New Releases for the Week of January 21, 2022

REDEEMING LOVE

(Universal) Abigail Cowen, Tom Lewis, Logan Marshall-Green, Famke Janssen, Nina Dobrev, Eric Dane, Ke-Xi Wu, Brandon Auret. Directed by D.J. Caruso

A bitter young girl, sold into prostitution as a child, finds love in an unlikely source in this story set during the California Gold Rush. The movie is based on a novel by Francine Rivers which is in turn inspired by the Old Testament story of the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Romance
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic content, sexual content, partial nudity, and strong violent content)

The King’s Daughter

(Gravitas) Kaya Scodelario, Pierce Brosnan, Fan Bingbing, William Hurt. The aging Louis XIV of France, the Sun King, is desperate to find the secret to immortality and believes at last that he has found it – through the possession of a mermaid. He commissions a young sea captain to find him one, a move complicated when the king’s daughter stows away on board.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Fantasy
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: PG (for some violence, suggestive material and thematic elements)

Parallel Mothers

(Sony Classics) Penelope Cruz, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde. Two single women meet in a Spanish maternity ward as they await to give birth; one, middle-aged and eagerly anticipating motherhood, the other young, frightened and apprehensive in this new film from the legendary Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: Enzian
Rating: R (for some sexuality)

The Souvenir – Part II

(A24) Honor Swinton Byrne, Tilda Swinton, Richard Ayoade, Ariane Labed. A graduate film student who recently extricated herself from a toxic romance with a manipulative older man, attempts to reorder her life, separate fact from elaborately woven fiction and complete her graduate studies and film project.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs
Rating: R (for some strong sexuality and language)

The Tiger Rising

(The Avenue) Queen Latifah, Dennis Quaid, Christian Convery, Katherine McPhee. A young 12-year-old boy discovers a caged tiger in the woods near town, setting off a journey that will enlighten him and send him on a road to adventure.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Family
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Cinemark Lakeland Square, Cinemark Orlando, Cinemark Universal Citywalk, Fashion Square Premiere
Rating: PG (for thematic elements, language and brief violence)

Unsilenced

(Zhen) Sam Trammell, Ting Wu, Anastasia Lin, Tzu-Chiang Wang. A cynical American reporter, having lost faith in his profession and in his nation, covers events in China in 1999 when the Chinese government in a move of unbridled repression, banned the practice of Falun Gong in that country. Based on true events.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: True Life Drama
Now Playing: Cinemark Orlando
Rating: R (for some violence)

WarHunt

(Saban) Mickey Rourke, Robert Knepper, Jackson Rathbone, Josh Burdett. After an Allied plane crashes in the Black Forest in the waning days of World War II, a squad of elite soldiers is sent to retrieve sensitive material the plane was carrying, but the soldiers find themselves in a battle for their lives when supernatural forces beyod their understanding come into play.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Studio Movie Grille Sunset Walk
Rating: R (for violent content, language, and some sexual references)

COMING TO VIRTUAL CINEMA/VOD:

A Shot Through the Wall (Friday)
Butlers in Love (Saturday)v
Confession (Tuesday)
Deadly House Call (Sunday)
Hollywood Fringe (Tuesday)
Love on the Road (Sunday)
MICerz (Tuesday)
Munich: The Edge of War (Friday)
My Father’s Violin (Friday)
Picabo (Friday)
The Royal Treatment (Thursday)

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Munich: The Edge of War
Parallel Mothers

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New Releases for the Week of November 26, 2021

ENCANTO

(Disney/Pixar) Starring the voices of Stephanie Beatriz, Maria Cecilia Botero, Diane Guerrero, Angie Cepeda, John Leguizamo, Wilmer Valderrama. Directed by Jared Bush and Byron Howard

The Madrigal family have been blessed to live in an enchanted house called Encanto in the mountains of Columbia. The house bestows upon each of them a special power – all except Mirabel. But the magic of Encanto is in danger and the only one who can save it might just be Mirabel.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Animated Feature
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: PG (for thematic elements and mild peril)

A Holiday Chance

(Faith Media) Nafessa Williams, Sharon Leal, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Tobias Truvillion. Two estranged rival sisters must come together to help save the family business when their father suffers some tragic events during the holidays.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Holiday
Now Playing: Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and a suggestive reference)

Antim: The Final Truth

(Zee) Salman Khan, Aayush Sharma, Mahima Makwana, Mahesh Manjrekar. A penniless village boy sacrifices family and nearly everything else to rise to the top of organized crime, pursued closely by a relentless police officer.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Crime
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Springs, Regal Pavilion Port Orange
Rating: NR

Anubhavinchu Raja

(Annapurna) Ajay, Raj Tarun, Krishna Murali Posani, Sudharshan. A young man who inherits wealth at an early age becomes the village laughingstock when his lavish lifestyle catches up to him. Determined to prove himself worthy, his quest to gain respect goes awry.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: Cinemark Orlando
Rating: NR

For the Love of Money

(Freestyle) Keri Hilson, Rotimi, Jason Mitchell, Keith Sweat. When shadowy figures threaten a woman’s daughter, she is pulled into the life she had escaped and had hoped never to return to.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: R (for language, some sexual content/nudity and violence)

House of Gucci

(United Artists) Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons. Oscar-winning director Ridley Scott may have another awards contender on his hands as the family behind an Italian fashion empire is unraveled by the naked ambition of an outsider who married into the family.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: True Crime Drama
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: R (for language, some sexual content, and brief nudity and violence)

Julia

(Sony Classics) Julia Child, Ina Garten, Jacques Pepin, Marcus Samuelsson. This is the story of the woman who essentially created the modern cooking show, transformed the way Americans see food and cooking, and even made a difference in the role of women in society.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Cinematique Daytona, Enzian
Rating: PG-13 (for brief strong language/sexual references, and some thematic elements)

Maanaadu

(V House) S.J. Suryah, T.R. Silambarasan, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Bharathiraja. The bodyguard of the chief minister of the state and a police officer are caught in a time loop on the day of an important conference.

See the trailer
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Adventure
Now Playing: Cinemark Orlando, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: NR

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City

(Screen Gems) Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen, Robbie Amell, Donal Logue. The exodus of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella has turned a boom town into a ghost town, but the problems for Raccoon City are far worse below the surface, where the evil of the Umbrella Corporation is being born.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Wide
Rating: R (for strong violence and gore, and language throughout)

The Unforgivable

(Netflix) Sandra Bullock, Jon Bernthal, Vincent D’Onofrio, Viola Davis. A woman convicted for a violent crime serves out her sentence after which she returns home, where she is decidedly not welcome. Her only hope for redemption is in finding her estranged younger sister, whom she was forced to leave behind.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Cinemark Universal Citywalk
Rating: R (for language and violence)

COMING TO VIRTUAL CINEMA/VOD:

14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible (Monday)
Adrienne (Wednesday)
Angéle
Badland Doves (Wednesday)
Burning (Monday)
Dig Deeper: The Disappearance of Birgit Meier
DMX: Don’t Try to Understand Me (Thursday)
Dog Years
Good Thief (Tuesday)
Green Snake
Lady Buds
More the Merrier (Monday)
Nash Bridges (Saturday)
The Power of the Dog (Wednesday)
South Park: Post-COVID (Thursday)
Spoiled Brats
The Summit of the Gods (Tuesday)

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Encanto
House of Gucci
Lady Buds
The Power of the Dog
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City
The Unforgivable

New Releases for the Week of July 12, 2019

STUBER

(20^th Century Fox) Kumail Nanjiani, Dave Bautista, Iko Uwais, Natalie Morales, Betty Gilpin, Jimmy Tatro, Mira Sorvino, Karen Gillan. Directed by Michael Dowse

A mild-mannered Uber driver picks up a hyper-violent cop who has had his wheels taken away. On a high-stakes case, the cop will enlist the driver to go above and beyond the standard rideshare contract.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, video featurettes and B-roll video here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Action Comedy
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for violence and language throughout, some sexual references and brief graphic nudity)

Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable

(Entertainment Studios) Bethany Hamilton. The subject of the hit movie Soul Surfer gets a documentary of her own. Champion surfer Bethany Hamilton has a brush with death when a shark attack takes one of her arms. Undaunted, she works hard and returns to being one of the best in the world at the sport she loves.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: PG (for thematic elements)

Crawl

(Paramount) Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Ross Anderson, Morfydd Clark. When a massive hurricane batters Florida, a young woman, unable to contact her father, drives desperately to his lake house to find him gravely injured. As the flood waters rise, they discover that the flooding is the least of their problems.

See the trailer, interviews and a clip here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for bloody creature violence, and brief language)

The Fall of the American Empire

(Sony Classics) Alexandre Landry, Maripier Morin, Rėmy Girard, Louis Morissette. A delivery man with a PhD in philosophy is dropping off a package when he comes across the aftermath of a hold-up gone terribly wrong. With millions in money bags on the ground, will he do the moral thing or do the human thing?

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: Cinematique of Daytona, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for some strong violence, sexual content/nudity and language)

Super 30

(Reliance) Hrithik Roshan, Mrunal Thakur, Amit Sadh, Pankaj Tripathi. This is the true story of a mathematics genius from a poor family who is determined to prove that the best minds don’t necessarily come from the right side of the tracks. He begins a training program designed to help disadvantaged students in India the opportunity to attend the most prestigious technical college and make something better of themselves and their country.

See the trailer and clips here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: True Life Drama
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace, Touchstar Southchase
Rating: NR

Wild Rose

(NEON) Jessie Buckley, Julie Walters, Sophie Okonedo, Jamie Sives. A young British mother of two children dreams of being a country music superstar and has the talent to get her foot in the door. However, she is far away from Nashville and having just been released from prison, her responsibilities to her family are complicating the achievement of her dreams.

See the trailer and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website  
Genre: Musical
Now Playing: Enzian Theater, Rialto Spanish Springs Square
Rating: R (for language throughout, some sexuality and brief drug material)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Konttho
Phil
Summer Night
Sunshine Family
Trespassers

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blanche
Dorasaani
In the Aisles
Maiden
The Other Story
The Reports on Sarah and Saleem
The White Storm 2: Drug Lords
Yuli

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG/SARASOTA:

Dorasaani
I Got the Hook-Up 2
Lying and Stealing

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Dorasaani

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Crawl
Maiden
Stuber
Wild Rose

Maze Runner: The Death Cure

How can they be surprised at the bad reviews?

(2018) Science Fiction (20^th Century Fox) Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Dexter Darden, Will Poulter, Jacob Lofland, Rosa Salazar, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Patricia Clarkson, Barry Pepper, Nathalie Emmanuel, Katherine McNamara, Walton Goggins, Dylan Smith,  Jake Curran, Greg Kriek, Liza Scholtz. Directed by Wes Ball

 

There have been a number of dystopian sci-fi trilogies in the young adult book market as of late, several of which have been converted to the silver screen. Divergent, The Hunger Games and Maze Runner all feature young heroes who shoulder the responsibility of changing their society for the better. It makes me wonder if that hasn’t rubbed off on the current generation who recently took to the streets to protest a lack of movement on gun control.

However, while one applauds the passion of the Parkland pack, it’s hard to appreciate the cinematic skills displayed on this, the finale of the Maze Runner series. It’s stupefying in its length – two hours and twenty odd minutes – and seems to be repetitive in its action. We learn the horrifying truth about WCKD – that in a latch-ditch effort to find a cure for the disease that has overtaken 80% of he population they have taken to experimenting on young people who have shown immunity to the disease which turns people into ravening homicidal maniacs – zombiesque you might say – that has essentially wiped out civilization in all but the Last City.

The original group of maze runners has shown up on a variety of sides; Teresa (Scodelario) is a researcher for WCKD and her mother (Clarkson) is the head scientist for them. Minho (Lee) has been taken by WCKD and its head security guy Janson (Gillen); Newt (Sangster) has finally come down with the disease while Thomas (O’Brien) is leading the rescue efforts to pick up Minho before they sail to a deserted island to live away from the madness in peace and tranquility.

The trend of dividing the trilogy finale into two separate movies was not adopted here, likely because the filmmakers did enough padding (for example, the opening train sequence doesn’t appear in the book) and still couldn’t fill up two movies. As usual with young adult adventure stories, kids are heroic (mostly) and adults are evil (mostly) and the adults underestimate the kids and don’t understand them – yes, it’s a bit pedantic but I suppose you have to appeal to the sensitivities of the market you’re after.

Sangster is one of my favorite young actors out there but he doesn’t get much to do here until the end. O’Brien shows tremendous potential but he hasn’t really won me over yet – the character of Thomas is just too cliché which is hardly his fault and yes, he imbues the character with nobility but Thomas is so one-note it’s difficult to assess whether O’Brien can pull off a multi-layered performance yet so the jury’s still out in my case.

There are plenty of pyrotechnics and oceans of CGI images and for the most part it’s executed well and why wouldn’t it be? With production delays incurred due to an on-set accident which put out the lead performer for almost a year, the effects houses were given plenty of time to work on the images. Still the story is so weak, the characters so been there done that and the movie way overlong that recommending this film is simply not in the cards. I am not convinced that this is the death cure but it sure is a cure for insomnia.

REASONS TO GO: The pyrotechnics and special effects were nifty in places.
REASONS TO STAY: The film is interminably long, dumb and predictable.
FAMILY VALUES: There is action and violence, some thematic concerns as well as a smattering of mild profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: O’Brien was seriously injured during the opening train scene when he fell off the top of the train; it took nearly a year for him to recover from his injuries, delaying the release of the film from 2017 to January 2018..
CRITICAL MASS: As of 3/26/18: Rotten Tomatoes: 43% positive reviews. Metacritic: 51/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Divergent Series: Insurgent
FINAL RATING: 5/10
NEXT: The Family

New Releases for the Week of January 26, 2018

MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE

(20^th Century Fox) Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Will Poulter, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo Esposito, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Gillen, Barry Pepper. Directed by Wes Ball

The final chapter in the Maze Runner trilogy sees the young hero Thomas desperately searching the post-apocalyptic Earth for the cure to the deadly plague known as The Flare. The project was delayed after star Dylan O’Brien was injured during filming.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, Dolby Atmos, IMAX, RPX, XD
Genre: Science Fiction
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language, and some thematic elements)

Hostiles

(Entertainment Studios) Christian Bale, Wes Studi, Rosamund Pike, Timothée Chalamet. A legendary army officer is tasked at the close of the 19^th century to escort a dying Cheyenne war chief from a New Mexico fort where he had been incarcerated to the grasslands of Montana where his tribe has been sent. It’s a perilous journey and the captain is none to pleased about having to make it but during the trip circumstances will force him to work with his mortal enemy in order to survive.

See the trailer and interviews here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Western
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for strong violence, and language)

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

49 Pulses
Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes
Bhaagamathie
In the Fade
Padmaavat

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Bhaagamathie
Humor Me
Kickboxer: Retaliation
The Neighbor
Padmaavat

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

Aadu 2
Bhaagamathie
The Ballad of Lefty Brown
The Competition
The Neighbor
Padmaavat

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Ang Dalawang Mrs. Reyes
The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Bhaagamathie
The Divine Order
Padmaavat

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

The Ballad of Lefty Brown
Hostiles
In the Fade
Maze Runner: The Death Cure

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Pirates of the Caribbean: Salazar’s Revenge)

Jack Sparrow in his usual befuddled state.

(2017) Adventure (Disney) Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Kevin McNally, Golshifteh Farahani, David Wenham, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Stephen Graham, Paul McCartney, Angus Barnett, Martin Klebba, Delroy Atkinson, Bruce Spence, Adam Brown, Giles New, Danny Kirrane, Juan Carlos Vellido, Rodney Afif, Hannah Walters. Directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg

 

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me! As a young lad venturing to Disneyland, the Pirates of the Caribbean was always one of my favorite rides. Gore Verbinski adapted the ride’s backstory into a rollicking supernatural adventure that became yet another lucrative license to print money for Disney. In many ways, the film franchise that developed from the theme park attraction has outstripped the ride of its place in pop culture.

Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) has fallen on hard times. With his beloved Black Pearl reduced to a ship in a bottle, he only commands a land-bound disaster of a boat, the Dying Gull. An attempt to rob a bank – by dragging it through the streets of Saint Martin by a team of horses, certainly a novel approach – ends up disastrously with most of his crew quitting in disgust.

In the meantime young Henry Turner (Thwaites), son of Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) has encountered the undead Captain Salazar (Bardem) who was lured into the Devil’s Triangle by a young Sparrow and cursed to remain there. Salazar spares Henry to pass on a message to Jack – “death is coming straight for you.”

Jack’s spectacular bank robbery failure has put him in touch with astronomer/horologist Carina Smyth (Scodelario) who has been studying the legendary Neptune’s Trident which supposedly gives the wielder control over all the seas. She believes she has discovered the location of the fabled relic; Jack needs it to protect himself from Salazar, Salazar needs it to restore his life and Henry needs it to restore his father to life so that he and his mother might be reunited permanently.

In the meantime Captain Barbossa (Rush), the former antagonist turned ally, also seeks the Trident for reasons of his own. All of these competing factions will collide on a desolate island; at stake is control of the oceans and of course their very lives.

With Verbinski out of the picture (although he remains in the capacity of a producer), Norwegian directors Ronning and Sandberg who previously teamed up on the epic Kon-Tiki take over the franchise and deliver a movie while not the best in the franchise history is not the worst either. The special effects are right up there with the first film in the series and while the plots are as convoluted as they tend to be in this series there is a little more personal background being revealed here. One of the main characters also has a major revelation that will affect the franchise should it continue on to a sixth film, which Disney seems to have every intention of doing.

I kinda hope that they don’t however. A lot of loose ends are tied up here and this would certainly make a fitting end for the franchise. It might also be a jumping off point for a new series although Thwaites and Scodelario don’t hold a candle to Bloom and Knightley in the parts that they play; the late-film cameo of the two veterans of the first three films only serve to highlight how much better the two were. It’s not that Thwaites and Scodelario are inferior actors, mind you – it’s just that the roles of Henry and Carina are way too similar to Will and Elizabeth that the differences are pretty much too minute to mention. The writer, Jeff Nathanson, definitely could have made the characters a little bit more distinct.

Depp has for better or worse made the role a signature and all the elements are there, but the charm is wearing off. I don’t get the sense that Depp is overly enthusiastic about continuing to play the role of Captain Jack; there’s only so much you can do with the role. He’s colorful, yes, but the part has become a parody of itself. In the first film, Jack was not just befuddled and lurching about like Dean Martin on a Saturday night, but also clever and occasionally vicious as well. You got the sense that his demeanor is something of a means to get others to underestimate him.

Sadly, there’s none of that in Depp’s performance now. Depp has resorted to mugging over acting; it could be that he literally has nothing more to add to the role. I’m certain that the paycheck is enough to entice him to do it and given the box office cold streak Depp has been done I’m sure the salary for these movies is welcome. Jack Sparrow has become a WYSIWYG role, a lovable drunk with all the charm that lovable drunks possess. Sad to say, that charm overstays its welcome when it comes to lovable drunks and I feel like the franchise has reached that point too where the antics become less endearing and more exasperating.

Bardem however was inspired casting. He is without a doubt one of the best in Hollywood at playing villainous characters, maybe one of the best of all time. Salazar would be a worthy adversary in any film but in some ways, his evil is wasted because none of the heroes hold a candle to him. Every franchise needs great villains but they also require the heroes to be the equal of those villains and Captain Jack has become more parody than pirate.

There are some nice action set pieces, particularly one involving a guillotine and another involving zombie sharks (which is teased in the trailer). Often a film franchise feels the need to one-up themselves when it comes to action sequences; wisely, Ronning and Sandberg resist the urge and instead use action sequences that fit the story more than dazzle the eye.

The series feels worn out and without ideas. If the franchise is to continue, I really think that it needs an infusion of fresh blood, no pun intended. Some shaking up needs to be done and the post-credits scene which strongly hints that there will be another film in the franchise, it also teases the return of one of the iconic villains of the series which seems almost a step back. I hope they go in a different direction if they do intend to make another film in the series.

REASONS TO GO: Bardem is one of the finest villains in Hollywood today. The loose ends of the franchise are tied up nicely.
REASONS TO STAY: Thwaites and Scodelario are inadequate replacements for Bloom and Knightley. At times the plot seems to be spinning its wheels in a single place.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some action and violence as well as some mild sexually suggestive material.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The six year gap between films is the longest of the series; the running time of two hours and nine minutes is also the shortest run time of the franchise.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 9/1/17: Rotten Tomatoes: 30% positive reviews. Metacritic: 39/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Treasure Planet
FINAL RATING: 6/10
NEXT: 68 Kills

New Releases for the Week of May 26, 2017

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

(Disney) Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Geoffrey Rush, Brenton Thwaites, Kaya Scodelario, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Kevin McNally. Directed by Joachim Renning and Espen Sandberg

Jack Sparrow returns to the high seas but not in the style in which he has been accustomed. Down on his luck having lost the Black Pearl, he ekes out a living pirating on the desultory Dying Gull, a small and shabby ship with a small and shabby crew. But as bad as things are, ill winds are blowing a storm in of biblical proportions as a deranged and enraged Spanish captain returns from the dead to wreak revenge on all pirates – particularly one named Jack Sparrow.

See the trailer, clips and interviews here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, 3D, IMAX 3D
Genre: Fantasy
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for sequences of adventure violence, and some suggestive content)

96 Souls

(Gravitas) Grinnell Morris, Sid Veda, Paul Statman, Toyin Moses. A university researcher, about to lose his funding, has an accident in the lab. Afterwards, he discovers he can see what the true intentions of people are. Like most superpowers, it makes his life a whole lot worse.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Science Fiction
Now Playing: AMC Loew’s Universal Cineplex
Rating: NR

Baywatch

(Paramount) Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra. This reboot of the hit 90s TV series sees head lifeguard Mitch Buchanan budding heads with a new recruit – an Olympic champion who has been brought aboard to rehabilitate the fading Baywatch brand. When the two discover a criminal conspiracy that may threaten the bay and their livelihoods forever, the two are forced to take action.

See the trailer, clips and a featurette here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Action Comedy
Now Playing: Wide Release (opened Thursday)
Rating: R (for language throughout, crude sexual content and graphic nudity)

The Buena Vista Social Club: Adios

(Broad Green) Manuel “Guajiro” Mirabal, Ibrahim Ferrer, Omara Portuando. The sequel to the groundbreaking documentary looks back at the history of the Buena Vista Social Club and its effect on the music and culture of Cuba. With the island nation facing an uncertain future in the wake of the death of Fidel Castro and the loosening of embargo restrictions by the United States, the surviving members of the group look to be part of that future.

See the trailer and a clip here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG (for historical smoking throughout, thematic elements and brief suggestive material)

Chuck

(IFC) Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, Elisabeth Moss, Ron Perlman. Chuck Wepner was a mid-level boxer who’d had some success, but not really a lot of it. When Muhammad Ali, then the boxing champion of the world, decided he wanted to fight an underdog to celebrate America, Wepner was the boxer he chose. The improbable fight would eventually become the inspiration for Rocky.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Sports Biography
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for language throughout, drug use, sexuality/nudity and some bloody images)

David Lynch – The Art Life

(Janus/Amazon) David Lynch. Once the enfant terrible of filmmaking, Lynch went from cult classics like Eraserhead to Oscar nominees like The Elephant Man with stops at Dune, Videodrome and Twin Peaks along the way. This documentary looks at the creative process of Lynch who also looks at his less-known but equally brilliant career as a painter as well.

See the trailer and a clip here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Enzian Theater
Rating: NR

Drone

(Screen Media) Sean Bean, Mary McCormack, Joel David Moore, Patrick Sabongui. A high-level defense contractor operates covert drone missions, then goes home to his wife and son and a suburban life far removed from what he does for a living. When a Pakistani businessman who believes the contractor was responsible for the death of his family, the contractor will have to come to grips not only with keeping himself and his family safe but also the guilt for the things that he’s done.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: AMC Loew’s Universal Cineplex
Rating: NR

The Lovers

(A24) Debra Winger, Tracy Letts, Aidan Gillen, Melora Walters. A middle-aged married couple has seen their marriage slowly lose its luster over the years. Both are in the middle of long-term affairs and both are growing more committed to their partners outside of their marriage. On the verge of calling it quits, something quite unexpected happens – they fall in love with each other all over again.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace
Rating: R (for sexuality and language)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

You’ve got to learn how to crawl before you learn how to run mazes.

(2015) Young Adult Sci-Fi (20th Century Fox) Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Kaya Scodelario, Ki Hong Lee, Rosa Salazar, Dexter Darden, Alexander Flores, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo Esposito, Patricia Clarkson, Aidan Gillen, Terry Dale Parks, Kathryn Smith-McGlynn, Lili Taylor, Barry Pepper, J. Nathan Simmons, Alan Tudyk, Lora Martinez-Cunningham. Directed by Wes Ball

It seems that whenever you’re in the middle segment of a cinematic trilogy, there’s always a bit of a letdown; there’s usually more exposition that action and it lacks the kind of energy that marks the first installment, nor the emotional punch of the third. Would that happen to this sequel to the successful young adult science fiction adaptation The Maze Runner?

Following the conclusion of that film, the survivors of the Glade are brought into an underground facility, a way station before being taken to their final destination. No, that doesn’t sound sinister at all, right? In any case, Thomas (O’Brien) hooks up with Aris (Lofland), a survivor of a different Maze (there are apparently many of them) and discovers the truth about the facility – it is wholly owned by WCKD (pronounced “wicked,” possibly the most unsubtle acronym ever), the corporate blackhearts who created the Mazes and they’re conducting medical experiments on the kids who have made it this far.

Naturally, this doesn’t appeal much to Thomas and he takes the rest of his crew – Teresa (Scodelario), Newt (Brodie-Sangster), Minho (Lee), Frypan (Darden) and Winston (Flores) out of the frying pan and into the Scorch. The Scorch is the world above ground, an arid desert with unpredictable weather patterns, terrifying storms and creatures that roam the wasteland by night. A trip to the local mall leads to the discovery that they are victims of the Flare, a virus that turns the victims homicidal and utterly insane.

Thomas and the gang are looking for The Right Arm, an underground resistance group who may be able to shelter them from WCKD who clearly want them back badly; the chief scientist for WCKD, Dr. Ava Paige (Clarkson) has sent her assassin Janson (Gillen) to go fetch Thomas and his tank engine…er, crew.

After being captured by Jorge (Esposito) and his daughter Brenda (Salazar), they get away from WCKD and head out to find Marques, the man who might be able to find the Right Arm. Once again, it’s back into the fire as a happening party turns into a 90s rave and turns into a real bad trip. Once the kids find the Right Arm, however, they are going to find out that there are worse beasts in the wasteland than madmen, and that courage may not be enough to get them all through. Making it out alive may not be in the cards for all of them, but there may be worse things ahead for all of them.

No need to keep you in suspense; this isn’t as good as the first movie. That movie had a kinetic energy that is severely lacking here. Not that there aren’t some superior action scenes; there are, but while Maze Runner felt like a sprint, this is more of a distance run. Most of the same folks that didn’t get snuffed in the first film are back with a passel of new characters as well as the bulk of the same talent behind the camera. The problem with middle films in trilogies is that they are often connectors, linking point A and point B. The middle of a story is never as interesting as the beginning or the end.

O’Brien is a little bit more animated here but the same problem that plagued the first movie plagues this one; Thomas isn’t a very interesting lead character. They try to make him that way with references to his unremembered past but the real issue is that Thomas acts like every teen hero in every cinematic adaptation of a young adult novel ever, and it really is kind of tiresome. There’s nothing here to distinguish it from its competition and even given that the audience this is playing too is a lot less discriminating, they aren’t dummies; they know lazy writing when they see it.

Most of the rest of the cast is adequate to decent; the most promising performer in the first film doesn’t appear here. It’s just that they’re not given a lot to work with; the characters are mostly bland, recycled from other stories and films. None of them really grab your attention much. That’s the problem with having characters who can’t remember their past; there isn’t a lot for the audience to hold onto other than their actions and when you’re talking about actions that are pretty much standard young adult fantasy fare that’s only worse. Even the zombie-like Flare victims don’t measure up to the monsters of The Walking Dead and the special effects here are pretty much standard.

This is bargain basement sci-fi that doesn’t really generate enough enthusiasm in me to really give it much of a recommendation which is a shame because I thought the first film had some potential. Maybe we’ll have to wait until the final installation in the trilogy to see that potential fulfilled but at this point I’m not especially waiting on the edge of my seat for February 17, 2017 to come around – the date that Maze Runner: The Death Cure is set to wrap up the series. Sad to say, I’d be just fine with them wrapping it up here unless they can do a whole lot better next time.

REASONS TO GO: Some fairly well-done action sequences. Attractive leads.
REASONS TO STAY: Really been there-done that. Lacks energy.
FAMILY VALUES: A fair amount of violence, some thematic elements, a scene of substance use and some mild language.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The studio greenlit the sequel two weeks before the first film opened after early reviews and audience scores proved to be overwhelmingly positive.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 10/5/15: Rotten Tomatoes: 50% positive reviews. Metacritic: 43/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Hunger Games
FINAL RATING: 5/10
NEXT: The Intern

New Releases for the Week of September 18, 2015

MAZE RUNNER: THE SCORCH TRIALS

(20th Century Fox) Dylan O’Brien, Ki Hong Lee, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Patricia Clarkson, Jacob Lofland, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen. Directed by Wes Ball

In the sequel to the 2014 hit adaptation of a young adult sci-fi novel, the sequel takes the survivors of the Glade into a new environment; an underground post-apocalyptic world in which humanity has left the surface of the Earth which has become too dangerous to support life. However, what they thought was safety proves to be far more sinister as the WCKD corporation seems to have plans for them – plans that might be hazardous to their health. Before long, they are fleeing to the outside world, the Scorch where they discover that the truth isn’t what they thought it was.

See the trailer, clips, interviews and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard  (Opens Thursday)
Genre: Science Fiction
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for extended sequences of violence and action, some thematic elements, substance use and language)

Black Mass

(Warner Brothers) Johnny Depp, Joel Edgerton, Benedict Cumberbatch, Dakota Johnson. Irish mobster James “Whitey” Bulger held Boston in an iron grip during the 70s and 80s. One of the great crime bosses of modern times, he played both sides against the middle, reputedly an informer for the FBI – certainly he manipulated the bureau to his own advantage, while running amuck on the streets. The Jack Nicholson character in The Departed is based on him.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, a featurette and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard (Opens Thursday)
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R  (for brutal violence, language throughout, some sexual references and brief drug use)

Captive

(Paramount) Kate Mara, Mimi Rogers, Michael K. Williams, David Oyelowo. A young mother struggling with drug addiction is taken hostage in her own apartment by a desperate escaped convict, who murdered the judge assigned to his case. Using an inspirational self-help book as a guide, she helps find purpose not only for her own life, but also a more peaceful resolution for the convict. Based on the true story of Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols.

See the trailer, interviews and B-roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Faith-Based True Life Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic elements involving violence and substance abuse)

Everest

(Universal) Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, Keira Knightley. Mt. Everest has become a commercial goldmine as companies have sprung up offering to shepherd climbers to the summit. It’s no laughing matter as it is a dangerous venture to say the least, and on one day in 1996 two expeditions taking their clients to the top are hit with a massive storm, resulting in one of the deadliest days in the mountain’s history. For those who don’t live near a large format screen (i.e. IMAX etc.), don’t fret; the movie will hit  general release next week in both 3D and standard formats.

See the trailer, interviews, clips and B-Roll video here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard, 3D, IMAX 3D
Genre: True Life Thriller
Now Playing: Large Format Theaters
Rating: R (for language, violence and brief drug use)

Grandma

(Sony Classics) Lily Tomlin, Julia Garner, Marcia Gay Harden, Judy Greer. While recovering from the breakup with her girlfriend, Elle receives an unexpected visit from her granddaughter who needs $600 for an abortion. Unfortunately, Elle is temporarily broke so the two go to find the money among old friends, family and acquaintances, dislodging quite a few skeletons from quite a few closets in the process. Word is that Tomlin is an early favorite for this year’s Best Actress Oscar for this role.

See the trailer and clips here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Downtown Disney, Amstar Lake Mary, Enzian Theater, Epic Theaters of Clermont, Regal Oviedo Marketplace, Regal Pointe Orlando
Rating: R (for language and some drug use)

Katti Batti

(UTV) Imran Khan, Kangana Ranaut. One is an architect, who is stable and secure. The other, a free spirit who lives life to its fullest. Each one loves the other for those very same qualities. This Bollywood film follows their five year live-in relationship which isn’t all dancing and rose petals.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website.
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Bollywood
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks, Touchstar Southchase
Rating: NR