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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Roberto Duran’s story is an amazing one. Too bad Hands of Stone is only mediocre thanks to it’s made-for-cable TV-like quality and overreaching story that tries to do too much.

Earlier this year, the first season of American Crime Story recreated the O.J. Simpson trial. It was wonderfully cast and the Simpson case was as compelling as TV got the first time around so it was no surprise it made for an interesting retelling. As compelling as American Crime Story was, there was something remarkably “made for television” about it. That makes sense since it was a cable TV series. The same can be said for Hands of Stone which is wonderfully cast and the story of Roberto Duran is as compelling a boxing story as you’ll find. However, it felt remarkably “made for television” but somehow made it to your local cinema. Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Before Sunrise meets the First Couple. And that’s a good thing!

If you have a top 100 films list and Before Sunrise isn’t on it, I just assume you haven’t seen it. It’s the quintessential movie about two people getting to know each other. It’s a film that has been burned on my memory for two decades yet it feels as fresh in my mind as something I watched in the last few hours. So, to say Southside With You, the “truth inspired” story of the first date of Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson, was structurally reminiscent of Before Sunrise isn’t really much of a knock on Southside With You. If anything, it’s supportive of a relatively smart decision as the 1995 Richard Linklater film isn’t a bad one to mimic. (Heck, Linklater did it himself a few more times afterward with incredibly positive results!)Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Just because the movie is based on a true story about a singer who can’t actually sing doesn’t mean the story has to be tone deaf.

One thought kept coming to mind while watching Florence Foster Jenkins: “How far away is William Hung: The Movie?” It’s a scary thought but how much of a stretch is it to see Hung’s story turned into a cinematic Hollywood tale after viewing Florence Foster Jenkins? Honestly, not much of one.Read More →

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Hot Take: Beautifully animated but scary and sad enough to question how appropriate or off-target this is a movie for kids. I thoroughly enjoyed it but I’m 40 and can’t imagine my 10-year-old self being anywhere near as entertained.

After viewing Kubo and the Two Strings, I really didn’t know what to make of the experience. The movie, thanks to some incredible animation and an impressive score, was beautiful to watch and listen to. The main character Kubo is one you instantly want to root for and the story while inherently strange and mysterious is also simple, smart and layered.Read More →

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Hot Take: It’s not great cinema but it’s an entertaining enough popcorn flick that fits perfectly into the middle of August.

War Dogs is one of those trips to the theater where you get exactly what expected, in a good way. The cast, the creatives and the trailer attached to the film cultivate the exact movie you’d expect them to produce. There’s something refreshing in that even if the movie is only slightly above average. Read More →

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Hot Take: Hell or High Water takes a simple concept and layers it with complex, colorful characters, moral dilemmas and social commentary. It’s so much more than a “cops and robbers” movie or a modern Western. One of the best of 2016!

With Hell or High Water, Oscar season has come early in 2016. There’s plenty to laud in this “cops and robbers” potboiler about brothers who become bank robbers in an effort to rob the bank then pay them back with their own money. Chris Pine and Ben Foster play the Howard brothers. Pine is fantastic as Toby, the younger of the two. He’s divorced with two kids and took care of his mother right before her passing and now faces financial hardship as the bank is days away from foreclosing on the family farm. Foster is equally great as Tanner, the older brother. He’s an ex-con who killed their abusive father and has a quick temper.Read More →

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Hot Take: While Indignation was compelling, it was hard to not escape the thought that I just watched a movie about the overwhelming influence blowjobs and handjobs have on one’s life.

The formative college years of youth plays out on screen for young Marcus Messner (Logan Lerman) as he faces being away from home for the first time in Indignation. The trying times of the 50s, the suffocation of overbearing parents and the social awkwardness of a working class Jewish boy at a small, conservative college play out in this film. Yet, it’s hard not to focus on Sarah Gadon’s magnetic Olivia Hutton and her scene stealing moments as the object of Marcus’ obsession and a girl who, for lack of a better description, has problems.Read More →

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Hot Take: Financial thriller where the female characters appear to be filled with testosterone and the male characters are one dimensional. Even when the genders are reversed, this still makes for a mediocre movie.

In Equity, women wield a lot of power. It’s the most refreshing element of the latest Wall Street spawn. The 1987 film has had a lot of offspring. With Equity, it finally has a niece. It’s almost amazing to think it took Hollywood nearly three decades to put women in the role of power in a movie about greed being good. Then again, with Hollywood’s track record of their treatment of women, it should come as no surprise.Read More →

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Hot Take: Bipolar historical telling of Operation Anthropoid has a plodding first half filled with paranoia and a long, slow fuse. The second half is bloody, brutal and proof that war is hell.

Anthropoid is the type of film that could be great. It has the historical context and enough elements that lend themselves to being embellished by Hollywood in just the right way that historians won’t get too tweaked. So, why isn’t Anthropoid great?Read More →

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Hot Take: Subtly heart-wrenching. Pete’s Dragon is a rare reboot. The storytelling is timeless and moving and the visuals are stunning. The best family movie of the summer.

I sort of remember seeing the original Pete’s Dragon as a child. It isn’t something that really stuck with me though. So, when I heard they were rebooting this film, the first word that came to mind was not the usual “unnecessary” but “why?” After seeing this Disney reboot which turns a trippy, live action/animation hybrid musical into a classic family drama, the answer to why was quickly discovered and the new version of Pete’s Dragon delivers something welcoming and worthwhile in the genre of family films.Read More →