In a new subset of movie reviews on my main website, I am circling back to see and review reasonably recent films that I either missed during their main theatrical runs or saw later then their window of mainstream prominence. As a guy with a traveling day job and a new father of "two-under-two," I can't see everything every week and I have to choose my spots to head out to the theater. These are my educational-themed "OVERDUE REVIEWS" and the life lessons are still in full effect.
Read More"San Andreas" is one of those terrible-to-OK movies that Dwayne Johnson makes either passable or good solely through his presence, heroics, and charisma alone. We're a long way from great here, but "San Andreas" counts as mind-numbing fun that's fit for the summer season. The errors, implausibilities, and eye rolls are as high as the city-leveling casualty rate, but Warner Bros. and company weren't aiming very high.
Read MoreNot too many films come along tailor-made for the senior demographic, and even fewer romances. It's a shame too because none of that talent over the age of 40 has gotten worse. If anything, they've honed their craft and waited for the right time to blossom once again. For the lost-lost, 72-year-old Blythe Danner, the new film "I'll See You in My Dreams," an audience favorite from the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, is a chance for her to emerge behind the "mom" roles from films like the "Meet the Parents" series of TV's "Will and Grace."
Read MoreIn a new subset of movie reviews on my main website, I am circling back to see and review reasonably recent films that I either missed during their main theatrical runs or saw later then their window of mainstream prominence. As a guy with a traveling day job and a new father of "two-under-two," I can't see everything every week and I have to choose my spots to head out to the theater. These are my educational-themed "OVERDUE REVIEWS" and the life lessons are still in full effect.
Read MoreThinly veiled beneath the powerhouse studio running the show, Disney's "Tomorrowland" is your new lightning rod between poignant and preachy. It is, with absolute certainty, an enormous message movie hiding behind a summer blockbuster. Brad Bird's film is a platform for big ideas that knows it's on a platform to also sell tickets and merchandise, putting it in that very divisive place between intention, tone, and how people are going to interpret it. If that surprises you, get in line. Everyone that was likely expecting a whimsical family-friendly film with gadgets and adventure are instead getting what stands to be the most polarizing film of the season, if not the year. That might not be a bad thing.
Read MoreTechnology may change in warfare but what doesn't change are the human themes. The dramas, successes, fears, and results of victories and failures still apply, only the scope and scale has changed. "Good Kill," the new film written and directed by Andrew Niccol, typifies that signature human impact of war. Reunited with his "Gattaca" muse Ethan Hawke, Niccol delivers a very timely and provocative slow boiler with a great deal to say about the current modern state of warfare.
Read MoreFor this writer, "Mad Max: Fury Road" is a daunting challenge for this website's definition of mindless action as a movie genre. Mindless action has its range from the trash of Michael Bay to the treasure of the "Fast and Furious" franchise. However, what separates the trash from the treasure is quality and impact. The quality speaks to the action and the impact speaks to the story being sewn along the way, even if it's secondary. The really good mindless action movies offer just enough heft of a compelling story to make the action matter and resonate beyond just superficial coolness. As incredible in stunt work and thrills as "Mad Max: Fury Road" is, it is missing too much of that heft to matter beyond being really cool to watch.
Read MoreThe prose and tasteful passion captured by the classic writers then put the tawdry and repetitive theatrics of today's writers to shame. In that same regard, so too do solid film adaptations that tap the proper classic roots. "Far from the Madding Crowd" is a stellar example of this. Permeating with possibilities and charged with the right measure of passion in every engrossing layer, Danish director Thomas Vinterberg's film stands head and shoulders above the feeble likes of today's lesser efforts of cinematic literary romance. It's cliche to say, but they don't make them like they used to and this film proves it.
Read More"Welcome to Me" is a Mobius strip of a trainwreck. The film is a trainwreck... of a trainwreck. Starring an extremely invested Kristen Wiig, the film is, to its credit, a bold character piece and black comedy that seeks to put a trainwreck of a person on display in an effort to preach larger moral questions. As bold as it is in that intention, "Welcome to Me" doesn't achieve that and overshoots every landing possible. It's that really well planned gag or stunt that can't match the real thing because it's been too manufactured to where the unpredictability is taken away or feels forced. It's the second coming of "Dinner for Schmucks," in terms of cringe comedy, and that film was bad but at least funnier.
Read MoreRaising the stakes and swinging for the fences like a good film sequel should, Joss Whedon’s latest Marvel film pays off the studio’s Phase 2 initiative with both a new level of groundbreaking effort beyond the first peak three years ago and a continued dedication to the master blueprint of a grander big picture.
Read More"The Water Diviner" arrives as the directorial debut of Oscar-winning Australian actor Russell Crowe. Released last year in his home country, Crowe's film was the highest grossing film in Australia for 2014 and netted three Australian Academy Awards last year including Best Film. In an industry where everyone is constantly being compared and measured against their peers, most will to prognosticate Crowe already. Does he have it in him to be the next Robert De Niro behind the director's chair, the next Kevin Costner, or the next Clint Eastwood? Let's vote for "none of the above" and give him some time. Fashioned better than most directorial debuts, "The Water Diviner" isn't perfect, but it's a solid start from Russell Crowe climbing into a new chair.
Read More"Ex Machina" has much more good than bad and much more surprise than contrivance when it comes to traversing the mine field that can be the science fiction topic of artificial intelligence, especially with a potentially damning title like that. The high-minded science is there. The ominous ambiance of implications and ramifications is properly defined. "Ex Machina" is very smartly created and makes the list of good (excuse my language) "mindfuck" films, joining the excellent and underseen "The One I Love" from last summer. But, it's still missing that next edge of sharpness or gear to ascend to the next level.
Read More
