By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: Beyond expectations especially for first time writers and a first time director. Topical and timely. It has a lot to say and knows how to say it.

MoviePass has taken such a beating lately, let me pay it a compliment. One of the greatest features of the product is now I occasionally get to see a movie walking in completely cold. Typically, this happens when a low budget or independent film makes it to the nearby mega-cineplex. Blindspotting which opened to 14 theaters and expanded to 523 in its second week was one of those films. The writing debut of Daveed Diggs (Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton) and Rafael Casal riffs on gentrification, the criminal justice system, police violence and gun control amongst other things. With a charismatic, emotionally charged performance from Diggs in the main role, Blindspotting delivers a multi-faceted, spirited and provocative film that should be seen by the widest audience it can find. It has moments of intensity wrapped around a warm, love-hate relationship with the rapidly evolving Oakland landscape which is experiencing a gentrified rebirth as many inner cities are experiencing in the 21st century.Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: I’ve always been a sucker for musicals… Just not this musical. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was a fever dream unnecessarily jamming B-sides of ABBA hits into a sequel. Really? “When I Kissed the Teacher” as the speech from the valedictorian? Yikes!

There is a 0% chance that I would have seen Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again if I didn’t have this website. I could barely stomach the trailer. However, in 2016, I felt the same way when My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 was released 14 years after the original and was pleasantly surprised when, against my better judgment, decided to take it in. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for the sequel to the 2008 musical Mamma Mia! The follow up, featuring most of the original cast and some new younger versions of the characters to tell the backstory as well as Cher which deserves to be mentioned separately because at this point in her career Cher is such a spectacle you have to mention her separately, failed to strike an interesting chord throughout it’s myriad of B-side tunes from the ABBA catalog alongside a few reprises from the original film (“Dancing Queen”, “I Have A Dream” and “Mamma Mia” return as well as the ultimate fever dream end credits performance of “Super Trouper” by the entire cast). Inexplicably, the eager audience ate this nostalgia reliant cash grab up. At my particular showing there was a standing ovation when the credits rolled with not just applause but screams. My biggest fear was that the crowd would call for an encore and somehow the celluloid cast would hear their calls and come back for a few more numbers. Thankfully, that didn’t happen but since it’s being received so well critically and from audiences and ABBA still has about 50 or 60 songs in their library that weren’t crowbarred into the two films, a third Mamma Mia! wouldn’t shock me.Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: It’s stunt filmmaking as it blends technology and film… but other films have failed miserably trying to do this and Unfriended: Dark Web succeeds where others have failed. I surely wasn’t expecting that to happen here.

Low expectations can sometimes save a film. Maybe that’s what is going on here but Unfriended: Dark Web outperformed my expectations. The sequel to Blumhouse Tilt’s low budget 2015 film that grossed $32.5 million in the U.S. and another $31.6 overseas had a similar $1 million budget to the original. So far, though, the box office hasn’t responded the same as the sequel opened at $3.6 million (on roughly 1,200 less theaters) versus the original’s monster $15.8 million. The sequel also works as a stand-alone as the stories are only linked through the fact that it’s a found footage film with a social media link. Otherwise, Unfriended: Dark Web could have been its own film and didn’t really need to be a sequel. For this reviewer, Unfriended: Dark Web worked well especially when compared to other standard horror fare. There’s already been a handful of bad horror flicks but this one stands a cut above the dreck that’s hit theaters (we’re looking at you, Truth or Dare!) and provides a brisk, unique horror offering that is compelling enough to keep the viewer engaged from beginning to end.Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: The best documentary of the year so far… in a year filled with great documentaries. 

It’s nearly impossible to talk about Three Identical Strangers without mentioning spoilers. Granted, you typically don’t sweat spoilers when discussing documentaries but, in this case, it’s worth avoiding them. There’s plenty of knowledge dropped in the trailer to whet the appetite as it is. The story of three strangers who meet in their teenage years only to find out that they were brothers separated at birth and sent to three different families is enough of a story to create interest. But Three Identical Strangers is like the infomercial of documentaries with a constant vibe of “BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!!!” The truth is stranger than fiction tale is engrossing and heart wrenching… it’s even maddening at times. Filmmaker Tim Wardle takes particular care of the film’s subjects and delivers a compelling and remarkable narrative that digs deep into the story’s underbelly. You might end up with your jaw hanging to the floor at times as this documentary finds ways to surprise you when you think you can’t be surprised any more.Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take, Ranked

Last year, MHT saw Dunkirk on July 20th and it became the 75th movie seen in 2018. This year, Sorry to Bother You was the 75th movie seen on July 18th. While it wasn’t reviewed for a few days, it’s fair to say that the pace at which Movie Hot Take is slurping down movies in 2018 now matches 2017. Fortunately, this batch of 25 films saved the best for last and Sorry to Bother You now tops the list of movies in 2018. Last year, it was Baby Driver holding down the top spot at this point. If you want to catch up on all of MHT’s grades for this year, you can find them here:

Now that you’re caught up, here’s the next next 25 movies of 2018 graded out:Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: A brilliant, hilarious, original film. There’s an essence of zany satire that throws back to Zucker Abrahams and Zucker or Mel Brooks but deep enough to cut like a Spike Lee Joint. You can sense it’s heading to go off the rails but when it does you can’t even imagine how far off the rails it’s going. A wild, unapologetic, crazy ride.

You don’t expect the debut film of a 47 year-old cult indie rapper would hit with so much force as Sorry to Bother You. Writer/director Boots Riley had to hustle for years to even get the film made. He perfected his pitch: “It’s an absurdist dark comedy with magical realism and science fiction, inspired by the world of telemarketing. It’s called ‘Sorry to Bother You.’ ” He spent years tapping acquaintances he made over the course of his rap career and during his time as a community activist and organizer. Eventually, after being passed over by plenty of actors and artists, he found support in David Cross, Patton Oswalt and David Eggers (who published the script as a book in 2014). Thankfully, for all of us, Riley got the support he needed and what is currently MHT’s favorite film of 2018 became a reality.Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: Can we call the formulaic HT series a franchise now? We can definitely call it simple. Forgettable works, too.

Here’s the unavoidable truth of it all. We’re not going to avoid a Hotel Transylvania 4. In its first weekend, the Adam Sandler animated *GULP* franchise raked in another $40 million+ opening and is likely to land somewhere around the $150 million when all is said and done as its previous installments did. Kids, apparently, love Hotel Transylvania. At least one adult doesn’t get it. That would be me. Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take

Hot Take: A better title would be “I Wish It Would End!”

I’ve been pretty skeptical of Netflix films. Though some have said that the combination of the rise of the superhero flick and digital streaming being a viable alternative to the cinema to release films, the level of quality of films on streaming services such as Netflix has been so mediocre poor that I’m in the camp that says cinema will survive and continue to be more than just a place to see big budget popcorn flicks. The latest evidence to support my side of the argument is How It Ends, a dystopian action thriller featuring Theo James, Forest Whitaker and Kat Graham. Directed by David M. Rosenthal, the man behind 2015’s unexpected low budget box office hit The Perfect Guy. Years ago, How It Ends would have found its way to the box office and would have bombed harder than you can imagine. While the climate is always right for a dystopian thriller, the cast is solid but has no real draw, the cinematography is decent enough to make the trailer look better than the film it’s endorsing and the film goes absolutely nowhere fast and stays there. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of films reaching 1,000+ screens dropped about 10%, if How It Ends is an example of the films that are missing the cut for the theater, we’re better off than we thought.Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Hot Take, Uncategorized

Hot Take: If this were an homage to the 80s classic Die Hard, they forgot the humor Bruce Willis brought to the iconic action role. If this weren’t trying to be Die Hard, why is Skyscraper so damn similar?

Full transparency here: 1988’s Die Hard is one of my favorite films of all time. It’s not quite in my top 10 but it’s definitely in my top 20. In 2013, I’m such a big Die Hard fan that I attended a Die Hard marathon to celebrate the launch of A Good Day to Die Hard in which all five Die Hard films were shown in succession. I’ll likely find my way to theaters to see the 30th anniversary re-release of Die Hard in November. Because of this, my initial reaction to the original trailer for Skyscraper was mixed. As previously mentioned on this site, I’m also a huge fan of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. (My first and only pet cat was named Rocky and it had nothing to do with the movie of the same name if that tells you anything.) However, the premise of Skyscraper just felt like too much of a rip-off of Die Hard to be enjoyable. In this day and age, if you want to copy a movie, you just reboot or remake it. However, going in to see Skyscraper, I was still holding out hope that the $125 million budget behind the film would do more than just add some shine and sparkle to the Die Hard concept and hide behind a new title. Not only that, the film had a charismatic actor in Dwayne Johnson to work with and chose to go the serious route which feels like a serious misstep in the end result.Read More →

By:
On:
In: 2018, Lists, Ranked

At the halfway point of the 2018 movie season, it’s a good time to check in and see which movies were on the top of their game this year. It’s unlikely we’ll be talking about any of them come Award season but there was plenty of cinematic success to recognize. Here’s the best films and performances according to Movie Hot Take for the first half of 2018 that will probably not even be thought of come Awards season:Read More →