RIP Sean Connery: A flawed human being but a hero on-screen

I just woke up to the surprising news that legendary actor Sean Connery has died at age 90. Connery was one of these guys who seemed like he would live forever -- after all he was a credible action star deep into his late 60s. He's been unofficially retired from acting for nearly 20 years, and he'd been missed, and now that's he's gone I think we can safely say we won't see another star quite like him.

He was famously a bodybuilder first who won the role of James Bond in spite of a pronounced Scottish accent and a gruffer aesthetic than author Ian Fleming initially imagined (Roger Moore was actually closer to to character's original conception). And of course the rest is history. Despite a long, successful career -- Connery's name will always be synonymous with the superspy character he created, and with good reason.

For years, and in some circles to this day, it's been taken as article of faith that Connery was (and perhaps always would be) the best actor to play Bond. This has always felt a little unfair, since Connery's portrayal was the first most audiences saw and got accustomed to and the one to which every subsequent portrayal would be compared.

I've always believed to some extent your favorite Bond usually corresponds with the one you sort of grew up with and so for many modern fans of the 007 franchise, Daniel Craig is the best -- after all, he's been occupying the role for 14 years now (albeit with long breaks in between films) and Connery is at best a distant memory.

That being said, he was spectacular in the role. There had never been a leading man quite like him before. He was aggressively sexual and confident, physically imposing, and a perfect mixture of dark and light. He was also an unforgivably misogynist character, which sadly was a reflection of Connery's problematic real life persona where he had the audacity to defend domestic abuse ON CAMERA in an interview with Barbara Walters.

In the context of the times they were made though -- these films are still terrific -- From Russia with Love and Goldfinger in particular do and should rank at or near the top of any 007 movie rankings. And for better or worse, it will be the iconic role for which he is best remembered. That being said he gave so many other fantastic performances that I want to highlight since there will be a tendency to only talk about his Bond movies when assessing his long career. Here are a few others I would strongly recommend:

The Hunt for Red October - Connery is so good in this submarine thriller that you buy him as a Russian captain, even with his unmistakable accent. He is all cool gravitas here -- smart, capable and commanding -- and an excellent counterpoint to Alec Baldwin's portrayal of a nerdy, nervous Jack Ryan. I know people are fond of The Rock, but for my money this was his best late career leading man role.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade - Despite their actually close proximity in age (Connery was only 12 years older than Harrison Ford) he and Ford made a great father son-pair in this, the second best Indiana Jones movie (in my opinion). Connery showed off his formidable comic chops but also delivers pathos in the emotional finale. He would go on to become the oldest man to win Sexiest Man Alive that year but he's so charming in this it's easy to see why.

The Untouchables - Connery won his only acting Oscar for this tour de force gangster movie from Brian De Palma and boy did he deserve it. He explodes on screen as a bigoted, veteran beat cop who gets a second chance at glory when he is improbably recruited by Elliot Ness to take on Al Capone. Such a quotable, unforgettable performance and probably the one he'd be best remembered for if it wasn't for James Bond.

The Offence - A little known gem from director Sidney Lumet, who is best known for his New York-based crime films but also made his fair share of British genre pictures too. This is one of the best Connery acting performances -- in what is largely a claustrophobic film centered around a brutal interrogation, he plays a deeply disturbed and violent cop with a very dark secret. A shocking departure for Connery that really subverts his hero persona.

The Man Who Would Be King - This romp starts off as an exciting adventure yarn about two rowdy hustlers (played to perfection by Connery and Michael Caine) who stumble into a situation where a relatively primitive culture mistakes them for Gods. Putting the racial politics of the movie aside, it becomes a fascinating parable about the corruption of power, and Connery in particular really relishes the scenes where his character self indulges in delusions of grandeur.

Marnie - This may be my favorite Connery performance. At first he seems like the typical, lovable Cary Grant-esque male lead foil in a Hitchcock film but scratch the surface a little bit and you'll find that his character is quite deranged (and eventually sadistic). The film perfectly captures the lightness and brooding darkness in the Connery persona as a man who must possess the leading lady to satisfy his own diminished ego. It's a complex performance in a wildly underrated psychological thriller.

'On the Rocks' is a lovely comfort film that lives up to predecessor

I'm relieved to say that Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks is an incredibly charming, deceptively sophisticated father-daughter comedy that is in its own way the perfect bookend to her breakout film 2003's Lost In Translation.  I say relieved because that film became such a beloved cultural touchstone that he re-teaming with her leading man Bill Murray would inevitably be compared to it unfairly.

The good news is that On the Rocks has an appeal that is all its own. While the prior film was a love letter to Japan, this film is an ode to the romance of a fully functional New York City. Her leading lady is a more mature and grounded Rashida Jones and Murray plays the polar opposite of his sad sack Bob Harris. Here he's a happy-go-lucky, fly-by-the-seat of his pants aging hipster (not unlike Murray itself).

The simple premise is outlined in all the trailers. Jones suspects that he husband (an understated, dialed down Marlon Wayans) may be cheating on her and she reluctantly enlists her dad -- an unapologetic and not entirely self aware misogynist -- to find out the truth.

Murray's character seizes on this 'adventure' with glee -- after all, it's an opportunity for him to spend more time with his daughter who he clearly adores but also to spout off unsolicited advice about the battle of the sexes. Jones has the harder, less showy role but she is an endlessly empathetic performer and her authenticity is perfectly suited to this material. 

And when she confronts Murray about his own hypocrisy, the film takes on more gravitas and allows the irascible comedy icon to deliver some of the most moving dramatic work of his career. Murray deserves to get a long overdue second Oscar nomination for his work here.

Coppola's eye for atmosphere and ear for dialogue keep the proceedings from ever feeling too sitcom-y. And while I can see some critics rolling their eyes at the comfortable privilege of its characters (there's a funny scene involving a run-in with police that is also an unintentional display of white privilege at its worse). But this doesn't have the claustrophobic feel that some say Woody Allen films have where it seems as though the New Yorkers never venture outside of a 10-block radius.

Also, not for nothing, but the film has two of the cutest child actors I've ever seen it.

As with many of Coppola's film -- with the distinct exception of her underrated remake of the genre thriller The Beguiled -- there is some intrigue that this movie is semi-autobiographical. In Lost in Translation, many presumed that the flaky film director husband of Scarlett Johansson's character was almost certainly based on her estranged husband director Spike Jonze.

In On the Rocks, the obvious question for film buffs and gossip mongers, is whether or not Murray is a facsimile of Coppola's famous director father -- Francis Coppola. Could be? Who cares. Whether it is or not the film is a lovely and loving exploration of the unique bond that a father and daughter share, even when the father can be a seriously flawed person.

Is the movie earth shattering? No. Neither was Lost In Translation. But it's graceful, witty and just the comfort film I needed.

'The Glorias' reminds me why the biopic is an exhausting genre

The Glorias is shockingly bad. It takes a subject who could make for a riveting narrative film or an even better documentary -- feminist icon Gloria Steinem -- and renders her bland and boring, and for nearly 2 1/2 hours. Director Julie Taymor does just about everything I can't stand in biopics: She oversimplifies her subject (essentially treating her like a benevolent saint), jumps around in time without context, attempts silly gimmicks -- like goofy dream sequences to illuminate the narrative and ultimately lets the story devolve into a greatest hits montage of Steinem's life.

There is nothing wrong a with a rousing, awe-inspiring story. And ironically enough the documentary footage in the film (like the real Steinem's speech from the women's march) is far more emotionally gratifying than anything re-enacted here. But this film simply misses the mark in so many ways big and small that I can't recommend it.

I imagine that some viewers, particularly those unfamiliar with Steinem, the film will be an education. But not unlike The Trial of the Chicago 7 ( but worse) this film dumbs down its subject matter and in the case of Steinem herself, neuters her of much of a personality.

She's played by several actresses (hence the title), but principally by Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore. Vikander is totally flat and has zero charisma, with her sections suggesting that Steinem's beauty was the chief obstacle that she needed to overcome in life. Some cartoonish scenes are used to illustrate her rise and confrontations with the patriarchy, but as I've found with many of her roles, Vikander fails to invest them with personality or joy and so they simply sit there.

Moore fares better because she not only strikingly resembles Steinem but seems to have the gravitas to convey her essence but she too never gets to give a fully realized performance since the overly busy movie is constantly trying to mix things up with heavy handed narrative conceits like having Steinem have heart to hearts with herself during years past.

At times, I found myself wondering why this film was even made -- since it doesn't delve too deeply into any specific Steinem accomplishment. It's a highlight reel and a poorly excuted one at that. The flawed but watchable TV miniseries Mrs. America did a far better job of highlighting the different personalities and conflicts that forged the women's movement in the 1970s. 

In that series, Rose Byrne's Steinem was also too much of a cypher but at least you could see why Steinem was a leader, albeit an unconventional one, and the plot had a drive to it. It didn't try to cover the entirety of Steinem's life and in doing so gave us more time to take the measure of the hard and incredibly valuable work she was doing (and still does).

What is particularly upsetting is the fact that strong women in history so rarely get the big screen, big budget treatment. If you screw up a movie on say JFK, don't worry they'll be more. But this may be our last shot -- for a while at least -- at a Gloria Steinem movie. And boy did they miss,

'Borat' sequel is timely and somehow gentler than the original

I'm.a Borat fan, but more importantly I'm a Sacha Baron Cohen fan. I know he is divisive and that his brand of social satire is viewed as transgressive and cringeworthy by some -- but to me he's an incisive talent who picks targets that deserve his merciless ridicule.

That said, his new film -- despite the hype around it -- plays like a more lowkey, even sentimental version of the original. it's basically a father-daughter road movie (with the game and likable Maria Bakalova as Borat's teenage spawn Tutar). 

It's impressive that he pulled this sequel off, considering how ubiquitous (and played out) the Borat character became in the 14 years since his big screen debut and that it appears to have been shot (at least partially) amid the outbreak of the coronavirus. Still, the shock of Cohen's style isn't really here (save for the now infamous sequence involving Rudy Giuliani) and the laughs are at times inconsistent.

And yet, I am so grateful for this film for its little pleasures: Like a hilarious, old school Disney-style animated film romanticizing Trump's relationship with Melania, a genuinely creepy sequence at a debutante ball or its capturing for posterity footage of Mike Pence crowing about how the Trump administration had the coronavirus under control back when there was only 15 cases.

The seams show when Cohen tries to make his vignettes string together like a coherent film (the same issue detracted a bit from his largely underrated Bruno). Ostensibly, the film is about Borat trying to offer his daughter first to Mike Pence and later Giuliani for sexual favors.

There are of course detours -- like an uncomfortable but ultimately quite sweet confrontation between Borat and a Jewish woman who attempts to cure him of his anti-Semitism (it's one of the miracles of Cohen's characterization that he makes such a heinous character likable) -- that offer little lowkey pleasures but can sometimes feel like a retread.

Ultimately I am a bit torn about the strength of the movie's comedy. I am happy he exposes and mocks Q'anon conspiracy theorists for instance, but when Borat (disguised as a MAGA guy) sings song about Obama being a traitor to rapturous applause it doesn't feel particularly revelatory.

Even the Giuliani scene -- is which the former NYC mayor looks unwell and rather silly (with his dyed scraps of hair) doesn't quite land the way you expect it to, partially because the insane things he's saying about the coronavirus being "manufactured" in China is the same thing he'd be saying to.a legit journalist.

In other words, we don't need Borat anymore to expose the hypocrisy and vapidity of many of these people behind closed doors because so many of them are willing to embrace hate and stupidity (which are really one and the same) in broad daylight without shame.

That doesn't mean this movie doesn't have its charms -- and it ends on a note that's probably a little too cute for some peoples' tastes, but which I found charming.

This feels like a hasty effort to stick to Trump while there's still time -- after all, it's looks increasingly likely that he won't be around for comics to kick around after January 20th. The thing is though, he is already sticking it to himself without anyone's help.

'Alone' in awful attempt to make a relevant zombie movie

Zombie films have always been some of the most potent horror films, in part because the chaos and tension they create often feel the closest to what real world terror looks like. And if there was ever a time where a zombie film would strike an urgent tone it would be now.

After all, we are living in amid a once in a century pandemic caused by a deadly airborne virus. Is it turning people into flesh eating monsters? No. But the idea of a world with dwindling supplies and an increasingly agitated populace doesn't feel too far off.

Alone, a bland new zombie movie which at least looks as if it may have been produced amid the pandemic, could have seized this moment to say something timely about how society can break down in a situation like this, but instead it does almost nothing new and decides to saddle us with two uncharismatic leads.

Tyler Posey, the nominal and perpetually shirtless hero, gets the most screen-time and does little with it besides obnoxiously monologuing to himself and moping around his mostly impenetrable apartment. We learn little about Posey accept he that he has a lot of tattoos and like surfing.

He cries a lot, contemplates suicide and almost immediately falls in love with a chipper neighbor (Summer Spiro) simply because they have a meet cute across balconies as zombies cavort below them.

As slow moving as the first half of the movie is, there are at least some decent zombie scares and chases to watch but once Spiro and Posey start bonding the whole thing collapses into jaw dropping amateurism. Neither character is particularly well drawn or played and their 'romance' is simply a plot contrivance that feels rushed and inauthentic.

In fact, only one thing is this movie works -- a striking, extended scene featuring the legendary Donald Sutherland, as another survivor of the zombie outbreak with a secret. Sutherland is so effortlessly compelling and avuncular in an abbreviated appearance. He makes Posey better. He makes the movie more intriguing and hints at a more ambitious movie that could have been,

But sadly, his role is little more than an extended cameo. He deserved better and audiences deserve better too.

We have seen so many iterations of the zombie movie -- even comedies -- and it's become so much a part of our culture that we've got long running TV series that revolve around them. So for me, and I suspect a lot of other people, that bar is pretty high to keep these kinds of films fresh and exciting.

I have no idea why the makers of Alone thought they were invigorating the formula. It has a few nifty moments and one strong performance, but that does not make a movie a must-see.

'Trial of the Chicago 7' is a hokey but necessary history lesson

Aaron Sorkin's The Trial of the Chicago 7 is about as subtle as a heart attack and hokey as hell but it does effectively dramatize a crucial moment in modern American history and for that it has value. It's clearly pitched to be a nod to the moment we're in where Bill Barr and Donald Trump seek to pervert the criminal justice system to serve their political ends. The movie is so broad in its characterizations and content that no one could miss the movie's mission statement.

It's for this reason that I struggle with it. If I didn't know the history I might have been more bowled over by this film -- but I do know it and so it's hard to see important figures like Tom Hayden and Jerry Rubin get reduced to caricatures. Oddly enough, Sacha Baron Cohen fares better than many of the others as the affable and astute Abbie Hoffman (although he's at least a decade too old to play the role). 

Frank Langella makes for an appealing villain in an over the top role as the absurdly biased judge. Yahya Abdul Mateen II doesn't have much to do as Bobby Seale. Michael Keaton shows up and has grit and gravitas as Ramsey Clark (but it's more of a cameo than anything). And John Carroll Lynch tugs at your heartstrings in one of the most Sorkin-y moments in the film.

That said, Sorkin is relatively restrained here. In fact, if you didn't know it this film could have been made by competent Hollywood mainstay like Ron Howard or Rob Reiner. Unlike his almost unwatchable Molly's Game, the screenplay is not overwhelmed by speechifying and self conscious dialogue. 

And yet, the movie goes the attractive biopic route and doesn't attempt anything particularly daring or interesting with its approach. 

I am curious how the real-life inspiration (those that are still alive) feel about the portrayal here -- particularly Tom Hayden whose played by Eddie Redmayne as a bit of feckless equivocator -- and I am suspicious of Sorkin's decision to portray the prosecutor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt giving essentially same earnest performance he always does) as a noble, conflicted bystander to the proceedings.

All of this being said, I can see this film being enormously encouraging and inspiring to younger people who don't know about the police riot at the 1968 convention or the completely politically motivated trial to prosecute high profile antiwar activists a couple years later for inciting said riot. 

These figures are worth lionizing and the tragic events of 1968 are worst being realized on film. 

Do I wish it were done in a less heavy-handed way? Absolutely. But do I regret that it's being dramatized at all. No. 

Sorkin needs good collaborators. His unusual pairing with director David Fincher led to one of the best films of the previous decade -- The Social Network. And his writing has invigorated what would have otherwise been bland affairs like A Few Good Men. I'm even one of the few fans and defenders of his work on Steve Jobs, a movie that worked for me if apparently few others.

I like that he's a liberal and wears his ideology on his sleeve -- like Oliver Stone -- he makes projects that he wants to be about something and that he wants to provoke a reaction. I just don't this film lands with the force that he wants it to.

'The King of Staten Island' is overlong but a little refreshing

Judd Apatow are often pleasurable for me in the moment but don't wear well over the time. The biggest exception for me is The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which despite some very dated, problematic bits remains a silly delight.

He is, despite his political leanings, a conservative director disguised as a radical one. His narratives almost always reinforce the importance of the traditional family unit and revolve around mostly male protagonists who are in a state of some kind of arrested development who must embrace adulthood in order to redeem themselves.

In some ways, The King of Staten Island is a departure from his usual work. It doesn't feel like a series of improvised bits (although an extended run about hilariously bad tattoos feels like a throwback to his earlier movies), many of the jokes land organically and more realistically. It's pitched more like a comedy-drama in the vein of a James L. Brooks movie and his leading man -- SNL's Pete Davidson -- is a likable enough, low key presence.

The key here is his character -- not unlike Davidson himself -- struggles with mental health issues, which makes his malaise a little bit more accessible and sympathetic than most Apatow heroes.

It's still incredibly overlong and meandering without much of a driving narrative. It's taken on Staten Islanders is pretty broad and stereotypical but it's at least a different milieu than I'm used to seeing in mainstream entertainment.

You can see a subplot involving a de-glammed Marisa Tomei as Davidson's mom and a mustachioed Bill Burr (who is very good here) from a mile away but at least is sweetly funny and plausible. It leads to the closest thing to a plot during the first half of the film since its the inciting reason for Davidson's character --- who's 25 mind you -- to finally move out of his parent's house.

For a moment the movie seems like it might go down a darker path but instead the second half of the film is the familiar terrain that most Apatow typically traffics in. I was hoping for a more ambiguous ending (like I wish his messy Funny People could have had). But this is meant to be a crowdpleaser, albeit a less bombastic one.

The climax is corny and again, predictable -- but it works anyway and the film takes on another dimension when you realize its a semi-autobiographical journey for Davidson. And at the end of the day -- I really liked the film. I wouldn't say Davidson is going to become the next great leading man -- the film doesn't ask too much of him.

But their is a rough hewn charm to him and the film that's a little refreshing if not even a little bit revolutionary.

Dense and dazzling 'Tenet' deserves to be seen

Critics who aren't fans of Christopher Nolan usually have three knocks against his work. They say it doesn't have enough heart (which I couldn't care less about). They say his women characters are often underwritten (there's some validity to that). And the snarkiest take is that he makes a stupid person's idea of a smart movie.

That last one has always irked me, not only because I am a fan of Nolan's, but because it reeks of the very snobby pseudo-intellectualism that so many Nolan detractors accuse him of. I think a more honest appraisal is that he makes very ambitious, large scale movies that take big swings at larger themes (particularly time) while succeeding (most of the time) as a commercial entertainment.

Having finally seen Tenet (under covd guidelines in a theater outside of the city) it's easy to see why it quickly has become his most polarizing feature. Even if it was given a proper wide release nationwide, it would likely have confounded a lot of audiences with its labyrinthian plotting and occasionally impenetrable dialogue.

It's true that Tenet is a lot of movie -- but it moves at a ferocious pace, is undeniably well crafted and delivers some remarkable set pieces that rank among Nolan's best. And yet, it also heightens all of Nolan's tics that some people find maddening.

It's hard to defend really loving a movie I could only partially comprehend -- and that's after reading a thorough synopsis after the fact. It has something to do with time manipulation, secret agents and even art forgery. Some of the elements do really click, especially in the last act -- but this is movie best experienced first and then dissected later.

Of course, very few people will see it at all, and that's a shame. If there ever was a movie meant to be viewed on the big screen it's this one and its a tragedy that covd will (rightly so) prevent it for being appreciated by a wider audience.

Especially for Nolan fans this feels like summation of his work around the subject of fate and time, which began in earnest with The Dark Knight and reached a critical peak with Dunkirk. Here, the stakes are technically higher but are less emotionally fraught than in the WWII film but that is no way a slight to the players involved.

Star John David Washington in particular is riveting in the lead. It's impossible not to think of his father while watching him on screen, after all his voice is an almost carbon copy of Denzel's signature sound but his more diminutive stature makes him more vulnerable. Robert Pattison is charming as his sidekick. And Elizabeth Debicki is one of the more fleshed out female characters in his canon.

They are all embroiled in the movie's profoundly confusing plot about plutonium and algorithms, with some car chases thrown in. Some of it can quite silly --like Washington's character literally being called The Protagonist -- but then other conceits of the film that play with time loops are incredibly exciting when fully realized. In fact, the opening sequence alone (a siege in a crowded concert hall) is such a pulse pounding tour de force that it's worth the price of admission. This is a film that can be enjoyed as purely an exercise in style, with flashes of humanity but with an emphasis on precision.

Whether any of this is your cup of tea or not is beside the point. Nolan is at least trying to do something bold here in a big, would-be blockbuster, which ought to be commended. Nolan is not only taking the risk of placing a black man in the center of his narrative for the first time, but he is also risking alienating an audience who may have just barely been able to comprehend Inception.

Tenet, I suspect is not complicated for the sake of being complicated. It's attempting to do a lot of world building and it has to spend a lot of time trying to ground itself with rules for the world it creates. Since the actors are so good and the set pieces so spectacular, I am willing to forgive some of its clunkier flaws. And I wholeheartedly believe its the kind of film that needs to be seen, discussed and debated. I refuse to accept that argument that this film is empty inside.

And sadly, it will likely be remembered unfairly as the film that failed to save Hollywood. Before the film began I was treated to very exciting trailers for the upcoming Fred Hampton film Judas and the Black Messiah and Wonder Woman 1984, films that are still theoretically slated to open in theaters but seemed doomed to an inevitable delay until 2021 like Dune and No Time to Die.

What's particularly scary is the fact that there is genuinely a talk about how movie theaters may never come back which would not only be tragic for lovers of cinema but disastrous for the thousands of people they employ. Tenet, will likely be the last film I see in a theater for at least six months and I was so invigorated by its scope that I have no regrets if it has to be my last.

Boo! 'Hubie Halloween' is more dumb Adam Sandler shtick

When I finished watching Adam Sandler's new Halloween-themed  Netlfix comedy Hubie Halloween I sort of groaned and my wife asked me "well, what did you expect?" She's not wrong. Sandler has been cranking out subpar comedies for decades now, but for some reason I had slightly higher hopes for this one.

Part of it was the trailer, which promised a potentially genuinely scary horror comedy. Part of it was my affection for Sandler's earlier funnier films and my appreciation for his under-appreciated, brilliant work in 2019's Uncut Gems. I thought it my be just a notch above his recent string of misfires.

I had completely avoided Sandler's Netflix output. There was something depressing to me about watching this aging comedian, who we all know can do better, slumming it in vehicles alongside his old SNL buddies. And in many ways Hubie Halloween is more of the same.

Yet again Sandler is playing one of his stunted man child characters. He's a muttering, mumbling loser who is a self appointed sort of community watchmen who is obsessed with Halloween and naturally has to live with his adoring mother (played by a game June Squibb). 

He's a relentlessly nice guy -- as we're constantly being told by his love interest played with no imagination or wit by the luminous Julie Bowen. The Bowen character is actually my biggest problem with this movie. Here she plays essentially the same two-dimensional character she played in Happy Gilmore, but at least there Sandler was played a character she might conceivably find attractive (at one point without irony she tells him he's the greatest person she's ever known). In this film, without explanation she worships Hubie and repeatedly throws herself at him until they inevitably get together.

There are a lot of other bits that don't work -- and some that do (Maya Rudolph is genuinely funny as a sexually unsatisfied wife) but it all doesn't really add up to much. What's frustrating is that the production values are quite good and there are even a couple moments that flirt with real scary tension which is what this movie needed.

If there were more real stakes Hubie's adventures would feel more exciting and original but instead we have to watch his character routinely get picked on (by a stacked cast which includes Ray Liotta) and humiliated in repetitive fashion.

I did have a few genuine laughs, especially early on when the film leans into more of its absurd quirky streak -- there's a cameo from Ben Stiller reprising his role as the demented nurse from Happy Gilmore that is very welcome but comes to nothing -- but once the 'plot' kicks in it's a strictly routine affair.

I simply don't know why Sandler is so risk-averse. Uncut Gems was a solid hit given its unconventional style and subject matter so it's not as if his fans will never forgive him for stretching outside his comfort zone. But he seems content to play simpletons, do pratfalls and have a lot of fun on set if not on screen.

This one is a family affair -- with his two daughters playing thankless supporting roles. And of course all the usual Sandler stock company (Rob Schneider, Steve Buscemi and more recently Shaquille O'Neal) all show up to debase themselves. It's all watchable enough and not a total waste of time, but it's stupidly isn't sublime or infectious, it's just very matter of fact.

I wish Sandler would collaborate with a director who has a real vision or better timing -- even if it was for one of these broad comedies. But I suppose he'll just keep disappointing me until the roughly one time a decade he doesn't.

How John Cusack (sort of) ruined my adolescence

Today, John Cusack has become an eccentric character actor who headlines largely direct-to-streaming fare that you and I will never see but when I was coming of age he was an icon of sorts, an avatar for geeky good guys everywhere who dream of 'getting the girl' someday.

That's the Cusack I always had a soft spot for -- particularly in the film Say Anything -- where his ruddlerless romantic Lloyd Dobler represented a whole generation of lovable losers who have earnest intentions when it comes to romance.

His early films didn't exactly set the box office on fire -- in fact, with a couple of outliers, he's never really headlined many films that could be accurately described as hits. But the films had staying power, and his persona as a quirky, unconventional love interest endured.

Of course, his comedy films all had a happy ending -- his underdog heroes always triumphed -- and I think it sold me and a lot of guys like me a false bill of goods when it comes to how my teenage years would really play out.

This week, I revisited one of his beloved little '80s gems -- the 1985 teen comedy Better Off Dead. It opens with his character being dumped by his dream girl for a prototypical meathead jerk (he could have fit easily into Cobra Kai). It's an amusing, self-consciously surreal movie and there is absolutely no suspense in it because it's inevitable that Cusack's character will find a superior love interest (in this case the manic pixie dream girl is a cute French girl who barely speaks for much of the film's running time) who accepts him for him.

I'm not the first person to point out that while charming, his Lloyd Dobler -- had he not be played by an actor as endearing as Cusack -- would probably be considered a clinging, possessive creep by most women. Take the legendary "In Your Eyes" scene for instance. 

Even if you haven't seen Say Anything you likely know the image: Dobler defiantly holding up a boom box, playing the song that played when he and his estranged girlfriend made love for the first time. It is romantic in a certain context, but if taken literally it's a pretty smothering move.

As a young person, I learned all the wrong lessons from the early Cusack classics. I became convinced that my 'niceness' would be a virtue and that if I was simply dogged and determined enough I could will the girls I had crushes on into liking me. Boy, was I mistaken.

First off, I wasn't and am not cute, so that made pulling off making social awkwardness appealing that much harder. But secondly, being obsessed with someone (in Better Off Dead, his dream girl's image is everywhere in his bedroom) didn't exactly make them enamored with you.

I'm of course being facetious. These adorable rom coms helped make me who I am -- and who I was -- which was someone hopelessly, pathetically optimistic about love. And I'm glad I idolized goofballs over jocks, God knows how I would have turned out if I didn't, but I wish I realized how unrealistic these movies were at the time.

The tragic loss of Spike Lee regular Thomas Jefferson Byrd

Thomas Jefferson Byrd was not a household name, he wasn't even a household face -- but if, like me, you're a Spike Lee fan, he was an unforgettable presence in a number of the iconic director's movies.

News broke today that the distinctive character actor has been gunned down and killed in Atlanta, Ga. The details aren't yet known about what the motive was, if any, for this killing, but the film world has lost yet another great talent in a long line of untimely deaths this year.

I probably first saw Byrd in Lee's satire Bamboozled, where he played a performer who willingly takes over the blackface performer mantle when the film's heroes walk away from the offending variety show series at that film's center. In one of the funniest bits in that movie -- or any Lee movie -- Byrd can be seen hawking a fictional malt liquor called Da Bomb.

Byrd was a distinct looking actor -- long, drawn, and pock marked -- he has a colorful, authentic delivery and unpredictable flair on-screen. He could be a grounded, humane character like the father struggling to connect with his son that he played on Get On the Bus or he could be a more heightened character like the pimp Sweetness in the movie He Got Game.

His last appearance on film was in 2015's Chiraq, a film I didn't love as much as others, but was almost certainly enhanced by his presence.

I'm not sure where is career and life had taken him over the last five years. Besides a Tony nomination in 2003 for his supporting role in the August Wilson play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (itself soon to be a feature film starring another 2020 casualty, Chadwick Boseman), most people recognized him as a part of Lee's repertory company.

To learn that this weekend, at age 70, Byrd was found shot multiple times in back is both horrific and terribly sad. He was a very authentic, warm-hearted and intelligent actor and it's another sobering reminder of how lucky we are to be alive and how precious life can be.

Rest in power, Thomas Jefferson Byrd.