The premise of Lights Out is intriguing: a dysfunctional family torn apart by the mother’s psychological issues, which take on a life of their own – or are taken over. The problem is that before we’re a third of the way through the film, it breaks its own rules.
Tag: Movie Reviews
Ghostbusters Is Smart, Funny and Melodramatic Summer Fun! Sorry If It Ruins Your Childhood!
After a couple of decent trailers that actually withheld most of the film’s funniest moments, Ghostbusters arrives with wit, charm, lovable goofiness, some serious melodrama and comes thisclose to being as good as the original. The all-female Ghostbusters (and their dumber than a sack of flying mallets male receptionist) are worthy successors to Ivan Reitman’s […]
The Secret Life of Pets: Smart, Silly Summer Fun!
The Secret Life of Pets is the third animal-based animated film of the summer (behind Zootopia and Finding Dory) and the probably the slimmest in terms of plot and/or saying stuff – but that doesn’t mean it’s not almost sublimely smart, silly fun.
Swiss Army Man: Way More Than a Just Boy and His Farting Corpse Jet Ski!
Even before we meet the odd couple who constitute 95% of Swiss Army Man, we are given hints of the oncoming oddness through the credits as various ‘send help’ notes drift by on increasingly curious and elaborate vessels – including one that ends with the exclamation, ‘I AM SO BORED!’ Then we get to the […]
The BFG is a Visual Delight but a Sluggish Movie!
Steven Spielberg’s first film with Disney, The BFG, features three brilliant performances and a horde of delightful visuals that are dulled more than a little by the film’s tendency to meander – dropping the pace to sluggish. It doesn’t quite capture that unique balance of whimsy, wit and darkness that Roald Dahl’s work so great, […]
Popstar: Never Stop Stopping – Never Stop Laughing!
The Lonely Island boys (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone) are one for one in their budding movie careers(s). Popstar: Never Stop Stopping isn’t so much Spinal Tap for the 21st Century as it is Spinal Tap for the Viral Age. Popstar is the story of a Conner4Real – who has become the world’s […]
TMNT: Out of the Shadows: Better – But Only Just!
The first movie in the series had one really good action sequence and a bit of clever banter but largely a waste of space. Out of the Shadows makes a more than casual nod to the delightful animated series of the eighties and, when it gets it right is definitely an improvement. Then it squanders […]
X-Men Apocalypse: Third Time’s Not a Charm!
The biggest problem with X-Men: Apocalypse is that it’s the third film in a very successful reboot series and it just goes on and on and on… But at least it’s not X-Men: Last Stand.
Alice Through the Looking Glass Is Snoozeworthy!
Alice Through the Looking Glass is a collection of pretty pictures, great VFX (lovely 3D!) and a handful of moving moments, a few good laughs and some genuine wit – all enshrouded in many, many, many moments that threaten an unexpected bout of nap attack.
The Nice Guys Needs A Bit More Fine Tuning!
Set in 1970s Los Angeles, Shane Black’s The Nice Guys is, in turns, smart, funny and dramatic – just not consistently. And most its life comes from newcomer Angourie Rice as the thirteen-year old daughter of one of the lead characters.
X-Men: Apocalypse A Mixed Bag
I don’t know. I just don’t know. I think I need someone to tell me how I’m supposed to feel about X-Men: Apocalypse (XMA). I liked it for the most part but the entire exercise felt uninspired and the crappy 3D presentation in the theater we saw it in didn’t help matters. Most of the […]