New Releases for the Week of November 8, 2019

DOCTOR SLEEP

(Warner Brothers) Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyleigh Curran, Carl Lumbly, Zahn McClamon, Emily Alyn Lind, Bruce Greenwood. Directed by Mike Flanagan

Forty years after the events of The Shining, Danny Torrence is a middle-aged man on the run from his nightmares. He is drawn to a small New England town where he meets a young girl even more powerful than he; she needs his help against a group of psychic vampires who feed off of those with psychic powers. Their battle will lead them to where it all began for Danny; the Overlook Hotel.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for disturbing and violent content, some bloody images, language, nudity and drug use)

Jojo Rabbit

(Fox Searchlight) Roman Griffin Davis, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell. A young boy living in Nazi Germany is shocked to discover his mother hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. He will be forced to confront his blind nationalism while fending off his idiotic imaginary friend: Adolph Hitler.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Barnstorm Theater, Cinemark Orlando, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic content, some disturbing images, violence, and language)

Last Christmas

(Universal) Emilia Clark, Henry Golding, Emma Thompson, Michelle Yeoh. One of the most cynical women you’ll ever meet has the job of being an elf in a year-round Christmas store – talk about a bad fit. When she meets a man too good to be true, she at first resists him but his persistence and the oncoming holiday season help melt her heart.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Romance
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for language and sexual content)

Midway

(Lionsgate) Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Aaron Eckhart, Luke Evans. The story of the battle that proved to be the turning point in the Pacific Theater of World War II – a battle that was almost never fought.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: War
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of war violence and related images, language and smoking)

Playing with Fire

(Paramount) John Cena, Judy Greer, Keegan-Michael Key, Brianna Hildebrand. A group of tough, no-nonsense firefighters have their lives turned upside down when they rescue three kids from a wildfire who are forced to bunk at their station with them.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Family
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for rude humor, some suggestive material and mild peril)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Acceleration
Bala
For Sama
Primal
Shapludu
Thiparaa Meesam

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE/KEY WEST:

Bala
By the Grace of God
Love is Blind
My Dear Liar
Santa Sangre
Thiparaa Meesam

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG/SARASOTA:

Bala
No Safe Spaces
Thiparaa Meesam

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Bala
Becoming Nobody
Thiparaa Meesam

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Doctor Sleep
Jojo Rabbit
Last Christmas
Midway
Playing with Fire

FILM FESTIVALS TAKING PLACE IN FLORIDA:

Central Florida Jewish Film Festival, Maitland FL
Cinema Venezuela, Miami FL
Florida Surf Film Festival, New Smyrna Beach FL
Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale FL

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Deadpool 2

Deadpool: Superhero in training.

(2018) Superhero (20^th Century Fox/Marvel) Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, T.J. Miller, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Brianna Hildebrand, Jack Kesy, Eddie Marsan, Terry Crews, Bill Skarsgård, Brad Pitt, Lewis Tan, Rob Delany, Nikolai Witschl, Randal Reeder, Shioli Kutsuna, Stefan Kapicic, Matt Damon, Alan Tudyk. Directed by David Leitch

 

The Merc with a Mouth returns for a second go-round (third if you count the abortion that was X-Men Origins: Wolverine) in a movie that takes nothing seriously, least of all itself.

In this blockbuster sequel, a despondent Wade Wilson attempts to kill himself which turns out to be impossible. He finds a reason to live when he befriends a 14-year-old sexual abuse victim who calls himself Firefist (Dennison). The kid seeks revenge against the headmaster (Marsan) of an orphanage who has tortured and abused him. When you can shoot fireballs from your hands, revenge isn’t all that hard to come by.

Standing in the way is Cable (Brolin), a time-travelling cyborg who has come back in time to kill the boy. Apparently in the future, a grown up Firefist kills his family and scorches a whole lot of the Earth. To fight the nearly indestructible Cable, Deadpool recruits a superteam of his own although they turn out to be short-lived. Extremely although Domino (Beetz) whose superpower is crazy good luck survives – which is a good thing because she’s one of the best things about the movie.

Nonetheless, Deadpool hopes to reason with Firefist and get him not to turn to the dark side while Thanos…I mean Cable…thinks that the greater good will be served by ghosting a 14-year-old boy. I gotta admit, I was rooting for him to kill the boy at times.

Like the first film there are plenty of occasionally gruesome action sequences. Also like the first film there is an explosion of meta-based humor, poking fun of everything from comic book movies (duh) to Barbra Streisand (Brolin’s stepmother) to every action cliché ever to Les Miserables. There are plenty of brief cameos, some of them virtually unrecognizable.

In short, it’s a hoot and a half. The humor is hit and miss at times but hit more often than not. The movie feels a lot more cluttered than the first but it also has much more scope than the first. The action is an improvement and there’s even a little bit of pathos to mix things up a little bit. I don’t think those who loved the first one will feel any less love for the sequel and I’m pretty sure that most of us will be eager for the threequel. Maybe they can convince Hugh Jackman to show up for the third. That would give Reynolds a whole new opportunity to riff.

REASONS TO GO: Reynolds continues to make Wade/Deadpool a compelling character. There are lots of fun celebrity cameos and Easter eggs throughout.
REASONS TO STAY: The movie is a little bit more cluttered than the first.
FAMILY VALUES: There is plenty of violence – some of it extreme, gore, profanity and a brief scene of drug use.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Dennison, who was 15 when the movie was released, was legally unable to see it in his native New Zealand.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, Fandango Now, Fios/Verizon, Google Play, iTunes, Microsoft, Movies Anywhere, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 8/22/18: Rotten Tomatoes: 83% positive reviews. Metacritic: 66/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Super
FINAL RATING: 7.5/10
NEXT: Blue Iguana