“Sweet Dreams” is one of those movies coming out underneath the radar, and it deserves more attention than it is currently getting. Johnny Knoxville stars as Morris, a music video director who, as the movie opens, has hit rock bottom and wakes up in a park almost completely nude and with a bloody face. Next day, he enrolls at Sweet Dreams, a recovery center which cannot be mistaken for Promises or the Betty Ford Center, where he meets up with a group of misfits struggling to maintain their sobriety. In the process, Morris becomes the coach of the center’s softball team, and he gets another chance at life as well as the opportunity to be the dad his daughter deserves.
I got to talk with two of the stars of “Sweet Dreams,” Bobby Lee and Davionte Ganter, better known professionally as GaTa. Both play fellow patients who quickly bond with Morris and share their pasts and philosophies on life to him. Bobby is a stand-up comedian, actor and podcaster who was a cast member of “MADtv” and co-hosts the podcasts “Bad Friends” and “TigerBelly.” GaTa is an actor and rapper best known for playing a fictional version of himself on the FXX series “Dave.”
I was especially interested in talking to Lee and GaTa about their own experiences with drug addiction and mental health issues and how they informed their roles as Cruise and Jake in this film. Lee was introduced to drugs when he was just 12 years old, and it took him several trips through drug rehab before he got sober. GaTa has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and he has become a big mental health advocate.
I really want to thank them for being so open about their struggles as it proves how “Sweet Dreams” has such a big heart, and that, for these two, doing this movie felt like an extension of the things they work hard for in life. Anyone with addiction issues may very well benefit from watching this movie.
“Sweet Dreams” opens in theaters on April 12, and will be available on digital platforms on April 16. Check out the interview below.
For my money, both Sir Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant” were worth the price of admission as the famed director dared to take this franchise he began back in 1979 in a different direction as they both dealt what happened before the events of the original. But regardless of Scott’s intentions, audiences were very critical of both films as many were expecting something along the lines of what they got before. After watching the teaser trailer for the upcoming “Alien: Romulus,” I get the feeling they will get what they want, but are we also charting our way back into familiar territory?
The start of this trailer features familiar visuals as we visit a spaceship which looks very much like the Nostromo. From there, we see a couple of capsules which I assume the humans hibernated in, and one is quite the bloody sight. From there, we see characters running through corridors, we see a female getting something very long and possibly deadly being pulled out of her throat and mouth. It all culminates with Caliee Spaeny wielding an “Aliens” looking weapon as she carefully traverses the corridor, terrified of what might be waiting for her around the corridor. Looking at the way she is dressed and the weapon she has in her hands, it is very clear Spaeny is being introduced as the Ellen Ripley of this franchise installment.
Looking at this first trailer, it has me wondering if 20th Century Studios (formerly 20th Century Fox) was adamant that it look like something which stoked the nostalgia of the “Alien” franchise’s most die-hard fans. Clearly, they feel the need to give the fans something they want after the commercial under-performance of “Alien: Covenant.” But if that is the studio executives’ intention, can they succeed in doing so as nothing can ever compare to the original? Moreover, there is no guarantee that the fans will be accepting of the same old thing when they get it.
For what it is worth, however, the image of those numerous facehuggers galloping out of a certain room to land on the faces of the unsuspecting is quite the sight. It gives new meaning to the term, “I want some head.”
What really gets me excited about this particular “Alien” installment is what I have read about it thus far. It is directed by Fede Alvarez who directed the “Evil Dead” remake which I was lukewarm about, but he also made the 2016 film “Don’t Breathe” which proved to be an excellent thriller and a great exercise in handling suspense in a motion picture. If Alvarez can make “Alien: Romulus” every bit as unnerving as “Don’t Breathe,” then we are in for quite the cinematic ride.
Also, this film is a interquel, a sidequel and a prequel as it takes place between the events portrayed in “Alien” and “Aliens.” Furthermore, it has the sincere approval of the directors of those two classic movies, Ridley Scott and James Cameron. Scott has been quoted as saying the rough cut he has seen is “fucking great,” and Cameron has praised the same cut as well. If that is not the best endorsement a filmmaker can get, what is?
While I am obligated to keep any expectations I have for “Alien: Romulus” in check as I do with most movies, I do look forward to checking it out when it arrives in theaters on August 16, 2024. Please feel free to check out the trailer below.
While “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” may have trafficked a bit too much in nostalgia and fan service, but it still proved to be a fun ride which introduced us to some fun new characters, and it reunited us with old friends we yearned to see again for many years. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” however, is not burdened as heavily with those things as it hits the ground running with characters and situations which have since been introduced to us. What results is a follow-up which I very much enjoyed, and while there is an inevitable amount of nostalgia on display, it is not submerged by it.
Two years have passed since “Afterlife,” and the Spengler clan of Callie (Carrie Coon), 18-year-old Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and the infinitely intelligent Phoebe (McKenna Grace) have since moved from Summerville, Oklahoma to the old Ghostbusters headquarters in New York City along with Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd). They are busy busting ghosts, but as usual, they are making a lot of insurance companies go bankrupt. Whether or not they catch the latest paranormal entity running amuck in the Big Apple, there is a lot of collateral damage left in their wake. This brings about the endless ire of Walter Peck (William Atherton), who remains embittered about the Ghostbusters even after several decades, and regardless of how they did save the world back in 1984.
Peck seeks to curtail the activities of this new group of Ghostbusters, and the one who gets hurt the most from this is Phoebe as she is underage and not even getting paid for a job which deserves at least a healthy salary. As a result, she is benched by her mom and Gary to where she feels unfairly robbed of what she sees as her calling, and she ends up alone in Central Park where she befriends a teenage ghost named Phoebe (Emily Alyn Lind) who perished tragically in a fire to where you can still little flames coming off of her. But despite these two having their differences, one being alive and the other dead, they find a friendship which is clearly not an easy one for them to form.
When it comes to the myriad of characters we see in “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” the one I liked the most was Phoebe. Seeing her struggling through her teenage years and being denied to be a Ghostbuster gives this film the emotional grounding it needs and which the other characters build off of. McKenna Grace was perhaps the best new addition to this franchise, and she is terrific here as she makes Phoebe into a teenager who is incredibly bright but suffers through the pangs of adolescence like any other.
Speaking of ghostly spirits, the main one threatening our heroes and the world at large is an ancient one, and it is always an ancient one, isn’t it? Basically, it involves a golden orb which Ray Stanz (Dan Aykroyd) buys off of Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani) for a mere fifty bucks. It turns out to be a centuries old artifact which has the power to bring about a second Ice Age where everything and anything can be frozen ever so quickly, and humans can be rendered into ice sculptures before any of them can cry out, “What’s this got to do with global warming?”
Gil Kenan takes over directing duties from Jason Reitman, but both also return to write the screenplay as they did on the previous installment. The two of them have a bit of a challenge here as they are forced to juggle many characters, old and new, and some actors make more of a cameo appearance here than anything else. Still, it is great to see so many familiar faces such as Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson who gets much more to do here as Winston Zeddemore than in the previous installments combined, Annie Potts who, as Janine Melnitz, finally gets to where one of the famous suits, and Bill Murray whom, as always, gets some of the best lines.
One actor I do have to single out is Dan Aykroyd who gives Ray Stanz a strong poignancy even as he tries to navigate the current world of podcasts, something which is not completely up to date on. When Aykroyd is not spouting an endless array of scientific or paranormal information, his face speaks volumes as he shows, just with a look, of how proud he is that the Ghostbusters are back in business, and of how much he misses being one.
All of this builds to a truly exciting and emotional climax as our heroes battle a “horny little devil,” as Jack Nicholson once uttered in “The Witches of Eastwick,” only this devil is not so little and proves to be the most fearsome nemesis the Ghostbusters have faced in a long time. Along the way, there are some nice little jabs made at the franchise and of how immensely popular it became back in the 1980’s. They even talk about the debacle the original team made with the Statue of Liberty back in 1989, a subtle little jab at the critical reception “Ghostbusters II” received back then.
And plus, you do have Paul Rudd on hand, and he is always fun to watch in everything and anything he does, and his character of Gary is forced to navigate some new personal territory as he becomes a parent of sorts to both Sophie and Trevor. I imagine Rudd is already busy promoting this film with clips from “Mac and Me,” and he makes such famous lines like “busting makes me feel good” sound so wonderfully goofy and fresh.
I know I will eventually revisit “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” in the future, and perhaps its flaws will become more glaringly apparent with each viewing. But whatever flaws it may have did not take away from my enjoyment of it. I came into this installment with no real expectations as expectations in general can be impossible to fulfill, and it is far too easy to be disappointed by this and that. What I can tell you is I had a really good time watching it, and I left the theater with a big smile on my face and found myself applauding once the end credits began. And when Ray Parker Jr.’s theme song started playing over the end credits, I honestly felt like a kid again.
The ”Ghostbusters” franchise has sputtered throughout the decades as sequels and reboots did not, and could not, capture the power of the original. After watching “Frozen Empire,” I can honestly say this franchise is now much stronger than ever, and I am excited to see where it can go from here.
The Ultimate Rabbit 