Century 16 South Point and XD
Movie Theater In Las Vegas

Movie Guru's Current Movie Briefs

• Renaissance: A Film by Beyonce
  

  This is not a Taylor Swift concert movie. it seems to be a more intimate portrait of an artist at her peak during a very successful concert tour. I was very surprised by the abilities of Taylor Swift. I expect similar surprises watching Renaissance.
• Godzilla Minus One
  

  This is a brand new English dubbed Japanese rethinking and tribute to the English dubbed (except for Raymond Burr) 1950s original. Bring the kids.

  Wrong! This is a terrific, subtitled flick; a great movie with incredible sound design and award worthy effects, with excellent screenwriting, and an unbelievable final battle that dissolves into an unexpected denouement. The premium XD theater presentation for this one is worth every extra penny.
• Dream Scenario
  

  You cannot keep a good Man down. The ubiquitous Nicolas Cage playing a mild matter professor is turning up in everybody’s dreams. That is weird. Just like Nicolas Cage. And check out the recent Retirement Plan, Nicolas Cage having fun in an action comedy that works very well for movie audiences.
• Silent Night
  

  This looks like a love it or hate it John Woo directed action extravaganza. I assume the rating is R, but I am worried that the violence should have earned it an X. Definitely not for everyone.
• The Shift
  

  An Angel Studio released always means a well-intentioned faith based movie targeting everyone, but mostly attended by those with faith. Let me put it this way. The Shift and Silent Night both opening this week are diametrically opposed in their ambitions.
• Napoleon
  

  Director Ridley Scott (look him up) films his latest epic, this time Napoleon. Starring the always interesting Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon, this should result in entertaining hours at the movies. (Be aware that next year a four hour director’s cut may be coming to Apple TV.
• Wish
  

  A Disney Thanksgiving treat for the entire family? I say probably yes. There was a time that you would take the kids to two movies over Thanksgiving. However, things have changed. Now you choose between Trolls or Wish. I go for pure entertainment, which chooses Trolls. Disney lovers will pile into Wish. It is your call.
• Trolls Band Together
  

  Why is this movie playing matinees in one of our XD theaters? Because The Marvels failed it’s opening weekend, gross requirements, and the same is expected of this weeks opening of the Hunger Games prequel. What does this mean for the future of moviegoing? The only hits seem to be horror movies and one off’s like Taylor Swift’s Era Tour concert movie. I am starting to believe that it is true that too many people stopped going to the movies during the pandemic and have not come back. There is just too much streaming entertainment that is so much more accessible than a trip to theaters. Disney’s Wish opening Thanksgiving will let us know better if there is a chance theaters can re-capture the online generation.
• Hunger Games: Songbirds and Snakes
  

  I am totally not interested. I miss Philip Seymour Hoffman, one of America’s greatest actors who died from an overdose, cutting short his fabulous career. What a loss.
• Next Goal Wins
  

  Something is wrong here. Reading the New York Times this morning I flashed on the headline Offsides! And realized it was a review of Next Goal Wins, a movie that looks like fun based on the previews Then as I was organizing the updates on this page, the coming soon changes lead me to notice that this movie has a 46% on rotten tomatoes. Well guess what? I don’t care. It is on my first to see of this week’s new releases.
• The Holdovers
  

  Idiosyncratic and independent director Alexander Payne is back with a Holiday movie about being left behind during the Holidays. If you have seen and liked Alexander Payne’s previous movies, among which are the very funny early, Payne movie Election and Downsizing, and Sideways, and The Descendants, you will definitely make your way to see The Holdovers. I will be there joining you.
• The Marvels
  

  Maybe a normal length movie way under three hours will excite audiences. In fact the entire ad campaign should blast out the reasonable running time. I have nothing to say about this movie except it seems it will outshine Blue Beetle, another reasonable length innocuous comic book derivative.
• Freelance
  

  No doubt in my mind that John Cena will unanimously win the raspberry award of 2023 for worst actor in a motion picture. Playing a disillusioned, former special ops soldier, he is enlisted to protect a female journalist getting an exclusive interview with a South American dictator. Everything spirals out of control and this comedy pseudo-drama, including Cena’s awful and pseudo comedic facial expressions (which if he’d used those on his army ventures he would have been left out of the service. I highly recommend this movie.
• Killers of the Flower Moon
  

  A Martin Scorcese instant classic. However I read the book. It is a devastating work of non-fiction chronicling a genocide of oil rich American Indians by greedy Oklahoman evil murderers. So there was no mystery to me, and unwilling to endure a second dose of the history, I walked out when I could not take it anymore.
• The Creator
  

  Everyone must know more about The Creator than I do. Since seeing the first trailer for this big, futuristic movie about I assume robots against humanity, I have been looking forward to it, especially in our XD theater. The preview was certainly powerful, and I expect even more from the actual movie.
• Bottoms
  

  Gay high school girls start a fight club to attract hot cheerleaders, in a raunchy, anything goes comedy. Obviously not for everyone, but I will need to see it before I tip the scales one way or another. From the preview I can say give it a try, but it’s your call.
• Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
  

  Tom Cruise, American movie star, creator of action masterpieces. Once a great actor, now a superstar stuntman. I love him. How does he do it? But I think I loved him more when he was stretching his acting chops in all kinds of roles, big and small, in all kinds of movies. (And I prefer the great Harrison Ford in the TV show 1883 over his work in the current Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.