Category: The Twenty-First Century
-
Blackway [2016] ★★
It’s been a painfully slow month at the movies. All the big movies are scheduled for release in July. Meanwhile, I decided to give “Blackway” (aka “Go With Me”) a shot especially since I’ve been itching to see Anthony Hopkins in good form again (his last good performance being in 2012’s “Hitchcock”). Sadly, there’s nothing…
-
Welcome To Me [2015] ★★
“Welcome to Me” offers Kristen Wiig a juicy role (think less “Bridesmaids” and more “The Skeleton Twins”) and she delivers. What’s more, she is surrounded by a talented cast that brings out the colors in Eliot Laurence’s funny, often dramatic screenplay. With all these good ingredients involved, it’s a shame that the movie left me…
-
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows [2016] ★★½
Early reviews have been telling you to avoid “Out of the Shadows”, the sequel to 2014’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. I’m not here to do the same. For one thing, I knew what I was in for: Pizza, more nostalgia and non stop action scenes. In the first movie, we got an explanation on how…
-
Manhattan Night [2016] ★½
You’d think a Mystery film starring Adrien Brody that looks and feels like a 1940’s film noir would be worth recommending. It isn’t. “Manhattan Night” follows Brody’s desperate search for the truth when a seductive woman asks him to investigate the unsolved murder of her filmmaker husband. As far as atmosphere goes, the movie looks…
-
The Nice Guys [2016] ★★★
It’s not “LA Confidential”, but “The Nice Guys” is smart, funny and a treat to watch. Detective movies have been around for a very long time that it’s bracing to still find one with the smarts to laugh at itself, not to mention the 1970’s recreation that is so remarkably good, from costuming to the…
-
Money Monster [2016] ★★½
“Money Monster” is far from being original, but it’s filled with Oscar winners (on and off the camera) and just the right dose of humor and satire to make it worth watching. George Clooney stars as Lee Gates, a financial TV host who finds himself in a hostage situation when an angry investor shows up…
-
Warcraft [2016] ★½
“Warcraft” is one of the most famous video games in the world. In Hollywood, this means business, and plenty of it. But if history has taught us anything it’s that movies based on video games rarely work. “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”, “Doom”, “Resident Evil”, “Hitman”, “Max Payne”, “House of the Dead”, “Street Fighter”. Hell I could…
-
![Cell [2016] ★](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/cell-movie-2016-poster.jpg?w=800)
Cell [2016] ★
Here’s a list of things I ABSOLUTELY hated about “Cell”, one of the worst big screen adaptations of a Stephen King novel: 1- The story. Nothing against King (who wrote the screenplay), but what the hell was that? In telling his story about a man (John Cusack) who tries desperately to search for his missing…
-
![Me Before You [2016] ★★★](https://tlkabtmovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/me-before-you-movie-poster.jpg?w=1024)
Me Before You [2016] ★★★
Formulaic as though it may be, “Me Before You” is filled with a sweet spirit and engagingly likable characters, which makes it almost hard to resist. Game of Thrones’s Emilia Clarke transforms herself completely, playing a small town Englishwoman who gets hired to take care of a wealthy, paralyzed man, played by Sam Claflin. A cheesy love story…
-
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising [2016] ★★
Unlike many people, I wasn’t a fan of the first “Neighbors” movie, released a couple of years ago. But since the movie was an instant box office hit, a sequel sounded like a no-brainer. Take the exact same ingredients, turn the frat into a sorority, bring in Chloe Grace Moretz as the head of the…
-
X-Men: Apocalypse [2016] ★★½
People who follow my blog probably know how much I loved Bryan Singer’s previous outing “Days of Future Past”. That movie was smart, exciting and a pure joy to watch. That being said, I left “Apocalypse” feeling disappointed. Was I expecting something better? Perhaps. Instead, this new installment, once again lead by Bryan Singer, tries…
-
Bastille Day [2016] ★★
Idris Elba shows ass kicking skills in “Bastille Day”, a Luc Besson kind of action thriller that starts out well enough but runs out of steam way too early. Elba, 43, looks ripped and ready, playing a former CIA agent who teams up with a con artist (Game of Thrones’ Richard Madden) to take down…
-
Captain America: Civil War [2016] ★★★½
You’d think after so many movies (including 2 “Thor” movies, 3 Iron Man movies, 2 Avengers, 3 Captain America movies, “Ant Man” and “The Incredible Hulk”), this series would run out of steam by now. Not a chance. Instead, “Captain America: Civil War” emerges as one of the best superhero movies ever made. It’s smart,…
-
The Trust [2016] ★
Nicolas Cage strikes again in one of the year’s worst movies, playing a police officer who learns of a vault with a large amount of money. Along with his partner (a washed up Elijah Wood who desperately needs to find a better agent), he decides to investigate more in order to break into it. If…
-
Green Room [2016] ★★½
Anton Yelchin (“Star Trek”, “Like Crazy”), Imogen Poots and a bunch of other people are trapped inside a room following a punk rock concert. Why? Because one of them witnessed a murder. Now they are forced to fight their way out before they get viciously killed by a group of crazy skinheads, lead by Patrick…
-
The Lobster [2015] ★★★
If there ever was a movie that defines modern day relationships, “The Lobster” would be it. And yet the movie, directed by Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos with an incredible eye for detail, is set in a Dystopian future, where people must pick their partners within 45 days or they’re turned into an animal of their…
-
The Huntsman: Winter’s War [2016] ★½
Excuse me if I don’t sound very enthusiastic but did we really need a sequel to a movie that wasn’t really good to begin with? “Snow White and the Huntsman” was a dull take on the classic story and it had nothing new to offer. History repeats itself in “The Huntsman: Winter’s War”, once again…
-
Criminal [2016] ★½
Can a movie feature an all star cast and still fail miserably? Yes it can. Exhibit A: “Criminal”, a criminally bad action thriller that flatters itself by claiming to be original. It wishes. Ryan Reynolds plays a CIA agent who gets killed off 10 minutes into the movie while on a mission to track down…
-
All Roads Lead To Rome [2016] ★
Terrible comedy will make you cringe over and over again. Sarah Jessica Parker plays a single mother who decides to reconnect with her troubled daughter by taking her to Italy. Everything that follows rings cringingly false, from Parker’s ridiculous romance with an Italian man to her annoying daughter. There’s not a genuine laugh here, unless…
-
The Jungle Book [2016] ★★★
I was no more than 10 years old when my grandfather bought me a VHS copy of the 1967 animated movie “The Jungle Book”. Needless to say, I fell in love with it and would revisit it whenever I had the chance (which was almost everyday at the time). Now Disney is turning this beloved…
