Category: 2024

REVIEW: Though generic, ‘Arthur the King’ has heart to win one over

I’m a simple man. I see a movie about a dog, and I usually leave the auditorium happy. It holds true once again.

While the film is named after a good boy named Arthur, though, it actually centers on an adventure racer named Michael Light (Mark Wahlberg). Michael has had several races in his career and despite many top 10 finishes, he’s never come in first. His last attempt in fact was so bad that he left the sport.

Still feeling he has something in the tank a few years later, though, he decides to give adventure racing one last shot in the Dominican Republic with a four-man team. As they go on their race, they meet a stray dog tagging along their journey, and they all come to love the canine.

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REVIEW: Despite issues, ‘Immaculate’ has good horror intensity

Sometimes, it’s better to just stay in Detroit.

The protagonist of “Immaculate” is Cecilia (Sydney Sweeney), a young woman from Michigan who finds herself in Italy. A nun, Cecilia has journeyed to Europe after receiving an invitation to join a remote convent where sisters are given end-of-life care. It’s difficult work, but driven by religious duty, she embraces it.

Her routine of devoted service is interrupted, though, when she becomes pregnant, despite being a virgin. She is then treated by the convent as if she is the next Virgin Mary. Already uneasy over the attention, the situation turns more dire as Cecilia notices dark and nefarious activity by convent leaders.

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REVIEW: ‘Imaginary’ has insufficient scares

Blumhouse Productions, the gift that keeps on giving. Sometimes you get something fun like “M3gan,” other times you get “Imaginary.”

The latest film from the horror-centric studio centers on Jessica (DeWanda Wise), an accomplished children’s book author. The film picks up with her and her husband (Tom Payne), as well as her step-children Alice (Pyper Braun) and Taylor (Taegen Burns) moving into her childhood home.

Taylor isn’t a fan at all of her stepmom but Alice seems to be OK and starts adjusting to the new house thanks to a teddy bear she finds in the basement. However, it soon becomes clear that the bear is attached to a dark spirit related to Jessica’s own past.

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REVIEW: ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ is a fumbling follow-up

It’s time to take the Ghostbusters off the contacts list, they don’t need to be called again.

Set after the 2021 film “Afterlife,” “Frozen Empire” takes place in New York City in the present day with Egon Spengler’s daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) hunting ghosts with her kids Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), as well as her boyfriend Gary (Paul Rudd). Though successful, the four have also gotten into trouble with NYC leadership for property damage.

They get off with a warning, but are forced to leave Phoebe, still a teen, out of ghost catching. Meanwhile, former Ghostbuster Ray (Dan Aykroyd) is presented with an old family heirloom with a powerful entity inside. As the film goes on, situations with the characters begin happening that may release the entity.

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REVIEW: ‘One Life’ earns credit for dramatizing extraordinary effort

The World War II era was a period with many stories of bravely doing what’s right, on and off the battlefield. This film centers on one of the latter stories.

Anthony Hopkins portrays British man Nicholas Winton, who’s cleaning out paperwork in his home office and finds several old documents that he’s kept over the years. The documents are from his time with a British committee tasked with evacuating refugees from Czechoslovakia.

The film then goes back to a younger Winton in the late 1930s where he is portrayed by Johnny Flynn. The movie shows the effort by Winton and others in the committee who worked night and day to get political refugees and Jewish children out of the area as the German invasion grew closer.

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REVIEW: ‘Knox Goes Away’ is a strong creative effort from Keaton

A moody drama with Michael Keaton playing a hitman? Sure, sign me up.

In addition to starring as the lead character, Keaton also directed “Knox Goes Away.” In the film,  John Knox is a contract killer who’s been dealing with memory loss. When he meets with a doctor, Knox is diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia that will give him only weeks to live.

Without much time left, Knox starts making arrangements to pass on all of his money to his estranged family. However, the plan becomes complicated when his son Miles (James Marsden) shows up one night asking for help in covering up a crime.

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REVIEW: Love story saps sharpness from ‘Society of Magical Negroes’

I feel like the organization in this movie was the JV version of The Brotherhood from “Undercover Brother.”

Justice Smith stars in this film as Aren, an artist who focuses on sculpture creations, mostly out of yarn. Unfortunately, Aren’s career hasn’t taken off, and his latest attempt at showing his work at a gallery ends in failure.

However, after the event, Aren meets a man named Roger (David Alan Grier), a member of the American Society of Magical Negroes who wants the struggling artist to join. The organization assigns African Americans to assist white people and make them more comfortable around people of color. Aren joins, but his first assignment gets complicated because of a love interest.

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REVIEW: ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ is a chaotic blast

“Love Lies Bleeding” is a really accurate title, because this film has all three. It also has a ton of awesomeness.

Kristen Stewart stars as gym manager Lou in “Love Lies Bleeding.” A recluse, Lou seems to just be on cruise control in her life. Jackie (Katy O’Brian), meanwhile, is a woman who’s hitchhiked from Oklahoma to New Mexico, with hopes of competing as a body-builder in Las Vegas.

The two meet and begin a relationship, and fall for each other quickly. However, situations related to their past, present and future put them on a wild collision course with destiny that challenges their love.

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REVIEW: ‘Kung Fu Panda’ series crashes with fourth entry

More than a decade ago, it would be easy to call the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise a model movie series. That can’t be said anymore, with the latest sequel continuing a downward trend.

Set seemingly a year or two after the events of the third film, “Kung Fu Panda 4” finds the main character Po (Jack Black) keeping peace as the Dragon Warrior, but those days are ending. His master, Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), tells him that he needs to take on a new role, that of a spiritual leader.

Po is reluctant, though, with his identity closely tied to his kung fu skills. Before he can choose a successor, though, he decides to use his talents one last time on a mission to stop the evil Chameleon (Viola Davis) who’s driven by conquest, getting help from a stealthy burglar named Zhen (Awkwafina).

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96th Academy Award Predictions

Oscar Sunday is here at last and I think it’s shaping up to be a good night for “Oppenheimer.”

As always, I’ve come up with my predictions for who will win, but that’s not all. I also list possible upsets, how I would have voted, and a note a couple areas where If eel there were snubs.

Find all my thoughts on each category below.

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