Those Who Wish Me Dead

I’m not that interested in animated stepmothers and wizards and whatever, so I haven’t seen much Angelina Jolie lately. Thus, it was nice to have her back in a movie for grownups, even if one of the main characters is a kid. In fact, Finn Little admirably performs a lot of heavy lifting as the teen target of government-enabled hitmen in “Those Who Wish Me Dead” (2021). The action mashup of gunfighters and firefighters has Jolie as a smokejumper suffering from PTSD when the aforementioned teen parachutes into her fire tower, so to speak. Huge plot holes, but fun action.

Alex Cross

So this is what Tyler Perry is like when he’s not dressed like a grandma? Perry plays a Detroit homicide detective who’s a genius AND a badass in “Alex Cross” (2012). He’s like one of those quirky characters that populate TV these days (“House,” “The Mentalist,” “Elementary”) that has the ability to find obscure clues that nobody else notices. Plus, he’s like six-foot-a-hundred and carries a big-ass shotgun. So there’s that. But the whole movie seemed kind of cookie-cutter. Which makes sense, since it’s based on a novel by the prolific James Patterson. So at least it’s a tasty cookie.