Kit Carson

A piece of heavy duty balderdash about the frontiersman and his supposed exploits in blazing trails to California, and in prying said chunk of real estate away from Mexico. I’m quite fuzzy on the details of that era, but then again so is this bit of fluff filmed a hundred years on (1940) from the events it purports to relate, so that's pretty much a wash. I have severe doubts that any of it happened as shown here. That’s possibly good news for actual history, as this telling is rather banal and not especially interesting, except when the proceedings are punctuated by large scale acts of violence. Jon Hall is OK as the titular frontiersman, while Dana Andrews is kind of a dishrag as John C. Fremont. Their mutual romantic interest--in the same chick, not each other--is mostly dreary and adds little to the tale. I’ve taken to Westerns as I’ve grown older; something about recapturing the past seems to be part of the appeal. But in this case, here’s proof positive that even old shoot ‘em ups can be boring. I recommend finding a path away from this one. 

The Kentucky Fried Movie

Well, you have to start somewhere. This flick is where the Abrahams-Zucker team made its first foray into filmdom—and boy, did they experiment with everything under the comedic sun in this one. The result is highly uneven; there are gags that hit in a big way, while others either go on too long or totally miss the mark. But the entire soup is never boring. Plus you get to see lots of nudity, and many of the jokes are of highly questionable taste—always a good thing. Indeed, many of the bits are insensitive enough on various and sundry of today’s “cancellation” landscapes that you can get a certain twisted joy just from imagining the aneurysms the holier-than-thou types would have at most of this material. So it has that going for it, too. I wouldn’t say this is a great movie, or maybe even a good one in objective terms, but we wouldn’t have gotten Airplane or The Naked Gun without it, so perhaps we should grade on a curve. Sometimes, you crave that original recipe—and that’s what you get here. 

Killers of the Flower Moon

This is an exceedingly difficult call to make. The issue right out in front: this movie is simply too long. The running time, combined with its languid pace, makes it a trial to keep focused on the story in its many beats. A healthy dose of economy in storytelling would have served the tale much better. Has this been a sweeping epic of grand scenes the length may have been forgivable, but this really is a much more intimate story than the largess implies. Also, lingering in the background of the whole thing is the sense that this is yet another example of Scorsese and De Niro making a big crime movie—practically to the point of seeing obsession in the repeated efforts. That interjects a feeling that we’ve seen all this before, in a sense, and dulls the feeling of there being anything truly fresh here. Finally, I note that the score features throughout a pulsating drum line—likely the contribution of the film’s musical director, the late Robbie Robertson—that may convey tension and drama...in smaller doses, but that starts to get on the viewer's nerves after a while. So much for the negatives. On the other hand, the performances are very good, everything looks fantastic—including the recreations of the 1920s milieu—the script is solid, with lots of great dialogue, and above all, this is a fascinating story that deserves to be told. It just should have been told with a little more brevity. If you have patience and are willing to make the big commitment this film requires, then I think it is worth a recommendation. But just know going in that you will be asked to sit and focus on this subject for a very long time in order to take in its full measure.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

This franchise may be the most surprising thing going in movies right now. In its original iteration, the concept descended into farce and cheesiness after only a few films—yet, in the here and now, this series keeps churning out entertaining and even thoughtful editions one after the other. You can’t help but watch this film, and its recent predecessors, without seeing right through the metaphor, but in this case that’s a good thing—it’s how you come to contemplate just what these stories of nature (ape and otherwise) and conflict mean for us primates in the audience. The performances, mostly from a cast of nobodies—it must be difficult to get stars to sign on to play these roles via motion capture and computer generation, let alone to come out of the process looking like an ape—are remarkably well done, while the settings and effects are expertly presented and feel very true all the way through. This outing, just like the previous episodes, shows an inventiveness from the filmmakers that not only delivers a quality tale here, but promises further intriguing works in the future. You have to wonder how far they can take this saga before it grows tired, but for now there’s no sign of the thing losing steam. A remarkable achievement in this world of disposable, barely good enough entertainment. Good production, writing, and ideas together strong.

Knives Out

So this is what qualifies as reinvention these days? That’s a bit harsh, because I don’t want to imply that this is anything but a solid, entertaining bit of cinema. It is that. I’m simply noting that this work is not the world-changing item that some of the hype says it is. The movie really doesn’t need that hard sell; it stands on its own merits well enough. A large quantity of the credit for that accomplishment rests with the two principal performers: a sly, quirky and ultimately deep performance by Daniel Craig, who continues to fashion a low-key argument that he’s among the best actors working today; and a surprisingly powerful and dominant performance from Ana de Armas, who is the true star of this show and carries a great deal of the film’s weight with her. The rest of the ensemble offers quality supporting work with rarely a misstep, but it’s the efforts of the primary two who make this a movie over and above the ordinary. As I’ve stated previously, I’ve never been a particular mystery fan, so the machinations of the whodunnit plot really meant little to this viewer (though it didn’t seem to me that the solution to the puzzle was really anything all that clever). Mostly, the main contribution to the flick's quality—on top of the leads’ efforts—comes from the director’s sense of style, so score one for Rian Johnson, too. You don’t need to effuse into the ridiculous in order to find this a satisfying piece of cinema—and that shouldn’t be a mystery to anyone.

The King's Man

Another happy-go-lucky display of ultraviolence and snark. Well...not quite. This outing in the series has a surprisingly tempered approach to the proceedings; this is a movie that has a lot of deep stuff on its mind. Its relatively poor performance upon first release was probably due to screwed up expectations--the marketing sold it as an action farce, when in fact there's a great deal more tragedy in the storyline than the commercials ever suggested. From this point of view, that's not a bad thing; seriousness can be entertaining, too. On top of all that, the writers even got a lot of the history correct. I'm seeing this as an underappreciated work that will probably get more love as time goes on. And, yes, the movie does still have a number of truly audacious action sequences. So there's that. Not everyone's cup of tea, but worth it in this viewer's opinion.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

I'm not sure about this. This movie and its predecessor seem to want to be a looser, updated version of James Bond, and in some ways it pulls that off. It's got all the action--in spades--the gadgetry, the humor, the 'save the world' trope...it's all in place, and I can't really say it's not entertaining. And once again, the filmmakers have a certain amount of political insight where they try to deliver a satirical but somewhat cogent point. All well and good. But--and it's a huge 'but'--there are problems here, too. The combination of sophisticated and crude will clash a bit too much for some viewers. This film (and this applies to the previous entry, too) relies almost obsessively on long action sequences that are heavy on visual and camera gymnastics: stuff that looks good at first, but gets tedious after a while, despite the director's obvious love affair with his own shot-making cleverness. And, in addition to being crude, this outing is also remarkably violent; only the John Wick movies are a match for the violence displayed here, and those flicks are substantially darker in tone. This is almost like "playful psychopathy" here--which isn't always funny and entertaining. Toning it down a bit would probably make for a better movie--though I wouldn't count on seeing that in the seemingly inevitable third installment.

Kong: Skull Island

Monkeys see, monkeys redo. In this case, a certain crew of filmmaking monkeys did a particularly well-done reimagination of the classic monster movie featuring the titular, towering primate. This flick is a sort of sequel/companion piece to the recent, under-appreciated Godzilla movie--the Monarch cinematic universe?--with some similar themes and stylistic touches, though this flick has perhaps even more visual flair, and maybe a better sense of humor. Ultimately, though, this is truly a descendant of the original, featuring more than a couple of set pieces that seem to very consciously echo that eighty-year-old classic--hence, the heart of the matter is what it always is with a good monster movie: an orgy of satisfying violence. Who can ask for more than that? (And let's face it: the Bad Cat is a bit of a monster himself, so no wonder he's purring.)

Keanu

A funny movie. Problem is, given the principals involved (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) and the premise (dweebs play gangstas, all in the service of recovering a kitten) it should have been a lot funnier. It’s always unfair to judge based on expectations, rather than what is actually delivered, but it’s next to impossible to avoid that trap so here. After all, it’s goddamn Key and goddamn Peele! Still, this film is at least as funny--and thus, successful--as most of the comedies that come and go these days, so it earns a positive rating, even if it does ultimately come across as a lost opportunity.

King Solomon's Mines

(1950 version, with Stewart Granger and Deborah Kerr.) I often preach about old movies being better than you think they are; this one's not exactly a poster child for that concept. Not to say that it's bad; but the running time largely consists of a pastiche of wildlife encounters--which were probably fascinating back in the day but relatively bland for today's jaded viewer, who's seen all this and better in any number of nature shows--and a story that meanders to an ending with very little payoff. This one's probably only for the film buffs out there.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

This movie is desperately concerned with gaining its Generation AA bona fides, right down to the cockeyed way in which certain characters wear their caps. At the same time, it very self-consciously pays homage--at times out loud in the script--to spy movies of two generations ago. So then, if you throw all that together does it make for a great action adventure spy movie? Well, more like a decent action adventure spy movie. For one thing, this up to date take on the secret agent flick is substantially cruder than its predecessors: more lowbrow in its humor and gorier in its violence. Interestingly, the story gets the politics mostly right, including a provocative take on climate change and what's to be done about it. Bottom line: I suggest watching this one for free, on TV or from the library. As for the future of the genre, I don't think this one earned enough cred to merit a sequel (though I bet one shows up anyway). We'll have to wait for someone else to take this kind of flick to the next level.

Kick-Ass 2

Lighten up, Jim. Yes, this is an extremely violent movie, but given the story it tells it could hardly be otherwise. In fact, I'll take this in your face violence over the sanitized, inconsequential violence we've been fed in so many Stallone or Schwarzenegger movies. The real problem here is not the graphic nature of the action, but the lack of freshness in the overall work. Such shortcomings are inevitable, perhaps, in a sequel like this, when the original was so fresh and...yes...original. What pulls this one through is the characters; we like and believe in Kick-Ass and Hit Girl, and want them to come out on top, whatever fight they're in. Just relax and let this one be what it is, and you'll have some fun watching it.