Category: GENRE
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Death Note [2017] ★
If you thought “Dragonball Evolution” wasn’t bad enough, wait till you get a load of “Death Note”, Netflix’s very own disaster. Based on a popular Japanese manga series, this live-action version gets almost everything wrong, despite an intriguing premise. Nat Wolff seems clueless as Light Turner, a high-school kid who finds a mysterious notebook that…
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Logan Lucky [2017] ★★½
Critics have been praising director Steven Soderbergh’s comeback movie (he retired 4 years ago after “Side Effects”), and there’s no denying that he’s still got it, even though I didn’t fully embrace the overall result. On the plus side, “Logan Lucky” has a well-cast ensemble and gives us Daniel Craig like we’ve never seen him before.…
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47 Meters Down [2017] ★★½
Want to see two sisters fight for their lives while trapped in a shark cage on the ocean floor? “47 Meters Down” is the movie for you. But while this nailbiter isn’t on par with “Jaws” or other movies of the same genre, it gets the job done by delivering an intense ride. Mandy Moore…
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It Comes At Night [2017] ★★★
If you’ve seen Joel Edgerton in “Warrior” and “The Gift”, you probably know he’s an actor who means business. In “It Comes At Night”, an indie horror film that distances itself from the multiplex formula, Edgerton sinks his teeth into the complex role of a family man who keeps his family secure within a safe…
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Blind [2017] ★★
“Blind” defines cheese. It does offer Alec Baldwin with a juicy role and it’s always good to see Demi Moore back onscreen, but the story itself ranges from absurd to absolutely preposterous. I don’t know what first time director Michael Mailer was hoping to extract from this surprise-free script, but there isn’t much to recommend…
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The Beguiled [2017] ★★½
I admire filmmaker Sofia Coppola’s work, but I can’t say I’m her biggest fan. One thing she’s managed to maintain through the years is her ability to dazzle her audience with beautiful images and meticulous attention to detail, and all this can be seen in her latest film, “The Beguiled”, a remake of Don Siegel’s…
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American Made [2017] ★★★
Tom Cruise is on top of his game in this fact-based movie about Barry Seal, a TWA pilot who ended up working for both the CIA and the drug cartel (run by The Pablo Escobar), in the late 70’s and early 80’s. You just can’t make this up, and you just can’t ask for a better…
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The Hitman’s Bodyguard [2017] ★★½
You don’t walk in to see a comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson with high expectations, so I have to give “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” some credits for delivering the goods so many times. In trying to emulate the “buddy cop” genre, director Patrick Hughes relies on Reynolds’ charm and Jackson’s witty one liners…
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The Party [2017] ★★★
“The Party” is potent and entertaining. I walked in with no particular expectations, having read almost nothing about it, and what I got was a showcase for a host of gifted actors, including Patricia Clarkson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall, Bruno Ganz, and Cillian Murphy. The title of the movie is self-explanatory: a cabinet politician (Kristin…
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The Big Sick [2017] ★★★½
From the trailer and poster you might think this is yet another film about culture clashes with absolutely nothing new to offer. But it doesn’t take long for this constantly appealing crowd-pleaser to draw you in, win you over, and make you leave with a big smile on your face. How you can create a…
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Germany Year Zero [1948] ★★★½
Roberto Rossellini’s “Germany Year Zero” is a frightening portrait of post-WWII Berlin, from the point of view of 12-year-old Edmund, who lives with his family in terrible conditions. The war may have ended, Hitler’s third Reich has fallen, but Berlin has never been more miserable. Edmund’s only concern is to provide food for his bedridden…
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Rome, Open City [1945] ★★★½
Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini kicked off his so-called “war trilogy” with “Rome, Open City”, a harrowing look at Rome during the Nazi occupation of 1944. Though the events that take place in the movie are strictly fictional, Rossellini knows exactly how to deliver an authentic experience. The main character here is Don Pietro, an Italian…
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Atomic Blonde [2017] ★★½
Sounds juicy: Charlize Theron kicking ass like there’s no tomorrow. But “Atomic Blonde”, directed by David Leitch, a former stuntman who co-directed “John Wick” (it shows), is neither the action movie of the year nor the disaster I feared. It falls somewhere in between, and for that, I have to cut the movie some slack. One…
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Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets [2017] ★★
“Valerian” is far from being a disaster, but when a movie offers spectacular visual effects and still fails to tell a memorable story, you can’t help feeling cheated. In trying to emulate the success of his superior 1997 film “The Fifth Element”, filmmaker Luc Besson relies on cutting-edge technology to tell the story of Valerian…
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Dunkirk [2017] ★★★½
Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” is a knockout. But it’s also a rare example of a war movie that isn’t purely made to satisfy a mainstream audience. In a recent interview with Criterion, Nolan has named Terrence Malik’s 1998 masterpiece “The Thin Red Line” as one of his favorite films. After watching “Dunkirk”, one might even say…
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Transformers: The Last Knight [2017] ★
“What the fuck is happening?” I kept asking myself as I suffered through this mind-numbingly bad 4th sequel to 2007’s “Transformers”. I can’t remember the last time I felt the need to walk out of a movie, but for the sake of a genuine review, I stayed until the bitter end. The first movie, formulaic…
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Baby Driver [2017] ★★★½
Forget the Fast and the Furious movies, if you want a truly original car movie that pumps up your adrenaline level with first-rate action scenes and a killer soundtrack, “Baby Driver” is the summer film for you. This instant classic from director Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead”, “Scott Pilgrim Vs the World”) is everything…
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War For The Planet Of The Apes [2017] ★★★½
I rarely say this about a summer blockbuster, but “War for the Planet of the Apes” is a masterpiece. God knows I’ve been disappointed by sequels and reboots before; what’s more, the original “Planet of the Apes” still holds a special place in my heart. But this movie, once again directed by Matt Reeves, is…
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Inconceivable [2017] ★
It’s only July, but Nicolas Cage has already been in two movies that rank among the worst of the year: First, “Arsenal” back in February, and now “Inconceivable”, a laughably bad thriller that recycles every shitty cliché in the book. Cage is reduced to supporting role, but that doesn’t mean that the movie gets better…
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Spider-Man: Homecoming [2017] ★★★
Ever since Tom Holland’s Spider-Man made a brief (but memorable) appearance in last year’s terrific “Captain America: Civil War”, Marvel fans were eager to see if this reboot could finally win them over again. I personally didn’t hate Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, but his movies were far from memorable. Which is why I’m happy…
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