They don't make film noir like they used to, as proved in the new Hugh Jackman sci-fi mystery Reminiscence. Jackman plays a memory investigator, a sort of high tech futuristic private eye, who operates a memory center for those who want to relive their fondest memories. One night sultry Rebecca Ferguson walks in, asking Hugh to help her remember where she left her keys and we're off to the races. Returning to see her with an earring left behind (that old saw) Jackman listens to Ferguson perform Where or When" in a nightclub in her best Lauren Bacall manner. Their romance blooms until suddenly she vanishes. Reminiscence feels like a lot of other movies, just not as good, in fact not nearly as good as The Big Sleep, or Blade Runner, or a dozen others. The result feels like a copy, a tenth generation Xerox. Streaming on HBO Max, the app that gave Jackman a great role in the true story Bad Education. I'll give it a point for atmosphere. Set in the future in Miami, a two awash in a newer higher sea level turning downtown into a modern Venice. When you call a taxi, you get a motorboat.
