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POKEMON:
DETECTIVE PIKACHU
(PG)
Some
mysteries aren't worth solving
To
quote its full title, POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU
isn't a film made for me.
I
don't know much about Pokemon.
I'm not a fan of the Pokemon phenomenon.
I don't try to hunt and/or collect
Pokemon (either virtually or literally).
And maybe I don't simply get Pokemon.
But
I do know that POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU
isn't so much a movie as it is a near two hour
product placement commercial...
Posted
May 20, 2019
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APOLLO
11
(PG)
A
doc for all mankind
There are very
few films these days that legitimately instill in me a childlike sensation
of awe and wonder in their sights and make me feel like I've been
thoroughly transported out of my cinema chair and into the events
transpiring on screen as an active participant. Todd Douglas
Miller's astonishing new documentary, simply titled APOLLO 11, is one of
those decidedly rare breeds of filmgoing experiences...
Posted
May 20, 2019
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DRAGGED
ACROSS CONCRETE
(R)
A
stone cold heist thriller
The thought of
seeing yet another crooked cops thriller really has very little appeal to
me these days, seeing as my time to screen movies is precious, not to
mention that the genre itself has been literally done to death over the
years. But
writer/director S. Craig Zahler's DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE has somewhat
renewed my faith in these types of films, mostly because it favors slow
burn intrigue and character dynamics versus action...
Posted
May 20, 2019
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LONG
SHOT
(R)
The
odd couple road to the White House
I
don't typically ask much of most romcoms. I
honestly don't.
Even
when their plots go down the most predictable of
paths all that I simply require out of them is
to make me care.
These films must give me two characters
that are likeable, relatable, and that I want to
see live on happily ever after just before the
end credits roll by...
Posted
May 15, 2019
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EXTREMELY
WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE
(No
MPAA Rating)
Confessions
of a serial killer
EXTREMELY
WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL, AND VILE is an
extremely uneven, shockingly misguided, and dull
biographical crime thriller. It’s a
portrait of Ted Bundy - one of the most
loathsome serial killers of all time - and his
relationship with his then girlfriend before the
law caught up with him and his heinous crimes.
Sadly, this film is never really sure
what it wants to be about...
Posted
May 15, 2019
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AVENGERS:
ENDGAME
(PG-13)
We're
in the fan servicing endgame now, Tony...
I
remember screening the very first IRON MAN film
way, way back in 2008 and, for the
most part, shrugged off the final end credit
scene featuring a surprise cameo by Samuel L.
Jackson's S.H.I.E.L.D. head honcho Nick Fury
talking to Robert Downey Jr.'s metal clad hero
about "the Avengers Initiative."
Contemplating
the massive scope of what was promised here, I
turned to my friend at the time and whispered
into his ear that an AVENGERS film will
"never happen"...
Posted
May 6, 2019
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UNDER
THE SILVER LAKE
(R)
There's
a silver lining to this troubled production
After
the twisted, genre busting greatness of
writer/director David Robert Mitchell's 2014 art
house horror thriller IT FOLLOWS - which I
proudly placed on my list for the Ten Best Films
of that year - I was willing to jump down any
rabbit hole he placed in front of me moving
forward.
With its joyously and nostalgically synthesized
music score, slick direction, and crafty and sly
dissection of teen slasher film troupes, IT
FOLLOWS ushered Mitchell in as a bono fide
talent...
Posted
May 6, 2019
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MISS
BALA (PG-13)
An
AK-47 packing beauty queen
The
new crime thriller MISS BALA is one of those all
too frequent and frustrating filmgoing
experiences because it contains a wonderfully
authentic and textured lead performance that's
mostly betrayed from some extremely spotting
writing and weak handling of its would-be
compelling themes.
The
premise itself - if handled improperly - easily
inspires chuckles...
Posted
May 6 , 2019
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PET
SEMATARY
(R)
 1/2
This
gravesite needs a spell check
I
have vague memories of the original 1989 film
adaptation of Stephen King's 1983 PET SEMATARY
horror novel, which places me, I guess, in a
somewhat advantageous place going into its
modern remake of the same name without having
any baggage.
As
to the number of changes and tweaks this Kevin
Kolsch and Denis Widmyer directed version makes
to the source material and the previous film
iteration I cannot say...
Posted
April 27, 2019
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REPLICAS
(R)
Man
playing God...the really dumb version
A few weeks ago I
appeared on live TV and defended Keanu Reeves for being a better actor
than he's often given credit for. I
also went on to explain that when he's given just the right character,
film, and director married to his unique skills then he can be a
commanding and charismatic screen presence (the recent JOHN WICK films
come to mind). However, I did
concede that the Canadian actor has most certainly delivered his fair share of
lousy performances and has appeared in many equally mediocre films over
the years...
Posted
April 27, 2019
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HELLBOY
(R)
1/2
Aw
crap
Back
in 2004 writer/director Guillermo del Toro
introduced movie audiences to the bizarre comic
book universe of HELLBOY, which in turn was born
in comic book form thanks to Mike Mignola.
I
enjoyed that film as a preposterously
imaginative fantasy that was unafraid to go
against the grain of obligatory genre fare of
the era.
That, and del Toro painted the screen
with luscious art direction and then cutting
edge visual effects...
Posted
April 25, 2019
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MISSING
LINK (PG)
1/2
Where
the not so wild things are
The
unendingly delightful and beautifully rendered
MISSING LINK is the latest stop motion animated
effort from Laika, the Oregon based studio that
previously made one of the best films of its
kind in 2016's KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS (which,
incidentally, made my list of the Ten Best Films
of its year).
Their
follow-up effort could not be anymore different
in MISSING LINK...
Posted
April 25, 2019
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SHAZAM!
(PG-13)
1/2
HOLY
MOLEY!!!
How
is it even possible that a comic book character that premiered to readers
just a year after Superman in 1939, sold more comic books during the 1940s
than the Man of Steel, and has been a pretty consistently popular entity
for several decades has never had a lavish big screen live action film all
to his own?...
Posted
April 16, 2019
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A
DOG'S WAY HOME
(PG)
1/2
A
dog with fleas family drama
Full
disclosure: I'm more of a cat man. Sorry,
canine lovers. However, I
don't hate dogs. I like dogs
too. But I hate dumb movies about dogs. Actually, I hate dumb movies about any type of animal. I
just wanted to throw that all out there before I officially review A DOG'S
WAY HOME, just so I don't, as I move forward, come off as some smug feline
lover. Just to be clear,
there have been many movies involving talking animals - in one form or
another - that I've cherished...
Posted
April 16, 2019
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DUMBO
(PG)
Another
Disney remake that rarely soars
It's
utterly ironic that we can essentially thank Tim
Burton for the recent batch of Disney's live
action adaptations of their own cherished
animated classics. The
studio's recent and highly dubious business
practice as of late really began with Burton's
own large scale and lavish live action iteration
of their own ALICE IN WONDERLAND...
Posted
April 8, 2019
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THE
HIGHWAYMEN
(No
MPAA Rating)
On
the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde
When cinephiles
think of the Depression era criminal ways of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie
Parker it's pretty easy to deduce that Arthur Penn's iconic Warren Beatty
and Faye Dunaway starring 1960's film probably comes immediately to their
minds.
That fifty-plus year old classic deserves its legendary status
in the industry, most specifically for how incomparably important it was
for the then New Hollywood culture...
Posted
April 8, 2019
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THE
HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT
(PG-13)
1/2
The
butterfly Internet effect
THE HUMMINGBIRD
PROJECT is a new techno-thriller that's about a bunch of industrious
conmen that want to secretly install a vast fiber optic cable in the
ground running from Kansas to New York that, if successful, will allow
them a one millisecond advantage on all other investors in stock exchange
transactions, thereby making them rich. Now, maybe the
term techno-thriller could be used sarcastically in describing this
film...
Posted
April 8, 2019
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US
(R)
Invasion
of the body double snatchers
I
can't think of a single other filmmaker in
recent memory that has had as much of an
unlikely career transition and meteoric rise in
the industry as Jordan Peele.
He
went from writing and appearing in TV sketch
comedy as part of the two-man group Key and
Peele with Keegan Michael Key and literally
overnight became a member of the directorial
elite with his first feature film behind the
camera in 2017's GET OUT...
Posted
April 5, 2019
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FIVE
FEET PART (PG-13)
1/2
Lovers
in a dangerous time
FIVE FEET APART
is the kind of movie that polarized me more than any other that I've recently screened. Parts of me
greatly admired its layered and authentically rendered performances.
Other parts of me loathed this film for how shamefully manipulative
it was in using a particularly awful disease for the purposes of making
a pretty paint-by-numbers and on genre autopilot teen romance drama...
Posted
April 5, 2019
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CAPTIVE
STATE (PG-13)
A
sci-fi thriller held hostage by poor world
building
CAPTIVE
STATE is a new freedom fighters battling an
alien invasion and occupation sci-fi
thriller that has an awful lot of compelling
ideas and themes as far as this very overstuffed
genre goes. It's a tremendously ambitious
movie.
But,
gee whiz, it's also messily scripted, ineptly
edited, and, worst of all, quite dull overall,
which makes it especially hard to care about
anyone or anything in the story.
Plus, and this might sound weird, but
CAPTIVE STATE suffers from, well, being a
movie...
Posted
March 31, 2019
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TRIPLE
FRONTIER
(No
MPAA Rating)
One
last score
The
new Netflix original film TRIPLE FRONTIER boasts some serious talent
behind the scenes.
We have screenwriter Mark Boal, who previously penned and produced
ZERO DARK THIRTY as well as winning an Oscar for his script for the Best
Picture awarded THE HURT LOCKER.
Behind the camera for TRIPLE FRONTIER is J.C. Chandor, best known
for one of the best outdoor survival films ever made in 2013's ALL IS LOST...
Posted
March 31, 2019
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CAPTAIN
MARVEL
(PG-13)
1/2
I'm
just a girl in the world...
Yes, the fact
that CAPTAIN MARVEL is the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first solo super
hero entry that stars a woman and is co-written and directed by a woman is
definitely something to be celebrated. Having said that,
it's taken the MCU an unforgivably long time - twenty films and over ten
years, as a matter of fact - to release a female driven comic book film,
which means that CAPTAIN MARVEL is in the better late than never
category...
Posted
March 19, 2019
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FIGHTING
WITH MY FAMILY
(PG-13)
Do
ya smell what Paige is cookin'?
Part
dysfunctional family drama, part underdog overcoming all odds sports
biopic, and part WWE recruitment film, FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY tells the
fact based story - with obvious dramatic embellishment and some blind eye
turning to history - of Saraya-Jade Bevis, an English professional
wrestling personality that would eventually adopt the moniker of
"Paige" and become one of the biggest female stars of the WWE...
Posted
March 19, 2019
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ARCTIC
(R)
1/2
A
most - ahem! - chilling outdoor survival
thriller
There
have been far too many man versus nature outdoor
survival thrillers over the years to seemingly
keep track of, which means that any filmmaker
trying to impart some much needed freshness of
approach in the well worn genre most certainly
has their work cut of for them.
Nevertheless,
I'm a real sucker for these type of films,
especially when they reduce ordinary people down
to their primal essence in a desperate attempt
to stave off thirst, hunger, predators, and
eventually death...
Posted
March 19, 2019
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GRETA
(R)
Not
everyone needs a friend
GRETA
is the kind of psychopathic stalker killer from
hell genre exercise that feels so woefully
telegraphed, antiquated, and paint-by-numbers
that I left my screening pondering why a
filmmaker of Neil Jordan's established pedigree
would ever bother wasting his time making it.
This
is a film essentially made on autopilot,
emulating the very popular aforementioned
sub-genre that became prominent in the 1980s and
1990s...
Posted
March 10, 2019
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HOW
TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON:
THE
HIDDEN WORLD
(PG)
How
to make the perfect trilogy
Dreamworks'
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON franchise has been one
of the sublime surprises of the animated film
world, which began so modestly, yet powerfully
with the 2010 original
that told an epically staged Viking fantasy
storyline featuring an awkward and shy lad
befriending an elusive dragon (mythical beasts
that were sworn enemies of humanity)...
Posted
March 10, 2019
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THE
MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT
(R)
1/2
Sam
Elliott: Nazi and creature hunter
To
quote its gloriously specific - yet monumentally
spoilerific - title, THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER
AND THEN THE BIGFOOT is a new action adventure
film steeped in history and more than a bit of
pulpy, comic book inspired intrigue.
Reading that title alone will probably
elicit ample eye rolling in some filmgoers,
seeing as it will probably make them feel that
this is low budget, B-grade fare designed for
midnight showings at grindhouse cinemas...
Posted
March 10, 2019
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ALITA:
BATTLE ANGEL
(PG-13)
1/2
More
human than human
Considering
that he began his career with remarkable modesty
back in the mid-90s making an introductory
feature film that cost a measly $7000, it's a
staggering experience to witness Robert
Rodriguez play within the multi-million dollar
budgeted sandbox that is ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL...
Posted
February 28, 2019
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HAPPY
DEATH DAY 2U
(PG-13)
1/2
Worst.
Day. Again. Ever.
Remember
2017's HAPPY DEATH DAY, the GROUNDHOG DAY
inspired time looping knock-off that was a
surprisingly enjoyable and mostly razor sharp
dissection of teen slasher horror films?
For that matter, do you remember 2017's HAPPY
DEATH DAY, the GROUNDHOG DAY inspired time
looping knock-off that was a surprisingly
enjoyable and mostly razor sharp dissection of
teen slasher horror films...
Posted
February 28, 2019
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THE
LEGO
MOVIE 2:
THE
SECOND PART
(PG)
Everything
is sort of awesome with this sequel
I
had the lowest of low expectations going into
the original THE LEGO MOVIE back in 2014, seeing
as I thought it was another lame and bottom
feeding attempt on Hollywood's part to try to
cash in by make a prominent toy line into a
feature length film.
Rather
improbably - and some would say (ahem!) awesomely
- the Chris Lord and Phil Miller animated
effort was a joyously unexpected cinematic
curveball...
Posted
February 18, 2019
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COLD
PURSUIT
(R)
1/2
Revenge
is a dish best served...
No
beginning of the movie year would ever been
complete without the annual right of passage
known as the Liam Neeson seeks vengeance,
takes names, and kicks ass revenge action
thriller.
It's
become a staple of the veteran sixtysomething
actor's career rejuvenation over the last
decade-plus, which highlighted the former Oskar
Schindler and Michael Collins actor get down and
dirty in some fiendishly enjoyable B-grade
exploitation efforts...
Posted
February 18, 2019
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VELVET
BUZZSAW
(No
MPAA Rating)
1/2
Gilroy's
art world satire/horror thriller isn't quite so
razor sharp
On paper, VELVET
BUZZSAW should have been a grand slam home run. It contains the
writer/director and stars of NIGHTCRAWLER
in Dan Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Rene Russo respectively and
features subject matter that's absolutely ripe for nail biting satire: the
world of the uber pretentious and self-aggrandizing contemporary L.A. art
world and criticism...
Posted
February 18, 2019
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HIGH
FLYING BIRD
(No
MPAA Rating)
Soderbergh's
near slam dunk sports drama
One thing that
I'll give Steven Soderbergh is that - at a relatively late time in his
career when most other directors would be too timid to stray too far away
from their own established comfort zones - he's unafraid to push his skill
set and the medium forward in audacious new directions. HIGH FLYING BIRD
is his latest unorthodox effort, streaming now on Netflix and shot once
again utilizing just iPhone 8 cameras...
Posted
February 18, 2019
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THE
KID WHO WOULD BE KING
(PG-13)
1/2
A
kid in King Arthur's court
It's crazy to
consider that it's been nearly a decade since director Joe Cornish made a
film, with his last one being his 2011 breakout cult sci-fi hit ATTACK
THE BLOCK (which also helped launch the career of a pre-STAR
WARS John Boyega). Cornish
now returns to filmmaking duties with THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING, one of
2019's early and splendid surprises.
The film is sort of a wonderful hybrid work with a throwback vibe...
Posted
February 6, 2019
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SERENITY
(R)
There's
nothing alright, alright, alright about
this noir thriller
I don't have the
slightest idea how to review this film.
How would anyone, for that matter.
Let me explain.
SERENITY (not to
be confused with the 2005 Joss Whedon directed sci-fi film of the same name) is a new neo-noir thriller written
and directed by Steven Knight, who previously made the 2014 Tom
Hardy drama LOCKE (which miraculously
contained ample tension and masterful intrigue despite being a one man
movie mostly set in a car)...
Posted
February 6, 2019
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GLASS
(PG-13)
A
glass half full trilogy closer
At this late
stage in the game I think a majority of filmgoers - and critics, for that
matter - should be asking one simple question:
How many more
chances for cinematic redemption should one give writer/director M. Night
Shyamalan?
It's a legitimate
question.
The Indian
filmmaker was once considered to be the next Spielberg, which
feels like forever ago now, and with his career jump starting and multiple
Oscar nominated THE SIXTH SENSE his future certainly looked promising...
Posted
February 6, 2019
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ROMA
(No
MPAA Rating)
Life
itself
What a bold and
miraculous artistic achievement Alfonso Cuaron's ROMA is, shot exquisitely
and with a painterly eye in glorious black and white (he also serves as
his own cinematographer) and chronicling a semi-autobiographical drama
about his own upbringing in Mexico city. The very last
film the Oscar winning director made was the spellbinding GRAVITY,
a science fiction survival thriller set in outer space, and previous to
that he made one of the finest dystopian films ever in CHILDREN
OF MEN...
Posted
January 31, 2019
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IF
BEALE STREET COULD TALK
(R)
"I'll
tell you a story, if I may..."
Writer/director
Barry Jenkins previously made the Academy Award winning Best Picture MOONLIGHT,
a small scale and budgeted, but profoundly moving and beautifully told
drama about the evolution of a homosexual black man's life, told via
multiple time periods and with multiple actors playing said character.
In all fairness, it was a gutsy and outside of the box selection
from the Academy...
Posted
January 31, 2019
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ESCAPE
ROOM (PG-13)
A
puzzle box thriller not worth solving
Ah yes, no
beginning of the year film season would be complete without another entry in
the PWP film genre, or a genre of films containing premises
without payoff. ESCAPE ROOM is a
new psychological horror thriller centered on the concept of, yes,
escape rooms, a physical adventure game in which players have to solve a
series of complicated puzzles and riddles utilizing well hidden clues in
order to escape from a seemingly inescapable room...
Posted
January 25, 2019
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THE
UPSIDE (PG-13)
There's
no downside to this Cranston and Hart pairing
There's not much
of an - ahem! - upside to most movie remakes, seeing as far too many
don't honor the original source material while simultaneously spinning it
into fresh directions for a new audience. THE UPSIDE is the
inevitable American remake of the 2011 French film THE INTOUCHABLES, which
was a huge financial success and critical and audience darling.
That film chronicled the true story of a wealthy and white
quadriplegic and his black ex-con caregiver and ultimate BFF...
Posted
January 25, 2019
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WELCOME
TO MARWEN
(PG-13)
1/2
He
gets by with a little help from his little
friends
Robert
Zemeckis'
WELCOME TO MARWEN is a new fact based drama that tells the endlessly
strange, yet endearing story of artist and photographer Mark Hogancamp,
who in April of 2000 was viciously attacked outside of a bar by five men,
nearly being beaten to death in the process.
He drunkenly admitted to them that he had a penchant for wearing
women's shoes, which precipitated their hate crime attack.
After nine days in a coma and 40 days in the hospital, Hogancamp
was discharged and left a mentally and physically broken man...
Posted
January 12, 2019
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HOLMES
& WATSON
(PG-13)
1/2
A
mysteriously unfunny spoof
On a superficial
level, HOLMES & WATSON is a movie.
No,
seriously...it is. It contains a
feature length running time, it has a massive studio and fairly sizeable
budget behind it, it stars two bankable and proven comedic actors, and it
has been
aggressively marketed to the eager moviegoing masses.
But HOLMES &
WATSON is barely a movie.
It most assuredly isn't a comedy either, seeing as it contains
virtually no laughs.
And it's not - despite a very specific title - a new Sherlock
Holmes mystery worth investing in...
Posted
January 12, 2019
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BUMBLEBEE
(PG-13)
1/2
Almost
more than meets the eye
BUMBLEBEE is the
very best possible TRANSFORMERS live
action movie that I've ever seen.
Now, considering
that I've hated the five (dear Lord in Heaven...five) previous
Michael Bay helmed franchise installments and that every single one placed
high on my lists of ten worst films of their respective year...that may not be saying a
whole hell of a lot.
Okay, sarcasm
aside, let me get serious for a bit and start on a positive here...
Posted
January 12, 2019
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VICE
(R)
The
most unlikely powerful VP in American history
In 2015
writer/director Adam McKay was a rather unlikely Oscar winner for his work
on THE
BIG SHORT, which was an
absurd satirical take on the 2008 Financial Crisis and the devastating
impact it had on America.
The central theme of that film was how people in places of
limitless wealth and power nearly destroyed the country...out of pure
greed to attain more wealth and power...and at the expense of the poor.
It was both as hysterical as it was shocking...
Posted
January 12, 2019
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CAN
YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
(R)
1/2
Dear
Melissa: All is forgiven
I've spent the
better part of the last decade coming down hard on Melissa McCarthy, an
extremely talented actress that has done her career absolutely no favors
by appearing in one witless and puerile comedy after another, like THE
BOSS, TAMMY, IDENTITY
THIEF , and LIFE OF THE PARTY. Most of my reviews of those
films have one commonality in wishing that she strayed as far away from
the stale and overused conventions of these films and the characters that
she played so she can instead embark on something audaciously fresh and
novel...
Posted
January 12, 2019
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AQUAMAN
(PG-13)
1/2
Somewhere...beyond
the sea...
Let's face facts: Aquaman has never been considered as - for lack of a better word - cool
as his other DC Comics super heroes like Batman and Superman. The notion of an
orange and green costumed man that can breath underwater and talk to
various aquatic life makes this hero a difficult nut to crack on the
silver screen while not making him the butt of easy jokes.
Considering the somewhat shaky ground that the DC Extended Universe
has been on lately...
Posted
January 4, 2019
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MARY
POPPINS RETURNS
(PG)
A
spoonful of sugar makes the sequel go down
I asked myself
two questions as I left my screening of MARY POPPINS RETURNS:
1.
Outside of obvious financial motive for the studio, was there any
need for Disney to make a sequel to the cherished original from over 50
years ago? Short answer?
Nope.
2. Is MARY
POPPINS RETURNS an entertaining sequel worthy of big screen consumption?
Short answer:
Yup...
Posted
January 4, 2019
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SPIDER-MAN:
INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
(PG)
They
all do whatever multiple spiders can
Okay, so shove
these facts up your mind, true believers: SPIDER-MAN: INTO
THE SPIDER-VERSE is, believe it or not, the very first feature length
animated film about the world's most famous wall-crawler.
It's also the seventh SPIDER-MAN film since 2000, including Sam
Raimi's sometimes masterful and sometimes mediocre trilogy, Marc Webb's
equally mixed bag two pack of AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN franchise reboots, and, yes, the MCU reboot of the
reboot in last year's SPIDER-MAN:
HOMECOMING...
Posted
December 26, 2018
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MORTAL
ENGINES (PG-13)
1/2
A
mortally wounded franchise opener
MORTAL ENGINES is
an absolutely stunning triumph of visual effects, art direction, and
production design. It's also, rather
unfortunately, an abysmal failure on a basic character and story front. Despite an
ambitiously bonkers premise, I simply didn't care about anyone or anything
in this post apocalyptic sci-fi film.
I think the overall intent when it comes to cinematic world
building is for a film to legitimately feel like it's transporting you to
another time and place and makes, in turn, its otherworldly universe seem
tangible and real...
Posted
December 26, 2018
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THE
MULE (R)
1/2
A
rare Eastwoodian starring vehicle lacking in
substance
I find myself marveling
at Clint Eastwood's prolific nature as a director over the last decade -
at an extremely ripe 88-years-old - more so than I do at the overall
quality of said films during that period. He's made six
films since 2010, which is pretty remarkable in itself when one considers
that the former Man With No Name has more than reached retirement home
age. I find his efforts to
have been a mixed bag...
Posted
December 26, 2018
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BOY
ERASED (R)
1/2
Trying
to cure what doesn't need curing
BOY ERASED is
based on the 2016 memoir of the same name by Garrard Conley, who is the
only child of a Baptist pastor that, when he was attending college at
19-years-old, was outed as homosexual to his deeply religious parents.
Being absolutely petrified with the notion of being openly gay
within his fundamentalist family, Garrard was given a choice by his father...
Posted
December
19, 2018
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CRAZY
RICH ASIANS
(PG-13)
1/2
A
crazy conventional romcom with historically
significant underpinnings
Something
dawned on me just after I finished screening
CRAZY RICH ASIANS.
This
new romcom is paradoxically a groundbreaking and
important film in the annals of Hollywood
history...that also happens to be just as
achingly conventional and clichéd as just about
any other dime-a-dozen romcom out there that
preceded it. Now,
hear me out.
..
Posted
December
19, 2018
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THE
FRONT RUNNER (R)
1/2
A
flawed political drama with its Hart in the
right place
Politicians
having their careers tainted by scandals involving adulterous affairs
hardly seems so shocking these days.
In some respects, their professional lives are hardly affected at
all. President Bill Clinton
managed to finish two terms as the Commander-in-Chief during the 90s after
a much publicized affair, and the current President managed to even get
elected after being caught red handed in an embarrassing audio recording
condoning sexual assault...
Posted
December
11, 2018
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BLINDSPOTTING
(R)
An
urban dramedy with very few creative blind spots
BLINDSPOTTING is
the second film from 2018 alongside Boots Riley's SORRY
TO BOTHER YOU that is set in Oakland, California and contains
themes of race relations, gentrification, and how the identities of
communities are all but being destroyed by corporate interests that are
only in it for themselves and to make a quick buck...
Posted
December
11, 2018
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GREEN
BOOK (PG-13)
1/2
An
odd couple of a different color
I
can only begin to imagine the pitch meeting for
GREEN BOOK: "It's
like a reverse engineered DRIVING MISS DAISY
meets THE ODD COUPLE...and it'll be a funny, yet
sobering take on race relations in
segregationist America in the early 60s...and
it'll be directed by one half of the team that
made DUMB AND DUMBER, KINGPIN, and THERE'S
SOMETHING ABOUT MARY..."
Posted
December
2, 2018
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CREED
II (PG-13)
"I
must break you...again!"
At the risk of
mixing sports metaphors, 2015's CREED was a
real cinematic curveball thrown at audiences, especially to fans of the
ROCKY series in general. The
Ryan Coogler directed soft reboot/sequel to the iconic Sylvester Stallone
pugilist franchise was far greater than it had any business of being, and
it imbued a renewed lease on life for a series that, to be fair, went out
on a high note with 2006's ROCKY BALBOA,
which in turn came out after a series of so-so to mediocre sequels over
the last few decades...
Posted
December
2, 2018
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FANTASTIC
BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD (PG-13)
A
prequel/sequel that needs a spell of
enchantment
To quote its full
tongue twisting title, FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD is a
sequel that seems to have this annoying insistence on pushing me away at an
uncomfortable distance instead of luring me in to its expanded upon
cinematic universe. It's the tenth
overall film set in the wizard heavy mythological world of HARRY POTTER
and the direct follow-up to 2016's FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM...
Posted
December
2, 2018
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WIDOWS
(R)
Never
send in a man to do a woman's job
Steve
McQueen is a filmmaker that seems positively unafraid of subject matter or
genre challenge, having seriously wowed me with such diverse film
offerings such as 2008's HUNGER (about the
1981 Irish hunger prison strike), 2011's SHAME
(about a man dealing with a debilitating sex addiction) and 2013's 12
YEARS A SLAVE (a historical period drama about a New York African
American that was kidnapped into slavery in the mid 1850s). After
a far too long absence the British director has returned to the silver
screen...
Posted
December
2, 2018
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THE
GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB
(R)
1/2
A
tangled web of espionage intrigue
Considering our
current Me Too movement era, a cinematic return to THE GIRL WITH THE
DRAGON TATTOO series would seem positively fitting. The franchise was
born out of author Stieg Larsson's best selling literary works, which
introduced the world to its ferociously empowered female hacker heroine
Lisbeth Salander...
Posted
November
26, 2018
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OVERLORD
(R)
1/2
Inglourious
Nazi zombie hunting basterds
OVERLORD is like
an EC Comics/Weird Science tale come lovingly to life.
Its plot concerns a bunch of American soldiers that are dropped in
behind enemy lines before D-day and make some ghastly discoveries of Nazi
scientific experiments that have re-animated dead soldiers, with the end
result resembling what's essentially zombies. In many respects,
OVERLORD is kind of a nice companion piece to, say, Quentin Tarantino's
historically sketchy INGLOURIOUS
BASTERDS...
Posted
November
20, 2018
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BOHEMIAN
RHAPSODY
(PG-13)
Is
this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Freddie Mercury
came an awfully long way in his relative short life from his time as a
college student that worked as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport in the
early 70s. Of course, I'm
referring to the legendary frontman of the British rock group QUEEN, whose
music was responsible for nearly a quarter of billion records being sold,
which cemented their status as one of the best selling artists and
greatest bands of all time...
Posted
November
20, 2018
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THE
OLD MAN AND THE GUN
(R)
1/2
The
Sundance Kid's swan song
I remember the
very first time I saw Robert Redford in a film. There was a
mischievous look in his eyes that was accompanied by a disarming smile.
He gave the impression that he was winking at the camera and, in turn,
audience without actually doing so. I sat back and fully realized what star power
meant in this instance, and throughout my life watching Redford's movies
I'm constantly reminded of his presence as a screen performer...
Posted
November
20, 2018
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HUNTER
KILLER (R)
1/2
Hunter
Killer! Qu'est-ce
que c'est!
All while
watching the new political action thriller HUNTER KILLER I was chiefly
reminded that submarines aren't inherently very interesting on a visual
level. With their simplistic
shape and relatively slow pace across the screen, there's simply not much
dynamism on display, which leaves it up to the director and cast to
make what happens inside of the vessel all the more engaging and
appealing...
Posted
November
10, 2018
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SORRY
TO BOTHER YOU
(R)
This
satire can have more than a minute of your time
The new absurdist
black comedy SORRY TO BOTHER YOU is one of the strangest films that I've
ever seen. It's a work that -
to its credit - defies basic genre classification.
It's part social/cultural satire, part sci-fi parable, part broad
workplace comedy, and part commentary piece about race, class, and
capitalism run amok. The film
marks the directorial debut of Boots Riley, the Bay area rapper turned
filmmaker, and his first film positively brims with audacious and bizarre
originality...
Posted
November
10, 2018
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HALLOWEEN
(R)
1/2
Same
old genre tricks, not enough new treats
It's impossible
to understate the relative importance that John Carpenter's 1978 horror
thriller HALLOWEEN had on its genre and on the larger movie industry as a
whole.
He all but single handedly invented the mad killer "slasher"
horror genre all on his own and, for better or worse, went on to inspire
an unending number of copycat efforts throughout the 1980s...
Posted
November
3, 2018
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HOTEL
ARTEMIS
(R)
1/2
Almost
worth checking in
HOTEL
ARTEMIS belongs on a list of films that I like to call PWP efforts: ones
that have a great premise without payoff.
It's a
new cyberpunk futuristic sci-fi thriller from writer/director Drew Pearce
(making his feature filmmaking debut), who has devised a mostly unique
concept for his dystopian film, which also benefits from a very strong
ensemble cast, a swift and assured momentum, and a low-rent vibe and feel
that somehow doesn't feel like disposable B-grade junk food...
Posted
November
3, 2018
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