Bill Condon, writer/director of Gods and Monsters reunites with Sir Ian McKellen to tell the tale of an aging ruthless con man, Roy, out to swindle a naïve wealth woman, Betty played by Dame Helen Mirren, of her life savings. The movie also star Jim Carter as Vincent Roy’s confidence game partner and Russel Tovey as the woman’s suspicious and protect grandson.

The previews give away one of the movie’s principal twists, that this mark, Betty is not the easy target she appears to be, and a game of cat and mouse develops between the two leads. However, this is not the structure of the film and that bit on the trailers, while effective in selling the movie, uncut what little dramatic tension the film displays.

And that is the movie’s glaring weakness a lack of dramatic tension driving the narrative forward. Rotten Tomatoes critic’s score is currently sitting at 64 percent and honestly that feels about right. Populated with extremely talents actors and competently directed by Condon The Good Liar is watchable but due to the lack of tension it ultimately feels a little empty.

Dramatic tension happens when you have a character with an objective, obstacles that hinder the character in achieving their objective, and a cost of failure. The Good Liar is told solely from the point of view of Ian McKellen’s Roy and instead of a game of hunter and prey switching roles back and forth as Roy claims victories and suffers defeats we instead follow him through the plot as he lays out his trap for Betty and his small fortune. This is problematic story telling for two reasons, first off because Roy suffers no reversal and no serious opposition to his con there is little dramatic tension to keep the audience engaged. Second and just as important, Roy is not a charming rogue, a loveable con man he is a ruthless swindler sociopathic is his lack of concern for the pain and suffer he causes. Most people’s sympathies are not going to be for Roy and that can be lethal for your point of view character. Even the character Walter Neff from the classic noir Double Indemnity expressed remorse and guilt over his crimes as he commits them but being enslaved by his passion Walter is unable to turn away from his doomed path. Roy is not passionate, he is cold, calculating and devoid of feeling for anyone but himself. This combined with the lack of obstacles critically undermines what should have been a great neo-noir.

Late last year I subscribed to AMC Theater’s loyalty program and subscription services ‘A-List’ and here is a back of the envelope calculation for how that has paid off for me.

The monthly cost of the program is $23.95 and for that that are a number of benefits but the central one is the ability to see up to three movies a week. All feature films excluding special screenings such as those hosted by Fathom Events are eligible.

In the first ten months of 2019 I have attended 36 feature films using my AMC A-List benefits, 14 were matinee screenings and 22 would have been full price admissions. IN my area the early showing run about $8 and the evening showing about $15. That means in ticket prices I have watched about $500 dollars worth of feature films in the theater but my subscription ran about $250.

The short answer is that for me the A-list is a certified deal.

Taika Waititi’s films span a fascinating range of subjects from Hunt for the Wilderpeople through What We do in the Shadows and the most bonzo entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Thor: Ragnarök and now Taika gives us the touching coming of age story Jojo Rabbit about a young boy who is a fanatical devote to Adolf Hitler.

Set in the waning stages of the European theater of World War II the films central character is 10-year-old Johannes ‘Jojo’ Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis.) Slight of build and lacking in public confidence Jojo dreams of becoming a respected member of the Hitler Youth and eventually a tireless soldier for the Reich.  As with many children Jojo has an imaginary friend that helps him psychologically deal with life, in this case his imagine pal is Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi.) Jojo’s mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) is less than thrilled with her son’s political fanaticism but remains a devoted, supportive, and loving single parent to Jojo. After an accident at a Hitler Youth weekend of training Jojo is a taken under the wing of Captain Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell) where Jojo assists the war effort. When Jojo discovers Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie) a Jewish teenager hiding from the Nazis he is forced to confront the truth about himself, his family, and his idol.

The film displays in abundance Waititi’s characteristic zeal and broad humor while never forgetting that this is a story about a young boy obsessed with an evil philosophy. Taika plays the imagines Hitler campy and over-the-top fitting with something a child might imagine and yet here and there flashes of the anger and hatred color the performance never letting the audience become too comfortable with the murderous madman behind the idolization. The movie’s final act nearly drops entirely the farcical tone of the script and turns dark serious and unsettling as Jojo crisis collides with his naïve view of the world in the end propelling the boy to become a young man.

Expertly performed, the film rests on the young shoulders of Roman Griffin David, as the entirety of the film’s world is filtered through his viewpoint. The rest of the cast is amazing managing to walk that line between realistic portrayals with touching pathos and broad irreverent comedy. Some characters exist solely on one side of that divide or the other and never disrupt the overall tone and dram of the piece. Taika’s use of German language versions of popular music such as I Want to Hold Your Hand and Heroes ties our time to the historical using an unreality to reminds of reality.

Overall this is another amazing film from a talent artist we need to continue watching, do not wait for streaming, go see Jojo Rabbit.