Category: Uncategorized

“The Mummy” (*** out of four) was an action-packed reboot of the 1999 original “classic” starring Tom Cruise as a U.S. military solider who unintentionally unearths the ancient tomb of an evil princess who subsequently puts a curse on him turning him into the mummy of which he must resist and fight as it endangers him, a female archaeologist (Annabelle Wallis), and an ambiguous scientist (Russell Crowe). Full of great visual effects and never stops moving which is the most important ingredient of these old-fashioned sci/fi monster movies. Cruise is first-rate as usual; Crowe is mostly wasted. About on par with the ’99 original and 2002 sequel “The Mummy Returns”.

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“Wonder Woman” (**1/2 out of four) was a wildly uneven adaptation of the comic-book superhero (Gal Gadot) showing her origins raised on a sheltered island paradise and trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Upon the arrival of a pilot (Chris Pine) who tells her of an outside conflict that’s raging into World War, she then leaves her home to fight the war and discover her true powers and destiny as Wonder Woman. Interesting beginning reminiscent of “Batman Begins” showing her being guided and trained, then hits some real lulls when she leaves the island and it slows down into plodding expedition, and then sputters back to life in a few spectacular action scenes involving the war. A mixed bag overall although the ending does have some real emotional pull. Both Gadot and Pine are strong and have good chemistry together. Handsomely shot by Matthew Jensen.

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“Baywatch” (** out of four) was a needless big-screen adaptation of the blockbuster ’90’s television series starring The Rock as the head of an elite group of lifeguards who butts heads with a new young recruit (Zac Efron) who is a former Olympic swimmer; together they both soon uncover a local criminal plot involving a drug ring that threatens the safety of the Bay. The Rock’s effortless likeability and charisma makes this watchable at times but it’s overall pretty soggy. Not bad but yet another television series that didn’t need to be revised or revisited. Original stars David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson have brief cameos.

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“Opening Night” (*1/2 out of four) was a tedious comedy about a Broadway production director (Topher Grace) trying to save the opening night of his new show while wrangling and multitasking the needs of his eccentric cast and crew (Taye Diggs, Anne Heche, and others). Promising beginning leads nowhere, as film soon becomes monotonous and stupid. Reasonably well directed but feeble script with few laughs stops film dead in its tracks. Grace is better than usual in the lead role but is unable to squeeze blood from a stone.

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“Jawbone” (*1/2 out of four) was a strictly by-the-numbers mash-up of “Rocky”, “Southpaw”, and just about every other boxing movie about a down-on-his-luck former boxing champion (Jimmy Harris who also wrote this) who returns to his childhood boxing club for personal and professional redemption and one last round in the ring. Not even great character actors Ray Winstone and Ian McShane, and Harris’ solid lead performance, can enliven a story this tired. Features enough cliches and predictable plotting to make you feel punch-drunk.

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“Brain On Fire” (***1/2 out of four) was a wrenching drama about a rising young journalist (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is stricken with a rare autoimmune and brain disorder that is misdiagnosed and derails her career and (gradually) her sanity, and causes great concern for everyone around her. Moretz has never been better in a tough role as someone whose life and career are in a painful freefall and director Gérard Barrett documents this in powerful detail and surrounds her with a first-rate supporting cast including Tyler Perry, Carrie Moss, and Richard Arbitage. Reminiscent of “Still Alice” in some ways but this is no disease-movie-of-the-week. Film’s ending is a little pat and abrupt, though.

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“Snatched” (** out of four) was a fizzled adventure comedy about a young woman (Amy Schumer) who gets dumped by her boyfriend before their trip to Ecuador and then persuades her cautious mom (Goldie Hawn) to go with her instead but they soon find themselves neck-deep in international intrigue and underworld crime. Schumer and Hawn work well together and do their best to squeeze all the humor they can out of a paper-thin script which gets more contrived and unbelievable by the minute. Hawn’s first movie since 2002’s “The Banger Sisters”.

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“All About The Money” (*1/2 out of four) was a tiresome comedy about three friends (Casper Van Dien, Blake Freeman, Eddie Griffin) who are down on their luck so they make the brilliant decision to travel to Columbia and take down a Columbian drug lord with a $25 million bounty on his head. Naturally, Danny Trejo shows up in a supporting role as a Mexican goon. Ironically titled misfire in which the talented cast seem to be “all about the money” and nothing else because it’s hard to believe they’d sign on for this stupid and contrived script otherwise. Star/director/co-writer Freeman bears most of the blame for this mess.

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“Salt And Fire” (** out of four) was a jumbled ecological thriller about a scientist (Veronica Ferres) who travels to South America and blames the CEO (Michael Shannon) of a large corporation for an ecological disaster; however, when a large volcano begins to show signs of erupting, they must unite in order to survive. Film fails to connect or take off, despite interesting subject matter and good cast. Shannon is terrific as usual and makes this worth watching at least for a little while. A disappointing result from provocative director Werner Herzog.

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