Category: Reviews

REVIEW: Despite talented cast and crew, ‘Late Night’ stumbles

The movie might bear the title “Late Night,” but it’s only worth an afternoon matinee price.

Emma Thompson stars in the flick as Katherine Newbury, a host of a long-running network evening show that comes up right after your local news. Despite hosting the program since the 90s, though, Newbury’s style on TV has become less popular over time, to the point where ratings have been on the decline for about a decade.

Needing some new energy in the show, and more diversity to boot, the show-runners decide to make a hire in the writing department. Enter Molly (Mindy Kaling), a young woman who works in a Pennsylvania chemical plant, moonlighting as an amateur comic. Molly is hired, through a bit of luck and joins the writing team. However, her some of her ideas clash with the other writers, and Newbury herself. Continue reading “REVIEW: Despite talented cast and crew, ‘Late Night’ stumbles”

REVIEW: Fourth ‘MIB’ fails to recharge franchise

The “B” might stand for Bland this time around, since that’s what this movie really is.

While “Men in Black International” takes place in the same universe as the first three pictures, this one serves as a sort of ‘soft’ reboot. New characters, different aliens and an unfamiliar threat.

This time around, the movie follows Molly/Agent M (Tessa Thompson), a young woman who saw the Men In Black as a child and has always wanted to be part of the group. When she finally stumbles across the organization, she’s able to join and her first assignment is to go to London for an investigation.

There, she crosses paths with hot shot Agent H (Chris Hemsworth), who gained fame for being involved with stopping a massive alien invasion. The two start to work together on a case that at first seems simple, but soon unravels a plot that may be compromising MIB itself.

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REVIEW: ‘Secret Life of Pets’ sequel is better suited for the small screen

In my review of the 2016 film “Secret Life of Pets,” I said if a person isn’t a pet owner, they can go ahead and skip it. It’s mostly the same old story this time around.

The sequel again follows Max (Patton Oswalt) and Duke (Eric Stonestreet), who live in a New York City Apartment. The two are owned by Katie, who since the first film, has gotten married and has a child. Like the last movie, Max is a worrier and has his share of fears. As a result, he also has several concerns for Katie’s child.

He begins to face his fears, though, when the family takes a trip to a farm. There, Max meets Rooster (Harrison Ford), an older herding dog who helps Max face his fears and not be so-overprotective with Katie’s son. Meanwhile, the other pets back at the apartment where Max lives have adventures of their own.

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REVIEW: ‘Dark Phoenix’ shows a franchise burnout for the ‘X-Men’

Back in 2006, I, like many others, were largely disappointed with “X-Men: The Last Stand,” the supposed finale of the series to that point. Amazingly, “Dark Phoenix” has upstaged “Last Stand,” proving to be a finale even worse.

“Phoenix” takes place a few years after the events of “X-Men: Apocalypse.” Following the defeat of Apocalypse, the X-Men have become a sort of emergency response team and because of their helpful actions, mutants are better respected.

However, trouble begins forming after the team’s latest mission, where Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) is hit by some sort of energy during an attempt to save a space shuttle crew. It turns out the energy is a legendary power that makes Jean’s powers more unstable and brings out an aggressive side of her personality. Additionally, an alien force led by the character Vuk (Jessica Chastain) is after the power.

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REVIEW: ‘Godzilla’ may be a king, but not of cinema

The latest “Godzilla” is chock-full of monsters, yet even the gargantuan creatures don’t necessarily hold this feature up.

The movie begins five years after the 2014 “Godzilla,” where the secretive agency Monarch is keeping track of the giant creature and others across the globe. One of the Monarch researchers is Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga), a woman who lost her son in the 2014 Godzilla battle of San Francisco.

Monarch’s research is taken advantage of by radical environmental terrorists, though, led by a man named Jonah (Charles Dance). As a result of their actions, the powerful monster Ghidorah is released, and several others respond by awakening and causing havoc. To stop them, Godzilla has to get back into action.

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REVIEW: ‘Rocketman’ convincingly captures Elton John’s passion

Saturday might be the time of week alright for fighting, but any day is a good day to see “Rocketman.”

As the title and my song referencing lede implies, “Rocketman” is a film about the musician Elton John (Taron Egerton). The film focuses on John’s early success, which also, sadly, coincided with his struggles with addiction.

The picture tells both John’s early career story and the development of his psyche over time through a series of song and dance numbers numbers set to the musician’s music.

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REVIEW: New ‘Aladdin’ never surpasses animated version

It’s true nobody can replace Robin Williams, but in all fairness, Will Smith probably provides this new “Aladdin” a lot of energy.

The movie is of course based on the 1992 animated feature with the same name. Like that film, “Aladdin” 2019 follows the titular character (Mena Massoud) living on the streets of the city state Agrabah. In his adventures to survive by pick-pocketing and running hustles, he meets a young woman who’s secretly Agrabah’s princess Jasmine (Naomi Scott).

The two form a connection, yet Aladdin of course has trouble getting to know her since her home is at the palace. As part of his desperation, Aladdin comes in contact with a power hungry Vizier, Jafar (Marwan Kenzari). Jafar offers Aladdin riches if he goes inside a cave of wonders and retrieves a lamp. Things don’t go exactly to plan, though, and Aladdin ends up with the lamp and meets a Genie (Will Smith) who can grant three wishes.

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REVIEW: Want a film so bad it’s good? ‘The Intruder’ is your movie

I’d never argue that “The Intruder” is a good movie by any means. But I can’t deny that it is really entertaining.

The thriller now playing in theaters follows a young, wealthy couple, Annie (Meagan Good) and Scott (Michael Ealy). The two live in San Francisco but are looking to move to a more rural area. They decide on Napa Valley and check out a house for sale in a secluded area, owned by Charlie (Dennis Quaid).

Charlie, who now lives by himself after losing his wife, is selling the house for a high price, but decides to knock some dollars off because he likes Annie and Scott. The purchase is finalized and the married couple moves in to the new home. However, Charlie seems to have a hard time letting go as he often drops by the couple to check on them and see if they need help with the property. Eventually, Charlie’s behavior starts to worry Scott, as he comes across like he’s hiding something.

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REVIEW: ‘The Sun is also a Star’ is only a two star movie

“The Sun is Also a Star.” The North Star is also a star. And now I just miss the North Stars.

Anyway, there’s a movie to review. “The Sun is Also a Star” is the latest romance film based on a young adult novel. Of course, the movie follows two young adults, Natasha (Yara Shahidi) and Daniel (Charles Melton). Natasha is a Jamaican whose family is about to be deported back to Jamaica by the U.S. Government, while Daniel, whose family immigrated from Korea, is preparing to apply for college.

One day, through a chance encounter, the two meet and after talking, find out that they have differing opinions. Daniel believes in fate, destiny, and thinks that the universe brought them together. Natasha is much more of a skeptic, to the point where she doesn’t believe in fate or love. To convince her, Daniel suggests they spend the day together to prove who’s right and see if they fall in love.

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REVIEW: ‘John Wick 3’ thrills with top tier action

Mr. Wick is back and as the Latin phrase in this movie’s title implies, he’s going to war.

“John Wick: Chapter 3” picks off right after the events of the second film, so seeing that one is probably a good idea before checking this out. Wick (Keanu Reeves) is a man now on the run. After breaking the rules of the criminal underworld in part two, every assassin in New York City, and basically the world, are after him for a multi-million dollar bounty.

As a result, Wick searches for a way to reverse his predicament and atone for his transgressions. His journey brings him to Sofia (Halle Barry), a person from his past who decides to help him find someway to make amends. The quest remains a difficult one, though, as the group running crime at a worldwide scale want Wick, and anyone who’s helped him, eliminated.

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