Will & Harper (2024)

I loved this sweet documentary about Will Ferrell's celebrating his long time friend Harper Steele's recent transition from man to woman with a road trip. They met in 1995 when the former Andrew Steele was a writer at Saturday Night Live, starting the same day as Ferrell. Steele went on to work there for decades, winning one Emmy with several other nominations. Chock full of cameos by fellow SNL alums, archival clips, and plenty of public encounters with strangers, the picture is moving and, of course, has laughs befitting the comedic talents of all involved.

Director Josh Greenbaum and editor Monique Zavistovski keep the pace going with music by Nathan Halpern. I can't seem to find any of Halpern's original score online, but Apple Music has a playlist of 24 songs from the movie.

Ferrell was last blogged for Quiz Lady, Steele for co-writing Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga with Ferrell, Greenbaum for Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar, Zavistovski for Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins, and Halpern for Emily the Criminal.

Rotten Tomatoes critics are proud supporters, averaging 99%, and its audiences are allies at 81. I downloaded it from Netflix to watch on a plane on September 22.

High and Low (1963) and Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

Watching both the 1963 Akira Kurosawa classic and Spike Lee's new adaptation of the crime/police drama within a September week compelled me to combine them into one post. Both are excellent and I recommend them (Jack saw only the new one and liked it a lot).

Both are about a self-made wealthy married businessman with a son. Kingo Gondo is a Yokohama shoe magnate (played by Toshiro Mifune), David King is a Manhattan record company founder/executive (Denzel Washington), and both have chauffeurs (Yutaka Sada and Jeffrey Wright). In both movies, the businessman's son is close friends with the chauffeur's son, and a kidnapper grabs the wrong boy and demands a huge ransom anyway. Each has a creative sequence involving a train. One notable difference is that the Japanese wife Reiko Gondo, played by Kyoko Kagawa, is the only woman in more than one scene, whereas Pam King, played by Ilfenesh Hadera, has a lot to do and is joined by at least a half dozen female characters, played by Ice Spice as a suspect's wife, LaChanze as a detective, and more. Another is that, in keeping with Wright's prodigious acting chops, his chauffeur character is fully fleshed out with a backstory, whereas Sada's is an obsequious, taciturn man. Trivia item: Jeffrey Wright's real life son Elijah plays his on screen son.

The 1959 novel King's Ransom by Evan Hunter/Ed McBain (two of several pen names for the author born Salvatore Lombino) served as source material for both. Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Eijiro Hisaita co-wrote Kurosawa's script with him. Alan Fox adapted the other for Lee.

I remember enjoying the soundtracks, although, full disclosure, I watched High and Low on a plane and noise-cancelling headphones can do only so much. I was able to find one jazzy, film noir track by Masaru Sato for High and Low on YouTube. Howard Drossin's Highest 2 Lowest score is available on Apple Music as is a playlist of the songs throughout. In the remake there's a musical performance by Eddie Palmieri's Salsa Orchestra cut into an action sequence. Palmieri (1936-2025) died three days before the movie premiered in Brooklyn.

Ko Kurosawa, grandson of the director, collaborated with Lee on the remake. Asakazu Nakai and Takao Saito gave us the black and white cinematography for Kurosawa, while Matthew Libatique's color photography enlivens Lee's picture. Shout out to production designer Mark Friedberg and his crew for the spectacular decor in the Manhattan apartment, including reproductions of existing art.

I last blogged about Lee for Da 5 Bloods, Washington for The Tragedy of Macbeth, Wright for Rustin, and Friedberg for Paterson, Libatique for Maestro.

Every film student knows about Kurosawa (1910-1998) who is probably best known for Rashomon (1950), Seven Samurai (1954), Yojimbo (1961), and Ran (1985). When I had a favorite movie list in the 1980s [I don't have one now, really!], his Dodes'ka-den (1970), the story of a boy who was "trolley crazy," was on it. Mifune (1920-1997) starred in Rashomon, Seven Samurai, and Yojimbo, among his nearly 200 credits. Sada (1911-2017) worked with Kurosawa many times, and he and Kagawa (now 94 years old) each have about 150 credits. 

Hunter (1926-2005) wrote 119 novels (The Blackboard Jungle (1954) was also adapted into a movie) and four screenplays, including The Birds (1963). Oguni (1904-1996) co-wrote Seven Samurai, Ran, Dodes'ka-den, and more. My blogged movie Living mentions that it was adapted from Ikiru (1954)--directed by Kurosawa and co-written by Oguni. Kikushima (1914-1989) co-wrote Yojimbo and many more. Hisaita's (1898-1976) resume is much shorter at 24, including story credits. Sato (1928-1999) scored Yojimbo, worked on Seven Samurai, and had over three hundred other credits. Nakai (1901-1988) shot Ran, Seven Samurai, and a hundred others. Saito (1929-2014) also shot Yojimbo, Ran, Dodes'ka-den, and a few more.

Hadera had a small part in Lee's Chi-Raq and counts in her resume ten episodes of the series remake of Lee's movie She's Gotta Have It and twenty of Billions. Rapper Ice Spice makes her film debut, and LaChanze, who has a Tony-winning Broadway career as an actor, singer, dancer, and producer, had a small part in The Help, among her dozens of roles. This is Fox's screenwriting debut and Drossin's eighth feature after many video games and shorts.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences are way up there, averaging 97 and 95%, respectively for High and Low. I watched it on September 17 and you can see it on HBO or rent it. For Highest 2 Lowest, Rotten Tomatoes' averages are not quite as elevated but still tied at 84%. We watched it September 23 with our Apple TV+ subscription and can also be rented.

The Naked Gun (2025)

Jack and I enjoyed whiling away an hour and a half with this silly slapstick reboot full of sight gags and puns, just like its predecessors on screens large and small (on TV it was called Police Squad!). Liam Neeson,  Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, and CCH Pounder are just a few of the dozens of cast members, with cameos by Priscilla Presley and 'Weird Al' Yankovic, both of whom have been in all four movies (1988, 1991, and 1994). This is but one of the many trivia items available. And now that the Academy is beginning to recognize stunts, that huge department should get some love next year.

Akiva Schaffer directs and co-wrote the script with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Lorne Balfe's score is streaming on Apple Music as I type.

Neeson was last blogged for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Anderson for The Last Showgirl, Hauser for Cruella, Huston for Big Eyes, Pounder for Rustin, and Balfe for Ticket to Paradise. Presley's biggest credit is 144 episodes of Dallas (1983-88) and Yankovic is best known for his parodies of pop songs. Schaffer wrote on 116 episodes of Saturday Night Live, directed 68, and directed four other features besides this one. Gregor has co-written four other features and Mand three (all with Gregor).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are shooting higher, at 88%, than its audiences at 73. We rented it on September 6. Be sure to stay in your seat for the end credits, as there are plenty more jokes.

Superman (2025)

We didn't hate this update of the classic superhero movie with David Corenswet in the title role, Rachel Brosnahan as love interest Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as villain Lex Luthor, heading the cast of over a hundred actors, including Bradley Cooper as the voice of Jor-El AKA Superman's father.

Director James Gunn is credited as the screenwriter, based on the characters created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Siegel and Shuster were Cleveland natives and Jack's and my favorite element was the Ohio locations featured prominently throughout the movie, particularly the Cleveland Arcade, Cleveland Public Square, Cleveland City Hall, and Cincinnati's Museum Center (its former Union Terminal).

David Fleming and John Murphy's score, which can be streamed on Apple Music and elsewhere, includes John Williams' original Superman theme. Reference to that and much more is included in the trivia, which fan-girls and -boys will enjoy combing through.

Cinematographer Henry Braham does good work here, too.

Brosnahan was last blogged for Yearly Departed, Hoult for The Menu, Cooper for Maestro, Gunn for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Fleming for Hillbilly Elegy (co-scored with Hans Zimmer, who scored the last Superman movie), Murphy for Kick-Ass, and Braham for The Legend of Tarzan. We apparently saw Corenswet in Twisters and eleven episodes of The Politician. But his name just makes me think of "corn sweat," the phenomenon contributing to this summer's midwest heat wave.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are steely in their support, averaging 83%, while its audiences are even stronger at 90. We rented it on September 2. Do be sure to keep it running for the bonus in the end credits.