Richard Jenkins – Kings movie reviews

Here we go, first review for 2022. Going to start it off right with “Nightmare Alley”. It’s a 2021 mystery from the mind of Guillermo Del Toro, it has a fantastic cast starring Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Cate Blanchett (The Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring), Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense), Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man), Richard Jenkins (Burn After Reading), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Ron Perlman (Hellboy), and Holt McCallany (Mindhunter).

This film takes place is the 1930’s and early 1940’s and follows the story of Stanton Carlisle (Cooper), a man with a troubled past who joins up with the circus as a laborer. He works his way up in the circus and learns the ins and outs of a mentalist, and soon becomes the hottest act around. He’s playing the best clubs, and hotels around, doing two shows a day. He ends up getting greedy and biting off more than he can chew when a rich and powerful man hires his services to have him contact his dead wife. Playing with fire, Stanton starts believing his own con.

I’m a big fan of Del Toro, I love his directing style. A dark gothic type feel that relies heavily on visuals. Same thing could be said about this film, you see his style throughout. It’s a slow burn, a 2.5 hour movie, but it keeps you glued to the screen the entire time. Everyone plays a great role, especially Cooper. As he gets consumed by greed and the darkness inside him continues to grow, it will keep you guessing what is going to happen. Cooper deserves an Oscar for this role, start your new year out right by seeing this one. I give it a 10/10.

‘The Last Shift’ is a 2020 independent comedy/drama starring Richard Jenkins (Burn After Reading), Ed O’Neil (Modern Family), and Shane Paul McGhie (What Men Want). ‘The Last Shift’ is about an older white guy named Stanley (Jenkins), who has worked in the same fast food restaurant for the past 38 years. He’s finally going to leave his job, but first he must train his replacement, a young black guy named Jevon (McGhie).

‘The Last Shift’ looks pretty good from trailers, but that’s about it. There isn’t much comedy, just mostly drama, and unfortunately it’s a let down. The acting from O’Neil and McGhie is good, and they play their roles well, but the story just doesn’t go anywhere. They slide racial tension in the movie as well, but that doesn’t even really go anywhere. O’Neil and Mcghie butt heads throughout the movie, and how they both have it rough. In the end you see that Stanley has it worse than Jevon, then it just ends. ‘The Last Shift’ has a few flashes here and there but mostly there is no direction. In the end it’s a forgettable movie, I give it a 5.5/10.