Blue Steel (1990)

Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) has just graduated the police academy and is on her first day of patrol when she spots a robbery in progress.  Her partner has stepped away and she is on her own.  She rushes to the scene and gets the drop on the robber.  Despite having him in her sights, the robber dares to try to shoot her.  She unloads her gun.  Unnoticed, Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver) was lying on the floor, one of the many witnesses.  Though an innocent bystander, Hunt grabs the robber's gun and flees.  While Megan finds herself the subject of an Internal Affairs investigation for killing an apparently unarmed suspect, Hunt develops an obsession with his newfound gun and Officer Turner.  He arranges a chance meeting with her and is soon wooing the unsuspecting subject of his obsession.

Turner is both well-developed and yet unexplained.  Multiple people ask why she wanted to be a cop and she never gives a clear answer.  Her father is abusive toward her mother, and neither of them came to her graduation from the academy.  Her father is particularly annoyed that she's a cop.  She has trouble with relationships, which is brilliantly shown with a brief encounter with Howard (Matt Craven) and doomed fling with Eugene Hunt.  She's a loose cannon most of the time, rushing into action without her partners.  By the end of the film, there is no way she should be allowed to remain on the police force.

Eugene is even more of a mystery than Megan.  How did this quite successful Wall Street trader suddenly become a homicidal maniac?  The robbery had a huge impact on him, but it's unclear why.  He becomes increasingly reckless.  Despite being a serial killer, he has crazy plot armor that allows him to roam free and unobserved.  When the detectives determine that he has buried his gun in a particular area, they don't just get a metal detector and find it.  No, they stake out the area and wait.  Oh, that's going to work out great.

Nick Mann (Clancy Brown) is the lead detective on the string of murders that are linked to Megan thanks to her name carved on the shells.  Why are the shells left behind?  They do not eject from a revolver, so Eugene has intentionally left them behind.  No fingerprints?  As far as we see, they didn't check.  Of course, once Eugene is a suspect, Nick becomes Megan's new love interest.  Yeah, her social life is a catastrophe.

Overall, mediocre.  Much as I like the three leads in general, they couldn't make this movie work.  Skip.

Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is a harried woman with no time to talk.  Her husband, Waymond (Ke Huy Quan), wants to talk but she constantly says 'later.'  Not only is she busy running the laundromat, she also has to prepare a party for her visiting father (James Hong), deal with her difficult daughter (Stephanie Hsu), and prepare for an IRS audit with Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis).  No sooner has she arrived at the IRS office with her husband and father than Waymond warns her that she is in great danger and must go to the custodian closet.  He hands her some scribbled notes on a sheaf of papers for later reference.  He further says that he will not remember this conversation when they reach their floor.  Huh?  Utterly baffled, Evelyn does not divert to the custodian closet.  During the meeting with Deirdre, Evelyn is constantly distracted and soon shifts to reading Waymond's notes.  Suddenly, she links with an alternate universe where her life took a completely different course!  Moreover, she discovers that there is a pan-dimensional war in progress and she is a key player!

The movie is a high-octane action fest that see Michelle Yeoh demonstrate her martial arts prowess in a variety of settings with all sorts of 'weapons.'  Her adversaries in one reality might be her allies in another.  Ke Huy Quan is great fun.  I had no idea that this was Short Round from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.  James Hong, who is in his 90s, was terrific as always.  I have been a fan of his since Big Trouble in Little China (1986).  Jamie Lee Curtis is excellent as the IRS auditor who is sometimes a badass enemy and at others a sympathetic ally.  Thanks to the multiverse setting, everyone has the opportunity to play their character in a variety of ways, which was generally fun.

The movie boils down to a dysfunctional family trying to reconcile their differences.  There is a lot of action, but it is really a family drama.  This is the story of how Evelyn reconnects with the father who disowned her, reconciles with the husband that has become distant, and accepts the daughter who has come out as lesbian.  Oh, and also resolves her tax problems.

This is all about the telling, not so much about the story itself.  I don't know that I would rate this the best movie of the year, but it is certainly good popcorn fun!

Halloween

The new Halloween dismisses all but the original 1978 movie.  It is explained that after having crawled away from the house where he nearly killed Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis), Michael was arrested by a young policeman who prevented Doctor Loomis (Donald Pleasance) from finishing the job.  Since then, Michael has been in a mental institution.  Enter Aaron and Dana, a pair of Brits who have a true crime podcast.  They attempt to interview Michael but he says not a word.  He is soon to be transferred to a more prison-like facility where it will not be possible to interview him.  Next, they interview Laurie, finding her at a secure compound in the woods.  Her life has been one of paranoia and marital failure.  Her only daughter was taken from her.  She scoffs at them when they suggest she confront Michael at the institution and get him to talk.  Yes, the Brits have notions of finally rehabilitating Michael or at least getting him to explain himself.  Ha.  Of course, Michael escapes during the transfer and makes his way to Haddonfield where he recommences his murderous ways.  Laurie grabs some guns and goes hunting!  First, she checks on her estranged daughter (Judy Greer) before looking for Michael.  Like Ripley in the Aliens series or Sarah Connor in Terminator, Laurie has become a badass.  Badass grandma! 

Though it discards all the sequels prior to it, it does offer the occasional homage.  The idea of Laurie being Michael's sister is mentioned and dismissed as a rumor.  At one point, Laurie falls off a balcony and is lying on the ground but when Michael looks again, she's gone!  I was reminded of a Chuck Norris movie - Silent Rage - where an unkillable baddie was on a murder rampage but Chuck kept trying to kill him anyway.

It was awkward to have both a daughter and a granddaughter, which really watered down the character conflict between parent and child.  However, it was necessary to have teens for Michael to slaughter and Laurie is a bit old to have a teenager at this point.  As such, the daughter gets to have angry arguments with her mom and flashbacks to her childhood of being trained for combat while the granddaughter gets to run from Michael while all her classmates are sliced and diced.

 

I do miss Doctor Loomis.  The psychiatrist running around with his Colt .45 trying to kill his former patient was awesome, definitely Donald Pleasance's most defining role in my view.

 

This is a good sequel to the original.  Thumbs up.