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Hot Take: Nice biopic/courtroom drama combo with excellent performances from Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad and a solid cast of supporting characters. If this weren’t a true story, you could see this becoming a recurring character. Heck, even though it is a true story, based on Thurgood Marshall’s life, it probably could.

In his 84 years on this Earth, Thurgood Marshall led a life that has enough milestones to fill up a catalog of films. The footnote chosen for Marshall, the biopic/courtroom drama featuring Chadwick Boseman as the titular character, is not as much of a landmark milestone as many of Marshall’s other achievements but the tale of a then NAACP lawyer (the only NAACP lawyer) traveling the country to fight injustice toward African Americans by defending them in cases where they were innocent makes for great cinematic drama. It also puts the spotlight on a great man who helped shape Civil Rights and our legal system over the last 70 years. Read More →

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Hot Take: One of the worst, poorly edited films of the year with one of the most bizarre casting decisions of all time. 

The trailer for The Snowman is intriguing enough. (I guess.) Somehow, though, whether it be the writer, director or editors (I blame all three, well, six since the film had three writers and two editors), this 1 hour and 58 minute snooze fest is more cliche than most and delivers an incoherent shell game of a plot with a rather uninteresting main character and hardly compelling litany of supporting characters. The only supporting character that even garners any interest is a vastly different looking Val Kilmer who may have been battling oral cancer which could explain why it sounds like they dubbed someone else’s voice over his but doesn’t quite explain why his face looks so oddly different.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: There’s something about Victoria & Abdul and I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s just… off! This movie is off!

Hate is a really strong word and I don’t like to use it very often. However, I hated the moviegoing experience provided by Victoria & Abdul. It could be the style which director Stephen Frears chooses. The experience left me feeling awfully similar to last year’s Florence Foster Jenkins, another Frears directorial work that I particularly loathed. He also directed The Program in 2015 which was a film I actually enjoyed but remember not being thrilled with the directorial style there, either. So, maybe it has something to do with Frears. It felt like something more than the director, though. There was a cartoonish element to the relationship between Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) and Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal) that made the film feel, at times, fluffy and, at other times, condescending to the overall message. It also feels superficial and barely dares to scratch the surface of the story and delivers a hollow story with a focus on Queen Victoria that puts the spotlight on Dench’s performance (unsurprisingly) and makes Adbul somewhat of a sideshow.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: One of those rare untold tales that is much more interesting than you expect. Sure, Wonder Woman is now changed forever but Professor Marston and the Wonder Women surely holds your attention.

My first thought watching Professor Marston and the Wonder Women was, “What the heck have I done with my life?” Professor William Marston invented the lie detector, explained the behavioral study known as DISC theory and was inspired by his two lovers (his wife Elizabeth and his student and love interest of both he and his wife, Olive Byrne) to create Wonder Woman. So many thoughts went through my mind watching this titillating tale of perversion, intelligence, love and discovery. As Marston’s complex and unconventional life story was told on the screen along with his wife and their lover, I settled on the fact that most lives are not this interesting or else 95% of movies would be based on a true story.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: When Groundhog Day Met Scream… Worked for me.

I admittedly had no desire to see Happy Death Day. I barely paid attention to the trailer and tried to nurse my popcorn to give me some sort of pleasure because I surely wasn’t expecting to get any from the viewing experience. As the film progressed, the horror/comedy won me over with it’s shameless wink to Groundhog Day and elbow nudges to Scream, Happy Death Day proved to be a fan service to those of us who love movies. While someone who refers to themselves as a film aficionado or a cinemaphile might be turned off by it, especially since we were given a teen targeted Groundhog Day clone in Before I Fall earlier this year. Happy Death Day is a fun, harmless horror flick in an age of super serious horror films and a welcome change of pace.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: If soap operas featured A-list actors The Mountain Between Us would have been one of those soap opera subplots that stretched out for 2-3 weeks. (Don’t worry… the dog lives!)

The Mountain Between Us, the adult fairy tale disguised as a survival thriller, has two things strongly going for it: Kate Winslet and Idris Elba. The movie wouldn’t work without them. For much of the film, it feels like an overlong Nicholas Sparks set up. The harrowing tale has some flimsy twists and turns once the plane goes down in the mountains which happens a few minutes into the film. The rest of the film features Winslet and Elba trying to survive the harsh, wintry conditions of the mountains. Both of the actors turn in a great performance despite the limitations of the film. Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: It’s as if BET and Lifetime dropped a mix tape. Not very good but not bad enough that the message doesn’t resonate.

‘Til Death Do Us Part has only been out for 12 days yet you’re unlikely to find it in a theater near you due to a tough opening weekend and even tougher 2nd weekend. Over the past couple of years, low budget films with all black casts have struck a chord at the box office. Two years ago, The Perfect Guy scored a whopping $57 million haul on a minuscule $12 million budget. Last year, When the Bough Breaks managed $29 million on a slightly smaller $10 million budget. While expectations weren’t quite as high for ‘Til Death Do Us Part, the film did not even achieve moderate expectations, cashing in just $1.5 million on opening weekend. Maybe the topic was too serious compared to the 2 previous films mentioned which were much more campy in nature than the drama/thriller about domestic abuse.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: I’m sure the 15-year-old me thought a reboot of Flatliners was a great idea. However, the much older me was a little less enthralled. 

The original Flatliners was the perfect cable flick. Back when premium cable channels had considerably less original content, certain movies received more repeat play. Flatliners in the ’90s was one of those films. There’s a good chance I watched it 30-plus times. It wasn’t that good. It was just on a lot and easy to re-watch. It didn’t ask much of your brain, had some memorable scenes and a halfway decent cast. Plus, there wasn’t anything else on. Fast forward to 2017 (which probably takes a lot longer to fast forward once you hit January 2017 because, let’s face it, this year feels like a damn eternity!) and some how, some way, someone thought it was a good idea to reboot this middling success from 1990. For perspective, the original Flatliners grossed slightly less than Bird on a Wire and slightly more than Problem Child. Granted, Problem Child spawned a sequel or two but did the 18th highest grossing movie of 1990 really need a reboot?Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Is this the movie that gets Tom Cruise his Academy Award? Ehhh… probably not. It’s a pretty good film and a pretty strong performance from Cruise nonetheless.

American Made, the “based on a true story” tale that re-teams director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) with Tom Cruise, is far from an accurate historical account of the life and death of Barry Seal. The film looks to be less of a drama or an attempt to bring this already interesting story to life but instead focuses on the comedic elements of the tale and goes out of its way to tailor the character of Seal to be more fitting of Cruise’s unique brand of acting and charm. It works as a movie but there will be plenty who will take issue with the artistic liberties and Cruise’s undeniable smugness and, when dealing with something documented historically, they’ll have a strong argument.Read More →

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Hot Take: The re-telling of the famed Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs match dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes” is crisp, compelling and, from all accounts, pretty accurate. Well done!

Being familiar with the story of Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and the eventual match dubbed “The Battle of the Sexes” but not being alive to experience the spectacle, the film re-telling gives anyone who wasn’t alive to experience the absorbing tale a new life and new audience to enjoy. In addition, the spot-on performances from Emma Stone and Steve Carell as Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs, respectively, are delightful to watch and breathe new life into a 44 year old story that feels as relevant as ever with its timing considering our current climate.Read More →