It was refreshing to see Ben Stiller in a different role outside of his typical silly, goofy, comical characters. Stiller portrays a Chicago real estate executive who is called upon by Social Worker Gretchen (Linda Cardellini) to take temporary guardianship of his four nephews after the passing of his estranged sister who died in a tragic car accident along with her husband. Despite the upsetting incident, the lighthearted comedy comes from the four Kicklighter boys – played by Homer, Arlo, Atlas and Ulysses Janson, who are also brothers in real life.

Nutcrackers takes place in the countryside of Ohio, and challenges city man Michael “Mike” Maxwell (Stiller) to look after his nephews until they are placed with a foster family. The Kicklighter boys are seen behaving like feral animals in their farmhouse. When their uncle arrives, the boys immediately shutdown and size him up as if he were a stranger. Mike seems distant himself and gives minimal effort in comforting them. Mike is obviously not the father figure. He’s conceded and heavily focused on his real estate ventures. Nevertheless, the Kicklighter boys give Mike a run for his money with typical boyish pranks and country bumpkin lifestyle.

The oldest Kicklighter Justice (Homer Janson) asks Mike, “When I wake up tomorrow, are you still gonna be here?”, and further questions his uncle by telling him that his mom (Mike’s sister) believed that he was not capable of love. Mike learns that his sister owned a dance studio, and his nephews are surprisingly good ballet dancers. He sees this as an opportunity to host a recital with the Kicklighter boys performing their version of “The Nutcracker” with the participation of the other local children. Mike invests his time planning and overseeing the rehearsals, which leads the boys to gradually bond with him. Mike does care for his nephews, but doesn’t see himself capable of taking on the responsibility of raising them. Instead, he intends to use the recital to make the boys more appealing for a family to foster or adopt them.

Will there be tensions surfacing between Mike and his nephews on the night of their recital in front of a pack house? Or will Mike have an epiphany? Not to give out any spoilers, but the boy’s rendition of “The Nutcracker” does have an emotional heartwarming impact. I see Homer Janson having a promising future career in acting.  

Be sure not to miss out on Nutcrackers, available November 29 on Hulu.

I enjoyed watching the nostalgic flashbacks from Gladiator in the intro scene. It built up my expectations for the next chapter in the Roman Empire saga, which takes place 16 years after the epic battle between Maximus and Commodus.

Ridley Scott marginally captivated my attention with Gladiator II. The film had great potential, but the action scenes took away from the storyline. The headliners appeared to have missed the mark and did not connect with their character. There were also unnecessary comical scenes – the type of humor that is unsuitable for a corrupt Roman Empire theme.

I believe the highlight of the movie was the reveal of Hanno as Lucius Farris Verus (Paul Mescal), the heir to the Roman Empire and son of Maximus Decimus Meridius and Lucilla (Connie Nielsen). Nielsen’s performance was great and contributed in linking the storyline. As for Mescal, it took him about half of the movie to finally enliven Lucius and gain momentum. Mescal took on a huge role but demonstrated that he is able to illustrate his character and bring action to the screen.

It was interesting to see Denzel Washington in the role of Macrinus, a former slave turned gladiator, to now an arms dealer. Macrinus is a wild character. Denzel gave out too much of the New York gangster vibes, which seemed odd for the Common Era. However, his sword fight scene with Lucius (Mescal) had some intensity but was short-lived.

As for Pedro Pascal’s character Marcus Acacius, he wasn’t given enough depth. It felt more like a special appearance, there for reference. Same goes for Joseph Quinn’s character Emperor Geta. There is something about Geta that is intriguing and left me with wanting to know more about his background and his mentioned illness from “his loin to his head”.

Throughout the film there were several Gladiator flashbacks, which was exciting, but it was more of a filler to retain the audience attention. Screenwriter David Scarpa, who also wrote the screenplay for Gladiator, presented a strong storyline for the sequel, but was clouded by the cast of characters and exaggerated low-quality special effects. Specifically, the naval battle scene where the Colosseum is flooded to accommodate huge boats and some sharks for added entertainment. Yes, there are historical theories that the Colosseum was flooded by Titus and Domitian for naval battles, but the water would be approximately 5 feet deep, and they used flat bottom boats (more like canoes).

Spolier Alert!

Gladiator II was rather entertaining, but it left me with these dubious questions: If Geta named his pet monkey Dundus as successor, why is he not Caesar? If Lucius succeeded in reigning the power as Caesar and Rome is being given back to the people, why does he grab a fist full of dirt in the arena and asks for the spirit of his father to talk to him? Are we going to see a Gladiator III?

This musical film totally amazed me. Although it’s rather lengthy and there is a lot to take in, it was done fairly well. Director Jon M. Chu did a spectacular adaptation bringing the popular Broadway musical Wicked onto the big screen, which was inspired by the 2003 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire.

Chu takes the audience on an exciting adventure to the wonderful Land of OZ with Wicked. There are many visual references (especially in the intro scene) to the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, which many will find nostalgic. The film expands on the backstory of Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo), focusing on her childhood and the non-existence relationship with her father Frexspar Thropp (Andy Nyman), yet is close and protective to her younger sister, Nessarose “Nessa” Thropp (Marissa Bode). Elphaba’s journey begins when she arrives at Shiz University where she meets Galinda “Glinda” Upland (Ariana Grande).

Elphaba (Erivo) is seen as the outcast, due to her green appearance and unable to harness her emotions – anger triggers her strong magical ability. While Glinda (Grande) is the privileged popular aristocrat that uses her beauty and charismatic ways to influence others. The students at the Shiz University are just smitten over her. However, Elphaba’s powers strike an interest with Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh), which makes Glinda envious.

As the storyline moves along through the catchy musical numbers and dancing, we see how Glinda is the egocentric, pompous manipulator and bullies not just Elphaba but Doctor Dillamond (Peter Dinklage) – the talking goat professor. But, what’s a musical without a little drama? Jonathan Bailey is a remarkably good singer and shows off his vocal skills as the handsome, yet shallow Fiyero Tigelaar. Fiyero arrives at the university, you can only think he will be perfect for Galinda but ends up caught in a love triangle between Glinda and Elphaba. This takes Glinda’s jealousy to the extreme and sees an opportunity to belittle Elphaba by persuading her to wear the infamous black hat during a student night outing. When Elphaba shows up looking like…a witch, everyone laughs and ridicules her. It gets highly emotional when Elphaba pretends to dismiss their reactions and begins to do swaying dance to no music. Glinda finally realizes that she has gone too far with teasing Elphaba. This scene sets up for the transformation of both Glinda and Elphaba, especially for when they meet the Wizard (Jeff Goldblum) master of illusion and exploitation. Not to give out any spoilers, there are so many other details and surpise appearences in this musical that ends in a powerful cliffhanger for Wicked Part II.

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were the perfect pairing for this film. Both ladies have such powerhouse voices, which complement each other. Regardless that I was never an Ariana Grande fan, she was impressive taking on the role of Galinda – Glinda. She had that character down from the sweet voice, dancing, quirky gestures to the hair flipping. Cynthia Erivo gave an astounding flawless performance and dominated the screen with her incredible voice. I can definitely see her acting career taking off to the next level, “Defying Gravity”!

Wicked has it all – majestic cinematography, fabulous costumes, best soundtrack, great storyline with solid performances. It will surely be “Popular” at the box office.