Paul Walter Hauser

Americana

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Americana
  • IMDb: link

Set up as a number of interlocking stories all centered around an expensive rare Native American ghost shirt and the desperately stupid people who want it, writer/director Tony Tost‘s Americana is an interesting exercise even if it doesn’t all quite fit together such as the extended lull in the backstabbing Mandy Starr (Halsey) returning home. The highlights here are Sydney Sweeney as stuttering waitress Penny Jo (although the controversy of her American Eagle ad isn’t likely to help the small independent film at the box office), Paul Walter Hauser as the lonely cowboy, and young Gavin Maddox Bergman as a mixed up kid who has watched too many cowboy movies claiming he is the reincarnation of Sitting Bull. As ridiculous and culturally inappropriate as he is, the kid proves surprisingly good with a bow and arrow.

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The Naked Gun

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Naked Gun (2025)
  • IMDb: link

It’s been a minute since we’ve seen a new Naked Gun movie. The failed 80s TV-show turned successful movie franchise in the late 80s and early 90s gets a refresh with Liam Neeson stepping in as Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen‘s character. Like his namesake, Frank is a talented, if problematic, detective for Police Squad. Playing on Neeson’s history with B-move action-thrillers, he slides right into the straight man role of the film in what turns out to be some rather inspired casting.

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Inside Out 2

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Inside Out 2
  • IMDb: link

Inside Out 2

The sequel to 2015’s Inside Out is exactly what you would expect. Catching up with Riley (Kensington Tallman) as she enters her teenage years, the film features several new complicated emotions that get into competition with Joy (Amy Poehler) and the other characters from the first film as Riley gets ready to deal with high school, the potential loss of friends who (while the three are headed to a summer hockey camp) drop the bombshell that they will both be attending a different high school, and (thanks to the help of the new emotions which she can’t always control) juggling fitting in with redefining her sense of self.

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Cruella

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Cruella
  • IMDb: link

Cruella movie review

I think if Disney made a movie about Hannibal Lecter it would be about how great a psychiatrist he was before he started indulging in other appetites. The ill-conceived, and lengthy, Cruella offers a look at the origins of the paper-thin villain from One Hundred and One Dalmatians who wanted to steal and murder dogs to skin for fur coats. Honestly, did anyone really need more than two-hours to explore extra layers and motivations of a character like Cruella De Vil?

The film is certainly stylish, and does offer its share of memorable moments over a 136-minute running time which also includes an unexpected The Devil Wears Prada plot about 70s fashion. Emma Stone stars as the orphan who would grow up to be a thief, a fashion designer, and eventually notorious celebrity known simply as Cruella. The screenplay also brings back Jasper (Joel Fry) and Horace (Paul Walter Hauser), the two henchmen from One Hundred and One Dalmatians, reimaging them as childhood friends and fellow thieves who she eventually takes for granted when Cruella’s ambitions get the better of her. And, because it is a Disney movie, we also get a pair of dogs with inspirationally long lifelines and their dog tricks.

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Richard Jewell

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  • Title: Richard Jewell
  • IMDb: link

Richard Jewell movie reviewDirector Clint Eastwood‘s latest film examines Richard Jewell and the rise and fall of the security guard in the media from the hero who discovered a bomb during the 1996 Summer Olympics at Centennial Park to the FBI’s prime suspect in the bombing. An indictment on both media and the tendency of local and federal agencies to decide on a narrative and attempt to fit the facts to it rather than the other way around, the film focuses on how the lack of any evidence didn’t prevent either the FBI or the media at large from determining Jewell was guilty (despite the fact he was never charged with a crime).

Paul Walter Hauser is the stand-out as the naive Jewell who, even while being accused by the FBI, can’t help but try and help due to his hero worship of the police. Sam Rockwell and Kathy Bates are strong as the few supporters believing in Jewell’s innocence while the other side of the investigation features far more one-note characters with Jon Hamm is stuck in a cliched cop role as the man leading the investigation, and other actors as forgettable nameless support, and Olivia Wilde is a slutty reporter whose need to break the story costs Jewell everything.

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