Licorice Pizza (2021):

This highly controversial film about a couple, a 25-year-old woman, a 14-year-old boy, was, in my opinion, a lot like the Seinfeld episodes when Jerry and George were pitching NBC on their "show about nothing." Set in 1973 and using the name of a Los Angeles area record store as its title, the very odd relationship is the focus as this pair walk through their nondescript lives. She is Alana, he is Gary (Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman respectively) and the movie explores first love, and what, in some worlds would be a coming-of-age story, but here, it really doesn't go anywhere. Cooper Hoffman is the son of the late actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and this is his first movie role. If there is anything worth seeing here, it's the nostalgia of the era which is captured perfectly, from the clips of the Carol Burnett Show playing in the background, to the Harvest Gold and Avocado-coloured kitchen appliances. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson ("Boogie Nights"), the biggest controversy comes from a scene in which an Asian woman is demeaned and belittled, which has had the Asian community in the U.S. call for a boycott of the movie. All of that, and it is being touted as an Oscar contender for Best Screenplay. I don't get that! Rated 14A.

Belle:

This Japanese anime is an interesting departure from the standard Hollywood animated features on a number of levels. First, it captures the Asian anime perfectly, and second, it is geared mainly to a teenage audience rather than an audience of children or of young families as is so often the case with "cartoon" movies. The story is about Suzu, a shy young girl living in a small village. She is hardly noticed by anyone, and her life is one lived on the margins of the mainstream. But Suzu has another side to her. She has an online identity, that of Belle, a singer. Belle is her avatar. When she slips further into that online world, she becomes Belle, performing concerts around the world to the adulation of millions of fans. During one of her performances, a monstrous creature appears, hunted by vigilantes. Belle becomes infatuated with finding the secret behind this beast, clearly someone else's avatar, and in so doing, learns a lot about herself. This was not my cup of Sencha Tea, but for those who like the genre, it will work. Rated PG.

A Day to Die (2022):

Bruce Willis appears in yet another quickie direct-to-video as his career winds down, with him now stepping away from acting permanently. Connor Connolly (Kevin Dillon) is a parole officer who saves the life of the parolee that he is guarding, but in the process has to take the life of a gangster who is part of a huge drug consortium. Now the drug boss wants repayment - $2 million which Connor obviously doesn’t have – as reparation for the loss of his key lieutenant. To help things along, Connor’s pregnant wife is kidnapped by the cartel leaders and is threatened with death if he doesn’t come up with the money within 24 hours. The only choice Connor has is to get the band back together – to get his old military pals to help him with the situation. They decide to do a bank heist to get the money, and then to take on the gang to get the wife back, and in the process, have to deal with a corrupt police chief (Bruce Willis) with whom they have had dealings in the past. I like heist movies, and while this is not one of the best, it’s not bad. Rated 14A.

Boss Baby: Back in the Crib (TV series) (2022):

DreamWorks Animation has decided that kids and their parents just can't get enough of this movie franchise which began as a feature film in 2017, offered as sequel, "Back in Business" in 2018, and a third sequel, "The Boss Baby 2: Family Business." All featured the voices of Alec Baldwin and Steve Buscemi, and all revolved around the little baby who was smart enough in infancy to be a corporate executive. That worked so well that it has now become a series on Netflix, where Theodore Templeton, the original Boss Baby, is framed for a corporate crime he didn't commit, and he is forced to go back and live with his brother Tim, taking on the Boss Baby persona once again, and leading a fight that could result, if it fails, in threatening the entire Baby Corp. Great for kids, and for adults too. Rated PG.

Operation Mincemeat (2021):

This film, based on actual events in WWII, was released by Warner Bros in the UK theatrically, and is being released by Netflix in North America. Colin Firth stars in this ingenious story of an espionage operation in 1943 that turned the tide of the war when a pair of British operatives used a combination of a corpse and false identity documents to deceive the Germans at a critical point when a huge build-up of troops was set to quash the allies. It tells the story of those who fight in the shadows, and whose true exploits are sometimes unknown and lost in the fog of war and the mirage of history. Rated 14A.