Matthew Liedke

REVIEW: ‘Leap!’ Held Back By Formulaic Story, Weak Characters

I consider myself quite a bit of an animation fan, so I was fairly disappointed with the recently released “Leap!”

The film focuses on a young orphan girl named Felicie (Elle Fanning), who’s attempting to achieve her dream of being a famous ballet dancer in Paris. With the help of her best friend Victor (Dane DeHaan), the two manage to get away from the orphanage and make it to the City of Lights.

Felicie eventually makes it to the ballet dance school and there she meets a former dancer named Odette (Carly Rae Jepsen), who decides to help her get a spot in the intense learning environment. Not only does Felicie have to deal with a rough dance education, though, she also ends up having a rival with another young dancer named Camille (Maddie Ziegler).

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REVIEW: ‘Logan Lucky’ Is A Fun Southern Spin On The Ensemble Heist Genre

Steven Soderbergh is back with another heist film, this time without the swag and the suave characters.

“Logan Lucky” centers on the Logan family, including Jimmy (Channing Tatum), Clyde (Adam Driver) and Mellie (Riley Keough). The family is well known for being unlucky, and Jimmy is a great example. Once a promising college quarterback, the film introduces Jimmy as a man with a bad leg and out of work.

Because of the stress from being laid off and a situation regarding the custody of his daughter, he turns to his brother Clyde, an Iraq War veteran who lost his arm, with an idea for a heist. Jimmy’s plan is to steal from the Charlotte Motor Speedway, with help from Mellie and an expert safecracker named Joe Bang (Daniel Craig).

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REVIEW: Jackson And Reynolds Are Fun, But ‘the Hitman’s Bodyguard’ Isn’t Anything Special

Stop me if you’ve heard this one, a guy who’s more by the books has to team up with a loose cannon to do something resulting in an action comedy.

Yes, the Hitman’s Bodyguard is your basic buddy comedy, albeit one carrying a hard ‘R’ rating. The movie follows Michael (Ryan Reynolds), a bodyguard who’s extremely skilled, but has been disgraced after a job went wrong.

He’s forced into protecting a hitman, Darius (Samuel L. Jackson), who’s supposed to give a testimony against a brutal leader charged with war crimes. The two of course don’t get along but end up having to work together to make it through alive.

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REVIEW: ‘Wind River’ Works As Crime Drama And An Emotional Character Piece

Taylor Sheridan, who wrote two the great “Sicario” in 2015 and the superb “Hell or High Water” last year, returned to write a third movie and this time he directed, too.

The film is “Wind River” and the name is based on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming, where the picture takes place. The movie tells the story of Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner), a tracker and hunter working for the Bureau of Land Management who comes across the body of a murdered woman on the reservation.

As a result, Lambert gets in contact with the Tribal Police Chief Ben (Graham Greene) who in turn gets assistance from an FBI agent named Jane (Elizabeth Olsen). As the three conduct the joint investigation, Lambert’s background is expanded upon and the audience learns that he lost a daughter and she was discovered similarly to the woman that he found.

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REVIEW: ‘Annabelle: Creation’ Is An Effective, Fun Horror Flick

“Annabelle: Creation” is a prequel to “Annabelle,” which itself was a prequel to “The Conjuring.” When considering the poor track record of sequels or prequels to horror films, there’s no way “Annabelle: Creation” should’ve been any good, that’s why it was surprising to see the movie turn out to be rather enjoyable.

The film takes place decades ago and follows the story of an orphanage that’s relocating to a house out in the country owned by a couple. The couple, Samuel (Anthony LaPaglia) and Esther (Miranda Otto), lost their daughter in a car accident a few years a before the start of the movie, but have opened their home to allow the orphanage girls to stay at the house.

While there are numerous orphan characters featured in “Creation,” the film focuses specifically on two, Janice (Talitha Bateman) and Linda (Lulu Wilson). The two are close friends and also happen to be the first to discover some paranormal activity at their new home.

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REVIEW: Although Plotting Isn’t Perfect, ‘Detroit’ Is Still An Important, Well Made Film That Deserves A Watch

One of the most horrific acts of police brutality is portrayed in “Detroit,” the latest film from Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow.

The film brings audiences into the city of Detroit in 1967, when a massive race riot took place. As the unrest heightened, more law enforcement and even the National Guard were called in to restore order. As this takes place, viewers are introduced to a number of characters, including a security guard, Dismukes (John Boyega), a Detroit police officer, Krauss (Will Poulter) and a singer who gets caught up in the riots named Larry (Algee Smith).

Once the characters are introduced, they all converge at the Algiers Motel. There, because officers heard gun shots, a squad of police led by Krauss enter the hotel and torture the occupants staying there in an attempt to find out who did the ‘shooting.’ The actions by the officers eventually leads to three men dying and the film then showcases the following legal proceedings.

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REVIEW: ‘Dunkirk’ Is Technically Marvelous, But Lacking In Other Areas

Like Director Christopher Nolan’s other films, “Dunkirk” is a well crafted film. However, it’s not on the same level of his other great pictures.

As the title implies, “Dunkirk” is about the evacuation of British forces in early World War II after Germany invades France. The film opens with British troops preparing to evacuate across the English Channel before the German military has a chance to reach them. As this is taking place, the film also gives its focus to members of the Royal Air Force who did battle with the Luftwaffe to help the escape as well as a group of citizens who assisted in the rescue of soldiers from the battle field with their private vessel.

The picture develops by showing the hardships of the soldiers who were constantly under threat of the Luftwaffe while also displaying the bravery of citizens who helped the soldiers with their own ships.

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REVIEW: ‘The Big Sick’ Is A Triumph Thanks To Great Humor, Meaningful Drama

Once in a while during a summer, a great movie comes out that’s in a genre not associated with super heroes or action stars. “The Big Sick,” a romantic comedy, is one of those flicks.

The picture stars Kumail Nanjiani and is actually inspired by the story of how he met his wife Emily Gordon. The film follows Nanjiani through his life in Chicago as an Uber Driver and a stand-up comedian. By way of the latter, he meets Emily, played in the film by Zoe Kazan, and the two start a relationship. Things get a bit complicated, though, as Nanjiani’s family wants him to marry a Pakistani woman.

The situation becomes more complicated when Emily comes down with a sudden illness just after the couple has a fight and she is placed in a medically induced coma for treatment. This leads to Nanjiani having to balance his relationship with his parents and building a new relationship with Emily’s parents.

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REVIEW: Latest ‘Apes’ Film Is A Compelling Piece Of Cinema Worth Seeing

The “Planet of the Apes” franchise that was resurrected in 2011 concludes in marvelous fashion with “War for the Planet of the Apes.” This recent installment isn’t just one of the best movies of this summer, but one of the best films of the entire year so far.

The film’s setting is 15 years after the initial incident where the leader Caesar led a group of intelligent apes away from San Francisco to create their own home. Through a series of events since then, especially those that took place in the 2014 picture, the apes are now in a battle for survival with the remnants of human military personnel.

The film picks up with Caesar (Andy Serkis) extending the olive branch to the military, with the hope that peace can be reached. However, it’s soon learned by Caesar that it’s impossible after the military, led by a man simply known as Colonel (Woody Harrelson), strikes with a devastating attack on the apes’ home. As a result Caesar goes on a quest for revenge while also trying to ensure his peoples’ survival.

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REVIEW: ‘Homecoming’ Is The Best ‘Spider-Man’ Movie In Years

After a failed attempt at a franchise with “The Amazing Spider-Man” movies, Sony Pictures decided to give the webslinging super hero another chance on the big screen. This time around, though, the film takes place in the Marvel universe already familiar to audiences thanks to “The Avengers.”

The film picks up shortly after the events of “Captain America: Civil War,” where Spider-Man (Tom Holland) helped Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in trying to apprehend Steve Rogers. Following that venture, Spider-Man returns to his life as the teenager Peter Parker and attempts to balance his life as New York City’s newer super hero while also attending high school.

While this is taking place, another character, Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton) is knee-deep in an underground weapons business where he sells arms that have been recovered from previous battle sites. Because this is also taking place in New York, Spider-Man soon finds out about the business. However, as the situation includes high-class weaponry, Stark advises Parker to not investigate the matter further.

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