“The Lost City” (Comedy/Adventure: 1 hour, 52 minutes)

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe and Brad Pitt 

Director: Adam Nee and Aaron Nee 

Rated: PG-13 (Suggestive material, language, bloody imagery, nudity and violence)

Movie Review: Today, a movie has a star-studded cast of moviedom elites and seizes comical moments, and everyone thinks it is a hit. Most of the characters here are goofy people. They are not convincing, even for a comedy. After seeing it twice, my opinion did not change. “The Lost City” is a place in need of finding a better script, as it is an apparent replay of “Romancing the Stone” (Director Robert Zemeckis, 1984).

Loretta Sage (Bullock) is a romance novelist, still mourning the death of her archaeologist husband five years earlier. She is abducted by eccentric businessman Abigail Fairfax (Radcliffe), who believes the writer can help him find an ancient treasure on a remote Atlantic island. 

Enter Alan Caprison (Tatum), who is the visual representation of Dash McMahon, the long-haired blond lead character in Sage’s novels. Caprison is a dimwitted cover model who mounts a rescue with Jack Trainer (Pitt), a Navy Seal now CIA agent. The rescue does not go as planned. 

This comedy exists because its cast is likable and funny as individuals. Together, their performances are all too similar and the movie comes off as goofy. “Lost City” has its moments but they are moments of fleeting drollery.

Grade: C+ (Humor is present but the city is not on the map.)

Playing Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“The Outfit” (Crime/Drama: 1 hour, 45 minutes)

Starring: Mark Rylance, Dylan O’Brien, Zoey Deutch, Johnny Flynn, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Simon Russell Beale

Director: Graham Moore

Rated: R (Violence, language)

Movie Review: “The Outfit” delivers a solid story and an excellent performance by Mark Rylance. Considered one of the best stage actors, he proves he is just as agile onscreen.

Rylance plays experienced tailor Leonard Burling in a 1956 Chicago. An expert “cutter” as he defines himself, he makes suits for a living. In a back room of his shop, a black box exists that local mobsters use as a form of delivery and communication. When Richie (O’Brien) and Francis (Flynn) enter one day, Richie has a gunshot wound, and the men are carrying an envelope with information that could potentially bring down Richie’s father, Roy (Beale), a local crime boss. 

Their presence also brings Violette (Amuka-Bird) and henchmen who are part of an African-American syndicate known as the LaFontaine Family. Rylance must outwit them to keep him and his assistant, Mable (Deutch), safe during an intense night.

A small cast delivers in a movie that takes place entirely in L. Burling Bespoke, a clothing shop for men. The place is just a few rooms but director Graham Moore who cowrote this screenplay by Johnathan McClain makes good use of limited space for the cast.

Graham won an Oscar for best writing for adapted screenplay for “The Imitation Game” (2015). “The Outfit” marks his directorial debut for a full-length feature. Graham delivers superb work both as director and writer.

Graham’s work here is easier considering his cast does something few movies allow actors to do with lengthy dialogue – act without superfluous special effects, useless violence and overplayed romantic liaisons. This measured narrative takes time to develop characters in the one night we get to know them. It works for audiences who like solid acting.

Rylance is a superior actor. He acquired an Oscar for his supporting role in “Bridge of Spies” (2015), an award well-deserved. He now proves he can be a leading man. His performance is top-notch here in this splendid crime movie.

“The Outfit” is a movie tailored to impress broad audiences. It creates carefully crafted characters in a noir plot. It is good to see noir films making a comeback in major ways lately. This one is a thriller that works on multiple levels.

Grade: B+ (Classic-style crime thriller is a good outfit to suit multiple audiences.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“Tyson’s Run” (Drama: 1 hour, 43 minutes)

Starring: Major Dodson, Amy Smart and Rory Cochrane

Director: Kim Bass

Rated: PG (Thematic elements in the form of bullying and some language)

Movie Review: Inspired by a real-life person, “Tyson’s Run” is a feel-good movie. It is the type of movie we all need when inflation is high and on the verge of a possible world war. Even when it hits its low moments via technical attributes, it is still enjoyable entertainment.

Tyson Hollerman (Dodson) is the son of Coach Bobby (Cochrane) and Eleanor (Smart). He is an autistic high school student who is not athletic. After seeing professional marathon runner Aklilu (Barkhad Abdi) run one day, Tyson decides he wants to run. He asks Aklilu to train him. Soon, Tyson decides he wants to run in the city’s marathon. With many obstacles against him, Tyson believes he can win.

Think of this drama as a lite “Chariots of Fire” (1981) meets “Rain Man” (1988). “Tyson’s Run” is in no way in the same league as either of those two movies but it delights enough to make it a worthy outing on a lazy afternoon.

Grade: B- (Tyson’s run inspires.)

“Radhe Shyam” (Musical/Romance: 2 hours, 21 minutes)

Starring: Prabhas, Pooja Hegde and Krishnamraju

Director: Radha Krishna

Rated: NR (Thematic elements and sensuality)

Movie Review: Bollywood as movies of India are often called are ostentatious screenplays with large ensembles that sing and dance. The stories are interesting but the movies’ executions are a hit or miss. “Radhe Shyam” has intrigue, romance, grand set designs and a likable cast, but the movie plays like two hours of MTV videos of romantic songs.

Set in a 1976 Europe, Vikramaditya (Prabhas) is a famous palm reader. He knows when meeting people their futures. He even knows his own. He believes his destiny is that of a single man until his death. This changes when meets Dr. Prerana (Hegde) an attractive medical doctor. To be together, their love must overcome their fates.

A nice story exists here that is fascinating but producers ruin the story with diversions. Pretentious love songs, overplayed romantic interests and ornate set designs rival the story, albeit the grandiose sets are regal visuals. The problem is the story is better than the digressions but the story is haphazardly penned by writers.

Only two of the musical moments are noteworthy. Others are annoying and slow the momentum of an intriguing story about predestination and love. The movie takes an hour to get somewhere. By then, fatigue is present via a messy story.

Grade: C (Keep the story, drop the music video moments.)

“X” (Horror: 1 hour, 46 minutes)

Starring: Mia Goth, Brittany Snow and Scott ‘Kid Cudi’ Mescudi)

Director: Ti West

Rated: R (Gore, strong violence, drug use, sexual content, nudity and strong language.)

Movie Review: This movie is two movies combined. One consists of young attractive people wanting fame through pornographic means. The other focuses on an elderly couple longing for a distant past. When the two collide, the result is what the county sheriff in the movie calls a “really (f-word) horror film,” yet it is a collision one cannot stop watching. 

In 1979, six people leave Houston, Texas, for a rural area to shoot a pornographic movie titled “The Farmer’s Daughters” on a farm in a Bible-belt part of the state. A peculiar senior citizen couple allows the group to rent a spacious house on the land and use their stables to film. The production goes horribly wrong when an altercation with the older couple yields very violent consequences.

The vibe is “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre” meets “Boogie Nights.” As two separate movies, “X” would be interesting but each movie would be dull. Together, these two merged plots are sensationally strange and shocking.

Sure, “X” falls into overplayed tropes. It takes recurrent themes in horror movies such as night scenes, and spooky places and people, and uses them effectively, even if it poorly executes the inclusion of sub stories.

Many of the sub-stories have nuanced inclusions, letting one know a bigger story exists quietly. However, writers’ inclusion of extra material distracts sometimes. The material is presented in an unimpressive manner because of the producers’ intent to shock at times when they have something original. They have a horror that offers surprises and that carries this movie enough to make it fascinating.

Director-writer Ti West (“House of the Devil”) started with horror in both movies and television. He goes back to that genre with “X.” This one feels like a classic movie from the 1970s and 1980s. The feel is just the perfect manner to execute this gritty tale filled with murder, sex and love. 

He also provides one teaser scene at the end of the credits. No doubt, he has more in store for some of the characters seen here.

Grade: B- (X marks the cinema spot.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie” (Animation/Fantasy: 1 hour, 45 minutes)

Starring: Kayleigh McKee, Anairis Quiñones, Kaiji Tang and Lex Lang

Director: Sunghoo Park

Rated: PG-13 (Suggestive references, language, bloody images, thematic material, violence)

Movie Review: Sunghoo Park who directed episodes of the television version of “Jujutsu Kaisen” also directs this addition, a prequel movie. The movie is typical of anime movies. A good story surrounded by plenty of violence and nice animated visuals, although numerous scenes appear redundant.

When they were children, close friends Yuta Okkotsu (McKee) and Rika Orimoto (Quiñones) promise they would one day marry each other. Tragically, Yuta witnesses Rika’s death because of a traffic accident. Rika becomes a monstrous ghost-like being, a curse. Depressed, Yuta longs for his death under the curse of Rika. 

Enter Satoru Gojo (Tang), the greatest jujutsu sorcerer who welcomes Yuta to Jujutsu High, a place where people learn to channel their curses to help people. Yuta is very powerful and his skills will be necessary when expelled former Jujustu High alum Suguru Geto arrives. Geto is a vile curse user who believes the world should belong to only Jujustu sorcerers.

Anime movies have good stories and plenty of eye candy. This one is no different.

However, “Jujutsu Kaisen 0’s” flaw is that it repeats portions of its story repeatedly, both visually and vocally. Writer and director Sunghoo Park wants to stress how two characters are forever a linked couple. That link is well-established within the first 25 minutes of this movie. The anime feature would be 20 minutes shorter if the romantic notions of two friends were not a rehash every 15 minutes.

That written, many anime screenplays have characters suffering from some great loss such as a best friend, a parent or a spouse. Then, these dark themes drive the main character, who usually becomes some great superhero-like being. This is the case with Yuta. His grief and the constant bullying he suffers make him long for death, a constant state of depression. 

Yuta changes his life with help of his classmates and his mentor. His new sense of purpose helps him realize present matters properly. His narrative is a good one that drives this movie.

That story with intriguing visuals creates a movie that entertains adequately.

Grade: B (Despite a repetitive beginning, this narrative yields an impressive story with nifty visuals.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“Umma” (Horror: 1 hour, 24 minutes)

Starring: Sandra Oh, Fivel Stewart and Dermot Mulroney

Director: Iris K. Shim

Rated: PG-13 (Terror, strong language and thematic elements)

Movie Review: “Umma’s” tagline is “a mother’s love never dies.” This knowledge is commonplace for numerous cultures. However, a horror movie with a nonsensical, clichéd script can die quickly, despite its talented lead and producer Sandra Oh.

Amanda (Oh) and her daughter, Chris (Stewart), live on a countryside without electricity. Amanda has a condition where she cannot be around anything electrical. She is “allergic,” if that makes any sense. It does not.

After Amanda receives the ashes of her estranged umma (mother), Umma begins intensely haunting Amanda and Chris. The mother-daughter duo must work together to determine their matriarch has returned as a gwishin, a Korean ghost that has not fulfilled its purpose.

Several minutes into this movie, one can easily recognize Sandra Oh’s character is not playing with a full deck. The fact her daughter Chris fails to see this sooner gives the impression her elevator is not making all its floor stops either. 

As the writer and director of this horror, Iris K. Shim (“The House of Suh”) should anticipate what audiences will immediately deem unrealistic and correct such as filming proceeds. She does. not.

Instead, Shim’s screenplay falls into the trap of the recurrent themes of an uncreative horror flick, although agreeable performances by the cast exist. The result is something not particularly frightening, unless one considers the script’s poor execution. 

Grade: C- (Mommy dearest it is not.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“Infinite Storm” (Drama/: 1 hour, 38 minutes)

Starring: Naomi Watts, Dennis O’Hare and Billy Howe

Director: Malgorzata Szumowska

Rated: R (Strong language and nudity)

Movie Review: A real-life story of Pam Bales debuts in cinemas. “Infinite Storm” captures a sliver of her interesting life as an experienced climber. The movie is interesting in length, yet it is simultaneously shallow in depth.

Naomi Watts plays Pam Bales, a mountain climber. While ascending Mount Washington, a snowstorm arrives. Bales turns back to leave the mountain. As she does, she encounters a stranger poorly dressed for the snowy weather. She calls the man John (O’Hare). Bales must get the unresponsive man down the mountain during a hazardous blizzard condition.

The movie makes Bales a hero but her story appears incomplete. The flashback appears out of place until the end of the movie gives an explanation. Bales, talking about her tragedies, is much more effective than the flashback that leaves more questions than it answers initially.

This is a quiet movie. One hears wind and snow, more than the two main characters talking at times. During their time trying to survive, one gets to know them little. It is not until one of the end scenes that the characters have a serious two-way conversation that one gets to know Pam and John.

Grade: B- (Cold story sees a rebound near its end.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“The Guide” (“Povodyr”) (Drama: 2 hours, 03 minutes)

Starring: Stanislav Boklan, Jeff Burrell and Jamala

Director: Oles Sanin

Rated: NR (Thematic elements, nudity and violence)

Movie Review: With the current events occurring in Ukraine, “The Guide’s” rerelease in numerous United States cinemas is to bring attention to the country’s war against Russia. This 2014 movie is a good tale to understand this country and its rich cultural heritage through folk music and brave actions. 

Peter Shamrock (Greene) is a 10-year-old American boy orphaned after Soviets murder his engineer father. Ivan Kocherga (Boklan) is a blind former soldier and folk minstrel called a kobzar. They must work together to avoid Soviet officials in a tumultuous 1930s Ukraine. Their trek to safety is one filled with dangers at several levels.

Director Oles Sanin is no stranger to screenplays about war and democracy. Along with “Mamay” (2003) and the short film “Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine” (2017), “The Guide” is another film about Ukraine’s fight for self-rule. Sanin echoes this before this movie, which debuted in 2014, starts with a five-minute opening about the war with Russia.

Sanin’s cause is a justified one. He is hoping this movie brings more attention and assistance to his country and its people’s cause to maintain independence from Russia.

His movie more than adequately provides an insight into his country and its ongoing fight to become an independent country. Sanin, writers and the production team showcase their country through music and folk songs. These matters rely on patriotic nostalgia, but love of one’s country is an accepted bias, especially when one’s country is under attack.

They intend to show a constant struggle with their large neighbor, the then Soviet Union and now Russia. The screenplay achieves that while presenting adventure. Meanwhile, they constantly remind people freedom is fragile.

Grade: B (A guide to an artful convergence of autonomy, courage and occupation during turbulent times.)

Playing Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

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