Author: Matthew Liedke

Journalist and film critic in Minnesota. Graduate of Rainy River College and Minnesota State University in Moorhead. Outside of movies I also enjoy sports, craft beers and the occasional video game.

REVIEW: While Not Perfect, ‘Eddie The Eagle’ Still Pulls Off The Landing

“Eddie the Eagle” is the latest film that captures the Olympics and the second one that tells an underdog story at the 1988 games, with the other being “Cool Running.”

The film’s first half hour follows the titular character, Eddie Edwards (Taron Egerton), through childhood. Edwards is completely obsessed with going to the Olympics and much of his youth is spent trying out a selection of different sports, with them all ending in failure.

That is until he comes across skiing, which he is actually pretty good at. Unfortunately, the British Olympic officials decide to not take Edwards with to the 88 games in Calgary, which spurs the protagonist to find another route to the event. His solution is ski jumping and he finds help in a washed up, former champion named Bronson Peary (played by Hugh Jackman).

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REVIEW: ‘Gods Of Egypt’ Is 2016’s First Disaster At The Cinema

I’m not sure where it all went wrong, but the career of Director Alex Proyas has crashed. It’s really a shame, because in 1994 Proyas directed one of my favorites “The Crow” and 10 years later helmed a solid sci-fi film in “I, Robot.”

But then in 2009, Proyas directed the mess that was “Knowing” and just last week, his latest film “Gods of Egypt” hit the screens and it was a train wreck.

“Gods of Egypt” follows, as you may have guessed, Gods who live in Egypt. More specifically, it’s about the king of Egypt, Osiris (Bryan Brown), who is about to pass the crown to his son, Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). The ceremony is interrupted, though, when Osiris’ brother Set (Butler) shows up. Set, who was banished, kills Osiris out of jealousy and takes the crown for himself. In the process, Set steals the eyes of Horus to take his power away.

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REVIEW ‘Race’ Is An Inspiring Experience Despite Unnecessary Subplots

“Race” tells the story of Olympic legend Jesse Owens, the Ohio State University track star who went to the 1936 games in Berlin just before the start of World War II. The film begins as Owens (Stephan James) starts college and meets his coach, Larry Snyder, played by Jason Sudeikis.

Snyder immediately sees Owens’ talent and the movie follows the two as they prepare for the eventual Olympic Games.

Owens’ story is certainly impressive given the circumstances of the country (and the world for that matter) at that point in history. As its title implies, “Race” certainly does take on these issues with racial matters at the forefront, which makes for a compelling picture whenever these themes are played out.

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REVIEW: ‘Deadpool’ Is Good Fun Despite A Standard Story

The fans wanted the real Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds gave them the real Deadpool.

This latest film from Marvel comic book lore follows the story of Wade Wilson, (Reynolds) a former special forces member who gets by doing odd (usually a bit dangerous) jobs for people.

His life style begins to change, though, when he meets a woman named Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and the two hit it off right away. Life doesn’t allow Wilson to enjoy his surroundings very much, though, as he is soon diagnosed with terminal cancer.

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REVIEW: Coens’ ‘Hail Caesar’ Is A Fun Love Letter To Old Hollywood

George Clooney plays Baird Whitlock in “Hail, Caesar!,” the latest dramedy from writers/directors The Coen Brothers. Whitlock is a star Hollywood actor and is working on the set of a 1950s Hollywood mega production for the studio Capitol Pictures. After shooting one of the scenes for the picture, though, Whitlock is drugged and kidnapped.

That’s where the real star of the film enters, Eddie Mannix, played by Josh Brolin. Mannix is the head of production at Capitol and manages everything that goes on, whether it be angry directors or the social life of the contracted actors. Mannix is seemingly everywhere and if he didn’t seem overworked before, the kidnapping puts him over the top.

As most Coen Bros. movies go, “Hail Caesar!” doesn’t play by the conventional rules and they have once again made a rather oddball comedy. While this does provide for some solid laughs, especially directed toward the industry, it does make the movie a bit too disjointed in how it handles the main conflict.

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REVIEW: ‘The Finest Hours’ Is Worth A Watch Thanks To The Thrills

“The Finest Hours” takes audiences back to the days of the 1950s and follows the story of U.S. Coast Guard Officer Bernie Webber (played by Chris Pine) who is stationed on the coast of Massachusetts. The film’s main conflict comes when an oil tanker gets torn in half by a monster blizzard in the Atlantic Ocean resulting in Webber and a Coast Guard crew having to make a daring rescue.

Meanwhile, aboard the remaining section of the tanker, Ray Sybert (Casey Affleck) is part of the crew that has to keep the ship afloat until help arrives.

The rescue-centric film is based on the true story of the actual Coast Guard mission and the flick certainly does capture a lot of intensity by portraying the grand moments of the epic tale. When the SS Pendleton is torn apart, the film breathtakingly displays the gravity of the situation.

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REVIEW: ‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ Lags Behind Its Predecessors

Whenever someone says they have problems with excessive sequels, I always bring up “Kung Fu Panda 2” (2011) as an example of how a sequel can surpass the original. The first film, released in 2008 was good, but “Kung Fu Panda 2” was even better and is one of my favorite animated films ever.

So does part 3 live up to its predecessor? Unfortunately, no.

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REVIEW: The Boy

Known for her work in “The Walking Dead,” Lauren Cohan switches to the big screen in “The Boy,” playing a recently hired nanny who is being sent to work for a family in a rural area of the United Kingdom. Her life takes an unexpected turn, though, when the young women, named Greta, finds out that her employers want her to look after a doll.

The problem is that her employers, Mr. and Mrs. Heelshire (Jim Norton and Diana Hardcastle) actually think the doll is their real child Brahms and subsequently, want Greta to treat the object as a real boy, too. While Greta is skeptical at first, strange occurrences start to make her believe there is more to the doll than she initially thought.

While the first act of “The Boy” comes off as a bit silly and hokey because of its obnoxious subject matter, the film does in fact start to get really good in the second act. Despite having a wacky story about a doll that may be alive, the movie is able to build up a pretty solid, creepy atmosphere and it was actually interesting to watch Greta’s character lose her mind because of the doll. Heading into the final act, the film had won me over.

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The Fifth Wave Review

An alien race, only referred to as The Others, has attacked Earth in “The 5th Wave” using different methods to do so. These include cutting off electricity, causing natural disasters and a mega-virus. The film picks up after these first three “waves” with the character Cassie (Chloe Grace Moretz), who is one of the remaining human survivors, along with her father Oliver (Ron Livingston) and her brother Sam (Zackary Arthur).

After an incident at a refugee camp for human survivors, Cassie’s family gets separated and she is sent on the run with the goal of saving her brother. Along the way she begins to learn what the 4th and 5th Waves are, that The Others are using humans as hosts and are tricking other human survivors.

While “The 5th Wave” does use a plot similar to other sci-fi flicks such as “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “The Faculty,” it still starts off strong enough. Cassie is introduced as a good protagonist and her tale of survival is engaging and exciting and made the first half or so a solid experience.

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