“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” marks ten years since actor Tom Holland’s debut as Marvel’s beloved web-slinger, and oddly, the fourth standalone film for the character that features a three-syllable title. And yet, unlike most Marvel releases from the last six years, director Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Brand New Day” leaves you thinking you wouldn’t mind seeing more.

The story picks up after the traumatic events of 2021’s multiverse adventure “No Way Home,” which, in addition to the death of Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), left Spider-Man’s closest friends unable to remember him. Girlfriend MJ (Zendaya) and Ned (Jacob Batalon) have graduated high school and lit off to MIT, in a film-opening montage that shows Spider-Man tracking their exploits through social media while trying to attend to his friendly neighborhood duties.

Lately those duties have come to involve dealings with a super-villain named Scorpion (Michael Mando) and a complicated relationship with a fellow super-vigilante named The Punisher (Jon Bernthal). But these challenges pale when Spider-Man encounters a mysterious new adversary who seems to be able to possess the minds of innocent bystanders, and even worse, leap from person to person to evade capture.

When the activities of this mysterious villain start to threaten Ned and MJ–now returned to New York as freshly minted MIT graduates–Spider-Man’s past, present, and future collide, and the results are one of the more enjoyable Marvel adventures of recent years.

A lot of this is due to Holland, who remains relatable and sympathetic in the lead role. Bernthal provides a nice foil as the persistently-agitated Punisher, and a few other newcomers (who won’t be identified for spoiler’s sake) add strength to a cast of generally likable characters. And even if he doesn’t get a lot of screen time, fans of TV’s “Better Call Saul” will enjoy seeing Michael Mando as Scorpion.

As you might imagine, one key function of “Brand New Day” is to lay the groundwork for “Avengers: Doomsday,” set to release at the end of this year. One of the best elements of the new film is the way it manages to do this successfully while remaining true to its lead character. “Brand New Day” does justice to Spider-Man and his arc, and manages to deliver a satisfying story that leaves you excited for more.

Ten years on from Holland’s first turn as Spider-Man in “Captain America: Civil War,” that’s not a bad compliment.

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“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is rated PG-13 for comic book-style mayhem and violence.

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Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” is a good movie that should have been better. 

Based on Homer’s epic poem of the same name–with some key bits of The Iliad thrown in for good measure–“The Odyssey” delivers in the areas you would expect from a Nolan film. The IMAX scale and cinematography are engaging, the battles are exciting, and the soundtrack from Ludwig Goransson has a way of ramping up the tension in key spots. As a three-hour piece of eye candy, “The Odyssey” isn’t bad as a summer blockbuster.

The premise: having won the Trojan War thanks to the help of a certain hollow wooden horse, King Odysseus (Matt Damon) sets out with three ships of weary warriors for the long journey home. But an unfortunate encounter with a cyclops during a rest stop offends Posiedon, the sea god, so the journey becomes beset by additional trials as a result. Giant warriors, some sirens, and in perhaps the film’s most memorable scene, a crafty witch (Samantha Morton) all chip away at Odysseus’s party, and the various adventures prolong the journey by years.

In the meantime, a host of suitors have been hounding the queen back home. Penelope (Anne Hathaway) has been waiting faithfully for the king’s return, but the long years are taking a toll, and pressure is mounting to take a new husband under the assumption that Odysseus has been killed. Her son Telemachus (Tom Holland) could inherit the throne from his father, so as a threat to the suitors, certain parties like Antinous (Robert Pattinson) are plotting to murder the heir.

True to Nolan’s form–though the source material may also have input here–“The Odyssey” is told out of sequence, mostly in flashback while Odysseus finds himself marooned and a little short of memory on an island with a woman named Calypso (Charlize Theron). This allows Nolan to include episodes from both of Homer’s books, and pack plenty of action sequences into the film’s three-hour run time, but strangely it also leaves you feeling as if you are only seeing highlight clips of the epic.

The bigger problem is Nolan’s decision to interpret the classic Greek myth with modern “sensibilities.” The film has earned controversy for certain casting choices, but the more problematic issue is the use of contemporary dialogue–especially some R-rated profanity that sounds completely out of place in a story that is supposed to be taking place 3,000 years ago. And without being more knowledgable with the original source material it is hard to say for sure, but this interpretation of Homer’s epic feels like it leans hard into modern fixations on hero deconstruction and existential malaise.

Another way to say it is that “The Odyssey” is mopey. Very, very mopey.

Throw in some spotty acting in a few key supporting roles, and “The Odyssey” feels like a big and brash blockbuster with some healthy room for improvement. For many audiences, its strengths will be more than enough, but the truth is that this should have been a better film, and it wouldn’t have taken much to get it there.

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“The Odyssey” is rated R for scattered profanity, brief male nudity, and sequences of action violence (comparatively tame for an R-rating).

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Your capacity to get through Olivia Wilde’s “The Invite” should be measured by your interest in spending almost two hours watching miserable people argue and/or conduct lengthy graphic discussions of their dysfunctional sex lives. 

The premise is pretty simple: an unhappy married couple in San Francisco invites their bohemian upstairs neighbors over for a dinner party, and hijinks ensue. It’s a little like the famous Dinner Party episode of TV’s “The Office,” only four times as long, with a lot more profanity and sex talk, and no Jim and Pam to ground the chaos in reality.

Joe (Seth Rogen) is a music teacher at a Bay Area middle school, and his wife Angela (Olivia Wilde) is passionate about interior decorating. They have a teenage daughter we never meet, and after we watch Joe and Angela interact for a little bit, we don’t blame her for not being around. The opening of the film is an extended argument between the unhappy couple; on the surface, it’s about the impending dinner party, but the subtext makes it clear these two could come to blows over the three different shades of blue that Angela is currently testing out in the master bedroom.

If you can make it through this opening salvo, things calm down a bit once the neighbors arrive. Hawk (Edward Norton) is a retired firefighter who comes across more like a guidance counselor, and Pina (Penelope Cruz) is an actual counselor who periodically displays the intensity of a firefighter. These two couples are a mismatch, and they almost seem to revel in making each other uncomfortable, but there is an additional source of tension. Hawk and Pina’s nocturnal activities have become increasingly noisy in recent weeks, and Joe is almost desperate to address the issue, to Angela’s obvious horror. 

The “odd couple” dynamic sets into a rhythm, and for a time, “The Invite” almost becomes enjoyable. Then comes the explanation for the upstairs activities–Hawk and Pina are swingers who have become fond of throwing sex parties on the weekends–and after a lengthy description of their deviant lifestyles to a now enraptured Joe and Angela, “The Invite” reveals the specific meaning behind its title.

Then: more hijinks, more fighting, more arguing, rinse and repeat.

“The Invite” is a remake of a Spanish film called “The People Upstairs,” and beneath the profanity and graphic sex talk, Wilde’s film is meant to be a comedy–punctuated with the hard-hitting reality of the complexities of marriage. To its credit, the script does offer some scattered laughs, as well as some well-chosen needle drops. Best of all, once the dust settles, “The Invite’s” ending offers a quiet and thoughtful contrast to everything that came before.

The problem is getting through everything that came before. Sometimes you have to go through the lows to get to the highs, and “The Invite” is clearly trying to show you Joe and Angela’s worst in order to appreciate their best. When you get past all the unseemly exterior, “The Invite’s” main characters wrestle with common challenges, but Joe and Angela–who are altogether way too quick and too happy to accept Hawk and Pina’s indecent proposal–will only remain relatable to a narrow sliver of the audience.

The question is whether the payoff is worth the journey, and if you’re asking me, the answer is no. I hated the beginning of the movie, and the middle exhausted me. The ending was good, but it wasn’t good enough.

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“The Invite” is rated R for persistent profanity and graphic sexual dialogue, along with some brief violence (done for laughs).

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5.Toy Story 4 (2019)

To put it simply, there are a lot of poor and lazy kids’ movies made every year. Movies that are just colors and lack any depth to help the development of a child. Toy Story 4 is not that and it deserves to be celebrated for that reason. Toy Story, on its worst day, is better than 90% of content made for children. Whether or not audiences really needed another film in this franchise is up for debate, especially since the third instalment is a perfect ending. 

Toy Story 4 is far from perfect, but the voice cast from both new and returning players is great. Toy Story 4 works as a thoughtful exploration of how we find purpose when life starts to change, which is a thematic idea that is probably relevant for most of the fans who grew up with this franchise and are not in their adult life. If you haven’t seen Toy Story 4 in a while, it is worth the rewatch and reexamination. 

4.Toy Story 5 (2026)

The latest installment in the Toy Story franchise follows the gang of toys as they are threatened by technology replacing what children know as “play time”. Bonnie, the toy’s owner, has recently been given a tablet called “Lily Pad”, as her parents hope that this will help Bonnie fit in with all of the other children who have devices. 

All things considered, Toy Story 5 feels like a more appropriate follow-up film to the third installment than Toy Story 4 did. It was inevitable that Pixar would have to acknowledge that technology is arguably more important to the modern child than toys are. While it might seem like this film would take a completely anti-technology stance, it does not. What this installment has to say is a bit more nuanced than “throw your phone in the trash”. The film centers on Jessie and the idea of female friendship, which marks new territory for the franchise. Some of the film’s most exciting moments come in the form of imaginary play sequences, where the animation changes to something that looks a bit like watercolors. Those moments are a lot of fun and show that Toy Story can continue to experiment with the animation medium all these years later. 

That said, it is the only Toy Story film that does not feel like a finale. This just feels like another installment and while it does not work to set up a sixth film, do not be surprised in five years when Toy Story 6 is announced. 

3.Toy Story 2 (1999)

Once again, Woody has gone missing; this time, he is taken by a toy collector named Al. The gang must go on a daring rescue mission to save the cowboy. Toy Story 2 is a movie that works best when expanding the world of the toys and how exactly the life of the toys works. The toys leave Andy’s home and go out into the world, showing the audience just how interesting and weird Pixar can get with these movies. This is the film that introduces one of Pixar’s core characters, Jessie. It often feels forgotten that a character so iconic is introduced in the second film and has not been there since day one. 

While Toy Story 2 is one of the great films to come out of Pixar, it does not quite pack the emotional punch that other films in the franchise do (aside from the Jessie backstory). 

2. Toy Story (1995)

Toy Story is a perfect movie. Truthfully, that’s all that really needs to be said (but I will keep going). Toy Story is not brought up enough in the discussion for the most important films to come out of the 90s. It does not seem like it would be most people’s gut response if they were asked what the 5 or 10 best movies to come out of the decade are. This is a film that completely changed the world of animation and blockbuster storytelling forever. Maybe aside from The Matrix, is there another more influential movie from that time period? This animation style is the dominant mode for these types of movies, so many children’s movies want to have screenplays as perfect as this one and ensemble casts as memorable as this one. No notes, there is no need to elaborate any further.

1.Toy Story 3 (2010)

This movie has a certain magic to it that few other movies have. There is an argument to be made that Toy Story and Toy Story 2 have more perfect screenplays, but there is a level of emotionality brought to 3 that the others do not have. 

We follow the toys as they grapple with Andy growing up and moving on. This is one of the smartest moves the Pixar team could have made, as the audience members who grew up with the first two films will now be in the same age range as Andy. It feels like a natural evolution, especially since this is far and away the most mature film in the bunch. It is a movie that has grown with its audience and is not taking any shortcuts. It is a perfect conclusion to this original three-movie run and a franchise can rarely pull off a perfect trilogy, especially with a third movie. 

The post Ranking the Toy Story Films appeared first on Utah.Film.

Anyone who goes to see Michael Sarnoski’s “The Death of Robin Hood” should abandon any connection to past movies about the legendary outlaw. If you’re expecting something along the lines of Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” Disney’s animated feature, or the classic adventure with Errol Flynn, you’re in for two hours of increasingly painful disappointment.

The title of the film says it all, and in fact carries a double meaning. “The Death of Robin Hood” is about the literal death of the title character, but in a figurative sense Sarnoski’s effort feels like a character assassination, too.

The idea is one we’ve seen plenty of in recent years: the mythic character you know and love wasn’t all that great in real life, and now you’re going to see them deconstructed under the miserable, unflinching light of historical truth. This is a little curious since this particular character is more based in myth and legend than history, but whatever.

We meet this version of Robin Hood late in life, with Robin (Hugh Jackman) living in isolation as a vagabond, staving off vengeful attackers who seek to avenge his past misdeeds. His career was one of theft and criminal brutality, and his golden years are just more of the same. After a little scene-setting, Robin’s literal partner-in-crime Little John (Bill Skarsgard) recruits him to help rescue his wife from some problematic neighbors, and when that gruesomely violent operation goes south, Robin winds up in a priory clinging to life.

The premise is an adaptation of one of the common tales about the end of Robin Hood’s life, and most of the film takes place at the priory, where under the care of Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer), Robin tries to reconcile his past. After a comparatively action-packed and violent opening act, the remainder of the film transitions to an introspective and ponderous pace.

So again, even if you go in understanding that this isn’t Disney’s Robin Hood, you still might be disappointed with what you find. One of my fellow UFCA critics noted some obvious similarities with 2017’s “Logan,” but that film kept up a balance of action throughout its run time.

Credit is due to the film’s production, which establishes a strong mood, and the various elements like cinematography, the performances, the lighting, and especially the haunting score from Jim Ghedi all have their merits. But it may not be enough when the story struggles to move the needle.

To reiterate, “Death of Robin Hood” is a violent movie. There may be more graphic stuff out there, but one of the film’s main intents is to say its titular character is a menacing and uncaring villain, and on more than one occasion we see that children are not exempt from his ethos. 

Ultimately “The Death of Robin Hood” is intended to be an exploration of guilt as a man reflects on and reconciles his past, and for some that may make the film worthwhile. But many will question whether the result was worth the investment.

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“The Death of Robin Hood” is rated R for episodes of brutal and graphic violence, some involving children.

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Lots of directors have put aliens on the big screen. But it’s something else to capture the wonder of encountering an alien in person. That’s where Steven Spielberg stands alone. Films like “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” added a human element to science fiction that made them truly unforgettable.

This works for “Disclosure Day,” and it also works against it.

Spielberg’s latest film tells the story of a campaign to release classified evidence of alien encounters to the general public. Emily Blunt plays Margaret Fairchild, a weather reporter in Kansas City who has spent decades trying to suppress an alien encounter from her childhood. But after an otherwise forgettable experience at home seems to unlock a rash of supernatural abilities, she finds herself driven to hunt down a man named Daniel Kellner.

Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is a cybersecurity expert who until recently was employed by a shadowy company named Wardex. Led by an equally shadowy figure named Noah (Colin Firth), Wardex was tasked with the security of 79 years of alien encounter evidence. As we meet Daniel, he’s on the run with his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) with a backpack full of incriminating hard drives, determined to share the truth with the world.

Most of “Disclosure Day” is a race between Noah and Margaret to find Daniel. Noah, obviously, wants to stop the release, and he has an armed convoy ready to help him execute his mission with extreme prejudice. He also has a curious piece of alien technology that allows him to infiltrate the minds of people remotely to assist with his search.

For her part, Margaret is trying to make sense of her mission on the fly. Like Richard Dreyfuss in “Close Encounters,” she can’t explain where her knowledge or impulses are coming from. She just knows she has to find Daniel. Hopefully somewhere along the way she will figure out her unexplained ability to speak multiple new languages or read the minds of those she encounters.

Luckily for Margaret and Daniel, they are not alone in their quest. Daniel is part of a conspiracy of ex-Wardex employees led by a man named Hugo (Colman Domingo) who are preparing for the big disclosure event, and to add to the tension, Daniel’s phone calls with Hugo take place while people are constructing what looks like a movie set in the background.

All the elements are there for a standard quality Spielberg outing, but a flawed script drops “Disclosure Day” to the second tier of the director’s alien adventures, more “War of the Worlds” than “Close Encounters,” and nowhere near the emotional heights of “ET.” The third act is the real problem here. Without spoiling anything specific, it’s hard to believe that what happens would actually happen the way it is portrayed. In fact, the events of the third act almost feel like they could (or should?) drive an entire movie on their own.

But “Disclosure Day” deserves its credit, though, and not just for Spielberg’s usual craftsmanship. There’s plenty of tension and artistry and strong performances to go around, and a thoughtful scene between Jane and a former mentor shows a respect to people of religious faith that feels pretty rare in post-COVID Hollywood. The first two acts are a lot of fun, but act three is just so-so.

Altogether the good outweighs the questionable, and “Disclosure Day” should be a fun ride for anyone OK with a film that won’t rank with Spielberg’s all-time best.

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“Disclosure Day” is rated PG-13 for action violence and scattered profanity.

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Few directors have captured the joy of music as effectively as John Carney. Specifically, Carney’s films–“Once,” “Begin Again,” and especially 2016’s “Sing Street”–capture the joy of making music. So for musicians, people who appreciate musicians, and people who are somewhere in-between, “Power Ballad” marks the next welcome installment in Carney’s portfolio. 

“Power Ballad” is the story of a down-on-his-luck musician who gets a chance encounter with success, only to see opportunity stolen from his grasp.

Rick (Paul Rudd) is an American musician who relocated to Ireland to raise his family. As time has gone on, his creative ambitions ebbed, and when we meet him he is scratching out a meager living as the lead singer for a wedding band.

On one almost magical night, the band plays an event at an Irish castle, and the groom happens to be longtime friends with Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), a superstar member of a famous boy band. After Danny joins Rick onstage for a pensive guest appearance, the two wind up having a drunken collaboration session in Danny’s portable studio, where Rick shares an unfinished song he’s noodled around with for years.

For Rick, the chance encounter is little more than an encouraging memory until several months later, when Danny scores his first big solo hit with the song, which fails to identify any outside credit. But when Rick tries to contact Danny about the matter, Danny’s ruthless manager Mac (Jack Reynor) threatens to ruin him if he doesn’t back off.

The incident proves to be the last straw for Rick, whose life begins to unravel as he desperately pleads for support, including from his wife Rachel (Marcella Plunkett) and teenage daughter Aja (Beth Fallon). For his part, Danny seems genuinely confused about the origin of the song, thanks to the alcoholic fog of their encounter.

What follows is alternately heartbreaking, heartwarming, and often darkly comic, true to the form of Carney’s previous films. Rudd is sympathetic as Rick, bringing his likable everyman ethos to the role, and Jonas is easy to accept in his, given his real-life experience with The Jonas Brothers. It’s fun to see Reynor after his supporting outing in “Sing Street,” though “Power Ballad’s” MVP is probably Peter McDonald, who plays Rick’s loyal bandmate and best friend Sandy. One consistent feature of a Carney film is its original music, and “Power Ballad” once again offers the creative efforts of Gary Clark.

Compared to his other efforts, “Power Ballad” feels a little more harsh as Carney focuses on the cold realities of the music business and the cruel actions of adults, where “Sing Street” enjoyed a certain innocence by focusing on younger characters (even if they were dealing with very grown-up challenges). In terms of subject and theme, “Power Ballad” feels most similar to 2013’s “Begin Again,” which followed the plight of a struggling record producer in New York City.

Altogether, though the music business theme of “Power Ballad” steers the film away from the innocent heights of “Sing Street” and the moving intimacy of “Once,” thanks to its unabashed sincerity and heart it earns a worthy spot in Carney’s formidable catalogue.

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“Power Ballad” is rated R for profanity and some comic violence.

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There isn’t much wrong with Jon Favreau’s “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” but there isn’t enough right to give it an enthusiastic recommendation. To its credit, it feels like more than just an extended episode of the Disney+ streaming series on which it is based, but it still feels more like a TV show adapted to the big screen more than a “proper” Star Wars film.

It’s been almost seven years now since the last theatrical Star Wars release, and the mixed bag of streaming series that have filled that gap have left the franchise on shaky ground. “The Mandalorian” was clearly one of the best streaming efforts, but its gradual decline from season to season has left fans less than enthusiastic for the feature. 

As a result, few recent films are as saddled with contextual baggage as “Mandalorian,” and in many ways the content of the film itself is a secondary consideration. The key to success for anyone going in is to temper your expectations. If you’re looking for a simple action/sci-fi adventure with a few familiar faces, “Mandalorian” has you covered. But if you are hoping for a return to the event-level bravado of a full-scale “Star Wars” spectacle, you’re bound for disappointment.

The film picks up in the aftermath of the third season of the series, but fortunately, the story isn’t all that dependent on your being fluent in the streaming show. In fact, you could practically watch “Mandalorian” right after “Return of the Jedi” and be ready to go.

The biggest difference is that the titular bounty hunter, Mando (voiced by Pedro Pascal) is a little less mercenary and a little more good guy, tracking down the scattered remnants of the Imperial leadership. Along with his Force-sensitive “Baby Yoda” sidekick Grogu, they’re taking their assignments from a New Republic officer (Sigourney Weaver), and the new target is a tricky one. 

The New Republic is looking for a mystery man with ties to the Empire, but to get to him Mando first needs to rescue the son of Jabba the Hutt. This requires cooperating with the decidedly untrustworthy Hutt Twins, and things get more complicated when Mando discovers that “rescue” might not be the most accurate term to describe his mission.

The hijinks that ensue feature a traditional mix of space vehicles, shootouts, and exotic CGI creatures, punctuated with plenty of cuteness from Baby Yoda. It’s a serviceable plot, but one that feels pretty episodic, and the production quality of the streaming series ironically makes it a challenge to elevate “Mandalorian” beyond an extended episode of the show. The effort is certainly beefed up, and the IMAX presentation helps, but again, the result feels more like a TV show brought to the screen more than a dedicated “Star Wars” film, and there are enough reminders–none more than the lack of a John Williams score–to remind you what you’re missing.

In short, “The Mandalorian and Grogu” will provide a few forgettable thrills, but it won’t do anything to get fans excited about the future of the “Star Wars” franchise.

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“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” is rated PG-13 for action/sci-fi violence and some frightening creature imagery.

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As a showcase for the creative world of modern fashion, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” works just fine. As a commentary on the impact of modern technology on traditional field like journalism, it’s OK. As an attempt to humanize its elitist characters, it struggles.

It’s been 20 years now since the release of “The Devil Wears Prada,” and David Frankel’s “Prada 2” sticks with that same timeframe. Two decades after her life-changing time at the elite fashion magazine Runway, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) has built a distinguished career as a journalist, traveling the world and covering more substantial topics than the latest trends and styles.

But just as she’s about to receive a distinguished award for her work, Andy’s entire publication is erased from existence. Luckily (for her), her old boss at Runway is running into some trouble as well. A sweatshop scandal sets a sequence of events in motion, and within a few short scenes, Andy is back at Runway working as its features editor under the notorious editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep).

Neither side is happy with the arrangement, and Miranda barely seems to remember their past time together. But Andy’s situation is more desperate, so she swallows her pride and sets about proving herself yet again to the titular devil in the film’s title. The plot engine that drives this dynamic is the threat of a new owner (B.J. Novak), who represents the threat of technology and 21st century attitudes toward established institutions and values.

The demise of traditional journalism, the transition from print to online, and the advent of modern technologies like artificial intelligence are themes that almost justify the return to the world of Miranda and Andy, which I can’t imagine anyone ever saw as a potential franchise the first time around. These themes are certainly relevant, even if the film never says anything conclusive to say about them.

Instead, most of “Prada 2” is built around the relationships of its characters–which include the returns of Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci in supporting roles–and its showcasing of the fashion world. Anyone looking for fashion eye candy and flashy cameos won’t be disappointed, even if it kind of undercuts the nobility of the industry’s cause–are we really supposed to lament the loss of an institution dedicated to covering such superficial nonsense?

The character studies are more interesting, if similarly problematic. Miranda is a complicated character, which is a nice way of saying she comes off as a “real” person in private who has no problem treating lesser people around her like garbage if they don’t meet her standards. And even a comparable “good guy” like Tucci’s character is too much of a snob to fully embrace. It’s pretty obvious that I’m not the audience for this movie, but I struggle to see how anyone would want to be a part of such a world. It’s one thing to acknowledge that high fashion prioritizes art over practicality, but it’s a lot harder to justify the elitist attitudes that go with it.

At the center of all this is Andy, who is mostly relatable and serviceable as a protagonist to cheer for. She also gets a pretty forced love interest sub-plot with a local contractor (Patrick Brammall), and her strained relationship with former co-worker Emily (Blunt) is a helpful thread.

Altogether, “Prada 2” has enough going for it to justify its existence as more than a nostalgic cash grab, but it’s a close call. Fans of the first film will probably enjoy it, but like one of Miranda Priestly’s former employees, “The Devil Wears Prada 2” feels destined to be forgotten, whether it deserves it or not.

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“The Devil Wears Prada 2” is rated PG-13 for scattered profanity and adult content.

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It’s nice when a film lives up to the hype.

I feel a little late to the party with “I Swear,” the based-on-a-true-story biopic about a Scottish man’s lifelong battle with Tourette’s Syndrome. Director Kirk Jones’s film was released in the UK last year to wide acclaim, and already netted awards (as well as some controversy) at the annual BAFTAs earlier this year.

It’s just now getting its wide release in the United States, and I’m happy to report that “I Swear” is worth the wait.

The film follows the life of John Davidson, a man who began to experience the symptoms of Tourette’s Syndrome in his early teenage years. Prior to those symptoms, young John (played by Scott Ellis Watson) was living a pretty normal life, with enough skill to get some attention from soccer scouts. But the onset of various alarming ticks, including sudden neck twitches and eventually verbal outbursts, quickly upended his plans, and things just got worse as his father picked that moment to abandon his family.

Fast-forward a few years, and a now-adult John (played by Robert Aramayo) is still struggling to connect with the routines of everyday life. But things start to improve when John meets a former mental health nurse named Dottie (Maxine Peake), who eventually invites him to move in with her family.

From here, we see a long-term journey that follows John as he works to secure employment at a local rec center and pin down some semblance of a routine, but in spite of his best efforts his ticks and ill-timed outbursts regularly lead to trouble, including one encounter where an offended woman has some friends beat John so thoroughly he winds up in the hospital.

Between the film’s publicity and an opening scene that hints at the culmination of John’s journey, you get the sense that things are going to turn out OK, but “I Swear” is still a moving and at times heartbreaking journey, and a vivid way to connect to the realities of a disease that is usually viewed in two-dimensional terms.

Aside from a moving story, “I Swear’s” performances are its greatest strength, starting with Aramayo’s effective turn as Davidson. Aramayo hits just the right note to capture the eye-opening nature of Davidson’s various ticks without making the behavior cartoonish. Peake is a steadying force as Dottie, and Peter Mullan is a welcome addition as Tommy, the rec center manager who brings John into the fold. (“Harry Potter” fans might also recognize Shirley Henderson as John’s mother.)

As you might expect, “I Swear” includes a generous amount of profanity, but you might be surprised at how tame it feels in context. Given Davidson’s condition and sincerity, his expletives feel considerably less abrasive than the kind of R-rated dialogue found in more mainstream fare. 

Altogether, “I Swear” is a powerful and worthwhile portrait of a man and a challenge. Hopefully by the time the US organizations are ready to dole out their awards, Jones’s effort won’t have been forgotten.

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“I Swear'” is rated R for consistent vulgar dialogue and profanity, as well as some violent sequences.

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