdance festival ended, and on Aug. 31, it rolls out to theaters around the country and abroad, beginning in New York and L.A.

Not every puppy makes the cut. In fact more than half the dogs born at California Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, where these pups began their odyssey, are "career changed."

The film follows Patriot, Poppet, Primrose, Potomac, and Phil to see which walks off with a blind partner at the end.

If you still don't believe the Movie Slut's praise, watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW7GVR2c80k

The Cakemaker: Yummy

The way to a movie-lover's heart is through her stomach.

Bet you've never heard that one before, unless you're talking popcorn. But here we  have a movie that touches not only the heart and the tummy, but the head as well.

It's Israeli filmmaker Offir Raul Graizer's first film and it's a stunner.

The less you know going into this movie, the better. The Movie Slut will just say it's about a young German baker who meets an Israeli businessman in Berlin. The baker (Tim Kalkhof) might just be the most wonderful fictional character since Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. One more thing: It just might be the most beautiful, tender, touching love story since maybe "An Affair to Remember."

You'll want to see this movie. The Movie Slut wants to see it again.

BlacKkKlansman: See you at the Oscars

The Movie Slut has been a Spike Lee fan ever since 1986 when she saw "She's Gotta Have It." The filmmaker always has something to say and always says it in his inimitable manner.

"The Black Woody Allen" is what she called him. His movies are tight, self-contained, small, though not unimportant, stories.

With BlacKkKlansman, Lee has climbed to another level. His new film is an epic about racism in America. It's not a pretty story, but in Lee's brilliant hands, it is sometimes funny. Still, it's the bite you'll remember.

The true story takes place in the 1970s when Colorado Springs police detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington, yes, Denzel's son) infiltrates the KKK through phone calls. Since he's the wrong color for the mission, his partner Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) poses as Ron when a meeting is scheduled. What transpires is part thriller, part farce, and a movie that should not be missed.

If you see one movie this summer, make it BlacKkKlansman.

Crazy Rich Asians: Maybe the book was better

Crazy Rich Asians is what it is: a summer flick that requires no engagement with your gray cells. It's the Big Mac of movies: tasty with no nutritional value and you may want to see another movie right after.

Maybe that's why the Movie Slut wasn't quite satisfied when it was over. She wanted more. More crazy. More rich. As for the all-Asian cast? Maybe they were enough. And while she's at it, MS says the movie need not be more predictable.

It's the story of Rachel and Nick. He's the bachelor all the single girls drool over. He's not only super-duper loaded, but a super-duper hunk, as well. Nick's mother, the closest to a villain in this feel-good flick, tells Rachel she'll never be enough for Nick. (Say what!) Rachel shows the insufferable snob a thing or two.

Still no one is that evil or cunning in this fluffernutter of a film. It's what it is and that isn't it.

Chrisopher Robin: Not so silly bear

Christopher Robin is all grown up. The little boy who inspired his dad to write the beloved Winnie-the-Pooh books is married with a child of his own. He's been to war and holds down a soul-crushing job in London.

Winnie to the rescue?

Unfortunately the honey-guzzling old bear can't save this movie from mediocrity. Ewan McGregor almost accomplishes this feat. And Owl, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, and Eeyore are on hand in animated form to help out. But, alas, a new script would be required. And to add to the movie's miseries, World War II battle field scenes are just not the stuff of children's flicks.

What were they thinking? 

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane, & Chloe Grace Moretz

Back in the Bad Old Days (1993), SSA (same sex attraction) was considered by many to be aberrant and reversible.

That's how Cameron (Chloe Grace Moretz) wound up at God's Promise, a conversion-therapy facility where she's told that her weakness can be eradicated with proper devotion to God. The well-meaning brother/sister team in charge believe what they preach, but soon Cameron and two other students realize the team is just making it up as they go along.

For the most part, this engaging movie is gentle and quiet and the characters are so well drawn that spending time with them is a pleasure. The film doesn't break new ground with a subject that's been dealt with before, still Movie Slut highly recommends it.

The Spy Who Dumped Me

As far as the Movie Slut is concerned Kate McKinnon (SNL's superstar) can do no wrong. And her sidekick in this buddy flick, Mila Kunis is no slouch either. If only they had better material to work with.

Not that this is a bad flick. It's just that it could be, make that it should be, a lot funnier.
So, Audrey (Kunis) was dumped via text. It happens. But when she discovers her ex was a spy, she's off with her BFF, Morgan (you know who) on a European adventure to get to the bottom of it.

Gillian Anderson, in a cameo as the hard-edged CIA chief, is hysterical, especially since she's spoofing her role in The Fall in which she's a so-cold-she-melts-ice-twice police woman.

If you're looking for a little fun, but not too much, by all means see this film.

Eighth Grade: Been there. Done that.

Kayla (Elsie Fisher) is in eighth grade.

Duh!

And, yeah, she has a Youtube show called "Kayla's Korner," for which viewers are conspicuously absent. No matter. Viewers aren't the point. In an extremely emotionally healthy move, Kayla is really talking to herself. Her subjects include "Being Yourself," and "Putting Yourself Out There."

She's not one of the cool kids in middle school, but you know, based on her show, that she's going to have a better time of it in high school and beyond.

It's a sweet movie about a time of life most of us remember. And not that fondly. The Movie Slut just isn't sure if, like Kayla, this movie has an audience.

Blindspotting: Now you see this. Now you see that.

Collin (Daveed Diggs) has three more days of probation. What could happen?
As it turns out, plenty. Especially since his pal and coworker, Miles (Rafael Casal), is a loose canon with a hair-trigger temper. And then there's this problem: Driving home, rushing to meet his 11 p.m. curfew, he witnesses a white policeman shoot an unarmed Black man in the back. Four times.

The incident haunts Collin. And as we all know, there's nothing he can do about it.

What makes this tragi-comedy work as well as it does, and it works stupendously, is Collin's off-the-charts likeability. You want him to make it. And so you're sitting on the edge of your seat for 95 minutes.

The Movie Slut felt like she almost knew what it was like to be a young Black man in America. And it was f---ing scary.

The Equalizer 2: Equals uber fun

Five reasons to see The Equalizer 2: Denzel! Denzel! Denzel! Denzel! Denzel!

And those aren't the only reasons, though it's difficult to imagine anyone else pulling off the role of a cold-blooded vigilante, whose also a warm-hearted friend and neighbor.

The Movie Slut, not a lover of violence on or off the screen, has to admit that it's satisfying to see evil-doers get their just desserts. And they do in this movie. Oh, boy do they.

The pacing of this movie is spot on. The subplots are as engaging as the main event. One of these involves a Holocaust survivor. Another, a Latino woman whose vegetable garden is destroyed by thugs.

The Equalizer exists in a colorblind world in which everyone deserves to live their lives in peace. And if that doesn't work out. Well, he makes sure the culprits pay.

Denzel! Denzel! Denzel! Denzel! Denzel!

Mamma Mia! Here we go again

Abba-ca-dabra! It's movie magic.

Ten years ago, Mamma Mia! arrived on the big screen with Meryl Streep and the band's greatest hits.
The Movie Slut wasn't impressed. Sure, the music rocked, but Streep, who was on the off ramp to 60 at the time, looked ridiculous in overalls and even her acting talents couldn't pull off a 17-year-old Dancing Queen.

This prequel-sequel cast Lily James as young Donna (Streep's character) in flashbacks, and Amanda Seyfried as her now grown-up daughter. Streep is on hand for one song. And Cher makes a cameo as glama.

It all works. The songs might not be Abba's greatest hits (though we do hear at least two of them), but the band's second-tier will make you wish you'd paid more attention to them in the 1970s.

Looking for an escape from all that's wrong with our country this summer? Here it is.

The Catcher Was A Spy: Little-known hero

Here's what we know about Moe Berg.
He earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton and a law degree from Columbia. 
He was a Major League catcher in the 1930s and early '40s.
He was a World War II spy.
He spoke nearly a dozen languages.
He might have been gay.

Now, the Movie Slut wants to know which of the above you think is most interesting.
Some reviewers chose to discuss the last one. To which MS says, "Oh Puh-leeze."

In this baseball/spy biopic Paul Rudd is the enigmatic brainiac who enlists with the US Office of Strategic Services (the precursor to the CIA), which tasked him to discover how close the Nazis were to making an atomic bomb. And, of yes, to commit murder if necessary.

It's a heck of a story that could have made a fantastic flick. Instead, it's just good enough not to be missed.

Leave no Trace: Out of the Woods

Ben Foster & Thomasin McKensie

There are no villains in this warmhearted film about the love shared by a father and daughter. Unless you count the war that left Will with a severe case of PTSD. He can no longer cope in the outside world, and so the single dad lives in the Oregon woods with his teenage daughter, Tom. Until they're discovered.

It isn't illegal to be homeless, he learns, but it is against the law to live on government land. A kindly farmer gives Will a job and a humble home. In fact, all along the way, father and daughter are treated with respect and consideration. The question is, will they adapt.

The Movie Slut won't give away the end, except to say it reminds her of this song by Sting. 

Three Identical Strangers: A Triple Treat

Here are three reasons to see Three Identical Strangers, a documentary about triplets, who were born in the 1960s but didn't meet until the 1980s.

1) The brothers are engaging, at times, funny, at other times, thoughtful and deep.
2) The others interviewed for the movie are intelligent, articulate, and informative.
3) While this is a remarkable story on the surface, it grows deeper and deeper, asking—but not always able to answer—the questions: why, how, and is it nature or nurture that determines our behavior.