SUICIDE SQUAD (EXTENDED CUT)

(2016) When a film gets as much marketing, over-hype and exposure as Suicide Squad did in the months - not weeks, but months - prior to release, it's usually a good sign the film may not be that great.  Which is why (along with the casting of Jared Leto, which I felt - along with the film's entire concept of Joker - stank) I didn't rush to see it.  The Extended Cut is only 11 minutes longer, purportedly giving Joker a better back-story for his actions than the theatrical release, but the film still suffers from a lack of focus - and sorry, but yeah Leto was just an awful, awful casting choice.  Worse choice still: relegating Joker to a minor character that feels like he's only inserted into the film to upgrade audience interest.  Boo.  Beyond that, the film's plot is a cinch: Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) is tasked with heading a secret government organization to fight crime, and her brilliant idea is to do so by creating a team made up of some of the biggest criminally-insane loons to ever be incarcerated; a "suicide squad" if you will, to send into the heart of the fray, because if they're all killed trying to defeat the even nastier bad guys who the heck will care?  Things don't go as planned (do they ever?), but in the meantime there are some good laughs and dark humor, mostly via Will Smith as Deadshot and a particularly giddy Margot Robbie, who channels Harley Quinn to perfection.  The film itself, though, is strictly standard in plot and execution, offering nothing knew while meandering all over the place.  Oh yeah, and the subplot of Joker trying to break Harley out and/or rescuing her from the team is, in the end, a fairly big yawn.  The finale is pretty cool, once we get there, but overall what seems like it could have been so much more never quite makes it there.  (PG-13) 6.5/10 stars

MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

(2016) Another case of "got the book, but saw the film first," Miss Peregrine's starts off with Florida teen Jake (Asa Butterfield) rushing to the home of his grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp), who suffers from dementia and claims to be under attack in his home.  Arriving in time only to find his grandfather in the woods out behind the house, eyes missing and a cryptic whisper his only goodbye before dying, after a period of mourning Jake's therapist advises a trip to Wales - the sight of many of Abe's wild, lifelong stories that have affected Jake as a teen - and instead of finding peace in the fact his grandfather was simply a mentally-ill old man, Jake discovers an alternate world where the beautiful, shape-shifting Miss Peregrine (the oh-SO-consistently-underrated Eva Green) cares for and protects a houseful of children with very different talents or oddities, in a world where time is frozen to the span of one day ... and enemies who are out to get the children are each day growing closer.  With Tim Burton directing the film is both charmingly quirky and super-gorgeous to look at, the various abilities of the kids showcased beautifully with a talented young cast (this is, perhaps, also the 3,899th film Samuel L.Jackson has been in lately) - but Asa Butterfield has always left me cold on-screen, I've never found him particularly believable or likable an actor, and to me his presence here is the one "chilly" element of the entire film.  There is a lot going for Miss Peregrine and her kids, I just wish it - like Jake - had engaged me emotionally just a tad more.  (rated PG-13) 8/10 stars

THE WITCH

(2015) Set in 1630's New England, The Witch opens with the devoutly-Christian family of William and Katherine and their four children (Katherine pregnant with the fifth) being excommunicated from their community, evidently through some conflict with the church's Puritan beliefs.  Finding their own plot of land near a large, dense patch of woods, the family builds a home and life, Katherine giving birth to her third son ... but when the infant goes missing while in the care of eldest daughter Thomasin (an impressive Anya Taylor-Joy), the viewer is "treated" to a glimpse of the very dark presence living in the neighboring woods, and why the baby was taken.  This incident sparks a turn of very bad luck for the family, including failing crops and suspicion of Thomasin being possessed or practicing witchery ... and in fact by far the film's greatest strength is the intense, foreboding paranoia of those times regarding demonic possession and witchcraft.  The film feels 100% authentic, the 17th-century language and costumes ... the film's stark, colorless wilderness as the family begins to unravel/turn against each other building up tension in a slow-burn way that may not appeal to modern-day horror film fans who like their movies fast-paced and loaded with blood.  As the presence in the woods gets closer the film just got creepier and creepier, right up to about the last fifteen minutes that - to me - would make any person of faith squirm openly in his or her seat.  Not for everyone, but I love horror movies that mess with my head over trying to gross me out any day, so was able to buy into The Witch the whole way.  (rated R)  9/10 stars

ARRIVAL

(2016) Twelve oblong disks, appearing to stand on end, have appeared over various cites of the world.  The aliens have arrived, but as time goes on there seems to be no move on their part to contact us.  Are they safe, or preparing to annihilate us?  As paranoia sweeps the world, many countries starting to develop the "let's get them before they get us" attitude, top linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) is hand-picked as part of an elite team sent to where the spacecraft hovers a site in Wyoming, determined to communicate with them.  As Banks, fellow scientist Ian Donnelly (Jeremy Renner), and their team try to develop/figure out what turns out to definitely be alien speech patterns (and what they're tying to tell us), the world teeters on the brink of war as itchy trigger fingers prepare to strike the first punch.  Arrival is a well-made, well-cast film with an intriguing and philosophical heart, but for me it was too long, too heady, and too intellectualized to arouse enough passion in me for the story or characters - or to care that much about what is supposed to be the otherwise OMG! ending.  (rated PG-13) 6/10 stars

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM

(2016) Seventy years before Harry Potter would read the seminal work of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), the young British wizard arrives as a young man at Ellis Island in New York City, bearing a small suitcase chock-full of creatures he is transporting quite illegally within the wizarding community and into the States.  When one breaks loose, Newt's endeavors to recapture it has him crossing paths with a No-Maj (non-magical human - what they call Muggles in the UK), baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler), who accidentally walks off with Newt's case instead of his own, setting both Scamander and a demoted Auror named Tina, out to arrest Newt for being an unregistered wizard, on a quest to keep the creatures in check - even as darker forces are at work that could not only bring down the wizarding community, but start them off on a war with humans.  I was worried there would be way too much CGI in this film to appeal to me - and there is a lot, obviously - but I still found myself very much charmed with the story, characters, look of the film, and Redmayne's turn as Newt (though granted, Redmayne is starting to perfect the introverted, jerky looking-away nervous thing so well, he's repeating the tic in his films).  The cast is terrific, effects more than believable enough to pull you in, and for me there was never a dull minute, the film providing some very cool eye candy while building up suspense to a satisfying finale.  (rated PG-13) 8.5/10 stars

LA LA LAND

(2016) Mia (Emma Stone) is a struggling actress in Los Angeles who works as a barista in a coffee shop on the Warner Brothers lot by day, and hates jazz music.  Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a jazz musician playing crap jobs while pursuing his own dream of opening an old-school jazz club.  After a chance encounter or two - the first of which is when they flip each other off from their cars in the middle of a traffic jam - the two find a mutual attraction and Mia learns to both love jazz ... and maybe even Sebastian, who in turn can't deny the instant spark between them.  But can a blooming love affair co-exist with the pursuit of personal growth; of pursuing your own dreams?  La La Land is nothing short of miraculous; one of the best love stories every put onto the screen, blooming before your eyes in the bright Technicolor lights and Cinemascopic vision of a big budget 1950's classic Hollywood musical (indeed, if you hate such old-style musicals, you will probably be the biggest detractor of this film - which is a shame, because you're also missing one of the best movie stories in recent years).  Stone and Gosling are perfection in their respective roles, and the film itself will make you laugh and cry, as well as both break and mend your heart.  I am trying very hard to not give away a single spoiler for this remarkable, beautiful film, but suffice to say I was all over the emotional map for the 133-minute runtime, and more than a week later the film still swirls around in my head.  So to best sum up my review in three words:  GO SEE IT.  You'll be hearing all over God's creation about it at Oscar time, anyway.  (rated PG-13) 9.5/10 stars

SHAUN OF THE DEAD

(2004) For over a dozen years I've heard friends, family and strangers sing the praises of this seminal zombie-comedy mix; a classic of the genre that created its own genre.  Simon Pegg, in his breakout role, plays slacker dude Shaun, a guy not having a good day after being dumped by his girlfriend.  He commands no respect from his stepfather, even less from his retail coworkers, and is being besotted upon by his roommate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), over what you can't quite tell is the third roommate or just Shaun's incredibly slovenly, video game and booze addicted childhood buddy Ed (Nick Frost), who wants to keep Shaun to his single, pub-crawling, game-playing ways.  But Shaun, the night after the breakup, wakes up determined to change his life; to win his girlfriend back, go visit his mom on her birthday, and try to be a better man ... just as the zombie apocalypse breaks out in London.  Picture a slacker comedy as directed by George Romero - I guess, because for me Shaun of the Dead just wasn't particularly funny.  Maybe from years of hearing so much about the film it's just been played up too big in my head, but my overwhelming feeling watching the film was annoyance; Shaun and Ed's being too damn clueless to realize they're dealing with the walking dead for the longest time, sure, but what I couldn't get past throughout the entire watch was my overwhelming desire to reach through the screen and kill Nick Frost's character myself (Ed just ratcheted my nerves like no movie character has in recent memory).  To me the film just felt like a younger-generation version of Pegg's film The World's End, and (again: for me) didn't work too well as either a comedy or a zombie thriller.  (rated R)  5/10 stars

DEEPWATER HORIZON

(2016) In 2010 when the BP oil spill happened, polluting the Gulf of Mexico with the worst oil spill in American history, I was working as a fundraiser, including envrionmental causes, and the heinous crime of the BP spill was part of my "pitch" in trying to get people to give.  Mark Wahlberg stars in this film dramatization of the offshore drilling rig's destruction, and as a guy old enough to remember the "disaster movie" craze started by Irwin Allen in the 1970's, to me Deepwater Horizon felt very much like one of those films ... yet, somehow, without characters that ever fully came to life for me.  The effects and story and subsequent rescue of those still trapped on the rig are well-done and enthralling, however, still earning a higher rating from me; director Peter Berg handles the drama and the mechanics of the film wonderfully, building up tension and keeping things tight.  Mark Wahlberg turns in his usual solid performance, essentially playing Mark Wahlberg but creating empathy as Mike Williams, a man determined to survive to see his wife and young daughter again.  The oil company guys, led by John Malkovich, are as greedy and slimy as I'm sure their real-life counterparts are (how these men got off without even manslaughter charges for those who died in the disaster is beyond me) - stock characters, really - but its Gina Rodriguez as Andrea who really carried the heart of the film for me; I wish, in fact, they'd devoted more time to developing her character and story, it would have made for a richer film.  Deepwater Horizon is a serviceable, well-made disaster film that will keep you intensely interested throughout, even if it's heart does feel a little bit hollow.  (rated PG-13)  7/10 stars

DIRTY GRANDPA (unrated)

(2016) Jason Kelly (Zac Efron) is a young, straitlaced corporate attorney working at his father's firm.  His life is stable, and he's about to marry a beautiful, wealthy girl from a good family, Meredith (Julianne Hough).  When his grandmother passes away, it's Jason who is tasked with driving his newly-widowed grandpa, Dick Kelly (Robert De Niro) down to Florida, due to Grandpa's driver license being suspended, just a week before he and Meredith are supposed to marry; it seems Grandpa and Jason were really close once upon a time, the older man's youthful spirit and energy keeping up with his grandson easily, but it was Jason who - as he got into college and his dad's business - got all serious and "old".  Grandpa, it seems, also wants a bonding trip.  What Jason doesn't account for is that Grandpa Dick is completely off the rails, randier than ever - and from spring break to a pair of lovely young ladies (one with a granddaddy complex) to a raggedy male drug dealer named Pam (Jason Mantzoukas), it might just be Jason who learns more about life from the old man.  Dirty Grandpa (and I saw the unrated version, to boot) is crass, vulgar, loud, over-the-top ... and on more than a couple occasions very, very funny.  I haven't liked much of what Efron has done lately, but I really enjoyed the fearlessness and sheer lunacy of this film.  Granted, any movie that makes every effort to get Zac Efron naked as possible also gets my vote; but by the end, to me, there was something that made Dirty Grandpa a better than the average stoner comedy.  Maybe De Niro, maybe not; I just know I laughed a lot, and was kind of sorry to let the characters go when the credits started to roll.  (unrated version)  7/10 stars

SEEDS OF YESTERDAY

(2015) Having seen the three previous Lifetime-made films based on the insanely-popular V.C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic series of novels - each movie worse than the last - I still wasn't prepared by just how bad the finale, Seeds of Yesterday, was going to be.  Chris and Cathy's children are grown now, and their middle son Bart (James Maslow, former member of boy band Big Time Rush) - who proved himself a mentally unstable kid in the previous film - has grown into a certified cuckoo.  Unfortunately, he's also inherited the over-the-top pious religious zealot complex of his great-grandfather ... as well as the Foxworth fortune, even going so far as to legally change his last name to Foxworth.  So not only is the dude bananas-on-a-homicidal-level and soon-to-be rich, he's also the only one of the kids who knows the true secret behind who their parents really are ... has to have everything his ballet star older brother has (even if that extends to the pregnant wife) ... and, though trying to deny it with every supposedly-Christian bone in his body, has the hots for his adopted sister.  Yes, it's just another day in the life of the jacked-up Dollanganger - now Sheffield - family.  Add incredibly bad acting, an insulting-to-your-intelligence script, and more melodrama than Shakespeare's entire back catalog, and except for Maslow's handsome face and extremely nice body, even sans commercials this was one loooong hour and twenty-four minutes to sit through. (TV-14)  1/10 stars

THE HATEFUL EIGHT

(2015) Quentin Tarantino's eighth film is a lengthy, snowbound western that takes its time setting up the characters and situation (a good thing) - only, of course, to turn most of said situation on its ear.  In a bitter post-Civl War Wyoming winter, bounty hunter John "The Hangman" Ruth (Kurt Russell) - so named because even though most of his catches have "dead or alive" on their Wanted poster, Ruth gets pleasure out of delivering his charges alive so he can watch them being hanged himself - is on his way with a prisoner in tow to collect his reward.  Said prisoner, Daisy Domergue (an Oscar-worthy Jennifer Jason Leigh), is pretty much the meanest woman in the state, and can both take and give a punch like a man.  Picking up a couple travelers on the way (Samuel Jackson, Walton Goggings), Ruth's long wagon ride is interrupted when the entire party must detour and take refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, barely able to outrun an incoming blizzard.  Problem is, Minnie is nowhere to be found, supposedly having put a Mexican named Bob (Damian Bechir) in charge, and the store is filled with other shady characters (making a total of eight plus the wagon driver) - all of whom have his or her own agenda, and may or may not be who they seem.  At fifteen minutes short of three hours long, the ending feels a bit dragged out and isn't 100% satisfying, but overall the Tarantino staples of oddball characters prone to violence fits this colorful near-parody of a western - featuring a great ensemble cast that's a lot of wicked fun to watch - to a bloody, often-funny "T". (rated R)  7.5/10 stars

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE ULTIMATE EDITION

(2016) I recently read someone else's criticism of Marvel films as "cookie cutter" and realized that was the issue I have with both Marvel and X-Men movies of late; both have become formulaic, with each film in the series feeling very much like the one before.  Batman v Superman - while messy, ungainly, imperfect and loud - definitely does not feel cookie cutter.  As the world is just adjusting to the presence of Superman (Henry Cavill), global leaders are also trying to determine whether Superman is a genuine friend to mankind; or even if he is, how can we assume he will remain so?  After a recent incident where a number of innocent people - many of them civilians - died after Superman's intervention, it appears as if the superhero might be doing more harm than good ... and none feel that more than Bruce Wayne, aka Batman (Ben Affleck), who has become convinced that Superman - like any metahuman - is the problem and not the cure.  It's in this highly combustible atmosphere that young tech genius Lex Luthor (a woefully miscast Jesse Eisenberg) decides to stir the pot while furthering his own agenda, setting the two titans against each other as he plans to take control over everything left over afterward.  I actually liked this big, clunky film much more than I expected; at just over three hours for the "Ultimate Edition" it still seems to fly by, and peeks into Wonder Woman as well as a few other film heroes to come only adds to the authenticity of the story.  The film is imperfect, CGI-heavy, and character development isn't its greatest strength - but it feels like a way-cool, non-cookie cutter roller coaster ride the entire time.  (Ultimate Edition: rated R)  7.5/10 stars

IP MAN

(2008) While its first classification might come under that of "martial arts" films, Ip Man is so much more: a dra matic biopic that feels beautifully like an epic.  Donnie Yen plays the real life grandmaster of the Wing Chun martial arts, who devoted his life to studying Wing Chun but himself was a pleasant and humble man of money, who lived in peace with his family and was revered in his village of Fo Shan in 1938.  But the forthcoming war and Japanese invasion of China would see Fo Shan leveled, many of its inhabitants killed or driven off, with Ip Man himself tossed from his home and forced to live hand-to-mouth, eventually taking a labor job to try and keep his wife and son fed.  But as the humiliations toward Ip Man and his fellow villagers pile up, the grandmaster can no longer remain passive, and must fight for the one thing he believes in most - the people he loves.  This is no ordinary martial arts film, it's the journey of an incredible man who combined martial arts and his spirituality, creating a driving force that would bring him dozens of students throughout his lifetime ... none less than the modern-day master himself, Bruce Lee.  Ip Man is, simply, nothing short of terrific; certainly a classic of its genre.  (rated R)  9/10 stars

GERONTOPHILIA

(2013) Lake (Pier-Gabriel Lajoie) is a handsome young French-Canadian guy with a girlfriend named Desiree and a mother who drinks a little too much.  He also has a penchant for drawing, but when his mother gets him a job as an aide in a nursing home that's just hired her, Lake also finds another passion that takes him off-guard: a sexual attraction not just for men, but for much, much older men.  After meeting the elderly Mr. Peabody, who regales Lake with his stories and ends up charming the boy without even trying, Lake plans to help the old man break out of the home when he learns the staff there use psychotropic drugs to keep their charges in check.  With Bruce La Bruce directing/writing, I expected a lot more softcore porn/erotica, but was pleasantly surprised when it seemed the filmmaker was attempting to take the high road here.  Still, a so-so script and average acting don't bring this much above what you'd expect for a low-budget indie, made by a director who still could have - definitely should have - tried for something a bit deeper, given the subject matter.  (unrated) 5/10 stars

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS

(2016) A talented voice cast, well-developed characters, and beautiful animation (truly, New York City looks amazing here) from Illumination Entertainment (aka Minion-land) make The Secret Life of Pets both incredible to look at and genuinely funny in the telling.  Max (Louis C.K.) is a terrier living the high life with his single female owner in a Manhattan apartment; every day when she and other pet owners in his and neighboring buildings leave for work, Max and his various friends carry on with their own day - whether it be running the house their way, partying, or just hanging out before waiting for their owners to come home again.  But when Max's human suddenly comes home one evening with a stray dog - the huge, shaggy, bear-like Duke (Eric Stonestreet), Max sees green and plots a way to get rid of the big guy ... which backfires, thrusting Max and Duke lost and alone in New York, far from home and at the mercy of a street gang of animals out for revenge, led by the sociopathic - yet oh-so cuddly and adorable! - white psycho-bunny, Snowball (Kevin Hart).  Illumination really hits most of the marks with this one, each of the animal characters coming off with distinct and likable personalities, and the humor is terrific; I caught myself laughing out loud through the second half of the film, especially.  Wonderful, hilarious film that may make you wonder what really goes on at home when you leave your own dog, cat or even parakeet alone for the day.  (rated PG)  8/10 stars

Catching Up!

For Sometimes life just intervenes, and the last few months have been crazy.  After posting some reviews here recently, I realized I was incredibly behind on both updating the blog and even the Trailer Park section of upcoming movie trailers on the right of this page!  Have done some updates to Trailer Park, and after writing a few reviews here today realized I am still 50 movies behind ... so am going to try and post some mini-reviews on here, real quick, that you could actually maybe read in 30 seconds or less!  Here's to catching up in tome for 2017, and hope you will keep reading!

Don

Mini-Reviews! (8 Reviews)

EQUALS (2015) - (3/5 stars) I tend to stay away from anything labeled "dystopian" (to say the least), but thanks to Nicholas Hoult had to tune in.  Here he is Silas to Kristen Stewart's Nia, two robotic-like humans in a future where any show of emotion has been eradicated and forbidden, who - when some "infected" humans start showing signs of life, worthy of having them committed or killed - find themselves brought out of their blandness when they fall in love.  While the film feels fairly lifeless, due to the actors having to play it bland as the plot demands, on some level I felt engaged enough to care, and overall didn't exactly hate it by any means.  (rated PG-13)

EQUALS trailer

ME BEFORE YOU (2016) - (4.5/5) /Even as you think you can see where it's going, once the main plot point is revealed, there is something very engaging and wonderful about Me Before You - a lot of that, surely, thanks to the wonderful Emilia Clarke as Lou Clark, who, desperate for a job, takes on the caretaking of a handsome, once-active/athletic man named Will Traynor (Sam Claflin), made a paraplegic after being hit by a car.  Will is bitter; Lou is bubbly as a freshly-poured Sprite.  Clashing, then a possible romance eventually bloom - but rather than a run-of-the-mill romantic dramedy, Me Before You becomes a uniquely beautiful love story that stays with you long after the film ends.  (rated PG-13)

ME BEFORE YOU trailer

BUDDYMOON (2016) - (2.5/5) "Grimm" star David Giuntoli stars in this so-so comedy as David, a former child actor who had one big hit back in the day, who is dumped just before his wedding and wallowing in depression when his rather odd best buddy Flula (a sometimes-engaging, sometimes-annoying-as-hell Flula Borg) convinces him that the two of them should go on David's honeymoon (backpacking the mountains of Oregon) anyway - hence the title of the film.  Naturally, things don't go so smoothly on the trip, revealing some secrets and straining the friendship, but in all actuality the film is just more silly than funny; like Flula, at times engaging and at times irritating.  (not rated)

BUDDYMOON trailer

ENEMIES-IN-LAW (2015) - (3.5/5) Funny, sometimes silly South Korean comedy about a family of cops with a young daughter who falls in love with the haughty, privileged son of a pair of notorious con artists on the run from the law.  Years after they fall in love, the son still won't marry his love without the father's permission, and has in those years sought to prove himself by turning away from a life of privilege by even studying to become a cop.  But the girl's father isn't buying it; in fact, he and the family, along with the son's parents on their own end, are doing their best to sabotage the couple.  Loved the ending, and while it seemed a bit long overall I thought the movie was really sweet and often quite funny. (aka CLASH OF THE FAMILIES PART 2)  (not rated)

ENEMIES-IN-LAW trailer

THE CONJURING 2 (2016) - (5/5) It's 1977, and paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren (Patrick Wilson, Vera Farmiga, back from the first film) are summoned to London to prove the presence of a malevolent spirit in the home of a lower-middle class single mom who swears her youngest daughter has been possessed.  Drawing similarities to the Amityville house, the spirit is seriously ticked off that new people reside in his space - but as the Warrens try to prove or disprove what's going on, new facts come to light and the Warrens themselves become the target.  One of the best horror films made in possibly the last decade, and (to me) even better than the original, with a truly satisfying story as well as good scares and characters you care about.  May want to avoid if you have a nun phobia, otherwise this is a truly brilliant sequel. (rated R)

THE CONJURING 2 trailer

SWISS ARMY MAN (2016) - (3/5) A suicidal Hank (Paul Dano), hopelessly lost on a deserted island and having just unsuccessfully tried to hang himself, is giving it a second go when he spots the dead body of a young man (Daniel Radcliffe) that's washed up on the shore.  The corpse, with a seemingly unending supply of body gas, helps Paul to actually get off the island via its constant farting (yes, you read that right) ... and so begins a very odd, surreal and honestly just plain bizarre journey as Hank adopts the corpse as his friend and before you know it we have a buddy picture.  It's gutsy to make a film that so many would hate for the lame fart jokes alone (many audience members at a Cannes screening actually walked out on the film), but if you stick it out with an open mind, there is actually something fairly charming in all this weirdness.  But there is a lot of weirdness.  (rated R)

SWISS ARMY MAN trailer (RED BAND/rated R)

GHOSTBUSTERS (2016) - (2.5/5) High, HIGH hopes for this one, once I saw the trailer; an update more than remake of the classic film, this time with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones as female ghostbusters out to save New York City while being harassed and ridiculed by politicians and non-believers alike ... until, of course, The Big Threat arrives.  Chris Hemsworth is freaking fantastic here, hilarious and by far the best part (he alone earns the film its extra half-star) of what is otherwise a weak imitation that has upped the special effects and action, but left behind all the heart and soul of the 1984 original, where you felt you really knew and cared about Venkman, Ray, Egon and Winston.  None of that here, as the four leads are never developed enough to even really distinguish one that much from another.  (rated PG-13)

GHOSTBUSTERS (2016) trailer

STAR TREK BEYOND (2016) - (3/5) Similar to the new Ghostbusters, Star Trek Beyond seemed - to me - to have left a lot of its heart and soul behind.  Awesome special effects and the coolest new character in ages via Jaylah (Sofia Boutella), the film otherwise is a pretty standard Trek tale about the Enterprise going on a rescue mission to the far reaches of the galaxy when an alien force literally destroys the snot out of their ship, and the crew must come together and find a way to save the Federation and even life as we know it.  Standard stuff, as said, though with some way-cool effects and action sequences ... and a bit of melancholy, watching Anton Yelchin play Chekov for the last time.  Otherwise, sadly, the film is all gloss; no real heartbeat.  (rated PG-13)

STAR TREK BEYOND trailer

Mini-Reviews! (7 Reviews)

THE BOSS (2016) - (3/5 stars) Melissa McCarthy semi-saves an otherwise forgettable script/film playing Michelle Darnell, a Tony Robbins-type financial giant/motivational speaker who gets arrested for insider trading ... and, once out, proceeds to horn in on the life of her former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell), the only person who will have her.  Some high points and a quite-funny Peter Dinklage make it worth seeing, especially the slightly randier unrated version. (unrated)

THE BOSS R-RATED trailer

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016) - (4.5/5) Fear and apprehension of the Avengers calls for some government mandate over how the team functions; or so the powers that be feel, and when Captain America (Chris Evans) and Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) come down on either side of that coin, before long friends and loyalties become divided, even as an ancient enemy returns to the 21st-century with his own plans of annihilation.  Not The Winter Soldier, but terrific action and set pieces enhance timeless themes of betrayal and friendships tested.  And that airport fight is seriously amazing!  (rated PG-13)

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR trailer

HARDCORE HENRY (2015) - (4.5/5) Long as you won't collapse into seizures watching 96 minutes of one hell of an intense first-person videogame violently coming to life right before your eyes, Hardcore Henry is dynamite stuff.  Told in first-person entirely through Henry's eyes, the film opens with the poor guy (Sharlto Copley) waking up to his wife with no memory at all, only learning his name before the film blows up into action immediately, and Henry ends up going after a psychopathic maniac with telekinetic powers who's kidnapped his wife!  In a dangerous, seedy Moscow, Henry is both aided and attacked by strangers who seem to know him along the way, but if you can stick with the insanity this film (which I was sure I would hate within its first few minutes) it ends up kind of an amazing, killer ride.  (rated R)

HARDCORE HENRY trailer

THE REVENANT (2015) - (5/5) A genuine epic, The Revenant is a masterpiece of a film, about 1820's  frontiersman and single dad Hugh Glass (Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio), who is left for dead by a couple members of his fur trading team after he's mauled by a bear and becomes more burden than asset in the wild.  Fueled by his need for revenge, Glass fights to survive and remain alive against the odds of an untamed, unforgiving wilderness, as well as a group of seriously pissed Native American Indians with their own score to settle.  Tense and dramatic, without a frame wasted and featuring both incredible cinematography and a beautiful score, The Revenant kept my eyes glued to the screen for every single frame, practically without blinking, and is deserving of every award and accolade it's gotten.  Easily in my Top Five favorite films seen in 2016.  (rated R)

THE REVENANT trailer

THE NICE GUYS (2016) - (4/5) Nicely evoking Los Angeles in the late 1970s, The Nice Guys involves down-on-his-luck single dad and private eye Holland March (a wonderful Ryan Gosling) trying to solve the mysterious death of porn star Misty Mountains when his path crosses quite loudly and violently with hard-ass, not-quite-legit private eye Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe, good but at times feeling oddly miscast), a bruiser wrapped up in the same investigation.  A racy, often funny comedic buddy film that overall works quite nicely, even if Crowe does sometimes seem "off".  Gosling is terrific, as is Angourie Rice who plays his ballsy young daughter Holly.  (rated R)

THE NICE GUYS trailer

LOVE BETWEEN THE COVERS (2015) - (3/5) Simple, straightforward documentary about the billion-dollar business romance novels play in today's publishing industry, including interviews with romance novelists ranging from wannabes to bestsellers, and more than a few surprising stats and facts about the industry and just how huge it is.  The way the film sometimes depicts romance readers (and even aspiring romance writers) is less than flattering, but all told the film is an easy watch that provides enough insight into the money side of the industry, you may consider sitting down to write a romance yourself.  (not rated)

LOVE BETWEEN THE COVERS trailer

THE SHALLOWS (2016) - Possibly the best shark movie since Jaws was released in 1975, The Shallows stars Blake Lively as Nancy, a woman still dealing with her mother's death from cancer, who takes a trip to a secluded Mexican beach her mother once loved ... and, before long, finds herself stranded on a small outcropping of rock at low tide, just 200 yards from the beach, having discovered a great white in the water with her.  The entire film is shot in this one location, and quickly becomes an endurance of will and strength as Nancy seeks desperately for a way out before high tide arrives.  Suspenseful and unnerving, you almost feel the young woman's terror the whole way, and are with her 100% for the ride.  A brilliant thriller.  (rated PG-13)

THE SHALLOWS trailer

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (***1/2)

(2016) Based on the Jane Austen novella Lady Susan, Love & Friendship is a feel-good romp featuring a charming Kate Beckinsale as the widow Lady Susan Vernon, who comes to stay with her in-laws as the rumors of her dalliances with men (one married man in particular) grow too uncomfortable to bear.  Acting like visiting royalty, Lady Susan proceeds to move and manipulate those around her, all while seeking a suitable mate as well as a beau for her more-than-reluctant daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark).  Set in 1790s England, the film feels very much of both its time and of Austen's signature humor and clandestine peeks into upper-class British gentility (who are normally at their most interesting when not acting so genteel).  Perfectly cast, with standout performances by Chloe Sevigny and Xavier Samuel in particular, it's a well-crafted love letter to Austen, led by a pitch-perfect and wickedly effervescent Beckinsale.  (PG)

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP trailer

NOW YOU SEE ME 2 (***)

(2016) A somewhat disappointing sequel to the stylish, dazzling, and entertaining first film, here the Four Horseman come back (this time with a lackluster Lizzy Caplan replacing the much more enigmatic Isla Fisher as a new character) to expose a high-profile tech guru, only to find themselves in a trap that has another tech genius (Daniel Radcliffe) blackmailing them into committing a most-impossible theft for them.  Things started off promising, but it's like the writers just go lazy with this one - or ran out of original ideas - and the cons they pull come off weak compared to the original.  Worse, by the end the plot has become so convoluted and hard to follow, when you reach the semi-silly ending (which sets you up for part three) you're more frustrated and confused than into the story or characters.  An extra half-star or star for the first third of the film, but the rest is fairly lackluster.  (rated PG-13)

NOW YOU SEE ME 2 trailer

THE BOURNE LEGACY (***)

(2012) Though connected to the Jason Bourne storyline (in particular The Bourne Ultimatum), The Bourne Legacy is about another covert Black Ops agent, Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renner), who alone survives when his fellow agents are systematically assassinated, in an attempt to keep any knowledge of their existence from leaking out.  Cross, badly in need of medications to keep up the advanced physical and mental conditioning he'd received during his training from crashing, finds Dr. Marta Shearing (Rachel Weisz) - the woman who'd been supplying his meds during his initial training - in time to save her from being killed off as well, and the two go both in search of the meds Cross needs to survive, as well as team up to survive and take out the system.  Lots of chase scenes and heavy drama later, the film turned out okay as a slightly-above-average action film, but a bit muddled and not quite up to par with, say, early entries in this serious.  Loved the final chase scene, though, and Renner does make the most of what he has to work with!  (rated PG-13)

THE BOURNE LEGACY trailer

KUNG FU PANDA 3 (****)

(2016) Po is back for a third go-round, continuing his journey to becoming a kung fu master when he meets his long-lost father and goes home with him to finally assimilate with other pandas.  Unfortunately, he leaves behind his friends, adoptive father, and Master Shifu, all of whom are under a dangerous new threat when the evil supernatural spirit Kai finds his way back to this world, and begins his quest to steal the essences of all the kung fu masters of China, each of which only makes him more powerful ... as Po blissfully revels in his panda brethren, unaware of who - what - is heading his way.  Fun, funny, and a bit darker in tone than its predecessors, Po's time with his real da/fellow pandas seemed to run on a bit long for me, but I love how Kung Fu Panda 3 kept its humor alive while also putting out a great message about fathers and sons, and loyalty to those you love.  (rated PG)

KUNG FU PANDA 3 trailer

ANOMALISA (***)

(2015) Anomalisa is a beautifully-animated film about a disgruntled, middle-age writer, Michael Stone, who is out of town for a convention to speak on what he's become an expert on: customer service.  It's become his stock and trade, but in reality Michael Stone has stopped connecting with other people, let alone life, and often seems more sad than angry ... all of which finally changes when he meets a young woman staying at the same hotel.  I was so anxious to see this one, based on the trailer and all I'd read, but in truth Anomalisa failed to connect with me in a similar way.  Genuinely beautiful to look at, I don't know if I failed to connect with the deep meaning/messages of the film so many raved about, but for me Michael Stone remained an unlikable lead character who - while I liked the film overall - failed to make me love it.  (rated R)

ANOMALISA trailer

LONDON HAS FALLEN (**)

(2016) Silly and over-the-top as Olympus Has Fallen was, it's non-stop lunacy was fun to watch - while often raising the hackles on the back of your red, white and blue neck and made you want to watch Gerard Butler's character decimate the crap out of every single one of the seemingly never-ending group of terrorists who DARED to destroy some of Washington, D.C.'s most revered monuments (White House included).  London Has Fallen keeps some of the over-the-top and ratchets up the silly considerably, as this time out Mike Banning (Butler) is called on to accompany the U.S. President (again played by the square-jawed Aaron Eckhart) to London for the funeral of the British prime minister, who has died under (to say the least) mysterious circumstances.  Leaders from around the world are also attending, and having evidently watched the first movie the band of terrorists in this film go full throttle on ripping apart nearly every landmark in London in order to take many of them out ... but of course it's the American, Mike Banning who, pretty much single-handedly (while barking his lines out the corner of his mouth), becomes determined to save not only his commander-in-chief, but England and possibly the entire world while he's there.  Silly and overblown, the film has a couple well-done action sequences; you may just find your intelligence assaulted with everything in between.  (R)

LONDON HAS FALLEN trailer

THE FINAL GIRLS (***1/2)

(2015) A lower-budget comedy/horror flick with a great premise: Max (the always-terrific Taissa Farmiga) is a young lady still grieving the car accident death of her mother, a B-movie actress whose greatest claim to fame was the hit '80s slasher film called Camp Bloodbath (an obvious riff on Friday the 13th).  Talked into attending a special anniversary screening of the horror film to commemorate her mom, Max isn't prepared for a bizarre set of circumstances that actually drop her and her small group of friends into the movie on the screen - where she not only comes face to face again with her own mother as a young woman (though in the film's character), but must also band together with her friends and the film's characters to survive.  Though the action seems a bit drawn out toward the end, the film itself is wonderfully done; a lot of fun once Max and company are dropped into the world of a 1980's slasher flick, and who will become the "Final Girl" - the last survivor of the movie who must take one last stand against the crazed, supernatural killer.  Funny, original, and with a surprising amount of heart.  (rated PG-13)

THE FINAL GIRLS trailer

THE BOY (****)

(2016) Nope, sorry, didn't see the ending coming with this one, as some reviews have complained about - which was one of the biggest reasons I found this low budget, creepy little thriller to be refreshing and fun.  "Walking Dead" alum Lauren Cohan stars as Greta, a young woman running from her own demons who takes a job for a family in England as a nanny, overseeing the care of the middle-aged couple's young son Brahms.  Soon after arriving, Greta is introduced to the boy, and is a bit taken aback (to say the least) to find that Brahms is a life-sized doll the older couple actually believes is their human child.  After the local guy who delivers groceries to the manor house explains how the Heelshires lost their son under horrible circumstances, having "adopted" the doll as their son to cope, Greta feels almost guilty at what appears to be the ease of her new job ... until Mrs. Heelshire comes up with a stringent and lengthy list of rules Greta must not break, and then the couple leave on a short trip - leaving Greta and Brahms alone - and the nanny realizes she's not exactly alone in the house, after all.  Very creepy and full of atmosphere, I was gripped from the beginning - and while I maybe should have guessed the twist at the end, I was too busy enjoying the ride to keep an eye out for the finish line.  (rated PG-13)

THE BOY trailer

SINNERS IN THE SUN (***)

(1932) Carole Lombard remains one of my favorite film actors from childhood - perhaps still tied with Bette Davis as my favorite female actor of all time - and she really elevates some dated material here as Doris Blake, a girl from a poor family who works as a live model in fashion salons and dreams of a better life.  To Doris that better life includes money and things - a dream that doesn't coincide with those of a garage mechanic (Chester Morris) she's in love with, who dearly loves her in return ... so instead Doris gets into the fast and flashy lifestyle of basically being arm candy for rich men, even if her heart isn't in it.  You can see the ending coming very early on, but Lombard makes this a likable, even enjoyable, romantic melodrama, backed by a strong cast.  Watched on YouTube, where you can see it for free (though not the best quality).  Viva Classic Hollywood!  (not rated)

SINNERS IN THE SUN (full movie)

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY (****)

(2016) Math was always my weakest (and most hated) subject in school, but thanks to Dev Patel (one of my favorite actors working today) and Jeremy Irons, I didn't find a single boring or lagging moment in this based-on-a-true-story of the innovative Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan (Patel), whose pioneering theories brought him to Cambridge in the years of WWI, where he forged a friendship with his mentor, G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons).  The strong performances of the two leads kept me locked into the film, and though I found I wasn't as emotionally wrapped up in this one as, say, the superior (and similarly-themed) The Imitation Game, The Man Who Knew Infinity was much more a treat for me than the dry subject matter led me to think it would be.  In fact, I loved it.  (rated PG-13)

THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY trailer

HOW TO BE SINGLE (****)

(2016) Alice (Dakota Johnson), in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend Josh (Nicholas Braun), decides she needs them to take a break so she can explore for awhile what it means to be single.  Moving in with her obstetrician sister Meg (Leslie Mann) in Manhattan, she lands a job as a paralegal for a prestigious law firm ... where, on day one, she meets the not-so-prestigious Robin (the hilarious Rebel Wilson), who is determined to teach Alice how to be single in style.  Much partying, booze, and sleeping with a bartender named Tom (Anders Holm) follows.  Meanwhile, Meg - who has been on her own for so long she's grown almost fanatically independent - comes to terms with the fact that she wants to have a baby by going the in vitro fertilization route ... in time to meet a younger man who may want more than sex from her ... as Tom, the bartender and consummate player, finds his attention taken up a bit too much by Lucy (Alison Brie), who uses algorithms and graphs to plow through every dating site in the book, turning finding a man into a full-time job as she sits in his bar night after night for the wi-fi.  The film got mixed reviews, but I loved it; loved the views and magic of New York City (my prejudice, I admit) it portrayed, loved the humor - but what really impressed me is it wasn't one of those films that puts out the message that a person (especially a woman) has to find love to be happy.  That being single isn't just okay, but in some ways it's so much better.  And that "original" idea, in a romantic comedy, was very refreshing to see.  (rated R)

THOSE PEOPLE (****1/2)

(2015) Manhattan twenty-somethings Charlie (Jonathan Gordon) and Sebastian (Jason Ralph) have been friends for fifteen years, since childhood.  Both belong to the same small, intimate group of friends who party together and have each other's backs - but for the entire time he's known him Charlie has been pretty much in love with Sebastian, and it seems Sebastian is the only one unaware of it.  Both men are gay, but Sebastian has only ever seen Charlie as a friend, Charlie's friendship becoming all that more important when Sebastian's father is sent to jail for investor fraud, and the press seems intent on blaming Sebastian for not spilling the beans on his father's larceny.  Now mostly confined to his family's lavish apartment due to the stalking paparazzi, Sebastian begs for Charlie to move in and stay with him; a situation seemingly fraught with pain for Charlie, until he meets an older, handsome concert pianist named Tim (Haaz Sleiman) - who, for the first time, may be steering Charlie's love in another direction.  Those People may be one of those indie dramas that slips unobtrusively under your radar ... but it shouldn't.  Filled with spot-on performances (Gordon, Ralph and the always-terrific Sleiman head an extremely talented cast) and the real pangs of love and loss that most of us can relate to, no matter our sexual orientation (God knows we've all had that one friend we at least crushed on at one point, pining away for the day those feelings would hopefully be reciprocated), it would be an injustice for anyone to pass this off as a "gay film" and not see it.  I am wondering if the "Sebastian" character - who sometimes almost veers on being so needy that he's annoying (thankfully, Jason Ralph steers the character out of those waters before Sebastian gets there) - was modeled and named after the same Sebastian at the center of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, as the two are so alike; if so, it's a tribute to the film that it comes off more like an homage than a cheap copy of Waugh's classic novel.  A tenderhearted movie that feels very true to life and deserves to be seen by larger audiences than it will probably get.  Oh yeah, and be prepared to want to shake some sense into Sebastian ... wrap up Tim and take him home ... and, maybe, fall head over heels for Charlie.  (not rated)

THOSE PEOPLE trailer

DOUGH (***1/2)

(2015) Nat Dayan is an old Jewish baker in the UK whose generations-held family business is in trouble; his son, a big-shot lawyer, has no interest in taking over, and Nat's customers are falling off left and right - either by moving away from what's becoming a down-and-out section of town, or by being swallowed up by a big chain of food stores slowly putting Nat out of business.  When his baking assistant defects to the chain store to provide better for his family, Nat's cleaning lady - a sweet Muslim woman - suggests her son Ayyash (Jerome Holder) for the job.  For his part, Ayyash just wants to get him and his mom out of poverty and the apartment falling apart around them, so much so that he's taken to selling drugs for a punk dealer named Victor (a creepy Ian Hart) - even though he doesn't do drugs himself - and, after accidentally spilling some weed into the dough mixer one day, realizes he's got the perfect front to work for Victor.  Meanwhile, when sales at the bakery skyrocket over Ayyash's "special dough," Nat thinks he's found a baking genius.  Naturally things will come to a head fast, and even with a side romantic plot involving Nat's landlady (the wonderful Pauline Collins) that has its charms, Dough - while spotlighting the conflicts and prejudice that exist when a Muslim man goes to work in a Jewish bakery, via the fallout from Nat's friends and customers that follows - winds up a good, darkly-comedic indie with an ending that just feels a little too perfect to come off real.  (not rated)

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE (***)

(2016) I might not be the best person to review this film; have never played the game, nor ever had an interest in it, as much as I just really love animated films.  So with only the film to go by, for me The Angry Birds Movie was a fun, sometimes funny film that felt too light on plot and too little on originality.  Sort of prequel to the game, the movie gives us backstory on how the flightless birds of Bird Island came to be enemies with the green pigs of Piggy Island - here focusing on Red (well-voiced by Jason Sudeikis), a red bird with thick, black, bushy eyebrows who has a bad temper and only wants to be left alone.  Trouble is, he's surrounded by happy, perky birds ... leading to an incident that has Red sent to anger management class, where he meets the highly-caffeinated Chuck (a bright yellow bird who can move faster than the speed of light, voice by Josh Gad) and the gullible, rotund Bomb (Danny McBride) - so named because he sort of, well, explodes whenever highly agitated (by far, Bomb was my favorite character).  When a ship lands on the shores of Bird Island and a green pig named Leonard declares his desire to make friends with the birds, Red is immediately suspicious - soon learning that not only does he have reason to be, but also that he and Chuck and Bomb need to band together to save the day.  The film looks great, has some truly funny moments, but lacks anything near a plot (it is, after all, based on a videogame), and - while entertaining - what plot there is plays out with total predictability.  What I call a "popcorn movie"; like popcorn, it fills you up at the time, though soon afterward you may find yourself hungry for something more.  (rated PG)