Category: 2/4
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Destination Wedding [2018] ★★
It wouldn’t be completely unfair to say that this movie has no reason to exist except to showcase two of Hollywood’s most beloved actors of the 90’s: Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder. These two have been friends for 30 years and appeared in several movies together. But “Destination Wedding”, written and directed by Victor Levin,…
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Loving Pablo [2017] ★★
Whether it’s on TV or on the big screen, filmmakers never miss an opportunity to tell a story about Pablo Escobar, the notorious drug lord who rose to fame in the 80’s, before his eventual fall in the early 90’s. From Netlfix’s “Narcos” to last year’s underrated “American Made”, it feels that we’ve seen it…
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Book Club [2018] ★★
It’s derivative, it’s predictable, and there’s nothing in it that you haven’t really seen before. But “Book Club”, starring screen legends Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen, is an amusing film that doesn’t take itself too seriously. In terms of plot, 4 friends decide to spice-up their sex life after reading “50 Shades…
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I Feel Pretty [2018] ★★
I like Amy Schumer. She’s a fearless comedienne who can handle any type of situation. She can also carry a whole movie on her shoulder (see Judd Apatow’s “Trainwreck”), and “I Feel Pretty” is no exception. It would seem like a perfect setup to have her in this film, and though the result is less…
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Midnight Sun [2018] ★★
It’s not Valentine, but we got a tearjerker that reminds us that Hollywood doesn’t know how to make good tearjerkers anymore. “Midnight Sun”, starring Bella Thorne as a teenager who can’t be exposed to sunlight due to a rare genetic disease, is manipulative, cheesy, and just downright generic. Yep, you guessed it, she’s about to…
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Veronica [2017] ★★
I’m calling bullshit on this film’s flashy marketing strategy. By telling people that “this Spanish original film is so terrifying that people can’t watch to the end”, Netflix got my attention. But now that I’ve finally seen the film, I can tell you that none of this is true. Sure, it’s an intriguing story about…
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The Cloverfield Paradox [2018] ★★
I don’t want to condemn Netflix for this misfire. It’s obvious that Paramount had no faith whatsoever in their product, so in order to avoid a box office disaster, they sold the rights to the people at Netflix, who, in turn, promoted the movie on Super Bowl night and released it a few hours later.…
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Downsizing [2017] ★★
Whether he’s teaching us a wine lesson in “Sideways” or simply taking us on a road trip with a father and his son in “Nebraska”, director Alexander Payne has managed to put a personal stamp on everything he does. I didn’t love his newest film, “Downsizing”, and come to think of it this is a…
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The Mountain Between Us [2017] ★★
I wanted to like this movie. I really did. And on the surface, “The Mountain Between Us” has all the right ingredients to make it a winner: two charismatic stars and an intriguing plot. Kate Winslet and Idris Elba are two strangers who find themselves struggling to survive when their plane crash-lands on a mountain…
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Marrowbone [2017] ★★
How do you promote a great looking misfire these days? You tell people that it was written and directed by the same man who wrote the superior Spanish film “The Orphanage”. As much as I wanted to like his latest effort, “Marrowbone”, I have to be honest in evaluating this film: it’s a disappointment. I…
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Jigsaw [2017] ★★
I can picture a studio meeting in Hollywood: “hey why don’t we revive the “Saw” franchise? It’s been 7 years since “Saw VII” (supposedly “The Final Chapter”) hit theaters and it’s time to bring back Jigsaw to the big screen. That’s a brilliant idea! The suckers who paid money to see all the forgettable sequels…
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Geostorm [2017] ★★
You don’t walk in to see a disaster movie starring Gerard Butler expecting quotable dialogue or a ground-breaking story. And “Geostorm”, written and directed by Dean Devlin doesn’t claim to be something it’s not. It does offer eye-popping special effects, but everything else, from the acting to the cheesy climate premise, is mediocre at best.…
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Home Again [2017] ★★
I love Reese Witherspoon and I have no problem whatsoever with a chick flick written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer (daughter of Nancy Meyers), but even they can’t save “Home Again” from being strictly generic. Many times, you can feel Meyers channeling her mother, but the overall result is just too predictable and shallow. Witherspoon…
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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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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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Despicable Me 3 [2017] ★★
It pains me to write a negative review about a “Despicable Me” movie, but it seems that third time isn’t the charm for Gru and his Minions. I was charmed, and pleasantly surprised, when I saw the first movie back in 2010. Its enormous success has spawned 2 sequels and an enjoyable Minions spin-off back…
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Baywatch [2017] ★★
Nobody was expecting a masterpiece, but director Seth Gordon’s failure to give this big screen adaptation of the TV hit “Baywatch” any reason to exist will most certainly rank as one of the year’s biggest disappointments. The 90’s show starring David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson (who both have a cameo here) wasn’t revolutionary in any way,…
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Kidnap [2017] ★★
Halle Berry plays a mother who would stop at nothing to recover her kidnapped son in this generic action thriller that recycles ever cliché in the Hollywood handbook. That’s not to say that the movie doesn’t have its moments, especially early on. Berry is truly likable and you’ll probably end up rooting for her, every…
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Pirates Of The Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge [2017] ★★
Quick recap: I loved “The Curse of the Black Pearl” back in 2003, enjoyed its sequel “Dead Man’s Chest”, absolutely hated “At World’s End”, and didn’t mind “On Stranger Tides” so much. One thing these sequels had in common is that they were “more of the same”, only less likable than the original. And that’s…
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The Mummy [2017] ★★
It wouldn’t be completely unfair to call the new “Mummy” movie pointless. After all, if you want to reboot a series, at least do it right. I’m a sucker for the original Universal monster films, made famous by Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in the early 1930’s. That’s not to say that these movies are…
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