When it comes to coolness, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is an air conditioner of a blockbuster movie. Its comic book movie breeze is crisp and non-stop, making any hot room feel stupendous. The compressors are chugging on full blast and the thermostat is set low for maximum chill. But, like any air conditioner, you can run that machine too long. It’ll churn, rattle, need a filter or two, frost up, run out of refrigerant, or overdo the coolness for the room.
Read MoreAs a feature film, Boston Strangler finds itself buried in the massive snowbank of true crime content available. Eager viewers have a buffet of binge-able rabbit holes, available in long and short forms, on dozens of channels and platforms at home. Held up against that docu-drama marketplace, a traditional two-hour fictionalized yarn playing in theaters feels nearly trite and tame by comparison, even if it dabbles with and challenges a theory or two about who really perpetrated these murders.
Read MoreWe’re all Dewey Cox because a good bit of cocaine and its effects sound amazing! Without ingesting a gram of the real Mexican Percocet, Cocaine Bear will forcefully stimulate each of those buzzy symptoms in its audience. This madcap movie from director Elizabeth Banks operates with a constant herky-jerky energy between humor and horror that slaps a skeleton of funny bones, rapid blood vessels, and other delicate nether regions of weakened constitution.
Read MoreFrankly, a polished movie like this one, from the clean sets to the ominous Clint Mansell score, would have been relished in that fondly remembered mid-1990s marketplace of star-driven movies marketed for adults. Mature and malicious while skirting the line with a dash of kink, movies like Sharper don’t get made enough nowadays. Enjoy its casual boldness.
Read MoreTo a degree, Somebody I Used to Know carries a bit of the same vein of misaligned praise and creativity. We have two lifelong Southern Californians (Franco of Palo Alto and Brie of Hollywood) pretending to lay out a pre-midlife crisis scenario in a setting far from their own. That said, there is a range of characters and grasp of relatable poignancy in the film coming from David and Alison that show how setting matters little when you have interesting people.
Read MoreThe latitude was there in Alice, Darling to have characters become completely destroyed in more shocking and titillating fashions. Many movies circling abuse go straight to stiffer physical variety with bolder and wilder narratives. Mary Nighy and Alanna Francis took on a more unique challenge to expose the coercive side that lacks tawdry bloodshed. Their result hurts plenty in its own right and succeeds to seek higher healing.
Read MoreThe audience’s constitution will be the deciding factor on Babylon’s wide gamut of pungent engagement and raging spectacle. This juxtaposition of the carefree and zany with the dirty and dark underneath can very easily be too much. Any twinkling enchantment is met with bracing hardness. Any gleaming art is met with harsh repulsiveness. Extend this blaring back-and-forth of lift and defeat for over three hours, and Babylon can be as exhausting and unfocused as it is impressive. Good luck coming down from that high or out of that fog.
Read MoreThanks to Chau’s protective involvement, there’s a rock-solid, heart-crushing version of The Whale that would be just these two and no one else. They have enough painful and resurfaced history for two movies. Instead, outside factors in Hunter’s screenplay and tonal choices from Aronofsky sully the potential of those good graces becoming their own simpler, standalone core.
Read MoreThose layers, baked in by director Daryl Wein (How It Ends), present a small, but very commendable maturity and restraint from the norm. Characters with tangible messiness about them are still pausing to think with their heart and head equally. That relatability brings about romantic possibilities in Something From Tiffany’s that spark with stronger potential connections than the short burst of superficial fireworks based on mere looks. Enjoy that little diversion on Amazon Prime.
Read MoreTo credit to the premise written and directed by former actor Nicholas Celozzi (The Legitimate Wiseguy), The Class extends pertinent issues and bold talking points. Any of them, on paper, could be found in a cross-section of teens today, making for a relatable dramatic experience for an open-hearted audience. However, there’s a limit reached in The Class where even the issues have their issues.
Read MoreIt’s a pleasure to watch the reunited Ocean’s series co-stars work together again. Admittedly, the two screen legends are more fun when they are at each other’s throats early on in Ticket to Paradise than later when they are cuddled closer together by rekindled circumstances. You root for the competitive one-upmanship more than the softening comeuppance their characters have coming. For a while, there is a sizzling and infectious comedic burn to their verbal clashes and invasions of personal space that wane with time. Who knew getting nicer would sap a little of the enjoyment?
Read MoreStay the Night plays out smarter than the usual rom-coms or “one wild night” movies of thrust-together strangers. Like its lead woman, it is reserved and far more realistic with its urban sauntering. In different and disinterested hands, the floozy-plus-dreamboat formula would be in full effect. There would be some zany impossibility or preposterous monkey wrench thrown into the narrative for excitement’s sake. All the conflict you need is right here–between its ears, in its beating heart, and within the held hands–of this gratifying and understated film.
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