Hot Take: A glib, ill-humored, unnecessary film that acts as critic porn thanks to the presence of Maggie Smith and it’s unintentional(?) Charlie Kaufman impersonation.
Let’s get this out of the way quickly: I wasn’t a fan of The Lady in the Van. Does Maggie Smith deliver a great performance? Sure. Does that forgive the awful, ill-natured humor at the expense of a homeless woman who lived in a van for 15 years? Not particularly.Read More →
Hot Take: A biopic about Jesse Owens shouldn’t move this slow.
There were plenty of fascinating tales throughout the life of Jesse Owens, the track athlete who battled bigotry while becoming an Olympic great. There were plenty of fascinating tales on the periphery of Owens’ life as he came to prominence during Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany and a time in the United States where blacks were still not recognized as equals. Unfortunately, Race feels compelled to try and tell them all in 2 hours and 14 minutes. Even more disappointing is the film’s inability to pick something to actually sink it’s teeth into, thus creating a glossy version of a darker story and focusing on Owens’ athletic accomplishments while glancing at the social issues surrounding him.Read More →
Hot Take: Risen tries. The point of view is unique and gives a different perspective on the tale of the Resurrection but it’s not enough to escape mediocrity.
On the plus side, Risen is well-acted and director Kevin Reynolds insures it is made with quality and detail. There’s a fresh perspective as the film is told from the Roman point of view which helps Risen appear restrained. It’s the exact opposite of 2004’s The Passion of the Christ as it paints with a broader narrative brush and tones down the religious zeal of it’s unofficial predecessor. Read More →
Hot Take: The Witch was unnerving, uncomfortable and unsettling. It’s a captivating piece of filmmaking you have to see once and might never be able to watch again.
From the moment The Witch opens, your gut tells you this one isn’t going to be easy to get through. Kudos to the effort from first time writer-director Robert Eggers for delivering a visually impressive horror film that simmers but refuses to boil stubbornly until you are on the edge of your seat. The Witch is one of the darkest films in recent memory and is successful as both horror and suspense.Read More →
Hot Take: I’m willing to admit maybe it’s just me but Zoolander 2 was not funny.
I imagine Zoolander 2 was actually written over 15 years with lengthy gaps between writing sessions. The kind of gaps that would cause continuity issues with the script. I imagine it was written piecemeal and then the scenes were unceremoniously linked together loosely without much effort to actually make it seem like the scenes were actually written cohesively. I imagine at some point there was a quality checker who insured that every scene was stripped of any sign of intelligence.Read More →
Hot Take: Even though Deadpool isn’t great (it’s entertaining and good but not great), it is the best movie of 2016 so far and best comic-based film since The Dark Knight. But then again, 2016 has started slowly and most of the comic book films are slightly overrated.
Did you enjoy the trailer for Deadpool or anything else revealed during it’s intense (and obviously highly successful) marketing blitz? If you did, it’s not misleading. You’ll get more of the same. That’s not particularly a bad thing. However, even though I was seeing Deadpool for the first time, it felt a little bit like seeing a movie for the second time.Read More →
Hot Take: You’re allowed to enjoy a movie that isn’t necessarily good.
There’s something about How to Be Single that’s enjoyable to watch. It is way too long, it gives a very poor depiction of New York City and it tries to tell too many stories at once (there are roughly 6 different storylines the film tries to wrap up in the end) but it’s very watchable and occasionally it makes a good point.Read More →
Hot Take: Technically, a 2015 holdover, Where to Invade Next is the latest Michael Moore documentary where Moore shows us how not great the United States is by showing us how great the rest of the world is. As always, it’s eye opening… and heavy handed. This Moore documentary feels more like propaganda than any previous effort.
The one thing I hate about Michael Moore documentaries is the feeling of disappointment toward my native country that I feel once it’s over. However, watching Where to Invade Next, some of Moore’s choices (and bashes) of our country were overreaching and narrow minded. The irony is while his documentary seemed to point the finger at the United States for becoming less thoughtful and progressive, I felt the same way about Moore watching this film.Read More →
Hot Take: At this point, it feels like these Nicholas Sparks romance novel adaptions are mass produced Mad Libs style. Another Caucasian couple, another “other guy”, more rain and some oddball twist. Fortunately, the formula works. Unfortunately, The Choice doesn’t.
If you choose to see The Choice and you’re upset by the fact it features a Caucasian couple — a beautiful Southern girl with a silver spoon in her mouth initially annoyed by the rugged, self-made Southern guy but then full of love and passion — involved in a love triangle along the Carolina coast featuring boats and letters and rain and cheesy dialogue then I’m trying to figure out why you went to see The Choice in the first place. Following along perfectly with all of the other Nicholas Sparks adaptions of the past, the first half of The Choice is almost exactly like the first half of the previous films. There are subtle differences (maybe a different (adjective) here or a different (object) there) but it’s pretty much the same. And that’s the watchable part of the film.Read More →
Hot Take: What it’s like to watch a 105 minute inside joke. A film critics will love and audiences will shrug.
As Saturday Night Live has proven time and again, it’s a challenge to deliver 93 minutes without throwing in a dud of a bit here and there. Hail, Caesar! feels similar to a sketch comedy show, if that sketch comedy show took on 50s Hollywood. The skits of the Coen Brothers’ latest effort are so loosely intertwined (and at times seemingly forced together), it almost seems pointless to try and tell a coherent story amongst the haymakers taken at the golden age of Hollywood.
Read More →