TxMike

After reading a few user reviews of this movie I have concluded that too many get hung up on what the actual story is. To me, the story is not that important. The entertainment comes from the characters, the situations, and their interactions.

My wife and I were watching it, streaming on Peacock. At about 45 minutes she left, she was getting sleepy and found that the movie didn't hold her attention. I was not surprised, I think most lovers of mainstream movies are not good candidates for watching Wes Anderson movies. It is a unique style, and it always amazes me how he gets so many A-list actors to participate.

Benicio Del Toro is Zsa-zsa Korda and it wouldn't surprise me at all if he based his inspiration on the businessman who currently is President of the USA. Zsa-zsa has a grand plan for several interdependent projects in a desert area and needs financial help from a number of others. He is a schemer who has no integrity, he lies about the project and changes agreements without informing others. He is distant from his children and has adopted several young boys to make sure he has one that isn't a "loser." He has survived several plane crashes, flying on his own airlines, seems someone is determined to kill him. But he manages to survive, sometimes including a short trip to the afterlife.

Mia Threapleton is Zsa-zsa's estranged daughter Liesl, now in a convent, he gets to her and tells her she needs to leave that avocation so she can be his business successor.

The movie is madcap, scenes seldom end where you think they will. It is a great demonstration of the artistry that Wes Anderson surrounds himself with.

For me, totally enjoyable, I will watch it again.

In more recent years I have come to enjoy the two Zorro movies featuring Hopkins, Banderas, and Zeta-Jones. Finally I was able to find this 1940 version on DVD at my public library. In addition to a very nice picture and sound, it has a 45-minute feature on the star, Tyrone Power, where he came from and how his career developed, and it includes interviews with people who knew him, including a former wife.

This is the origin story withTyrone Power as Diego. The movie starts with him in Spain as a member of trained horsemen and swordsmen. He is called back to California when he finds that his father, who had been governor of the area including Los Angeles, had resigned.

Once there he found that his father had been forced out and the man who replaced him was only after power and money and mistreated the peasants. So he puts on the famous mask, carves the famous 'Z' and becomes Zorro, fighting to get order back in his home territory.

Linda Darnell who was really 17, almost 18, plays Lolita Quintero of the same age. She becomes the love interest of Diego/Zorro.

There has to be a bad guy for Zorro and it is Basil Rathbone as expert swordsman Capt. Esteban Pasqual. As would be expected there is a terrific climax sword fight between the two rivals.

Good movie and a landmark in cinema, presented in crisp B&W in a 4:3 screen ratio.

There have been several movies titled "Novocaine", one with Steve Martin as a dentist, but each is a different story, as this one is too.

Jack Quaid is the main character, Nate, about 30 and working at a bank. He has a particular condition, we find out about it when he is at lunch with a pretty co-worker. She offers him a bite of pie but he refused, he says "I can't eat solid food." The reason is, his genetic condition prevents him from feeling pain, if he eats solid food he could bite his tongue off and never feel it.

Eventually he relents, enjoys the bite of pie, but his condition plays a key role in the rest of the story.

At work one day, three men dressed in Santa costumes come in, display guns, announce they are there to rob the bank. Things get out of hand quickly, people are killed, there is a car chase, and much more blood and gore.

The main bad guy is Ray Nicholson, son of Jack, as Simon. I had not seen him before in a movie, he plays a despicable character and plays him well and with much vigor.

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library. Jack Quaid has to carry the movie and he does it very well. We were entertained but many scenes were so gore-filled that we found them difficult to watch. As a movie it isn't that good, but we were entertained.