MINIONS (2015)

Man, I love these little hellraisers; could only imagine the trouble they'd get into with their own film.  Sure enough, Minions begins chronicling the origins of these yellow buggers - from earth's beginnings, going up to 1968 New York City - and how, with each new evil master they come to serve, their over-anxious efforts to please cause said master serious trouble.  Finally making their home in an ice cave, minions Kevin, Bob and Stuart decide to break from the pack and seek out a new evil master to serve ... which they find in NYC via Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock), whose new plan involves stealing the Queen of England's crown.  But things don't go off as planned (naturally), and indeed Bob ends up King of England - a plot twist even Overkill hadn't foreseen.  While the film is really funny and completely alive whenever minions are on-screen, somehow it left me feeling a bit let down (Scarlet is a pretty weak villain, as well).  Like it could have been so much more - packed so much more an "oomph" than it did - even though the ending tied things up sweetly. (rated PG)  B

MR. HOLMES (2015)

Wasn't sure about this one, upon seeing the trailer (it seemed a huge downer of a film), but my love for both Sherlock Holmes and Ian McKellen pulled me in ... to what ended up being a moving, ,beautifully-acted drama, set in 1947, about a retired Sherlock Holmes, living in the countryside of Sussex with his housekeeper and her young son, who thirty years after it happened still reels from the effects of his last case - even as his failing memory refuses to allow him to remember why.  McKellen is incredible, the film leaping back and forth in time even as, in present day, Holmes forms a friendship with Roger, his housekeeper's young son (Milo Parker), who may be the key to helping him remember.  Simple, elegant, and quite moving, thanks to McKellen's understated performance and a remarkable cast, Mr. Holmes was a surprise - and a worthy addition to the Holmes canon that depicts the character in an entirely real, wonderfully vulnerable new light. (rated PG)  A-

TALES OF HALLOWEEN (2015)

When you compact ten short films about Halloween into just over an hour and a half's running time, you can expect the films themselves to be hit and miss.  That said, Tales of Halloween, from the beginning, felt like putting on your favorite set of pajamas and watching episodes of "Creepshow" or "Tales from the Darkside" as a kid - though with the gore factor ratcheted up.  Ghosts, ghouls, the devil, serial killers, witches, evil children, vengeful demons, and wonderful cameos from Lombardo Boyar to Barry Bostwick, Greg Grunberg (in full Big Ass Spider! uniform) to Sam Witwer, Booboo Stewart to John Landis, Lin Shaye to the late, great Ben Woolf to some sexy-wicked narration by Adrienne Barbeau, even with a few clunkers there is just something wonderful about the whole package of evil little short films here, it all feels somehow both nostalgic yet fresh at the same time.  So much so, am kind of hoping they'll produce another next Halloween. (rated R)  B+

THEY MET IN BOMBAY (1941)

Gerald Meldrick (Clark Gable) is a long-term professional jewel thief at the height of his career when he arrives in India, posing as an insurance inspector with Lloyd's of London as he prepares to steal a priceless necklace.  What he doesn't count on is a baroness staying in the same hotel, whose real name is Anya Von Duren (Rosalind Russell), a con artist who manages to get her hands on the necklace first.  When Gerald finesses the necklace from Anya, in the guise of a cop, she goes after him - and the two end up running from the authorities together, buying passage on a Chinese steamer, on the way to Hong Kong, led by Captain Chang (Peter Lorre) ... on the eve of Japan's invasion of China.  Light romantic comedy made worth watching by its cast, otherwise a stock story with no surprises, even though Gable and Russell make it fun. (not rated)  B-

INSIDE OUT (2015)

Of all the positive adjectives you could ever use to describe a Pixar film - and there are many, as their best films hold up both over time and to any live-action film ever made - the one I never considered was profound.  But that word best describes what I took away from Inside Out, a near-perfect film about a tween named Riley, relocating with her parents from Minnesota to San Francisco, who literally finds her inner emotions - Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust - in turmoil when Joy and Sadness are accidentally thrust from Headquarters and into the deep recesses of Riley's conflicted mind ... where, in their absence, things begin to go wrong.  Mixing laughs and tears in equally potent measure, kids will love Inside Out ... but it's the adults who will "get" the on-target way the film captures humanity/the human psyche in all its imperfections and glory.  It's hard to express the beauty, originality, and depth of this brilliant film in such a short, no-spoiler space, except to say it simply: SEE THIS MOVIE. (rated PG)  A+

THE VISIT (2015)

The Visit is the story of teenager Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her young brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould), who have never met their estranged grandparents as their widowed mom (Kathryn Hahn) moved out of her house in anger long before they were born, over wanting to marry their father.  But the grandparents have reached out online to their only daughter, who begrudgingly puts her kids on a train to the country for a week, at the kids' insistence (especially Becca, who's filming a documentary about their family), to meet their grandparents.  But Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie) prove not only a bit eccentric, but downright disturbing as they soon grow emotionally violent.  Disappointment awaits those expecting a horror movie; The Visit is actually a suspense drama, with a surprise twist you don't see coming ... though the twist itself isn't all that huge a reveal.  But even with a weak ending, it's a good thriller worth seeing - and, hopefully, a sign (no pun intended) that Shyamalan is back on track. (rated PG-13)  B

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - ROGUE NATION (2015)

After really disliking Ghost Protocol I was a bit afraid to watch this latest entry in the Mission: Impossible series - but from the ridiculous to the sublime, over two hours later was thrilled to find the series back to its old form, as well as the old format of the beloved TV series I grew up with.  Here, yet again disgraced, Ethan Hunt is on the lam from is own government, while trying to shut down The Syndicate, an anti-IMF force bent on causing chaos and destruction instead of averting it.  Unable to go it wholly alone, Ethan eventually has to bring in his own team in, undercover, all while averting the new CIA director out to get him ... a rogue lady assassin who may or may not be British intelligence ... and the heartless Solomon Kane (Sean Harris) himself, who is set on Hunt's destruction.  Suspenseful, fun, with great action sequences, set pieces, and one way-cool ending, Rogue Nation was a fabulous ride, blissfully ever-mindful of fanboys like me who still hold the original series in our hearts. (rated PG-13)  A

TERMINATOR GENISYS (2015)

The rather convoluted storyline of the latest in the Terminator franchise involves John Connor (Jason Clarke) yet again sending his friend/second-in-command Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor (Emilia Clarke) - when an event Kyle witnesses, just as he's leaving the future, seems to incite a fracture in timelines that has Reese showing up in a new 1984, where the good Terminator (Schwarzenegger) has already been protecting Sarah for the years, the two of them working on a long-term plan stop the machines from taking over.  This is an incredibly lame, confusing and wasted effort to milk the franchise, with a woefully-miscast Courtney (one of my favorite actors) unbelievable from scene one, and one of the industry's best actors, Byung-hun Lee, wholly wasted in a stupid homage to the liquid-metal man Terminator just so producers can tie the first three films with this one.  A weak ending setting up yet another sequel doesn't help, but simply makes viewers realize that as long as they keep screwing with the timelines, this series - long in need of termination - could go on forever. (PG-13)  D

ENGLISH WITHOUT TEARS (1944)

English Without Tears (aka Her Man Gilbey) is a quirky British wartime romantic comedy starring Margaret Rutherford (the main reason I wanted to see this film) as Lady Christabel Beauclark, an eccentric bird lover who travels Europe fighting for the territorial rights of endangered British birds, even as her young niece Penny (Joan Heseltine) grows to fall in love with the family butler, Gilbey (Michael Wilding, always terrific in whatever he is in).  At last professing her love, Penny is rejected by the older family servant - just as war breaks out and a stint in the service allows Gilbey to see Penny in a new light even as she moves on to teaching English to a rather eccentric group of foreign soldiers taking refuge in England.  "Eccentric" is the best word to describe this comedy, which doesn't fully work if you engage your brain too much - but is sweet, fun, and funny if you simply watch to enjoy yourself (Note: the link below is for the FULL FILM, not just a trailer). (not rated)  B-

BLOODSUCKING BASTARDS (2015)

Mixing comedy and horror is always difficult to do well.  An office comedy where vampires take over, starring Fran Kranz (whom I am a fan of), seemed like it had potential, and Bloodsucking Bastards plays nicely off Kranz's character of Evan, a poor schmoo of an acting manager in a telemarketing office who lets his buddies/co-workers slack all day and just blew a good potential relationship with Amanda (Emma Fitzpatrick) in HR.  But worse is to come when Evan's boss passes him over for promotion to instead hire Evan's old college rival, Max (Pedro Pascal) - and Evan quickly, very graphically and bloodily soon realizes Max's management style is to turn the whole office into vampires.  The action and gore are fun and fast-paced, the ending nicely violent without assaulting the senses, but while a good cast gives it their best, some of the characters are just annoying and the film never quite gets off the ground as a comedy.  Average, worth seeing, but could have been better. (not rated)  C+

HELLO GHOST (2010)

Marketed as a screwball comedy, Hello Ghost follows the downtrodden Sang-man (an amazing Tae-hyun Cha), a most unhappy man determined to kill himself - who, after his most recent attempt, finds himself with the ability to see ghosts.  Several entities, in fact (a portly smoker, a lustful older man, a woman who can't stop crying, and a precocious little boy), have literally attached themselves to Sang-man, and his only hope to send them to the other side is to make good on their final earthly wishes.  Mayhem ensues, as each ghost takes it upon himself or herself to possess Sang-man's body at will, leading to multiple misunderstandings and Sang-man's meeting a pretty hospice nurse he finds himself attracted to, even as she thinks he's a bit nuts.  As with many Korean films, Hello Ghost turns in its last third from oddball comedy into one of the most poignant, tears-inducing, loveliest films this reviewer has seen in some time.  Truly lovely, so much so I wish everyone could see this film. (not rated)  A