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Hot Take: An entertaining superhero popcorn flick that slips into silliness too often to be great but provides plenty of entertainment to be good.

The beloved Marvel Cinematic Universe seemingly can do no wrong in the eyes of many. Before ripping Thor: Ragnarok, I have to be transparent. I was highly entertained by the latest MCU superhero movie. That being said, why did it have to yuck it up so much? It’s really hard to take Thor: Ragnarok seriously. At times, it feels like a send up of the genre. It’s a growing trend with these MCU films. Each film doesn’t care to raise the bar when it comes to action but there’s an obsession with one-upmanship when it comes to the jokes. This latest one, the third Thor film from the MCU, offers a heavy dose of humor and delivers more comedy than action and tries to make Chris Hemsworth and friends more of a comedy troupe than a superhero group. So, why is this so bad? Well, it’s not but it is hard to take the movie seriously. You might be asking, “Why would you want to take a superhero film seriously?” First, Logan. Second, Thor: Ragnarok occasionally borderlines on parody as Hemsworth hams it up (especially with Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk as the pair almost resemble Abbott & Costello at times), Jeff Goldblum goes full Goldblum and Cate Blanchett does one of the best Zod impressions I’ve seen. Even with the criticism, it’s hard to resist the charisma of Thor: Ragnarok and if you’re not entertained by it, I’m really not sure why you were sitting in the theater in the first place.Read More →

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Hot Take: Like the subject, it might not have glitz or glamour but it wins you over through its workmanlike effort. Woody Harrelson as LBJ delivers an impressive performance. 

Director Rob Reiner has tackled the story of Lyndon Baines Johnson and delivered a rather brisk, condensed but dexterous retelling of the Senate Majority leader’s rise to the Presidency obviously catapulted by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In LBJ, Reiner shows some of the same simplistic yet effective approaches to the subject and while the film is nowhere near some of his best films, it’s still a positive entry to his film resume. The best decision Reiner makes is in his casting of Woody Harrelson as Johnson. Under all of those prosthetics and makeup, Harrelson shines as LBJ and makes up for how basic the Joey Hartstone script is. It’s a mixed bag of star driven performance, competent directing and lackluster writing which makes LBJ a good not great retelling of the man who has the great burden of helping the country rebuild after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.Read More →

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Hot Take: Surprisingly good fact-based film is just one more reminder that war is hell even after war time ends.

As of today, Thank You For Your Service is in my top 10 movies for 2017. While that has a lot to do with the quality of the best films of 2017 so far and it’s highly unlikely it finishes in the top 10, Thank You For Your Service is an insightful, sobering look at the PTSD that affects our soldiers and how their path home often leaves them neglected and forgotten. In his directorial debut, American Sniper screenwriter Jason Hall also adapts this screenplay from a 2013 book of the same name by David Finkel. It shares many of the elements of Sniper without the rock star elements of making its soldiers war heroes. The men who served our country at the heart of Thank You For Your Service are the focal point of the film not their actions at war which are only used as exposition to show how these men have become a shell of themselves thanks to the torment and horrors of the war they fought.
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Hot Take: How can a film with such talent attached be this awful?

At first, I wanted to compare Suburbicon to Pleasantville. There’s something about the way the town of Suburbicon is presented that reminds me of Pleasantville. However, the two films are nothing alike. Actually, the most relevant aspect of the film is the way a bunch of white males (characters and creatives behind the film) minimize both the female and black characters of the film to the point where a second storyline completely marginalizes a black family in the ’50s white suburb being tormented by the citizens of Suburbicon while the other storyline — a man (Matt Damon) uses a break-in to stage the murder of his handicapped wife (Julianne Moore) for the insurance money — takes center stage. From the Coen Brothers and George Clooney, we’ve come to expect more… and better. Suburbicon accomplishes neither and devolves into a brutal watch that you seems to never want to reach its conclusion. While the film is only 105 minutes, it feels much longer and if you find a way to care about any of these characters, please let me know how you did it because damn if I could.Read More →

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Hot Take: A rare faith-based film that doesn’t beat you over the head with its faith but rather lets the story do the talking.

Maybe it’s just a level of expectation when it comes to faith-based films that when a film like Same Kind of Different As Me comes along, it’s refreshing to have a story of faith told without it going out of its way to smother you in its Christian roots. Instead, Same Kind of Different As Me relies on solid performances from Greg Kinnear, Renee Zellweger and Djimon Hounsou in this based on a true story tale of Ron and Debbie who are in a struggling marriage and befriend a homeless man while helping out at a local mission in Fort Worth, Texas.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: I know I’m in the minority here but I didn’t connect with these characters. It’s a slow paced, workmanlike effort that never feels overly inspired and as an audience member, I never felt invested.

The fact-based Only the Brave tells the story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots and their efforts to become an elite firefighting team. It features an impressive cast which includes Josh Brolin, Jennifer Connelly, Jeff Bridges and Miles Teller. Despite the worthy subject matter and capable cast, Only the Brave is challenged with adding in melodramatic elements that weren’t really there to give the film a Hollywood flair. Unfortunately, many of the real elements turn TV movie of the week and while the film tells a worthy story, there’s something missing to keep the film from achieving better than mediocrity.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Formulaic, disappointing follow up to one of the best comedies of 2016. The main characters are great, though, which makes it kind of fun at times. 

The first holiday film of 2017 is a rushed, predictable sequel to last year’s surprise comedy hit Bad Moms. A Bad Moms Christmas not only gives us the return of Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn in the titular roles but we get a new trio of “Bad Moms” when we get to meet the mothers of all 3 women. Joining Kunis, Bell and Hahn are Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines and Susan Sarandon in the mother’s mother roles who all conveniently visit their daughters for Christmas at exactly the same time. The Christmas themed film has 3 new characters to play off of but it really is the only new wrinkle as A Bad Moms Christmas infuses the best bits of the original with Christmas spirit. For the hardcore Bad Moms fan, this will likely be satisfying enough but those who only liked the original or were on the fence won’t be blown away by this mediocre second installment.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: An old school thriller with a better than expected performance from Jackie Chan… and he still delivers on the action side at 63!

When you go into a film like The Foreigner starring Jackie Chan with Pierce Brosnan as the main supporting actor, some expectations are set. Chan, throughout his career, has delivered some impressive action thrills and occasionally added a little comedic elements to his films. In The Foreigner, surprisingly, it’s his dramatic performance that is most noticeable although there’s still some incredibly noticeable stunt work from the 63-year-old performer. For Brosnan, it’s been a mixed bag as his career has run the gamut. It includes a turn at James Bond and both Golden Globe and Golden Raspberry nominations. So, with him, you kind of have to expect his performance to match the film around him. Luckily, The Foreigner is actually better than you might expect… and darker, as Chan plays a Chinese man whose daughter is killed in a bombing in London and Brosnan plays a politically savvy former IRA member who might hold the key to the identity of the bomber.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Waiting to experience the Saw phenomenon on its 8th installment was not the best idea. I could have kept waiting. 

I somehow managed to avoid seeing a Saw movie for 14 years. The first 7 installments of the franchise graced cinemas for 7 consecutive Halloweens from 2004 to 2010. As the franchise lost steam at the box office over the years, 2010’s Saw 3D wasn’t the least successful box office performer of the 7 films which must have given someone the idea that this franchise still had life. Then again, as Zoolander 2 proved, a franchise doesn’t need a pulse to get a sequel. Enter Jigsaw, the 2017 franchise entry looking to pump new blood into the franchise and give audiences schlocky, inventive mechanical traps and gory, over-the-top death scenes. If that’s what you’re into, Jigsaw might be a nice, breezy trip to the theater. However, if this isn’t your bag, Jigsaw can be torturous even at its incredibly brief 92 minutes of screen time.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: A dull disaster movie? What the hell? 

Geostorm isn’t very original. It appears as a knock-off of Deep Impact, Armageddon and The Day After Tomorrow. Now that 4DX technology exists, Geostorm may have been worth watching in that setting. Otherwise, this is one of the most boring disaster films ever made and that’s even with its numerous action sequences and some rather impressive visuals. Scene after scene of exposition  intertwined with overly loud action set pieces that add almost nothing to the disaster film genre while exploiting almost every cliche you’d expect to see in a disaster flick.Read More →