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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: This classic adventure film is both reserved and resplendent in its telling of the story of Colonel Percy Fawcett, a military man-turned-explorer sent to South America on a mapping expedition that turned into a lifelong obsession with finding a mythical lost city deep within the Amazon.

The Lost City of Z is based on a New York Times bestseller by David Grann entitled The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. The nonfiction tale of Percy Fawcett written and directed by James Gray spans 2 hours and 20 minutes and crams a lot into its epic run time. It’s a risky proposition for a film to try and cover so much and extend past the 2 hour mark but the film maintains an engaging pace and is engrossing enough to carry the audience through to the finish without that belabored feeling many movies of its length can sometimes give you.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Is it the story of a love triangle set against the backdrop of the Armenian Genocide or was it the story of Armenian Genocide set against the backdrop of a love triangle? Technically, there’s a fourth person involved… does that make it a love rectangle?

There’s so much promise in The Promise. Not only does it boast an impressive cast featuring Oscar Isaac, Christian Bale and Charlotte Le Bon in the main roles, the largely untold story of the Armenian Genocide is one that seems ripe for the cinema. It’s also written and directed by Academy Award winning filmmaker Terry George who was nominated for Best Screenplay for In the Name of the Father (1993) and Hotel Rwanda (2004). With all of that going for it, The Promise still can’t get out of its own way, focusing on a rather dull love triangle invented for dramatic purposes yet its placement in the film actually strips away most of the drama of the 2 hour and 14 minute film.
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In: BuRStS

Another Tuesday, another 8 movies you probably didn’t go bother see at the cinema but now may be compelled to watch at home. With the exception of La La Land, this week’s releases either didn’t get a theatrical run or performed poorly at the box office (*COUGH* Underworld: Blood Wars *COUGH*). Here’s what you should buy, rent, stream and skip for the week of April 25th:Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Disneynature’s latest Earth Day contribution that is as adorable as you can expect any documentary about snow leopards, pandas, antelopes and monkeys to be. Warning: It goes for the feels!

Almost every year, Disneynature produces a documentary that coincides with Earth Day. This year’s offering is Born in China featuring narration by John Krasinksi and noticeably lacking any commentary about the effect of climate change on the habitat of the animals we follow. Instead, the stories are humanized and emotional. The beautifully shot and slickly edited documentary contains a number of incredible shots promoting family values and the instinctiveness of familial love.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Bad as you want it to be. Unintentionally funny at times. Katherine Heigl is a campy, convincing whack-a-doodle. This year’s When the Bough Breaks which was last year’s The Perfect Guy.

Lifetime Channel’s movies became so big, they launched a separate Lifetime Movie Network. Occasionally, though, when we’re really good, Hollywood treats us to a big screen version of the movies that are usually reserved for endless repeat on LMN. Unforgettable (an ironic title since you won’t be able to differentiate this movie from others of its ilk come next year) is one of those movies that somehow avoided landing on the Lifetime Channel and instead got the green light from a major studio (Warner Bros.) and is now unintentionally making audiences laugh as Katherine Heigl and Rosario Dawson square off in a prolonged cinematic catfight.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: If you think this is a Tarantino rip off, you’re not watching close enough. It’s more of an homage to 70s and 80s action or a Guy Ritchie rip off than anything. It’s actually a good bit of fun though. How often do you get to experience a 62 minute shootout?

Sometimes film critics get obsessed with making a connection between two films and dwelling on it. That seems to be the case with Free Fire and Reservoir Dogs. It’s easy to relate the two movies since both films have a memorable warehouse showdown. Unlike Reservoir Dogs, Free Fire doesn’t give you a clear cut good guy to root for in the film and Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump’s script for Free Fire isn’t nearly as wordy or filled with pop culture references as Quentin Tarantino’s directorial début and Free Fire‘s plot unravels in about 15-20 minutes before launching into what has to be the longest shootout in movie history while Reservoir Dogs experiences a slower burn and a much different feel. Saying both of these films are comparable would be like saying LeBron James and myself are comparable since we both wear Nike and have dribbled a basketball.Read More →

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In: 7 Days

In this new feature, MHT gives a list of movies to celebrate birthdays, commemorate deaths, recognize what happened in history and observe holidays. This week features Earth Day, the birth of Shakespeare, the death of the Red Baron and more:Read More →

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In: Hot Take, Lists, Ranked, Trailers

This week, the trailer for Star Wars: The Last Jedi was dropped on us. The official trailer on the Star Wars YouTube page has already surpassed 29 million views so there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen it unless you’re under a rock (or my brother who still doesn’t get Star Wars). So, rather than just post the trailer and hope to piggyback a few clicks, I thought it would be more interesting to go back and watch all (okay, not all because the films have had multiple trailers) of the trailers from the first 7 movies along with the new one and rank them. Here’s how the trailers rank from worst (The Phantom Menace) to first (Now, you have to read further because I’m not just giving the whole list away!):Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Character driven Netflix Original that somehow forgets there’s a plot that needs attention until it’s too late. It’s still pretty good, though.

Most films about gambling get it wrong. Outside of Let It Ride and Rounders (I haven’t seen Mississippi Grind yet so that one is excluded from the conversation), the rest typically have some fatal flaw that causes it to lose credibility. Hell, even Rounders has a villain with the most obvious and ridiculous tell a poker player would ever have. Win It All avoids those fatal flaws by focusing on the main character, small time gambler Eddie Garrett (Jake Johnson) and his struggle with gambling addiction rather than the gambling action.Read More →

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In: 2017, Hot Take

Hot Take: Earns a golf clap.

If there were a Mount Rushmore of golf movies, three spots would have to be reserved for Caddyshack, Tin Cup and Happy Gilmore. As for the fourth spot, a friendly 19th hole argument could be made for a handful of flicks. In a few years, once Tommy’s Honour makes the rounds, it wouldn’t be surprising for someone to tee this one up as a possible deserving candidate to complete the foursome.Read More →