David R. Walker

Archive for August, 2025

Caught Stealing

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Cast: Austin Butler, Matt Smith, Regina King, Zoe Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, George Abud, Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane

Running Time: 1 hour 47 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Black Swan and The Whale director Darren Aronofsky returns with a zany and rambunctious crime thriller Caught Stealing set in New York City in 1998, just three years before the fall of the Twin Towers.

Things are not kosher when youngster Hank Thompson expertly played with a vulnerability and intuition by Oscar nominee Austin Butler (Elvis) is asked to look after his mad neighbour’s cat. The crazy neighbour is British punk rocker drug dealer, complete with a Mohawk, Russ superbly played by Matt Smith who shot to fame in Netflix’s elegant British drama The Crown.

The cat has a key in its cat box, which opens Russ’s secret stash of drugs and money which several criminal gangs are after including the Russians and the Hebrews.

Hank Thompson is just a regular bar tender who gets involved in a web of crime and intrigue while trying to stay sober and look after his beautiful girlfriend Yvonne played by the fabulous Zoe Kravitz (The Batman, Mad Max: Fury Road, Blink Twice). Soon the Russian mafia are after him and Hank reaches out to hardened New York detective Roman wonderfully played with menace by Oscar winner Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk).

Darren Aronofsky pays homage to the 1993 film True Romance in Caught Stealing capturing that gritty desperation which Hank feels as he gets thrust into a notoriously untrustworthy world in which he doesn’t seem capable of defending himself or escaping. He won’t use a gun or drive a car.

To add fire to the mix, screenwriter Charlie Huston, who adapted the screenplay from his book by the same name, introduces some lethal Hebrew brothers who also want Russ’s share of the money.

Liev Schreiber (Golda, Spotlight, The Manchurian Candidate) and Vincent D’Onofrio (The Cell, Magnificent Seven) play sociopathic brothers Lipa and Shmully who feel nothing at attacking a glitzy Russian disco in the middle of a wedding.

Caught Stealing is an ingenuous film in which the main character goes from being a barman to overcoming all fears, addictions included, as he strives to protect himself and Russ’s cat from any harm while trying to outwit a multitude of bad characters all heavily armed.

With minimal special effects, Caught Stealing is a riveting and comic crime drama about the underbelly of New York just before the city changed forever at the end of a century in which anything still felt possible.

With lots of plot twists and crazy car chases, Caught Stealing gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 held together by a brilliant performance by Austin Butler whose talent seems boundless.

If you enjoy original content, then this film is highly recommended viewing.

Freakier Friday

Director: Nisha Ganatra

Cast: Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Butters, Mark Harmon, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Chad Michael Murray

Running Time: 1 hour and 50 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10  

Disney so needed a hit after the drama of Snow White early in 2025. Thankfully, Late Night and The High Note director Nisha Ganatra works her magic on the Freaky Friday sequel aptly entitled Freakier Friday.

Twenty two years after the first personality swapping comedy hit cinemas back in 2003, the original cast is back including Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls, The Parent Trap, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen) as record producer Anna Colman opposite her screen mother Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything, Everywhere All At Once) playing Tess Colman along with Anna’s petulant daughter Harper Coleman played by Julia Butters (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Sophia Hammons as Harper soon to be step sister Lily Reyes.

When successful music producer Anna meets charming restaurant Guru Eric Reyes played by Filipino star Manny Jacinta, there is a wedding planned with one big problem. Both Anna’s daughter Harper and Eric’s stuck up British daughter Lily cannot stand each other to the point of becoming Frenemies.

After a bizarre visit to a dodgy palm reader, mother and daughter and step sister and granddaughter all swop personalities offering up some hilarious results along with Curtis playing a teenage version of herself and Julia Butters expertly playing a much older version of her character.

Lindsay Lohan takes on her daughter’s personality and behaves like a 17 year old while Harper tries to take charge of her mother’s career.

Intergenerational conflict reaches new heights as the evil versions of Harper and Lily decide to break up the impending marriage of Anna and Eric even roping in Anna’s hot ex-boyfriend Jake played once again by Chad Michael Murray (House of Wax) who was also in the original film.

Despite the garish antics, Freakier Friday doubles the plot twists and ensures that the bizarre yet funny storyline stays fresh in a 21^st century Los Angeles drenched in the Instagram age. Fortunately Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan manage to rekindle their original onscreen chemistry.

While the male characters have very little to do in a predominantly female centred film, Freakier Friday does hit all the right notes providing a fresh and vibrant comedy about intergenerational female relationships which are both clingy, complex and competitive. Fortunately director Nisha Ganatra has the knack of keeping this film light and breezy ensuring that even the serious moments are touched with a light poignancy which doesn’t drag down the dazzling tone of the film.

Good to see Lindsay Lohan back in action and Freakier Friday is a fun filled frothy comedy which definitely is better than the original film. Freakier Friday gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is lush and lightweight. Recommended viewing for some comic relief.

The Naked Gun

Director: Akiva Schaffer

Cast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Busta Rhymes, Dave Bautista, Liza Koshy

Running Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Saturday Night Live director Akiva Schaffer gives The Naked Gun 1990’s film franchise a hilarious reboot in 2025, which is the spoof comedy that the world needs right now.

Perfectly cast with action star Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr and Baywatch and The Last Showgirl star Pamela Anderson as the blonde femme fatale Beth Davenport in The Naked Gun, the 2025 version which is absolutely hilarious, utterly inappropriate and features a cast all over the age of 55 which is refreshingly original.

Who knew Oscar nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List) could do comedy so well? Or Danny Huston for that matter? Danny Huston (The Constant Gardener, The Aviator) who normally stars in serious drama or action roles plays the villain, tech tycoon Richard Cane who has plans to decimate Los Angeles with a weird microchip that will take humanity back to their animal instincts.

Drebin and his partner Ed Hocken Jr played by Paul Walter Hauser (The Fantastic Four, Richard Jewell) are called to the case of Beth’s brother who is found dead in Malibu after his self-driving car plunged off a cliff.

Director Akiva Schaffer pays homage to the original spoof trilogy which featured Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, O.J. Simpson and George Kennedy in the first three films from 1988 to 1994.

Fortunately the 2025 version depends on good chemistry between the two main leads and Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson perfectly hold this spoof parody of a L. A. film noir together with all the humour and panache required.

Liam Neeson is brilliant as Drebin Jr the idiotic police detective who destroys electric cars, bathroom doors and everything in between.

Pamela Anderson is fabulous as Beth Davenport a cheesy crime fiction novelist with titles like The Killer Wore Red Lipstick who is desperate to track down her brother’s killer. Miss Davenport gets accosted by the villainous misogynistic tech billionaire Richard Cane in a night club as she soon realizes who the killer really is and that Drebin is a good catch.

Audiences should also look out for the fantastic C.C.H. Pounder (Baghdad Cafe, Postcards from the Edge) as the exasperated police chief Davis who battles to keep Drebin and Hocken in line according to the bizarre rules of police squad.

Drebin and Davenport strike up a love affair which involves a kinky snowman, basting turkeys and vodka. All the scenes in The Naked Gun are hilarious made more so by the three main cast members who keep a straight face amidst a ludicrous script packed with cheesy dialogue.

If viewers enjoyed the first Naked Gun trilogy, then catch the 2025 version in cinemas now. It is just under 90 minutes of pure laughter and trust me, you will forget all your troubles at the door.

Naughty, mischievous and filled with sassy sexual innuendo, the script of The Naked Gun reads like one long Dad joke, but this comedy is worth seeing. Recommended viewing.

The Naked Gun is laugh out loud funny and gets a film rating of 7 out of 10.

A perfect parody of film noir with an aging detective and a gorgeous blonde thrown in, all set in the city of Angels. What could possibly go wrong?