July 4, 2018 “Ouija Seance: The Final Game” (*1/2 out of four) was a by-the-numbers timewaster about a group of young kids (Holly Louise Mumford, Katharina Sporrer, Alan Cappelli Goetz, and others) who go vacationing to a villa where they (yawn) resurrect an ancient evil spirit via their ouija board which threatens them all. They should have instead attempted to resurrect this script and story which practically has no life. You would think by now characters in movies like these would know to leave ouija boards alone but hey- at least that word final sounds good! Continue reading →
July 3, 2018 “Chappaquaddick” (*** out of four) was a stirring biographical drama about the 1969 incident on the Chappaquaddick in which the ambitious U.S. senator Ted Kennedy (Jason Clarke) left the scene of an accident involving his campaigne strategist Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) and how this incident and its subsequent media firestorm altered the course of history for his (and his family’s) plans for his run for presidency. Not a great film but an interesting story of political machinations, media coverage and coverups, and one man’s difficulty in following his family’s legacy. Clarke gives what may be the best performance of his career as a man who finds his conscience drowning along with the incident. Ed Helms is also strong in an unusual part as Kennedy’s cousin Joseph Gargan and Bruce Dern is first-rate in a small-role as Kennedy’s father Joseph, Sr. Continue reading →
July 3, 2018 “Hot Summer Nights” (**1/2 out of four) was an endearing coming-of-age story as a teenager (Timothee Chalamet) spends his summer in Cape Cod where he encounters his first experiences with girls, drugs, and wild times. Offbeat story is told with an engaging sense of humor and is nicely and gently directed by writer-director Elijah Bynum in his debut but is marred by unnecessary unpleasantness in its final third. Still worthwhile though for fans of coming-of-age stories such as “Stand By Me” and “The Spectacular Now.” Continue reading →
July 1, 2018 “The Domestics” (*1/2 out of four) was a dull post-apocalyptic thriller in which a couple (Tyler Hoechlin and Kate Bosworth) race across the country in search of safety as they desperately try to survive and stick together as militant gangs try to hunt them down. Pointless story mixes elements of “Mad Max” and “28 Days Later” but is bereft of those films style and energy. It might be time by now to leave these post-apocalyptic futuristic nightmares in the past. Continue reading →
June 30, 2018 “Tag” (*1/2 out of four) was a dismal comedy about a group of grown friends (Jon Hamm, Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, and Jeremy Renner) who organize an elaborate and annual game of tag that takes them across the country on a less-than-enthralling odyssey where they focus on their friendship and growing up. Renner’s comic antics provide film’s only laughs; otherwise film is tiresome, contrived, and dumb. Based on a true story from an article written in The Wall Street Journal where it should have stayed. Continue reading →
June 30, 2018 “Sicario 2: Day Of The Soldado” (*1/2 out of four) was a ponderous sequel to the overrated 2015 original focusing on the escalating drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border and how the cartels have begun smuggling terrorists across the U.S. border. In an effort to fight this, a determined federal agent (Josh Brolin) reteams with a deadly assassin (Benicio Del Toro) but find things get really ugly on both sides of the country. Hard to imagine a duller group of characters or a more dull film about such a topical and pertinent matter in the world. Del Toro played virtually the same character in “Traffic” which was another film about the drug war with electricity and passion. Heavy-going all the way. Continue reading →
June 30, 2018June 30, 2018 “The Catcher Was A Spy” (*** out four) was an engrossing adaptation of Nicholas Dawidoff’s biography of Moe Berg (Paul Rudd) who was a former baseball player who joined the U.S. government during World War II and began doing espionage work as a spy! Imperfect, with some plot points and factors that don’t always pay off, but well-made and well-told and Rudd is perfectly cast in the lead role. Fine supporting cast is well-used and gives good roles to Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels, Mark Strong, and Paul Giamatti. Continue reading →
June 30, 2018 “The Catcher Was A Spy” (*** out four) was an engrossing adaptation of Nicholas Dawidoff’s biography of Moe Berg (Paul Rudd) who was a former baseball player who joined the U.S.government during World War II and began doing espionage work as a spy! Imperfect, with some plot points and factors that don’t always pay off, but well-made and well-told and Rudd is perfectly cast in the lead role. Fine supporting cast is well-used and gives good roles to Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels, Mark Strong, and Paul Giamatti. Continue reading →
June 29, 2018 “Gotti” (*1/2 out of four) was an enervated biographical crime drama of the early 1990’s NYC crime boss John Gotti (John Travolta) and film reimagines him as an underdog cult hero! Film shows his gradual early rising from low-level mafia hitman to a tough but loving family man with a wife (Kelly Preston) and son (Spencer Rocco Lofranco) who he loves but he is never able to leave the streets and organized crime behind. Film doesn’t tell you anything about Gotti you haven’t seen in at least 100 other mafia movies. Any one scene in “Good Fellas” or “The Godfather” tops this hands down. Travolta ranges from flamboyant to ridiculous as the dapper Don; strangely, him and Preston have very little chemistry even though they’re married in real life. Lofranco gives film’s best performance as Gotti’s troubled son. Continue reading →
June 27, 2018 “Paper Year” (**1/2 out of four) was an affecting but aloof melodrama about a young couple (Avan Jogia and Eve Hewson) and the various trials and tribulations they face in their first year of marriage and how sexual impulses and emotional insecurities cause their marriage to gradually tear apart. Writer-director Rebecca Addelman holds your attention and interest without ever really engaging your emotions because the two central characters are so hard to figure out and often hard to relate to. By the end, film almost seems pointless. Hewson (who is Bono’s daughter) is film’s saving grace and whose stirring performance overall makes this worthwhile. Continue reading →
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