Wonder Park

Welcome to Jurassic – I mean, Wonder – Park.

(2019) Animated Feature (Paramount) Starring the voices of Brianna Denski, Jennifer Garner, Ken Hudson Campbell, Kenan Thompson, Mila Kunis, John Oliver, Ken Jeong, Norbert Leo Butz, Matthew Broderick, Sofia Mali, Oev Michael Urbas, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Kevin Chamberlin, Kath Soucie. Directed by Dylan Brown, Clare Kilner, Robert Iscove and David Feiss

A nice concept is torpedoed by weak execution in this troubled production that comes to us via Paramount’s subsidy Nickelodeon Films. June (Denski) is a wildly creative and smart 10-year-old who for years has along with her mother (Garner) worked on creating a fantastic theme park with improbable rides and stuffed animals come to life running the place. Then, mom gets a serious illness and has to go away for treatment, while Dad (Broderick) ships her off to math camp. Worried that her Dad won’t be able to fend for himself, June runs away from camp and finds in the surrounding woods an overgrown, derelict version of the park she and her mom created. The animals – now life-sized and able to talk – are trying to fend off a horde of zombie stuffed animal monkeys and a mysterious storm that threatens to destroy the park completely. June will need to find a way to prevent that.

The design of the park, with delightful Rube Goldberg-esque rides, is actually mesmerizing and the bright colors make for some serious eye candy. Unfortunately, the attempts to bring in serious subjects – in particular dealing with the potential loss of a parent – aren’t handled very well and end up being disconnected with the issues facing the park. Add to this one-dimensional characters who aren’t given a whole lot to do and you end up with a truly disappointing kid’s film that could have been so much more.

REASONS TO SEE: The design of the park itself is splendiferous.
REASONS TO AVOID: A cliché plot with no memorable characters to rescue it.
FAMILY VALUES There are some mild thematic elements that might be too much for the smaller set.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Brown was removed as director following accusations of sexual misconduct near the end of production. Although uncredited, Kilner, Iscove and Feiss oversaw the remainder of the production. None of the directors are given screen credit, something that the Directors Guild of America almost never allows.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, AMC On Demand, AppleTV, DirecTV, Google Play, Microsoft, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 12/28/2021: Rotten Tomatoes: 34% positive reviews; Metacritic: 45/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Neverending Story
FINAL RATING: 5/10
NEXT: Autumn Road

Boss Level

Reliving the future.

(2021) Action (Hulu) Frank Grillo, Mel Gibson, Naomi Watts, Will Sasso, Annabelle Wallis, Sheaun McKinney, Selina Lo, Michelle Yeoh, Ken Jeong, Meadow Williams, Mathilde Ollivier, Rio Grillo, Armida Lopez, Buster Reeves, Eric Etebari, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Rashad Evans, Joe Knezevich, Adam Simon, Rob Gronkowski, Melanie Kiran. Directed by Joe Carnahan

 

It goes without saying that an action movie should have thrilling action sequences. But it is equally important that an action movie be fun. So many of them take themselves so seriously that we end up wondering when Scorsese started making mindless action flicks. Well, he hasn’t yet but he might just approve of this one. Or, he might not. You be the judge.

Roy Pulver (F. Grillo) wakes up with a machete whistling towards his head. Being an ex-Delta Force commando who has a particular set of skills, he is able to dodge his would-be killer, and also avoid the chain gun being fired at his apartment from a hovering helicopter. As the final wreckage of his place becomes explosive (no damage deposit return for Roy), he leaps out into a passing dump truck, rolls gracefully into the street with his upswept coif neatly in place, and commandeers a sports car from a screaming, whining civilian and roars off, to be chased by a legion of assassins. Roy has no idea who wants him dead, or why. All he knows is that in the end, they kill him and always by 12:47pm. Then he wakes up and starts the whole process all over again.

Now, this concept has been used in a variety of genres with results that vary in quality. I have news for you, though – this one is better than most. It has an incredible cast, including Gibson as the well-meaning but out of his mind military-corporate bad guy (Gibson is getting a second career as a heavy after he self-sabotaged his A-list career as the kind of action hero that might well have had the lead heroic role in the movie had it been made in 1987), Watts as Roy’s scientist ex-wife who works for Gibson, Sasso as Gibson’s major-domo, Jeong as a wise-cracking bartender, Yeoh as a legendary sword master and so on. Roy is beset by a group of assassins each with their own gimmick, from the guy who looks suspiciously like him (whom he calls “Roy #2”) to a pair of Teutonic twins of African descent and grumpy disposition as well as a smug self-aggrandizing Asian swordswoman who announces her name every time she dispatches poor old Roy and confirming that she, in fact, is the one responsible for the carnage. She probably needs to talk to a legal expert.

If you think of this as an action-packed videogame, you will likely come as close as you’re going to in understanding what this movie is about. My advice is not to think too hard about it; best to just go with the flow and mow down baddies while your perfectly coifed hair remains uncannily in place. The movie plays a lot like a videogame (the title gives it away) and gamers will likely find this of slight interest but would probably prefer to play a game over seeing a movie. Gamers are natural-born control freaks, don’t you know?

As for the fun quotient, it’s through the roof. This isn’t meant to be taken too seriously; it moves at a pace equivalent to the chain gun fire that punctuates every morning in Roy’s apartment. You’re not really given a whole lot of time to think, although if you do you’re apt to get a headache so I would advise against it. It’s big, loud and dumb with a sick soundtrack that will keep your grin fixed as immovably in place as Grillo’s hair, and it requires no investment whatsoever other than the hour and a quarter of the movie’s compact running time. It’s a wise investment, though; action movies are rapidly morphing into big budget eye candy that requires the entire population of China to buy a ticket in order to almost break even at the box office. While there are some pretty nifty special effects (and Grillo’s hair is clearly either green screened, or a product of alien technology), it doesn’t appear they broke the bank with their budget and Grillo, it turns out, is a companionable action star who you will have no problem rooting for. If there are a few too many side quests (such as Roy trying to get to know his son, who isn’t aware that Roy is his dad – now that’s kind of messed up) it can be forgiven because Carnahan, already one of the best at action in the business, packs so much into it’s short running time you don’t begrudge a little padding. This one is worth getting a subscription to Hulu for all by itself and when you throw in the upcoming animated M.O.D.O.K. series with Patton Oswald waiting in the wings, you probably should seriously consider it.

REASONS TO SEE: Captures the charm of a side-scrolling shooter game. Frenetic and funny.
REASONS TO AVOID: As with most pictures with this gimmick, it does eventually start to get old.
FAMILY VALUES: There’s all sorts of violence and a fair amount of profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Roy’s son Joe is played by Frank Grillo’w real-life son Rio.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Hulu
CRITICAL MASS: As of 4/7/21: Rotten Tomatoes: 73% positive reviews; Metacritic: 56/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Edge of Tomorrow
FINAL RATING: 7.5/10
NEXT: Say Your Prayers

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween

Trick or treat!!

(2018) Family (Columbia) Wendi McLendon-Covey, Madison Iseman, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Caleel Harris, Ken Jeong, Jack Black, Chris Parnell, Bryce Cass, Peyton Wich, Shari Headley, Christian Finlayson, Matthew Jose Vasquez, Courtney Cummings, Jessi Goel, Drew Scheid, Taylor Siva, Sydney Bullock, Jason Looney, Kendrick Cross, Deja Dee. Directed by Ari Sandel

 

I always look askance at a young adult author whose book series is described as a “phenomenon.” The only audience more fickle than adults are kids. Phenomenons come and go with the regularity of Trump tweets.

In this sequel set in the universe of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, two young would-be entrepreneurs (and middle school students) Sonny (Taylor) and Sam (Harris) unexpectedly find an unfinished Stine manuscript in a creepy old house and free Slappy, the malevolent ventriloquist dummy (voiced by Mick Wingert) is brought to life. At first, all he wants is a family of his own, which makes Sonny’s big sister Sarah (Iseman) suspicious although their single mom Kathy (McLendon-Covey) is blissfully unaware that the dummy is sentient. When Slappy is ultimately refused, he decides to get himself some revenge – by using his magic to bring to life Stine-influenced Halloween decorations and turn the sleepy upstate New York own into perpetual Halloween.

The movie doesn’t compare favorably with the first one; although Black (as author R.L. Stine) is in the film, he doesn’t show up until the very end in what is a glorified cameo, although he does set up a Goosebumps 3 should Columbia elect to make one. A little more Black would have gone a long way, but to be fair he was busy making a competing film and was unable to participate fully in this one.

That leaves us with the kids to carry the film and quite frankly that’s not something they’re capable of quite yet. Their performances are inconsistent and frequently wooden. Still, the movie does okay thanks to some fairly nifty special effects and the character of Slappy who makes a delightful villain for the younger set.

REASONS TO SEE: Slappy makes an outstanding kidflick villain.
REASONS TO AVOID: A little bit too much like the first.
FAMILY VALUES: There are mildly scary sequences, rude humor, some light profanity, and images of monsters and creatures.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Jack Black and Madison Iseman were both in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle but unlike here, they didn’t share any screen time together.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, AMC On Demand, AppleTV, Fandango Now, Google Play, Microsoft, Movies Anywhere,  Netflix, Redbox, Vudu, YouTube.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 1/29/20: Rotten Tomatoes: 48% positive reviews: Metacritic: 53/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The House With a Clock In Its Walls
FINAL RATING: 5/10
NEXT: Afterward

Crazy Rich Asians

Love, Singaporean style.

(2018) Romantic Comedy (Warner Brothers) Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno, Chris Pang, Jimmy O. Yang, Ronny Chieng, Remy Hii, Nico Santos, Jing Lusi, Carmen Soo, Pierre Png, Fiona Xie, Victoria Loke, Janice Koh, Amy J. Cheng. Directed by Jon M. Chu

Fairy tales are powerful things. Doesn’t every little girl want to marry the prince and go riding off into the sunset together, preferably in the direction of a beautiful castle? Trust me, men have their fairy tales as well but we won’t get into those here.

Rachel Chu (Wu) is an economics professor at NYU and she’s been dating handsome Nick Young (Golding), a fellow academic, for more than a year. She’s headed to Singapore with him to attend his cousin (and best friend’s) wedding. When they get first class tickets on the airplane, she asks him how wealthy his family is. “We’re comfortable,” he says modestly. Yeah, they’re comfortable in the same way that Bill Gates is comfortable.

Nick’s mom (Yeoh), the imperious matriarch of the family, is none too pleased to see Rachel who even though her son is crazy about her is still nonetheless not even close to the kind of match that she had in mind for her son. Rachel will have to navigate the sometimes-treacherous waters of Nick’s family, aided by her college bestie Peik Lin (Awkwafina), if she is going to keep the man she loves.

America loves its rich folks and that helps the movie out a great deal. The fact that this is a largely Asian-American cast and crew is a big deal, and the movie gives us some insight into Chinese (primarily) culture and customs, and those are some of the more endearing moments of the film.

I can’t say enough about Constance Wu, one of the stars of Fresh Off the Boat. She has tons of charisma and likability; she has a big future ahead of her and not only as a romantic leading lady. She has the kind of presence that Awkwafina (who would break out this year in The Farewell) has, but with a touch more self-assuredness. Golding also has a ton of leading man appeal.

Although there are a few rom-com tropes here, they don’t necessarily get in the way of the enjoyment of this movie. After an over-profusion of the genre over the last 20 years, romantic comedies have fallen somewhat out of favor. With a fresh take on them as this one has and particularly after the kind of success it enjoyed (the highest box office for any romantic comedy in more than a decade), you can bet we’ll be seeing more of them in the near future. If they’re this good, I wouldn’t mind at all.

REASONS TO SEE: Constance Wu is a find. Culturally informative. Escapes most rom-com clichés.
REASONS TO AVOID: Sends some mixed messages about the institution of marriage.
FAMILY VALUES: There is some sexually suggestive content and a bit of profanity.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Netflix offered to produce the movie at a substantially larger budget, but producer Kevin Kwan felt that it was important to prove to the studios that Asian-American movies were commercially viable. Netflix ended up producing Always Be My Maybe instead.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, AppleTV, Fandango Now, Google Play, Microsoft,  Movies Anywhere, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 1/7/20: Rotten Tomatoes: 91% positive reviews: Metacritic: 74/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Pretty Woman
FINAL RATING: 8/10
NEXT: A.X.L.

New Releases for the Week of March 15, 2019

WONDER PARK

(Paramount) Starring the voices of Jennifer Garner, Matthew Broderick, John Oliver, Mila Kunis, Kenan Thompson, Ken Jeong, Brianna Denski. Directed by Josh Applebaum, Andrė Nemec and Robert Gordon

An imaginative young girl creates an entire theme park in her imagination. As she grows older, she puts her fantasy aside and moves on. Then one day while walking through the woods, she finds a theme park overgrown and falling apart – it’s the same one she imagined those years ago, complete with the characters she invented. Now in order to save it she’ll have to put her imagination into overdrive!

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

Birds of Passage

(The Orchard) Josė Acosta, Natalia Reyes, Carmiña Martinez, Jhon Naráez. During the rise of the Colombian cocaine cartels of the 1970s, an indigenous man gets caught up in drug trafficking despite the disapproval of the tribe matriarch. His pride and greed will plunge the tribe into a bloody war where the innocent will suffer along with the guilty.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Enzian Theater
Rating: NR

Captive State

(Focus) John Goodman, Vera Farmiga, D.B. Sweeney, Ashton Sanders. Following the occupation of the Earth by an alien invasion, the lives of those on both sides of the conflict – collaborators and rebels – are examined.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Sci-Fi Horror
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for Sci-Fi violence and action, some sexual content, brief language and drug material)

Climax

(A24) Sofia Boutella, Romain Guillermic, Souheila Yacoub, Kiddy Smile. On a wintry night a troupe of dancers rehearses in an abandoned school building. Following rehearsal, they decide to party through the night only to discover to their horror that the sangria they’ve been pounding down is laced with a potent psychotropic drug. Chaos descends into madness as the troupe is overtaken by lust and violence.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for disturbing content involving a combination of drug use, violent behavior and strong sexuality, and for language and some graphic nudity)

Five Feet Apart

(CBS) Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse, Moises Arias, Parminder Nagra. A teenage girl with cystic fibrosis falls in love with a fellow sufferer of the disease. However, the nature of their disease is that the two can’t even touch for fear of setting off potentially fatal complications. Yet another dying teen romance movie for the angst-driven.

See the trailer, clips, a promo and a video featurette here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Young Adult Romance
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements, language and suggestive material)

Let’s Live (Chaal Jeevi Laiye)

(Rising Star) Siddharth Randeria, Yash Soni, Aarohi Patel, Aruna Irani. A young man puts his life on the back burner while trying to build a business until his father is diagnosed with a potentially fatal disease. Wanting to fulfill one of his most precious wishes, he and his father go on a road trip where they meet a free-spirited backpacker who will ultimately bring the two men closer together.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks
Rating: PG-13 (for thematic elements, some suggestive comments, and brief language)

No Manches Frida 2

(Pantelion) Omar Chaparro, Martha Higareda, Aarón Diaz, Itati Cantoral. The sequel to the hit comedy starts with a wedding…almost. Chaos at the beach wedding forces Lucy to call of the nuptials to Zequi. To make matters worse the school where they both work is about to close its doors and needs the winnings from a beach tournament in order to continue to exist. To make matters worse the coach of the rival team is a former grade school crush of Lucy…who has turned into a hot hunk. Zequi will need to pull out all his ingenuity to beat his rivals, keep the school from shutting down and to win Lucy back.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Comedy
Now Playing: AMC Disney Springs, Epic Theaters at Lee Vista, Regal The Loop
Rating: R (for sexual content and teen drinking)

Ruben Brandt, Collector

(Sony Classics) Starring the voices of Iván Kamarás, Matt Devere, Henry Grant, Peter Linka. A famous psychotherapist is forced to steal great paintings in order to quell the nightmares in his head due to subliminal messaging he received as a child.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Animated Feature
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: R (for nude images and some violence)

To Dust

(Good Deed) Matthew Broderick, Geza Röhrig, Sammy Voit, Sarah Jes Austell. A cantor for an upstate New York Hassidic Jewish community is grieving over the untimely death of his wife from cancer. Tormented by nightmares of his wife’s decomposing body and looking for answers as to what happens to the body after death, he seeks out a biology professor to explain the process when his religion can’t.

See the trailer and video featurette here
For more on the movie this is the website
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: NR

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Faith, Hope & Love
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
Slipaway

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

Bruce!!!!
Combat Obscura
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
Yardie

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

Chimera Strain
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy
Pranam Kharledu
The Wedding Guest
Woman at War

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Patterns of Evidence: The Moses Controversy

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Birds of Passage
Captive State
To Dust
Wonder Park

Then Came You

Caught in the web of their own making – and a callous fate.

(2018) Dramedy (Shout! Factory) Asa Butterfield, Maisie Williams, Nina Dobrev, Ken Jeong, David Koechner, Tyler Hoechlin, Peyton List, Tituss Burgess, Sonya Walger, Margot Bingham, Colin Moss, Briana Venskus, Ron Simons, Angel Valle Jr., L. Steven Taylor, Francesca Noel, Ann Osmond, Ken Tsukada, Crystal Tweed, Terri Gittens, Ashlyn Alessi. Directed by Peter Hutchings

 

All good things must come to an end, including (and especially) life itself. However, knowing that you’re dying doesn’t mean that you have to stop living.

Calvin (Butterfield) is a college drop-out who is working as a baggage handler at a regional airport along with his Dad (Koechner) and big brother Frank (Hoechlin) whose wife (Walger) is about to have a baby. Although he vehemently denies it, Calvin is a bit of a hypochondriac, taking his own vitals hourly (his watch alarm reminding him to do so) and obsessively writing down his symptoms in a journal. Most of those by the way are pretty much in between his ears.

His frustrated doctor, wanting this healthy young man to get some perspective, sends him to a cancer support group where he meets Skye (Williams), a manic pixie dream girl from a long line of them, who reacts to being told her tumor is not responding to treatment by shrugging at her shattered parents “You win some, you lose some.” She’s the kind of girl who gives a goldfish as a gift to a friend, swimming happily in an IV bag.

She recognizes the depressed and introverted Calvin as a project she can take on and manages to convince him (overwhelming what few defenses he has) to help her achieve all the entries on her “To Die List,” which is essentially a bucket list with a cooler name. In doing so, she begins to coax Calvin out of his thick shell as he begins to learn how to really live, something he gave up on years earlier after a tragedy left his family shattered and his mom essentially catatonic. He even manages to work up the courage to ask out the girl he’s been crushing hard on, a lonely stewardess named Izzy (Dobrev) who, as Skye helpfully points out, is way out of his league. So is Skye for that matter but don’t tell her I told you that.

Izzy gets the mistaken impression that Calvin is the one with terminal cancer and neither Skye nor Calvin are disposed to setting her straight which from the moment she confides to Calvin that she broke up with her last boyfriend because he was untruthful to her tells you all you need to know about where this relationship is going. As for Skye, she’s going somewhere herself but will she able to get all the things on her list done before she sets sail for the shores of the undiscovered country?

Dying teens have been a staple of music and movies since people figured out that teens could die and it was a tragic thing when they did. There have been plenty of dying teen movies – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl for example – and while they usually don’t make for extraordinary box office, they are generally inexpensive to make and can pull a tidy profit when done right. They almost have to since they are not generally fodder for sequels if you catch my drift.

Butterfield is a handsome devil with big soulful eyes in a puppy dog sense. He has been around the block a few times but has never really demonstrated the screen presence to be a big star. Still, his performance here feels a bit more authentic than that of Williams, the Game of Thrones star whose bonhomie seems a bit forced in places. Still, she manages to be more unforgettable than her bland co-star and ends up carrying the movie for the most part even though this is ostensibly Calvin’s story.

Dobrev who has done the manic pixie dream girl role herself a time or two is the most authentic of the three leads even though she isn’t given a ton to work with. It’s hard to figure out what she sees in Calvin other than sympathy for his mistakenly perceived plight although by the movie’s end we see that there might be more to it than meets the eye initially. Koechner and Jeong, two comedy pros, have some surprising moments of pathos during the course of the film and show off their versatility in doing so.

The soundtrack is decent enough and the filmmakers show off their taste in music during several montages which are almost de rigueur for a film like this. The issue is the filmmakers are almost trying too hard to set the mood both light and dark and resort to familiar clichés in order to get their points across. This is going to seem depressingly familiar to those who have seen a few of these kinds of movies up to now.

Still, their heart is in the right place and to the credit of the filmmakers the movie gets better as it goes along. In the first twenty minutes, I was thoroughly prepared to despise this movie but it is rescued particularly in the last third by strong performances by Dobrev, Koechner and Jeong (and to a lesser degree, Butterfield) and a memorable take on things by Williams whose Skye may be an amalgam of other MPDGs but Williams has the presence to pull it off pretty well. This isn’t going to replace your favorite tearjerker but it does make a decent substitute to listening to a Morrissey record or whatever angst-ridden pop star has the attention of young people this week.

REASONS TO GO: The quality picks up towards the end.
REASONS TO STAY: The filmmakers try a bit too hard.
FAMILY VALUES: There is profanity, some sexual content and plenty of adult thematic content.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Much of the movie was filmed in upstate New York in the Capital District; the airport scenes were mainly filmed at Albany International Airport.
BEYOND THE THEATERS: Amazon, Fandango Now, Google Play, iTunes, Microsoft, Vudu, YouTube
CRITICAL MASS: As of 2/4/19: Rotten Tomatoes: 55% positive reviews. Metacritic: 43/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Fault in Our Stars
FINAL RATING: 5/10
NEXT: Cold War

New Releases for the Week of October 12, 2018

FIRST MAN

(Universal) Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Pablo Schreiber, Christopher Abbott, Ethan Embry, Ciarán Hinds, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll. Directed by Damien Chazelle

Neil Armstrong remains an iconic name when it comes to human achievement. This is his story in the days leading up to one small step for a man – one giant leap for mankind.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, video featurettes and B-roll video here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard, D-BOX, Dolby, IMAX, XD, RPX
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for some thematic content involving peril, and brief strong language)

Bad Times at the El Royale

(20^th Century Fox) Jeff Bridges, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth. One dark night a group of seven strangers with checkered pasts intersect at the rundown El Royale Hotel on the state line in Lake Tahoe. What they don’t know is that this might be their last chance at redemption before everything goes to hell.

See the trailer, clips, interviews, a video featurette and B-roll video here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Action
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: R (for strong violence, language, some drug content and brief nudity)

Collette

(Bleecker Street) Keira Knightley, Eleanor Tomlinson, Fiona Shaw, Dominic West. Born in rural France, Collette marries a charming literary impresario 14 years her senior who urges her to write. He ends up taking credit for her work, sparking the fiery author to take control of her life and her works. She would become an inspiration to writers, feminists and France in her own right.

See the trailer, clips and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Biographical Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC Lake Square, Cinemark Artegon Marketplace, Cobb Daytona Luxury, Old Mill Playhouse
Rating: R (for some sexuality/nudity)

Free Solo

(National Geographic) Alex Honnold, Jimmy Chin, Tommy Caldwell, Sanni McCandless. Alex Honnold became the first man to scale Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes or safety equipment. This documentary shows you what a big deal that really is.

See the trailer and a video featurette here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Documentary
Now Playing: Enzian Theater, Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: NR

Goosebumps: Haunted Halloween

(Columbia) Wendi McLendon-Covey, Ken Jeong, Jack Black, Madison Iseman. Two young boys enter a deserted house where they find a hidden book that brings the monsters of R.L. Stine to life. Does this at all sound familiar?

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard, D-BOX
Genre: Family Horror
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG (for scary creature action and images, some thematic elements, rude humor and language)

Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer

(GVN) Dean Cain, Sarah Jane Morris, Nick Searcy, Earl Billings. The conservative viewpoiint on the actions of a Philadelphia abortion physician.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, Regal Ormond Beach, Regal Oviedo Mall, Regal The Loop, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic content including disturbing images and descriptions)

The Hate U Give

(20^th Century Fox) Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby, Anthony Mackie. An African-American girl with her feet in two worlds witnesses the shooting of her childhood best friend by a white police officer. Pressured on all sides, she must find her own voice and stand up for what is right.

See the trailer and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC West Oaks, Regal Waterford Lakes, Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: PG-13 (for mature thematic elements, some violent content, drug material and language)

Kinky

(Patriot) Vivica A. Fox, Robert Ri’chard, Obba Babatundé, Jazsmin Lewis. A shy Atlanta surgeon gets set up for a date with a billionaire who urges her to explore her sexuality. Soon she finds herself trying to balance work, faith, desire and submission.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Erotic Drama
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC West Oaks, Cinemark Artegon Springs, Cinemark Universal Citywalk, Regal Oviedo Mall
Rating: R (for strong sexual content and some language)

Summer ‘03

(Blue Fox) Joey King, Andrea Savage, June Squibb, Paul Scheer. The world of a 16-year-old girl and her extended family is turned topsy turvy when her grandmother on her deathbed reveals some long hidden secrets about the family.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Dramedy
Now Playing: Regal Waterford Lakes
Rating: NR

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

22 Chaser
Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava
Black 47
Helicopter Eela
The Samuel Project

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

22 July
All About Nina
Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava
Bigger
Helicopter Eela
Look Away
Lost, Found
The Old Man and the Gun
The Samuel Project
School of Life
Theevandi
Trouble
Veera Raghava

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

All About Nina
All Square
Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava
Better Start Running
Bigger
Black 47
Laws of the Universe, Vol. 1
Look Away

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

All About Nina
Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava
Lamboo Rastoo
The Samuel Project

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

22 July
All About Nina
Bad Times at the El Royale
Collette
First Man
Free Solo
The Hate U Give
The Samuel Project

New Releases for the Week of August 17, 2018

CRAZY RICH ASIANS

(Warner Brothers) Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Michelle Yeoh, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Harry Shum Jr., Ken Jeong, Sonoya Mizuno. Directed by Jon M. Chu

A native New Yorker of Asian descent falls in love with a young man from Singapore. As things are starting to get serious between them, she is invited to meet his family and it turns out that they’re crazy wealthy – not to mention just plain crazy. This romantic comedy has been getting strong reviews which is unusual for any rom-com.

See the trailer, interviews and video featurettes here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Now Playing: Wide Release (opened on Wednesday)
Rating: PG -13 (for some suggestive content and language)

1945

(Menemsha) Peter Rudolph, Bence Tasnádi, Tomás Szabó Kimmel, Dóra Sztarenki. As a small Hungarian village prepares for the wedding of the son of the town clerk one morning in August 1945, two mysterious strangers in black show up at the railway station, starting a chain reaction as the town is brought short to face the actions of the War.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village
Rating: NR

Alpha

(Columbia) Kodi Smit-McPhee, Natassia Malthe, Leonor Varela, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhanneson. In the Ice Age, a young hunter is injured. Left to die, he helps an injured wolf. The two face a harsh world as allies as he struggles to reach home before winter.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard, 3D, IMAX 3D
Genre: Adventure
Now Playing: Wide Release
Rating: PG-13 (for some intense peril)

Gold

(ZEE) Akshay Kumar, Mouni Roy, Kunal Kapoor, Amit Sadh. In 1948 India was a newly minted country, released from colonial status from the British empire. They were participating in their first Olympic Games as an independent nation. Their field hockey team was set to take on the British team. They were not expected to win. You can imagine what happened next.

See the trailer here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: True Sports Drama
Now Playing: AMC West Oaks
Rating: NR

The Little Mermaid

(Freestyle) Poppy Drayton, Shirley MacLaine, William Moseley, Gina Gershon. Loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen fable, a young reporter and his niece discover a beautiful girl that they suspect might be the real Little Mermaid.

See the trailer here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Fantasy
Now Playing: AMC Altamonte Mall, AMC Disney Springs, AMC Universal Cineplex
Rating: PG (for action)

Mile 22

(STX) Mark Wahlberg, Lauren Cohan, Iko Uwais, John Malkovich. A police officer with sensitive information needs to be smuggled out of his native country. Assigned to the job is an American intelligence officer and his elite tactical squad. However, in order to make the rendezvous at Mile Marker 22 he is going to have to run a gauntlet of those who want the cop silenced – and they seem to know every move he makes before he makes it. This is another collaboration between Wahlberg and director Peter Berg.

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

Puzzle

(Sony Classics) Kelly Macdonald, Irrfan Khan, David Denman, Helen Piper Coxe. A suburban housewife, taken for granted by her family, develops a passion for solving jigsaw puzzles. She impulsively enters a jigsaw competition and finds herself immersed in a whole new world she could never have imagined.

See the trailer and a video featurette here.
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Drama
Now Playing: Regal Winter Park Village, Rialto Spanish Springs Square
Rating: R (for language)

Summer of ‘84

(Gunpowder & Sky) Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis, Caleb Emery, Tiera Skovye. A group of suburban teens suspect that the neighborhood cop might be the serial killer who has been plaguing their town. They spend the summer keeping an eye on him and looking for evidence. But the closer they come to discovering the truth, the more dangerous things get. This Florida Film Festival favorite has been compared to Stranger Things.

See the trailer and a clip here
For more on the movie this is the website
Release Formats: Standard
Genre: Horror
Now Playing: Enzian Theater (Friday and Saturday midnight shows only)
Rating: NR

ALSO OPENING IN ORLANDO/DAYTONA:

Benched (Rounding Third)
Geetha Govindam
Kolamavu Kokila
Koode

ALSO OPENING IN MIAMI/FT. LAUDERDALE:

Billionaire Boys Club
Geetha Govindam
The Good Life
Koode
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Puppetmaster: The Littlest Reich

ALSO OPENING IN TAMPA/ST. PETERSBURG:

Billionaire Boys Club
Down a Dark Hall
Geetha Govindam
The King
Koode
McQueen
Running for Grace
The Spy Gone North

ALSO OPENING IN JACKSONVILLE/ST. AUGUSTINE:

Geetha Govindam
Kolamavu Kokila

SCHEDULED FOR REVIEW:

Alpha
Crazy Rich Asians
The Little Mermaid
Mile 22
Summer of ‘84

Knocked Up

The odd couple.

(2007) Romantic Comedy (Universal) Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Martin Starr, Charlyne Yi, Iris Apatow, Maude Apatow, Joanna Kerns, Harold Ramis, Alan Tudyk, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Ken Jeong, Craig Robinson, Tim Bagley, Loudon Wainwright, Adam Scott, Mo Collins. Directed by Judd Apatow

What says I love you more than having a baby together? Well, that isn’t always the case – sometimes babies are made of bad choices, accidents of chance and/or alcohol. Or sometimes all of the above. Nonetheless, the baby doesn’t know the difference and getting someone knocked up is only the beginning.

Ben Stone (Rogen) is a Canadian slacker living in L.A. whose idea of entrepreneurship is setting up a website that collates all the nude scenes for every actress in every major Hollywood film. An idea whose time has come? No, it’s an idea whose time has been but don’t tell Ben and his stoner roommates that. Ben is slovenly, jovial and pot-addled but basically a nice guy.

Alison Scott (Heigl) is beautiful, poised and talented; she has just hit a career jackpot by getting an anchor job on a major cable network. She goes out to celebrate but meets up with Ben and somehow the two hit it off and end up in her bedroom. The morning after is awkward but cordial; Alison can’t wait for her over-the-two-drink-minimum mistake to go home while Ben knows he has managed to tap way beyond his league and kind of wants to see where it goes. Alison makes it clear it’s going nowhere.

But that’s not going to happen. In the festivities of carnal relations, Ben rang her bell and she’s pregnant. Although she is advised to get an abortion, Alison doesn’t want to do that. She decides to bring the baby to term and so she tells Ben what’s happening.

 

At first Ben is a little bit terrified, then he throws himself into impending fatherhood with as much enthusiasm as he can muster, which is considerable. Perpetually broke, he leans on Alison for expenses which doesn’t sit too well with her. As they get to know each other, they realize how wrong for each other they truly are but Ben perseveres out of a sense of responsibility.

Alison, who lives with her married sister Debbie (Mann) and Debbie’s affable husband Pete (Rudd) whose own marriage has its ups and downs, is scared of what’s going to happen to her and her baby, and frightened at the prospect of raising a child alone. However, when Ben gets to be too much for her, she realizes she may have to do just that.

This in many ways was Apatow’s break-out movie; sure The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a hit but this was a HIT and kind of set up the Apatow brand which would rule cinematic comedy for the last half of the decade and on into this one. It has a cast that includes some of the funniest people in the business, from SNL to Second City to stand-up stars to TV comedy stars and even a few straight non-comic actors.

What really impresses me about this comedy is that when you separate the laughs, the drug jokes, the dick jokes and the crude humor, there really is some intelligence here. Gender roles are looked at with a fairly unflinching microscope and the way men and women tend to interact also merits examination. So often the sexes tend to talk at cross-purposes, neither understanding the meaning of what we each have to say. Knocked Up finds the humor in the disconnect, but there’s a serious message behind the laughter.

What doesn’t impress is that the movie tends to take the low road at nearly every turn. I don’t mind raunchy humor or low comedy at all but sometimes it feels like the intent here is to shock rather than amuse. How funny is it really to be taking a dump on your roommate’s bed to give them pink eye? That’s when it starts to veer off in little boy humor and that wears damn thin quickly. Also the last third is a tad cliché and the ending more than a tad pat.

Thankfully, there are some major talents in the cast and for the most part the players take their roles seriously and give some pretty decent performances. For Rogen and Heigl, this established them as legitimate movie stars and launched their careers, while Rudd, Hader, Segel, Hill and Mann also garnered plenty of notice on the way to making their careers much more viable. It’s hard to imagine what the modern comedy landscape circa 2016 would look like without Apatow’s films.

This is in many ways a landmark film and in many ways it is an ordinary film. There are those who say it is too raunchy to be romantic, but what is romance without a little raunch? There is actually a surprising amount of true romance here, more so than in other films that are much more serious about the romance in their comedy. This may occasionally go into the gutter for its humor, but it is a much smarter film than most give it credit for.

WHY RENT THIS: Takes a surprisingly mature look at sexual expectations and gender roles. Fine performances by a standout cast.
WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Overdoes the raunch. Runs a smidgen too long.
FAMILY VALUES: There is plenty of drug use, some sexuality and quite a bit of foul language and innuendo.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: Originally footage from a live birth was going to be used, but that plan was scrapped when it turned out a work permit would have to be obtained for the unborn child.
NOTABLE HOME VIDEO EXTRAS: The traditional Apatow extra Line-o-Rama is here, as well as a gag reel. There is also outtake footage of the children on the set, as well as scenes of Rogen that he did for some inexplicable reason without a shirt. The Blu-Ray has additional comic features including a fake casting doc on the part of Ben Stone, as well as the “sixth” roommate who decided to bail on this movie to do the latest Woody Allen film. Not exactly priceless, but certainly different than what you usually find on the average home video release. Also please note that this is available in most places in both the theatrical version and uncut version.
BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $219.1M on a $30M production budget.
SITES TO SEE: Netflix (DVD/Blu-Ray Rental only), Amazon (unrated), iTunes, Vudu, Google Play, M-Go
COMPARISON SHOPPING: This is 40
FINAL RATING: 6.5/10
NEXT: Synchronicity

Ride Along 2

Kevin Hart begs the critics to stop writing mean things about his movies.

(2016) Comedy (Universal) Kevin Hart, Ice Cube, Olivia Munn, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Bratt, Tika Sumpter, Bruce McGill, Michael Rose, Sherri Shepherd, Arturo del Puerto, Eric Goins, Carlos Gomez, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Glen Powell, Nadine Velazquez, Bresha Webb, Jessica Blalick, Michelle Pieroway, Shelby Courtney, James Martin Kelly, Robert Pralgo, Tyrese Gibson, Liz Godwin. Directed by Tim Story

There are times as a critic that you simply have to understand that there are movies that aren’t meant for you. Their success is completely independent of what you think and quite frankly, you’re a pretty superfluous cog in the process. You also have to understand that just because you don’t find something funny doesn’t mean that others don’t as well.

Kevin Hart is a comedic actor who laughs all the way to the bank. His movies are essentially critic-proof; while he’s never gotten reviews above the lukewarm level, his movies time after time are hits. Does that say something about America’s sense of humor? Probably. It just as likely says something about critics’ understanding of filmgoers.

In this buddy cop sequel, Hart plays Ben Bishop, now a rookie cop having graduated from the academy he hadn’t entered yet two years ago for the first Ride Along. During a stake out, despite having been told by his soon-to-be brother-in-law James Payton (Cube) who is an accomplished and let’s just say badass detective, to stay in the van, he almost ruins a drug bust by coming in and interfering at exactly the wrong moment, ending up getting Payton’s partner (Gibson) shot.

However the incident unearths facts that lead James to Miami where a prominent businessman (Bratt) turns out to be a vicious drug lord looking to set up a superhighway of illegal material through the Southeast. Even though he’s marrying James’ sister (Sumpter) in a week, Ben begs James to let him tag along – which finally and inexplicably James allows him to.

Along with a cute Miami detective (Munn) and a greedy womanizing hacker (Jeong), the two misfit cops make their way through Miami like bulls in a china shop. Ben causes havoc wherever he goes until accidentally stumbling onto clues that lead the more serious James closer to getting his man, if the man doesn’t get them first.

One thing that can be said about Ride Along 2 is that it has already made history; it will forever be remembered as the movie that stopped Star Wars: The Force Awakens box office run as weekend champion. Pretty much though, that’s all the history it’s going to make. Kevin Hart has tons and tons of screen presence. He can also be a really funny guy when given the right material to work with. Most of the jokes here are fairly tired although there were a few good laughs in and among the bunch.

He has some pretty decent support. Ice Cube has become a solid actor and while he hasn’t displayed a ton of range yet, he does what he does really well. Munn has a huge amount of talent; she’s been impressive in virtually everything I’ve seen her in. However, she’s awaiting – and still awaits – that right role that will put her over the top.

So why doesn’t this movie work as well as it might? Well, the writing is the big culprit. The plot doesn’t seem to have been given a whole lot of thought and that would be okay if there were the jokes to cover for it but that is simply not the case. I will grant you that my sense of humor may be a lot different than most people’s but at the crowded screening I attended, I didn’t hear a ton of laughter. The action sequences are pretty rote, and there’s a touch too much mugging and not enough acting. The appeal of Hart is undeniable but sometimes a little Hart goes a long way.

At the end of the day, this falls under the “pleasant but not memorable” category. It’s entertaining enough that you can pass the time with it nicely, but it isn’t a showstopper that you’ll come back to again and again. The critics have been unduly harsh for the most part; it’s way too inoffensive to be worth the vitriol. Think of this as a sitcom that has a decent run for a couple of seasons but after that is canceled and is essentially forgotten; people don’t even binge watch it afterwards except if they’d never seen it before. It’s not essential viewing, but it’s viewing.

REASONS TO GO: Kevin Hart leads a solid cast. Occasionally funny.
REASONS TO STAY: Not funny often enough. Ludicrous plot.
FAMILY VALUES: A fair amount of police action violence, a bit of rough language, some sexuality and drug references.
TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The second film starring Ice Cube to be set in Miami; the first was All about the Benjamins.
CRITICAL MASS: As of 1/19/16: Rotten Tomatoes: 13% positive reviews. Metacritic: 32/100.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: The Other Guys
FINAL RATING: 6/10
NEXT: The Revenant