Tag: Movie Review

REVIEW: ‘Mortal Engines’ is a poor attempt at building a new fantasy series

A steampunk world with some fantasy and Hugo Weaving to boot? This should have been a fairly entertaining ride. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with this adaptation.

“Mortal Engines” is set several hundred years in the future where human civilization was devastated following mass explosions. The story picks up with large sections of humanity living in mobile cities that move from place to place, some with more power than others.

The main focus of the story is on Hester Shaw (Hera Hilmar), who’s seeking revenge against Thaddeus Valentine (Weaving), the head researcher for the (now) mobile city of London, who’s trying to harness the power of old technology from the pinnacle of human civilization. In her adventure, Hester meets Tom (Robert Sheehan), a young museum worker who ends up tagging along.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Mortal Engines’ is a poor attempt at building a new fantasy series”

REVIEW: ‘Spider-Verse’ is a fine entry to the webslinging series

Just to recap, in about 16 years, we’ve had a “Spider-Man” trilogy, a two-movie “Spider-Man” reboot, another “Spider-Man” reboot with a sequel on the way, and now an animated feature that is completely separate from everything we’ve seen before. Quite the history.

As previously stated, this latest adaptation of the comic book is completely animated and is set in a world where Spider-Man has been a longtime hero and even became a celebrity. The film’s focus, though, is on the character Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), a teenager who is just starting a private school, but still enjoys getting into mischief.

On one of those occasions, Miles is bitten by a radio-active spider, just like the actual Spider-Man. Later, the two actually meet by chance when Miles comes across some villains who are trying out a device that can open portals to other dimensions. One thing leads to another and a whole group of Spider-Man superheroes from other worlds appear. As one might guess, they all have to work together to foil the villains’ plot.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Spider-Verse’ is a fine entry to the webslinging series”

REVIEW: While its heart is in the right place, ‘Green Book’ is largely average

I knew Peter Farrelly directed this picture going in, but it still seemed strange seeing the name of the person who helmed movies like “The Heartbreak Kid” and “Hall Pass” attached during the end credits.

“Green Book” is titled after a sort of brochure used decades ago in the Jim Crow era which listed hospitality businesses that were safe and/or open to African Americans, mainly in the southeastern United States. The movie follows a lower-middle class Italian nightclub bouncer-turned driver named Tony (Viggo Mortensen), whose latest job is driving Dr. Don Shirley (Maherhsala Ali), an African American pianist.

Continue reading “REVIEW: While its heart is in the right place, ‘Green Book’ is largely average”

REVIEW: Sports and drama collide for a good film in ‘Creed II’

Please let “Creed III” start with Adonis Creed fighting John Cena for charity.

Yes, that’s a joke, but one can’t help but feel the “Creed” saga is on the same trajectory as the original “Rocky” series. In all fairness, though, the latest picture in the Balboa Cinematic Universe is pretty good.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Sports and drama collide for a good film in ‘Creed II’”

REVIEW: While ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ has its moments, the movie stumbles too much

The streak, unfortunately, is over.

For roughly a decade, I gave movies made by Disney’s animation studio very high marks, usually a 4/5 or higher, and regularly included them in my top 10 lists at the end of the year. However, “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” which certainly isn’t bad per se, has ended that consistency, as it’s simply mediocre.

More on that in a moment, but let’s look into what this sequel is all about. Unlike this summer’s “Incredibles 2,” which picked up immediately after the first, “Ralph breaks the Internet” is set in the present time and acknowledges the six years that have passed since the original picture, released in 2012.

Continue reading “REVIEW: While ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ has its moments, the movie stumbles too much”

REVIEW: ‘Beautiful Boy’ emotionally captures the struggles of addiction

The difficult struggles of addiction, and the impacts it has on family members, are explored heavily in this movie starring Steve Carell and Timothee Chalamet.

Carell plays David Sheff, a father whose son Nic (Chalamet) is addicted to methamphetamine and other drugs. The movie begins with David identifying his son’s issues and looking at the solutions that are on the table.

However, despite continued efforts, the addiction remains a problem for Nic, and the situation puts continuous strain on both main characters, as well as their relationship.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Beautiful Boy’ emotionally captures the struggles of addiction”

REVIEW: ‘Boy Erased’ is a powerful look at a tragic subject

The horrific, despicable practice of gay conversion “therapy” is depicted in this film, based on the true story of Garrard Conley, who wrote a memoir with the same name.

The film tells a version of the true story through the character Jared (Lucas Hedges). The son of a Baptist preacher, Jared is a young man who just after starting college is forced to go to a gay conversion establishment.

The movie opens with Jared starting his time at the conversion facility, and from there, showcases a series of flashbacks where it details how Jared was forcibly outed and why his parents Marshall (Russell Crowe) and Nancy (Nicole Kidman) reacted the way they did.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Boy Erased’ is a powerful look at a tragic subject”

REVIEW: ‘Beasts’ sequel isn’t all that fantastic

It’s safe to say that the magic is gone.

For the uninitiated, “Crimes of Grindelwald” is the second installment of the “Fantastic Beasts” series, which is a spinoff of the “Harry Potter” movies. The series is set decades before the “Harry Potter” events and follows a wizard named Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), who’s an expert when it comes to dealing with various creatures.

In this installment, Scamander is tasked by a younger Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) to keep track of a situation in France that’s related to the fearsome antagonist of the series, Grindelwald (Johnny Depp). Like its predecessor from 2016, “Crimes” has Newt team up with his friends from New York, Jacob (Dan Fogler), Tina (Katherine Waterston) and Queenie (Alison Sudol).

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Beasts’ sequel isn’t all that fantastic”

REVIEW: Deeply flawed ‘Venom’ still manages to offer some fun

For those of you who don’t know, this “Venom” movie has basically nothing to do with Spider-Man or the Marvel universe. Sad face.

“Venom” tells the story of Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy), a broadcast news reporter who’s had good, consistent success in the journalism industry. His latest story, though, brings him into contact with a powerful pharma exec named Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). Because he asks too many questions in his interview, Drake manages to end Brock’s career.

As Brock struggles to get back on his feet, Drake’s company does unethical experiments, culminating with the forcing of a sentient alien substance to interact with humans. When Brock finds out, he decides to try his hand at investigative journalism again, but this lands him in more trouble when he becomes attached to one of the aliens named Venom. While the two begin at odds, they eventually form a deal to take Drake down.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Deeply flawed ‘Venom’ still manages to offer some fun”

REVIEW: ‘Mile 22’ is an awful action picture to end the summer

Collaborations between Director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg have been OK. But this latest one… Oof.

In their new team-up, Mark Wahlberg plays James Silva, the head of a special operations unit under the leadership of the CIA. The story picks up with the team at United States embassy in a country that is never specified throughout this feature. The audience soon learns that the unit is there because there is an informant named Li Noor who has a computer drive with the location of nuclear weapon materials.

That informant, played by Iko Uwais, wants something in return, though: asylum in the United States. As a result, the team take the informant on a 22 mile trip to an airfield to get him out of the country and reveal where the materials may be. However, Noor is a target in the country, making the journey dangerous for the CIA team.

Continue reading “REVIEW: ‘Mile 22’ is an awful action picture to end the summer”