Anticipation (Before Trailer): 100/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 100/100
*Drool* Perfect.
Seriously, if that wasn’t Star Wars, I’d still want to see it. Ready… So ready! Is it December yet?
Hot Take: How could something so beautiful and technically stunning be so hard to watch? The imagery of Crimson Peak is impressive and wonderful. It’s how you’d hope every Gothic horror film would look. Unfortunately, it’s neither scary nor interesting relying completely on visuals to keep you engaged. And that only gets you so far.
Crimson Peak is eye candy. It has beautiful images. Even the frightful sights are masterfully crafted. The use of color, costume and score are impeccable. Guillermo Del Toro, known for his imagery, has done it again with this homage to classic horror… visually. Unfortunately, Crimson Peak lacks fear, mystery, compelling characters or anything captivating other than the images. At a smidge under 2 hours, even that gets old by the final act.Read More →
Anticipation (Before Trailer): 30/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 45/100
Bleeding Heart doesn’t look to be a unique concept. Pretty sure it’s been there, done that. Hopefully, the film has a fresh take and the trailer delivers enough to think it might. Jessica Biel is a solid actress and Zosia Mamet is on the rise. While it’s highly unlikely to even be a blip on the box office radar or get more than a limited release, it’s set to hit theaters in December.
Anticipation (Before Trailer): 35/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 40/100
When a movie like Race, the story of Jesse Owens and the 1936 Berlin Olympics comes out, it’s obvious Oscar bait. When it comes out in February, it’s a “dump” movie. Movies with a topic of such substance released so far away from Oscar season are traditionally not good. There’s nothing about the trailer to suspect otherwise.
Anticipation (Before Trailer): 35/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 50/100
13 years ago, Ratchet & Clank launched as a video game. Next year, it finally get the big screen treatment as a full length animated feature. The trailer looks silly and funny. Maybe Ratchet & Clank is timeless enough to make the leap to the big screen. Oh, and it’s an origin story! How delightful! Excuse me while you watch and I vomit (I haven’t vomited since 1996 so that’s sarcasm). The movie does deliver some heavyweight voices as Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Rosario Dawson and Sylvester Stallone are all listed amongst the voice actors. The film takes off April 29, 2016.
Hot Take: Goosebumps targets kids and the parents who grew up reading and watching Goosebumps. Outside of that demographic, you might feel a little left out. There’s some fun moments but they’re fleeting and it feels a little dated.
Goosebumps answers the question, “What if our childhood came to life and terrorized us until we figure out a way to overcome the real terror of it all?” Read More →
Hot Take: Who’s there? A bad but highly entertaining and watchable midnight movie with goofy one-dimensional characters and more script than gore from Eli Roth… and that’s saying a lot (and not all good but not all bad). Knock Knock is the perfect “can’t sleep at 2am, let’s see what’s on cable or Netflix” film.
If you are going to watch an Eli Roth movie starring Keanu Reeves for a great script and top notch acting, shame on you. However, if you go into Knock Knock with the intentions of seeing a dark, (intentionally) funny, sexual thriller that is pure schlock (and I mean that in the most flattering way possible) then you might come away with a fun viewing experience.Read More →
Hot Take: As bad as it gets. One of the worst of the year. If you take the long way home, let’s hope it doesn’t take you through Big Stone Gap.
Big Stone Gap is a harmless romantic comedy but without the romance and the humor. About the only thing more ridiculous than it’s lack of romance and humor are the character’s names. From Spec Broadwater to Ave Maria Mulligan to Fleeta Mullins to Iva Lou Wade to Jack MacChesney to Sweet Sue Tinsley to Pearl Grimes, the names are as absurd and simple as the film.Read More →
Anticipation (Before Trailer): 50/100
Anticipation (After Trailer): 60/100
Love the cast! The trailer has some humorous moments. But there’s that pesky February release date. Even though it wasn’t a comedy, for some reason Hail, Caesar! is eerily reminiscent of 2014’s The Monuments Men. Movies with this kind of cache that release in February rarely hit. Let’s hope this one proves the tendencies wrong.
Hot Take: He Named Me Malala is an uninspiring, uninteresting documentary about an amazing, inspiring young woman who survived a harrowing ordeal standing up for young women’s rights to education. As a documentary, unlike the subject, it doesn’t take a stand, is completely disjointed and sucks all of the drama, heart and life out of a tale so full of those three things.
It’s hard to be critical of He Named Me Malala because the subject of the film and her family are so likable, her cause so just, what happened to her so brutal and her recovery so miraculous. However, when a documentary desperately pursues a narrative that just isn’t there, the result is a muddled mess. Both Malala and the documentary want you to believe she’s as ordinary as every other girl in the world. But she’s not and it’s an aspect of her story that should be celebrated and explored rather than sugar coated.Read More →