“Space Jam: A New Legacy” (Adventure/Animation: 1 hour, 55 minutes)

Starring: LeBron James, Don Cheadle and Cedric Joe

Director: Malcolm D. Lee

Rated: PG (Violence and some language)

Movie Review: “Space Jam” (Director Joe Pytka, 1996) featured the legendary Michael Jordan. Twenty-five years later, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” debuts with another basketball great, LeBron James. 

Once again, a basketball phenom stars alongside one of the best scene-stealers, Bugs Bunny. The story is similar for both movies, so this feels like a remake than a new legacy. 

LeBron James plays himself. James wants his sons to follow in his steps, but his son Dom James (Joe) has other plans. A computer programmer, Dom wants to be a game designer. 

The father-son relationship is tested when Al G. Rhythm (Cheadle), Warner Bros. Pictures’ rogue artificial intelligence, abducts LeBron and Dom. LeBron must work with Bugs Bunny (voice of Jeff Bergman) and other Looney Tunes characters to win a basket tournament against a formidable team. It is the Tune Squad versus the Goon Squad. 

A scene within this movie has LeBron James talking to Warner Bros. executives about what a bad decision it is to cast sports players as actors. James is terrible in this role but he will win an Oscar. This movie relies on his accolades as a sports superstar.

It also relies on comedy via the animated Looney Tunes and heavy visual effects. the comedy is mediocre, even for Bugs and the other Toons. The movie scores high points for its sophisticated eye candy, but its visual aspects are an overload. 

This is especially true for the audience at the basketball game scenes. The audience includes the “It” eldritch clown Pennywise, Space Ghost, King Kong, Rick and Morty, The Flintstones, Stanley Ipkiss from “The Mask” and The Droogs from “A Clockwork Orange.” These tertiary characters in the background are a distraction, despite their appeal.

Warner Bros. highlights other creations under its umbrella. Viewers can see stylized scenes from the “Matrix,” Rick’s cafe from “Casablanca,” a setting from “Game of Thrones” and moments from “Mad Max.” Often, “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is a jam of everything Warner Bros. owns. Think of this as a corporate synergy directed by “Girls Trip’s” Malcolm D. Lee.

“Space Jam: A New Legacy” creates a new narrative for new generations and is enough to entertain the small fries. For those who saw and remember the original, this is merely a repeat capitalizing on the fame of another basket icon.

Grade: C (Jammed full of visual goodies that are a commercial overload.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“Black Widow” (Action/Science-Fiction: 2 hours, 13 minutes)

Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Rachel Weisz and Ray Winstone

Director: Cate Shortland

Rated: PG-13 (Intense violence and action, language, and thematic material)

Movie Review:

As overly complicated as many Marvel Studios movies are, “Black Widow” is fun-filled action with interesting characters. This is the start of a new phase for Marvel movies.

Scarlett Johansson gets her stand-alone story. She does not disappoint, although the action scenes cut down time to get to better know Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first woman superhero and her family.

Natasha Romanoff (Johansson), a.k.a. Black Widow, reunites with her estranged family to take down the Red Room, headed by Gen. Dreykov (Winestone). First, Natasha must get her skilled assassin sister, Yelena Belova (Pugh), and their parents, Alexei (Harbour), known as the Red Guardian, and scientist Melina (Weisz) to work as a team.

The movie takes place between the films “Civil War” and “Infinity War.” We know how Black Widow’s story ends but this superhero addition has her at her best in action again.

Natasha Romanoff first appeared in “Iron Man 2” (Director Jon Favreau, 2010). She was just eye candy. Black Widow quickly become an integral part of The Avengers. She is the core of this movie. She and a talented cast manage to hold one’s attention with plenty of action scenes and visual effects.

Action sequences aside, “Black Widow” is more science-fiction than anything else. Each scene involves a new gadget or some chemical for brain alteration. The techno-babble is interesting but the script relies heavily on it to explain just about every behavior.

“Black Widow” is an enjoyable action flick at its best. Despite stereotypical moments like elongated car chases and bullets that miss their targets far too often, the movie does hold a few surprises. Stay through the end credits for one more scene.

Grade: B- (She performs admirably in an intricate web.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” (Thriller/Action: 1 hour, 28 minutes)

Starring: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller and Deborah Ann Woll

Director: Adam Robitel

Rated: R (Violence, terror/peril and profanity)

Movie Review: Six people are once again in an escape room, where their decisions have life or death consequences. This is a follow-up to “Escape Room” (2019), also directed by Adam Robitel (“Insidious: The Last Key,” 2018). The sequel has its thrills but the best audiences can do is make a quick escape from this repeat flick. 

Zoey Davis (Russell), Ben Miller (Miller) and four people find themselves trapped on a New York subway. Soon, they realize they are all survivors of Minos Escape Rooms. As such they are champions who must work together to solve clues to survive deadlier rooms.

The beautiful Taylor Russell creates a sense of urgency in these movies as Zoey Davis. Her character’s feminine innocence beckons one to quickly want her to be safe and succeed. She is no damsel in distress. Russell plays a clever character. Plus, she is willing to help others survive. Remember she had to rescue Logan Miller’s Ben Miller in the prequel to this franchise. The two are close friends still helping each other.

Their relationship makes more sense than the nonsensical story. “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” is an implausible movie. What are the chances of getting three women and three men on a subway car alone in New York City when they do not all live in the metropolis?

One would need to predict quantum mechanics on some omnipotent level to achieve much of what this movie details.

This review digresses. This movie needs little brainpower to predict it concludes just like its prequel. It even leaves the door open for another addition. Apparently, the players cannot do the one thing audiences can do — escape.

Grade: C (Another room offers the same story.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas

“Pig” (Drama/Thriller: 1 hour, 32 minutes)

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Alex Wolff and Adam Arkin

Director: Michael Sarnoski

Rated: R (Violence and profanity)

Movie Review: “Pig” scores with an engaging narrative about a man and his pig. That man is Nicolas Cage and he delivers a captivating performance.

Cage plays Robin “Rob” Feld, a former famed Portland-based chef. He now lives in the Oregonian wilderness as a truffle hunter with his trained foraging pig. After some people steal his beloved pig, Feld searches Portland with his business associate, Amir (Wolff) as his driver.

Director Michael Sarnoski (television series “Olympia,” 2012) and Vanessa Block crafted an interesting screenplay. It is a lightweight mix of “Fight Club” and “Pulp Fiction” with gourmet cooking. It is a story about relationships, more importantly, associations tragically lost.

Rob Feld’s story is three parts. Each captures a unique part of him trying to find his pig. As Feld and Amir travel around Portland to find those responsible for the abduction, more information surfaces about Chef Feld and why he became a recluse in the wild.

Like life, this story evolves as it continues. Feld’s life becomes ever-present and Cage’s portrayal of the private man becomes more tangible. This is good but it also makes one wait to find the reasons why a man puts his life in danger to find a pig.

The ending may not be what one wants but it works despite all its thematic disappointments. This exists because of Cage’s marvelous performance as the movie’s lead. 

He and Alex Wolff’s scenes are engaging. The men differ via ethnicity, age and socioeconomic status but their lives are an intertwined association in ways unknown to the other. Yet, each scene offers an understanding of these men as Feld and Amir comprehend each other and their motives for their work.

Plenty of nonverbal communication happens with this script. The moments are irritating because some actions are unknown. One must remain patient; “Pig” is an investment. Such is its strength and its noble flaw. It is work but it is worth it.

Grade: B (No hogwash, “Pig” is good.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has reviewed movies for more than 20 years for The Valdosta Daily Times.