Category: 2025

REVIEW: ‘Mission Impossible’ saga mostly ends on high note

Just a few years after we said goodbye to Daniel Craig as James Bond, we close the chapter on another super spy who goes on missions for the United States.

The eighth, and seemingly final “Mission: Impossible,” takes place a couple months after the conclusion of the seventh installment. The AI defense system known as The Entity is infiltrating several nations’ nuclear programs and setting the stage for potential atomic disaster.

IMF Agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) has a key capable of opening a door to technology which could lead to the shut down of the Entity. However, many obstacles, from the villainous Gabriel Martinelli (Esai Morales) to his own government stand in the way of him and his team.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Mission Impossible’ saga mostly ends on high note”

REVIEW: Fun adventure of misfits makes ‘Thunderbolts’ enjoyable

Are we back, Marvel?

It seems like that could be the case with the latest film from the comic book adaptation studio, “Thunderbolts.” The film mainly centers on Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), who finds herself a bit rudderless. Outside of doing missions for the CIA, Yelena lacks any appreciation for the life she’s living, especially since the death of her sister, Natasha, the Black Widow.

Things only get more complicated when she’s sent on a mission that brings her into conflict with several other secret operatives working under CIA head Valentina de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).Realizing they’ve been set-up by de Fontaine, the group reluctantly join forces to stop a new and potentially dangerous project the CIA leader is working on.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Fun adventure of misfits makes ‘Thunderbolts’ enjoyable”

REVIEW: Strong emotional core, vampiric thrills power ‘Sinners’

What if “From Dusk Till Dawn” took place in the Great Depression?

That’s sort of what we have here in this new vampire thriller from writer and director Ryan Coogler. A period piece, “Sinners” is set in 1932 and takes place in the Mississippi Delta region. The movie stars Michael B. Jordan in dual roles, playing twin brothers Elijah and Elias Moore.

After making money as part of Al Capone’s Chicago mafia, they’ve returned to their roots to open a Juke Joint. The duo bring in family and friends to help run the venue and it turns out to be a success. In fact it’s such a success that it attracts a group of vampires.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Strong emotional core, vampiric thrills power ‘Sinners’”

May 2015 featured one of the biggest weekends of entertainment ever

The most traditional ways movies and sports collide is in a sports movie. Often about underdogs overcoming tremendous odds.

However, other times, it just so happens that big movies are released around the same time major sporting events take place. That’s what occurred in the first weekend of May, 10 years ago, and there was definitely no underdog. These were heavyweights going at it across the world of entertainment, with screens of all sorts filled with events.

All of five of the major professional sports leagues were in play. The NFL, NBA, NHL, MLS, MLB all had events, on top of the “Avengers” sequel being released. Oh yeah, there was also the biggest horse race and boxing fight taking place. Here’s a breakdown of that legendary weekend.

Continue reading “May 2015 featured one of the biggest weekends of entertainment ever”

REVIEW: ‘The Amateur’ doesn’t have enough thrills for an audience

It’s probably not a great sign that throughout this experience I was wishing the movie was about Laurence Fishburne’s character rather than the protagonist.

That protagonist is Charlie Heller (Rami Malek), the titular Amateur who works as a cryptographer with the CIA. Rather than conducting missions in the field, he works at the agency’s headquarters in the digital space. That is until his wife is killed in a London terrorist attack.

Following the incident, Heller sets out on a path of revenge. After picking up some training from special operative Robert Henderson (Fishburne), Charlie sets off on a multi-nation quest of payback against those behind the London plot, even if he has to go against the CIA to get it done.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘The Amateur’ doesn’t have enough thrills for an audience”

REVIEW: ‘Warfare’ falters from lack of depth, insight

War is hell, and that certainly is shown viscerally in this 95-minute feature. If only it did more than that.

“Warfare,” directed and penned by Alex Garland, is based on the account of U.S. Navy Seal Ray Mendoza, who shared his story as a co-writer. The movie is more or less a bottle film. There are a few overhead shots from the perspective of military aircraft and a few scenes set on roads nearby, but the great majority of “Warfare” is in a single house.

It’s 2006, and the U.S. military is engaged in the Battle of Ramadi during the Iraq War. The film centers on a group of Navy SEALS who have set themselves up in an Iraqi home to monitor activity across the street. Unfortunately, they’re soon found out and are quickly pinned down by a large group of Iraqi fighters and have to survive until they can be evacuated.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Warfare’ falters from lack of depth, insight”

REVIEW: Premise of ‘Drop’ is too far off the deep end to fully work

Sometimes, a movie just breaks a person’s suspension of disbelief limit.

The latest film to do so is from Christopher Landon, known for helming “Happy Death Day” and its sequel. His new film, “Drop,” is a thriller, and centers on Violet (Meghann Fahy), a widowed single mother about to go on a date with a promising match from an app.

Violet arrives at the restaurant they decided on, a fancy eatery in a Chicago skyscraper, and, after some waiting, meets her match, Henry (Brandon Sklenar). The night seems to be going OK until Violet’s phone starts getting digital drops with messages saying her son will be harmed if she doesn’t kill her date, who’s knows about a government secret.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Premise of ‘Drop’ is too far off the deep end to fully work”

REVIEW: ‘A Working Man’ is entirely mundane

Bring back the bees, please.

Director David Ayer and actor Jason Statham team up again for “A Working Man” after partnering for last year’s film “The Beekeeper.” Unlike last time where he was a retired special ops guy-turned beekeeper, Statham now plays a former commando-turned construction worker.

Statham’s character, Levon, works for a kind family and is trying to rebuild his own situation after the death of his wife. However, his everyday life is disrupted when the daughter of his employer is kidnapped by traffickers. With the police doing little, he uses his skills to rescue her from the gangsters responsible.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘A Working Man’ is entirely mundane”

REVIEW: ‘Snow White’ is an aggressively mediocre remake

Hi ho, hi ho, a walk through the uncanny valley we go.

The latest adaptation of the “Snow White” story and the most recent in a string of live action remakes of classic Disney animated features stars Rachel Zegler in the titular role. After the loss of her mother, Snow White, a princess, sees her father get remarried to a mysterious woman (Gal Gadot).

A short time later, Snow White’s father disappears and is assumed dead, allowing the woman to assume power as queen, to which she uses to become an authoritarian ruler. Seeing her stepdaughter as a threat, the Queen sets out to have Snow White killed, but the princess escapes and on the outskirts of the kingdom, meets new friends and allies.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Snow White’ is an aggressively mediocre remake”

REVIEW: Soderbergh’s ‘Black Bag’ is a satisfactory spy flick

Talk about a power couple.

In the latest film from director Steven Soderbergh, Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett play a married couple who both work in British Intelligence as elite spies. At the outset of the film, Fassbender’s character George is informed that a secret piece of tech has been leaked and one of the suspects behind it is his wife, Kathryn.

George accepts the mission to investigate where the leak is coming from, committing to including his wife in his search, though he is skeptical. The film follows as he plays a careful game of keeping Kathryn close while also looking into her own spy work which has been labeled as classified or “black bagged.”

Continue reading “REVIEW: Soderbergh’s ‘Black Bag’ is a satisfactory spy flick”