The Catcher Was a Spy

Ever heard the story about the bisexual baseball player and World War II spy who either bravely confirmed that the Nazis weren’t building an atom bomb or recklessly allowed the Nazis to continue to try to build an atom bomb? Yeah, well, there’s a 2018 movie called “The Catcher Was a Spy” which is “based on a true story,” meaning that only part of that first sentence is true and I don’t know which part. It’s interesting, yet unsatisfying. Honestly, I preferred a New York Times article that I read years ago about the subject of the film, Moe Berg.

Wonder Woman

I could spend half the night crafting an argument that “Wonder Woman” (2017) is a metaphor for Cold War geopolitics, but this blog is not called “One Million Word Reviews” (thankfully). So let’s start by saying it’s a pretty good action movie and a pretty good setup for a bunch of lucrative sequels. I’ll bypass all the Girl Power raving because that ground has been heavily trod by others. I will say that special effects and the Hollywood business model have both evolved to the point that a female action hero franchise is plausible, and its novelty makes it refreshing.

The Ice Harvest

Billy Bob Thornton makes some weird Christmas movies. John Cusack just makes weird movies, period. These two superheroes of uncomfortable humor join forces in “The Ice Harvest” (2005) as a pair of moderately sleazy dudes who plot to steal money on Christmas Eve from an exceptionally sleazy dude (Randy Quaid). Noirishly comedic hijinks ensue, replete with double- crosses that might have been coincidences – or might have been triple-crosses. It comes off a little flat. It’s a Harold Ramis film, which probably explains why the opening credits font is the same as the one used at the end of “Animal House.”