Year: 2023

‘Dream Scenario’: Cage is a dreamy choice for Borgli’s exceptional and eccentric dark comedy

Jeff Mitchell

“Dream Scenario” (2023) – “The Dream Police.  They live inside my head.” – “Dream Police” (1979) by Cheap Trick Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) isn’t a cop, but – for reasons that cannot (easily) be explained – he’s living inside people’s heads.  This college professor and family man spends his days giving lectures about evolutionary biology and supporting his wife, Janet (Julianne Nicholson), and their two daughters.  However, nights suddenly become problematic because friends, students, colleagues, and strangers inexplicably begin dreaming about him.  What?  This mild-mannered, nondescript educator becomes an overnight…

‘Next Goal Wins’: This soccer movie should be an easy score, but the ball sails over the crossbar

Jeff Mitchell

“Next Goal Wins” (2023) – 2,555, 44,620, 77, 2,073, and 31-0. American Samoa is an unincorporated U.S. territory, an island locale in the Pacific Ocean that sits 2,555 miles southwest of Hawaii.  44,620 people live on 77 square miles of tropical paradise.  Taika Waititi (“Boy” (2010), “What We Do in the Shadows” (2014), “Jojo Rabbit” (2019)) was born in Wellington, New Zealand, 2,073 miles southwest of American Samoa.  In “Next Goal Wins”, this whimsical, creative mind directs and cowrites an American Samoan tale based on actual events involving the world’s…

‘The Marvels’: A messy, confounding story grounds this MCU space odyssey

Jeff Mitchell

“The Marvels” (2023) – “The jump point is still leaking energy.” If that quote seems confusing, you aren’t alone.  “The Marvels” – the sequel to “Captain Marvel” (2019), starring Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani – has a confounding plot, one that completes its cooked chronicle through several conveniences over an (approximate) 95-minute runtime. It’s a messy space odyssey that shoehorns two Disney+ characters on the MCU’s big screen – Monica Rambeau (Parris), who works for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and a 16-year-old Jersey City kid, Kamala Khan…