The Life of Chuck Finds Beauty in the Ordinary—and the Eternal
★ ★ ★ ★ The Life of Chuck is an odd, charming little film—and it’s hard to explain exactly why it’s so good. In some ways, it’s a bit unremarkable. The previews make us think that Chuck, played by four actors over the course of his life, is some important, fantastic person. But he’s actually rather ordinary…
How to Train Your Dragon Tames the Remake Curse, Brings the Fire
★ ★ ★ ½ How to Train Your Dragon is a live action remake of the 2010 animated film based on the popular series of books by Cressida Cowell. The original spawned two sequels, several short animated films and television spinoffs. Given that there are untold animated classic films being made into live action…
Dangerous Animals Hunts Without Mercy
★ ★ ★ ½ In Dangerous Animals, the Gold Coast of Australia shines with postcard beauty—until the camera dives beneath the surface. Serenity gives way to savagery at the hands of a killer who doesn’t typically kill by traditional means. Instead, he uses a harness, chum and a cold grin. Jai Courtney plays Bruce Tucker, a shark dive operator whose business is a front for…
Ballerina is a Bloody Dance of Grace and Gunfire
★ ★ ★ ½ Ballerina is a spinoff from the ridiculously popular John Wick film series and sits squarely between the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4. The franchise is known for logic-defying action sequences that earn your suspension of disbelief with jaw-dropping choreography. The plots are pretty simple and straightforward, but…
Bring Her Back is a Chilling Ritual of Love, Loss, and Madness
★ ★ ★ ½ Bring Her Back is the second film by Australian directors, and brothers, Danny Philippou and Michael Philippou. Like their breakout debut, Talk To Me, Bring Her Back is also rooted in themes of grief and loss. Here, step-siblings Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong) are forced into foster care…
Karate Kid: Legends Gets to the Tournament but Sweeps its Own Leg
★ ★ Karate Kid: Legends feels like the producers took a rough draft screenplay and decided that’s the version to lock in for production. There are some wonderful, heartwarming elements that are overshadowed by sloppy storytelling and paper thin character development. There are moments…
MI:8 – Final Reckoning is a Mission Misfire
★ ★ Not even Tom Cruise, recently dubbed the last great action movie star, can save this film from itself. The previous mission, Dead Reckoning, masterfully set us up with what promised to be a win-at-all-costs, battle of wits showdown with a self-aware artificial intelligence called The Entity. In Final Reckoning, the showdown amounts to little more than a switcheroo…
Disney’s Lilo & Stitch Remake: Not Needed, Still Lovely
★ ★ ★ Lilo & Stitch is the next Disney animated film to convert to “live action,” and it seems the House of Mouse has no intention of slowing down this trend. I put live action in quotes because the film still relies upon heavy CGI. The opening sequence is fully animated, as is its main character, Stitch (Chris Sanders), throughout the film…
Hurry Up Tomorrow Tries to Get Deep – But Drowns
★ ½ Hurry Up Tomorrow is 1 hour and 40 minutes of “what the hell did I just watch?” It’s confusing and disjointed – so lost in its style-over-substance that any semblance of story is washed away by quick-cut, fast panning cinematography. It feels less like a cinematic experience and more like a videographer’s excruciating, long vacation video…
Final Destination: Bloodlines Finds Life in Death
★ ★ ★ ½ Final Destination: Bloodlines has no business being as good as it is. It’s the 6th in a series of films that started in 2000 and rarely rose past mediocrity. They were still moderately entertaining, campy horror where characters do their damnedest to defy Death. In these films, Death is an unseen force that starts each movie attempting to take out a large group of people…
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