Normal (In the theater, 4/18/2026) Grade: D.
I like Bob Odenkirk so much, I could watch him eat oatmeal. And I bet I would enjoy that more than this movie, which I only gave a passing grade because of a squeaky leather jacket and my never wanting to give Odenkirk an “F.”
So instead of bothering with this movie, I would suggest you watch another dark and violent crime drama set in snowy Minnesota called “Fargo,” because that story at least has a thick coat of quirkiness, and a warm, beating heart hiding under all the violence.
Apex (Netflix, 4/25/2026) Grade: B-.
I like Charlize Theron, and would have enjoyed a lot more of her just eating noodles at her beautiful campsite, and a lot less of her fighting with and fleeing from a seriously warped human.
And while I certainly appreciate that the movie did not make our heroine a damsel in distress, I did bristle at the notion that the bad guy had to be super depraved to scare us. Because for most women alone in the wilderness, any man she encounters can be a threat: Statistically bigger, stronger, faster and more likely to know basic fighting moves, most men can terrify most women by their mere presence.
But even more offensive to me was all the CGI. The beginning of the movie reminded me of the documentary The Dawn Wall, which centers on two climbers trying to scale El Capitan, spending days and days in a tent perched precariously on a rock face because one of the men can’t complete a difficult section, and the other refuses to leave his partner behind.
The documentary is a compelling story beautifully shot, and I can’t help but feel sadness for the incredibly skilled people we forget about in those movies: The ones also on the mountain filming.
Much like how Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, only backwards and wearing heels, the camera operators are also climbing, plus wrangling heavy equipment while constantly angling for compelling scenes and framing. But now their hard-won skills are quickly being replaced by technology that can supposedly generate scenery that is just as jaw-dropping.
But not to me; I can’t be awed if I can tell a computer created it. And especially not when I feel more each day that A.I. will be the Apex predator for humans, one that didn’t even need to capture and drag us to its cave for dinner. No, this one we invited into our cave, letting it quietly nibble away at anything it wants until we realize far too late that even if we could still escape to the world outside, that world likely no longer has a use for us.
Over Your Dead Body (In the theater, 4/25/2026). Grade: A-.
This movie was a bit too long and I could have done without ever seeing a lawn mower used as a weapon, but it also gave me the first big belly laugh since the reboot of Anaconda.
And I can forgive a movie almost anything if it lets two old farts save the day: The first a nosy neighbor who uses his rolodex and big-buttoned phone to alert the second old fart, who then breaks out of his nursing home and steals a car so he can check on his cabin by the lake.
It also benefits greatly from the charms of actors like Timothy Olyphant, who almost single-handedly notches this remake above the foreign film it is based on, a feat I didn’t think was possible after decades of watching failed attempts: “Point of No Return,” a far less interesting version of “La Femme Nikita”; “Downhill,” a far less mature and nuanced version of “Force Majuere”; and, most egregious of all, “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything,”which I think was nothing but a ghastly insult to the marvelousness of “Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert.”
Heck, even my grandmother agreed about To Wong Foo, describing it as “Not good show. No movement, stupid at times.”
The Trip/I Onde Dager (Netflix, 4/25/2026). Grade: C-.
This is the Norwegian film that inspired “Over Your Dead Body” — so much so that the movies often felt like scene-by-scene reshoots done in different languages – that I found much less fun and inventive than the American remake, as its tone was a bit too dark without the comedic talents of both Olyphant and Jason Segel.
But who I missed the most from this film was Juliette Lewis, whose eccentric charm is so watchable, I think she could making eating oatmeal even more entertaining than Odenkirk would.
And while I did enjoy seeing Noomi Rapace again, I think her talents were a bit wasted in this role, and recommend you catch her work as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” instead.
Movies I saw in March: Ready or Not 2, Marty Supreme, Blue Moon.
Here are the movies my grandmother saw in April of 1998:
Saturday, April 4, 1998
Awake 6:30, up 8.
To show, “Mercury Rising.” Bruce Willis, autistic boy.
Monday, April 6, 1998
Drug Emporium, got toenail clippers.
To show, “Men with Guns.” Good.
Thursday, April 9, 1998
Ate chicken at BK.
To show, “Primary Colors.” Enjoyed. Only 5 there.
Thursday, April 16, 1998
To show, “City of Angels.” N. Cage, Meg Ryan.
Home, ate corn. Not real good.
Saturday, April 25, 1998
To show, “The Locket.” Old, 1946. Robert Mitchum.
Sunday, April 26, 1998
Worked in yard 8-9.
Kmart, gas. To donut shop.
To show, “Spanish Prisoner.” Good.
