Category: 2017

REVIEW: ‘Kingsman’ Sequel Isn’t Golden, But It’s Still Pretty Good

“Kingsman: The Secret Service,” one of the more fun and fresh action flicks in the past few years, got a sequel this weekend. However, while there’s a lot to like in this part 2, dubbed “The Golden Circle,” it doesn’t live up to the first picture

In this entry, helmed by returning director Matthew Vaughn, the lead character Eggsy (Taron Egerton) is now a full fledged Kingsman and is hard at work in his role with the secret spy organization. Trouble begins to mount, though, when a new enemy emerges in the form of a drug lord named Poppy (Julianne Moore), who manages to find and destroy their headquarters.

As a result, Eggsy, together with the Kingsman tech expert Merlin (Mark Strong), have to travel to the United States to meet with their agency’s American counterpart, Statesman. Together, the spies start a joint effort to take down Poppy before she can complete a plan that would result in the deaths of millions.

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REVIEW: ‘Mother’ Is One Of The Year’s Most Extreme Films, And For The Most Part It Works

Perennial cinematic risk taker Darren Aronofsky, who’s previously helmed films such as “Black Swan” and “Requiem for a Dream,” is at it again with this year’s “Mother!”

The movie opens rather mysteriously before introducing the audience to the two lead characters, named only Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and Him (Javier Bardem). Their married life is a simple one, Him being a writer and poet who’s trying to find his next breakthrough while Mother works on restoring sections of the house they live in.

Tensions begin to rise as two guests show up on their home’s doorsteps, though, played by Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. That tension only continues to build as the situation at the house becomes more and more unsettling.

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REVIEW: ‘IT’ Is A Horror Movie That Has Heart, But Still Provides Chills

The simple verdict? Go see “It.”

“It” is a film based on the 1986 horror book of the same name written by Stephen King and revolves around seven kids who live in Maine. Bill (Jaeden Lieberher), Ben (Jeremy Taylor), Beverly (Sophia Lillis), Richie (Finn Wolfhard), Mike (Chosen Jacobs) Eddie (Jack Grazer) and Stanley (Wyatt Oleff) are the protagonists and find themselves coming together and becoming close friends.

Driving forces that bring the group together are the actions of a group of bullies in their small town and an evil entity that takes the form of a clown named Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard). With the torment from Pennywise increasing for all of them, the seven start to research how they can survive.

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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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