Tag: Movie Review

REVIEW: ‘Life of the Party’

Melissa McCarthy is a talented individual but there’s no doubt her track record with movies hasn’t been perfect. As a result, there is only cautious optimism when I walk into one of her features, such as “Life of the Party.” Fortunately, this one was actually a pleasant surprise.

McCarthy’s latest starring role is playing Deanna, a housewife who didn’t finish her college degree and is suddenly met with divorce papers from her husband. As she weighs her options, Deanna sees this life-changing event as an opportunity to go back to college and complete her archaeology degree.

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REVIEW: ‘Isle Of Dogs’ Is A Witty, Funny Stop-Motion Animation Venture

Nearly a decade after producing the stop-motion feature “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” Director Wes Anderson is back with another film using the same animation style, this time with “Isle of Dogs.” Like his previous animated feature as well as his other live action films, Anderson adds his own flair in both the visuals and writing.

“Isle of Dogs” takes place in a completely fantastical world. The movie is set in the city of Megasaki, located in Japan. The city seems to be a thriving metropolis except for one problem, the canines living there are infected with “dog flu” and have become a nuisance for their owners.

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REVIEW: Third ‘Avengers’ Is A Stunningly Well Made Feature

In 2012, the folks behind Marvel managed to put together numerous superheroes in one film and made it all work in “The Avengers.” This time around, in “Infinity War,” they use a lot of that same formula on a much bigger scale and even though there’s so much more going on, it still fires on all cylinders.

The latest “Avengers” takes place directly after the events of last year’s movie “Thor: Ragnarok.” In fact, the opening of “Infinity War” was even teased in “Ragnarok.” We soon find out that Thor (Chris Hemsworth), along with his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston) are under siege by the powerful character Thanos (Josh Brolin).

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REVIEW: ‘Rampage’ As A Whole Isn’t Saved By Monster Spectacle

There are two aspects with “Rampage,” one is the giant monster battles and the other is everything else. The giant fights are entertaining, the rest is forgettable.

The story behind the giant monsters in “Rampage” starts in space. A shady corporation turns out to be doing biological experiments high above Earth and after something goes wrong, three canisters are dropped from a space station containing genetic altering substances. One of those canisters falls in a San Diego wildlife center, where the protagonist Davis (Dwayne Johnson) works. The canister comes in contact with a gorilla Davis works with, named George, and it ends up making the primate grow to a massive size.

The other canisters land in North America, too, and have the same effect on two other animals. Meanwhile the (basically outright evil) corporation decides to lure the animals to Chicago, meaning it’s up to Davis, a former employee of the corp., Kate (Naomie Harris) and a government agent named Harvey (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to stop them, as Davis has worked with George before.

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About REVIEW: ‘Blockers’ Is Funny As Both An Adult And Teen Movie

I’ve been burned by comedies before, by those that have been marketed to teens as well as the ones for adults. It was quite a pleasant surprise, then, that “Blockers” ended up being so good, having laughs come from both aspects.

The title should make the general concept here pretty apparent. The film takes place on prom night and follows three teen girls, Julie (Kathryn Newton), Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan) and Sam (Gideon Adlon). The three want to have a memorable prom experience, but their parents, Lisa (Leslie Mann), Mitchell (John Cena) and Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) are worried about them potentially having sex.

As a result, while the teens are having their own adventures at the prom parties, the trio of parents set off on a crazy mission to prevent any sexual activity from taking place.

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REVIEW: ‘Ready Player One’ Is Heavy On Nostalgia, Low On Heart

There’s a section from 2012’s “Avengers” where Captain America very loudly tells the rest of the team that he understood a reference. That’s, more or less, how “Ready Player One” operates.

“Ready Player One” takes place in a rather depressed future. Picking up in 2045, the film is set in a world of mass poverty, with humanity facing numerous problems. However, much of the population gets away from these matters by way of a virtual reality gaming platform called the OASIS.

Not only do many people, escape their problems by way of the OASIS, they also search for a hidden treasure. That treasure is a massive ownership share of the OASIS company, which is valued at several billion dollars. In order to find it, the gamers, and entire companies, dig for clues related to the program’s late developer, Halliday (Mark Rylance).

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REVIEW: ‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ Is A Monster Sized Disappointment

Get rid of/kill off the main characters from the first one? Check. Create plot holes that invalidate the first one? Check. Feel less impact from the action despite being technically more on screen? Check. “Pacific Rim: Uprising” is officially a bad movie sequel.

The film takes place 10 years after the events of the 2013 film. Peace has largely returned to the Earth after mankind stopped an interdimensional invasion of giant monsters. However, the Jaeger program, which built the giant robots to fight monsters is still active, for some reason. Also, new candidates are being trained to pilot those robots, for some reason.

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REVIEW: Despite Unlikable Characters, ‘Don’t Breathe’ Has Edge Of Your Seat Thrills

Take note horror characters, never go in a creepy looking house.

“Don’t Breathe” tells the tale of three home robbers trying to make enough money to get out of a dilapidated area of Detroit. The trio, including Rocky (Jane Levy), Alex (Dylan Minnette) and Money (Daniel Zovatto), get a major opportunity for a big score when they are tipped off about a blind man who is sitting on hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The three eventually begin their plan to break in and pull off the heist, but they don’t get very far. It’s not long before the would-be robbers find out that the person their stealing from, despite being blind, has complete control over his senses. On top of this, they also find out that the Blind Man (Stephen Lang) is aggressive and ready to kill all of the trespassers without mercy.

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REVIEW: ‘Independence Day’ Sequel Doesn’t Capture First Film’s Magic

Talk about jumping the shark.

“Resurgence,” the follow-up to the 1996 mega-blockbuster, takes place 20 years after the events of the first film. By reverse-engineering alien technology, the human race has created new defensive machinery and the nations of the world have united to defend against another attack.

The story picks up around the time of the 20 year anniversary of the first war and audiences are immediately introduced to a new cast of fighter pilots who help Earth’s defenses. At the same time, though, characters from the previous film are featured, like David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum), the tech genius who helped upload a virus on the mother ship and now serves as the expert on all things aliens.

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REVIEW: ‘Central Intelligence’ Starts Strong But Loses Energy As It Goes On

It’s another team up movie for Kevin Hart and this time around he’s joined by one of the biggest action stars in Hollywood.

In “Central Intelligence,” Hart plays a man who was once the most popular and active kid in high school, but is now stuck at a rather dead-end job as an accountant. His situation makes him less than eager to attend his upcoming 20 year high school reunion, but one day at work, he gets a message from Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson).

Bob, who was also a senior when Calvin was in school, was bullied for much of his time there. However, that has turned around as Bob has become a jacked up super agent for the CIA. Calvin, unfortunately, finds this out the hard way as he’s dragged into an international operation by Bob to help him accomplish his mission.

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