Editor’s Note: Freeline Media’s movie critic, Mike Fried, takes a look at two new streaming movies to choose from, and one that’s not streaming, but worth finding.

By MIKE FRIED

Two are streaming currently (as of Jan. 21):

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH (Hulu)

*** 1/2

A mentally ill young man witnesses an abduction but no one, including the police, believes him. So he turns to his neighbor — a bitter, grouchy, retired campus security officer — for help. 

This is an age-old premise, two people who are polar opposites who are thrust together when they don’t want to be — or at least one of them doesn’t. Sometimes these stories work (48 Hrs., Lethal Weapon , Die Hard with a Vengeance, The Nice Guys, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Se7en, Tango & Cash) and sometimes they don’t (Beverly Hills Cop 3, Red Heat, The Other Guys, Hollywood Homicide, Anger Management, Showtime and, of course, Chill Factor).

I am pleased to report that this small little movie falls into the “works” category.  

Not only does it mash up with the “No one believes a main character” genre nicely, it works because there are two great performances from the two leads, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jack Quaid, who not only have great chemistry but who also look like they are having a great deal of fun.  

Morgan is just terrific as Ed Deerman. He is an absolutely annoying wiseass whose main defense mechanism is over the top sarcasm. However, that is a just a veneer. 

And Jack Quaid, who had a hell of a 2025, is great as Simon McNally who hears voices in his head, who has bouts of word salad and suffers from hallucinations. But he knows that he’s seen a woman kidnapped. 

And Malin Akerman is good in a small role as Simon’s sister who gets wrapped up in the pair’s shenanigans.  

It doesn’t rise above its own predictability — and sometimes familiarity is a good thing — but the short run time coupled with the two well defined performances along with the temptation to make this a straight-out comedy made this one enjoyable. 

WATCH IT! 

BUBBA HO-TEP (Prime Video)

****

In 2002 in East Texas, an ancient Egyptian mummy in cowboy boots is killing residents of a nursing home and it is up to the not-dead Elvis and not-dead, now-black President Kennedy to kill it. Elvis gets around with a walker and JFK gets around with a motorized scooter.  

An Ingenious script from Joe Lansdale’s novella, adapted by Don Coscarelli, is elevated by Bruce Campbell & Ossie Davis’ magnificent over-the-top performances as The King and JFK.  And while Davis plays his role for laughs, Campbell genuinely becomes The King.  All due respect to Austin Butler but Campbell is THE KING!  Ella Joyce is also terrific in her role as the nurse who attends to both of them. 

It is both hilarious and highly poignant, with just the right amount of wackiness. One of the neat touches is that Jack Kennedy’s room has the same style bed used In presidential films, the scalloped cut out above the bookcases and a mockup of Dealey Plaza and photos of Oswald and others he believes were involved in his attempted assassination.  

And it’s NOT a gory film or particularly scary film … but it is suspenseful and a meditation on getting old. 

Even though it takes place in Texas, it was filmed in Los Angeles at an abandoned Veteran’s Hospital mocked up to look like a nursing home.  And it looks very real.  And if you notice carefully, none of Elvis’ music is played and none of the clips from Elvis movies are really from Elvis movies. The budget was approximately $1,000,000 and those rights would have tripled the cost of production so Coscarelli carefully maneuvered. 

A MUST WATCH for any fan of Horror or Bruce Campbell or Ossie Davis.

“Never … but never Fuck with the King.” 

“Mr. Kennedy? Ask not what your rest home can do for you. Ask what you can do for your rest home.”

WATCH IT! 

P.S. if you look carefully, you’ll see how Old Private Ryan died. 

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN

(Unfortunately not streaming — maybe your library has a copy)

****

There are two points I need to make. First off, that I really enjoy golf movies. I play golf, nowadays poorly, but I used to play well and I appreciate the humor that comes from a poorly struck golf shot and the camaraderie that usually develops in a foursome even between golfers who have never met each other before. There are a few dicks, however, but the old adage is golf and sex are the two things you don’t have to be good at to enjoy.  

My second prefatory comment is that I absolutely adore Mark Rylance. He is one of the most compelling actors in the business today. I used to say that I would pay to see James Earl Jones, Malcolm McDowell and Charlton Heston merely reading the phone book. Their voices and acting abilities could make the mundane exciting. And in that category I now add Mark Rylance who, ever since his Oscar turn in Bridge Of Spies has enthralled me with every performance — in good film or bad (I’m thinking Ready Player One). 

Rylance scores in this tale of Maurice Flitcroft, a true story about the “worst golfer in the world” who by miscommunication (lying!!!) was allowed into the qualifiers for the 1976 British Open and who carded a 121 in one round. And this happened because his qualifying round was the first round of golf he ever played. This led to a lifetime ban by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club — but, of course, this didn’t stop Maurice from entering The Open several more times. 

But this isn’t really a golf movie. It’s about Flitcroft, the man. A crane operator, he is the eternal optimist: a man who wants his three sons to reach for the stars. His oldest son, who is adopted, is in a management position at the shipyard where Maurice works. He has avoided his father’s advice to follow his dreams and gone for the desk job (haven’t most of us?!?). His two natural sons do, however, follow their dreams and become international disco dance champions.  

Despite being fact based, this movie is a bit formulaic and yet it is an enjoyable endeavor. It’s directed in a bit of a herky jerky manner and probably would have failed if a lesser actor was in the lead role.

This movie belongs to Rylance. He is such a pleasure to watch on the screen. His Maurice Flitcroft is a simple man, not flashy. He is a shy working man and doesn’t have much of a social life and then he meets Jean (Sally Hawkins) and they get married. She is his partner in crime — and, quite frankly, almost like Poppy in HAPPY GO LUCKY. She, like Maurice, is an optimist and despite their problems and despite whatever obstacles they encounter she stands by her man. She has more of a bit role but she is so pleasing to watch.  

But the movie is quite funny in a droll British way and seems to revel in British idiocy and the notion of a stiff upper lip. The movie’s strength is the fact that Rylance does not parody Flitcroft. He plays the character straight — and that works in this stranger than fiction story — especially when he has Rhys Ifans as his nemesis. 

If you love great performances and true stories, however strange, this movie is for you. 

WATCH IT! 

Michael Fried has no formal training in movies, except having watched over 26,000+ movies — if not more — in his 60-plus years on this planet, starting with Goldfinger as his first cinema experience. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and it’s quite often different from the conventional wisdom. He knows that the best franchise is Godzilla and he loves action movies and comedies. He has not been nominated for any awards except some boring insurance awards which has no applicability to movies (with the possible exceptions of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and John Cassavettes’ Big Trouble). He is part of a team that won the 1980 SUNY Albany Trivia content by correctly guessing the question, “Who played the president of Klopstockia in Million Dollar Legs?” So he has that going for him, which is nice.

Contact Mike at moviemike3@yahoo.com and mike.fried@yahoo.com.