Adann-Kennn Alexxandar is pictured in this 2017 file photo. The long-time Valdosta Daily Times movie critic reviews the latest movie releases.

“Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” (Comedy: 1 hour, 42 minutes)

Starring: Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown and Austin Crute

Director: Adamma Ebo

Rated: R (Strong language, some sexual content)

Movie Review: “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” marks Adamma Ebo’s directorial debut for a full-length film. She makes an impressionable mark, even if the antics go too far.

Pastor Lee-Curtis Childs (Brown) and his wife, First Lady Trinitie (Hall), are leaders of the Southern Baptist megachurch, Wander to Greater Paths.

The church just lost all 25,000 members thanks to a scandal involving Pastor Childs. He has been accused of sexually coercing a number of young men into relationships with him.

As the pastor and his wife work to restore their ministry and rebuild the church’s congregation, they face marital problems.

Despite this movie’s title, it is not a religious film per se. It is a farcical feature that lampoons shenanigans that happen at a mega-church. The satirical moments are written, directed and produced by Adamma Ebo (“C.R.E..A.M. & Butter” (2018), who expands on her 2018 short film titled the same. Both this movie and the short are a seemingly comical recap of the Bishop Eddie Long events that made major headlines more than a decade ago.

“Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” has a message about organized religion, but it does challenge the system. Instead, it lampoons religiosity. The antics work because of the acting from leads Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown. They are both phenomenal.

Again, this is a comedy about religion and not a faith-based film.

The characters, especially Hall and Brown, are irreverent as they are well-acted. At certain moments, many characters appear far from saintly. This provides laughs, although plenty of material is adult material that pushes the envelope in subtle ways while bordering on smart, silly moments.

Grade: B- (This movie honks for interested audiences.)

“Gigi & Nate” (Drama: 1 hour, 54 minutes)

Starring: Marcia Gay Harden, Charlie Rowe, Diane Ladd and Jim Belushi

Director: Nick Hamm

Rated: PG-13 (Thematic elements)

Movie Review: This family entertainment slides by on emotive aspects but it has its moments. Often, small family screenplays get negative reviews for being too rosy in their intent. This movie’s intent is to inspire audiences with decent amusement for the entire family. This movie manages to do that.

Nate Gibson (Rowe) is a young man who loses the will to live after a near-fatal bout with bacterial meningitis leaves him a quadriplegic. Nate’s life of depression changes when he is given a capuchin monkey named Gigi. The service animal soon becomes an integral part of Nate’s life, giving the young man a reason to live again.

What Nate gains is hope. Now that the COVID pandemic wanes, many returning to see movies can use this type of escape. “Gigi & and Nate” inspires if nothing else, even when it is overly bulky during its last 30 minutes.

Grade: B- (A good duo.)

“One Way” (Thriller/Drama: 1 hour, 36 minutes)

Starring: Colson Baker, Storm Reid, Travis Fimmel, Drea Matteo and Kevin Bacon

Director: Andrew Baird

Rated: R (Pervasive language, violence and drug use)

Movie Review: Occasionally, a little-known movie manages to surprise with its ability to garner one’s attention and create steady entertainment.

“One Way” is an interesting thriller that takes place over a few hours one night. The narrative invitingly chronicles a sliver of a criminal with a gunshot wound.

Freddy (Baker, better known as Machine Gun Kelly) is a wounded man with stolen money and drugs from a notorious crime boss, Vic (Matteo).

Freddy is on a bus that starts in Lake City, Florida, makes a stop in Valdosta and ends its night run in Cairo, Georgia. Along the way, Freddy faces multiple dangers while establishing varying relationships with several people on the bus.

Ben Conway’s script is imaginative, even if one feels left out by some of the outside elements of his narrative. The characters spend much of their time talking in this dramatic gangster movie.

Yet, much of the plot exists equally off of the bus as on it when the characters on the bus are fascinating character studies of their own accord.

Conway (“Nightrider,” 2021) is creative with his setting and characters.

Baker’s appearance makes him an engaging pick for this movie’s lead, Freddy. He is a petty mobster boss’ henchman but his character is also a man trying to do some good for people he can help.

Freddy is a role in a noir film. Freddy is no saint but he has good intentions. The problem is his intentions are laden with a turbulent past and Baker works in this role.

However, Storm Reid (“Sleight,” 2016) is a talented young actress.

She presents a certain beauty within this role. She appears as a real person. She rivals Baker as a character by providing a richly developed persona on the bus.

A classic noir thriller, “One Way” offers an array of characters. Just about all are shady in some form, ranging from a child molester to mob enforcers.

The characters work in a small setting, although one never has a chance to see much beyond the dark windows until the last 20 minutes.

The movie starts in a manner that appears mid-story. One has to adjust to the characters as the plot unfolds. However, the movie gains one’s attention enough to make it worth the time.

Grade: B- (One way to an engaging thriller.)

“Medieval” (Drama/History/War: 2 hours, 6 minutes)

Starring: Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe, Til Schweiger, and Michael Caine

Director: Petr Jákl

Rated: R (Strong and grisly violent content throughout, and some nudity)

Movie Review: “Medieval” is a “Braveheart” want-to-be. It is an interesting tale that lacks the epic-ness of its historical character, Czech general Jan Zizka.

Fifteenth-century battle-seasoned leader Jan Zizka (Foster) finds himself in the middle of warring factions after the death of the reigning emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

While kingdoms plummet into chaos of feuding kings, Lord Boresh (Caine) hires Zizka and his men to kidnap Lady Katherine (Lowe), the fiancée of the powerful Lord Rosenberg (Til Schweiger). Boresh and others want to prevent corrupt King Sigismund (Matthew Goode) and Rosenberg’s rise to power.

As a biopic, this movie is not on a stature with historical figure Jan Zizka. Supposedly, he never lost a battle as a military leader. The war and other action scenes are energetically appealing but the rest of the movie fails to inspire.

Ben Foster does his best but he appears out of place with his too-modernized Western appearance. Despite other major talents attached to this movie, it fails to capture one’s attention beyond its bloody action scenes.

Grade: C+ (The Middle Ages tale is middling entertainment.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has reviewed movies for more than 20 years in South Georgia.