Category: 2/4
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Unforgettable [2017] ★★
Katherine Heigl plays the crazy ex wife. I’m not spoiling anything here since we know right from the start that her ex husband David ( Geoff Stults) is getting married to Julia (Rosario Dawson) and she isn’t very happy about it. Her plan? To make Julia’s life a living hell (obviously). Nothing special or revolutionary…
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Ghost In The Shell [2017] ★★
I don’t know what Ghost in the Shell purists would make of this big screen adaptation, but as someone who loves science-fiction films, I thought it was tedious. And yet, it sounds cool on the surface, with beautiful visual effects and a kick-ass soundtrack to almost validate its existence. Scarlett Johansson plays Major, a cybernetic…
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The Fate Of The Furious [2017] ★★
People who follow my blog are probably familiar with my love/hate relationship with the “Fast and the Furious” franchise. I thoroughly enjoyed “Fast Five” for instance, and I especially enjoyed the heartwarming tribute to Paul Walker in “Furious 7”. That being said, I couldn’t care less about “The Fate of the Furious” aka “Fast and Furious…
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Vengeance: A Love Story [2017] ★★
I approach every Nicolas Cage movie with the same level of enthusiasm. Will it be as bad as the previous one? Maybe worse? Having suffered through “Arsenal” just a couple of months ago, I expected the worse here. So here’s the good news: “Vengeance” is a watchable mess. It’s still trash, but the kind of trash…
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Aftermath [2017] ★★
A drama about loss and grief is the last thing I expected to see Arnold Schwarzenegger star in. And yet, it starts out well enough: a man (Schwarzenegger) is on his way to pick up his wife and daughter from the airport when he’s informed that their plane has crashed and that there are no…
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Life [2017] ★★
Although it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, “Life” has an intriguing science-fiction premise and just the right actors to carry it through. So what could go wrong? Plenty, as it turns out. Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds and a group of astronauts find a life form on Mars that could provide enough evidence for extraterrestrial life. But is…
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The Belko Experiment [2017] ★★
It’s gory as hell, but the idea at the core of “The Belko Experiment” got my attention: a group of 80 Americans are locked in their offices in Bogota, Colombia and ordered by an unknown voice to kill 30 people in two hours. What happens if they don’t? They all die. Simple. Straight to the point. No…
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Before I Fall [2017] ★★
In this teen flick based on Lauren Oliver’s bestselling book, Zoey Deutch plays a young woman who wakes up every morning to discover that she is reliving Groundhog Day all over again. I’m kidding, of course, but no one can deny the similarities between the two films, which is why it’s so easy to dismiss “Before I…
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A Dog’s Purpose [2017] ★★
The greatest trick “A Dog’s Purpose” tried to pull was convincing its audience that “no animals were harmed during the making of this film”. Prior to the film’s release, a video emerged online, showing a German Shepherd being forced into a water tank to shoot a scene. I tried to ignore this incident as I…
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Monster Trucks [2016] ★★
First the good news: this is better than any “Transformers” sequels, for the simple fact that the characters in it actually have words to say. But that’s not saying much is it? Shot in 2014 and originally scheduled for a 2015 release, Paramount pictures later on decided to move its release date to 2016, then…
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xXx: Return Of Xander Cage [2017] ★★
The sequel we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. Lol I’m kidding nobody asked for this. But here we are: 15 years since the very first “xXx” hit theaters back in 2002 and 11 since its terrible sequel starring Ice Cube. “Return of Xander Cage” is pretty much self-explanatory, especially if you’re familiar with its…
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Passengers [2016] ★★
Picture this: you’re in hibernation mode, on your way to a distant planet where you’ll be starting a new life. The journey takes 120 years to reach its destination but somehow a glitch in the system occurs and you’re forced to wake up 90 years early. You’re all alone on a spacecraft and there’s absolutely…
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Shut In [2016] ★★
Tagline says “a heart pounding thriller” but all I saw was a thriller made by people who have never seen a real thriller before. Naomi Watts plays a widowed child psychologist who lives with her bedridden son. When one of the boys she’s treating goes missing one night, she becomes convinced that some kind of ghost…
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American Pastoral [2016] ★★
Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut is a disappointing take on Phillip Roth’s Pulitzer-winning 1997 novel about a family man (McGregor) who finds his life spiralling out of control when his 16 year old daughter (Dakota Fanning) rebels by committing a terrorist act during the Vietnam War. On paper, you can’t go wrong with a family drama…
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Jack Reacher: Never Go Back [2016] ★★
It’s the curse of the sequels all over again. “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” and “Independence Day: Resurgence” earlier this year, and now “Never Go Back”, the sequel to 2012’s “Jack Reacher also starring Tom Cruise. The first film wasn’t innovative in any way, but it was a highly entertaining action thriller and I…
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Deepwater Horizon [2016] ★★
It’s the worst oil spill in American history. April 20, 2010, 35 miles off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, a deepwater drilling rig explodes, killing 11 people and injuring many others. Director Peter Berg depicts the events leading up to the explosion, and I gotta tell you folks, I couldn’t care less for…
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Snowden [2016] ★★
Movies derived from recent events are always intriguing to watch because they tend to reveal background stories we don’t know about real-life figures like Edward Snowden, the man who leaked classified NSA documents that show how America is monitoring us 24/7. Reading about this in the news a few years ago made me curious to know…
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Alice Through The Looking Glass [2016] ★★
Tim Burton’s attempt at reinventing Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and turn it into a live-action movie back in 2010 resulted in a visually impressive experience…but it bored me to tears. Did we really need a sequel? Definitely not, and “Through the Looking Glass” offers absolutely nothing new. Mia Wasikowka reprises her role as Alice, who returns…
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Ghostbusters [2016] ★★
How you react to this remake will have a lot to do with your expectations. If you’re expecting something as memorable as the 1984 original starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykyord, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson and the late Harold Ramis, you will probably come away disappointed. I approached it with no particular expectations and took nothing home…
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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…
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