Hot Take: What. The. Hell? (And why was it actually pretty awesome?)
Within minutes of the viewing experience that is Swiss Army Man, you’re well aware that you’re in for something completely different. How different? Well, flatulence, masturbation, drinking the spit of a corpse who, oh by the way, talks and feces all play a major role in the storytelling. And that’s the best I can do without any major spoilers.Read More →
Hot Take: Spielberg is a master behind the camera and now, for the second film in a row, Mark Rylance is his secret weapon. It might be big budget kid’s fare but darn if it isn’t entertaining and wonderfully acted.
In the hands of Steven Spielberg, you can expect good things. The 1982 children’s story The BFG is the latest to get the Spielberg touch. The Roald Dahl children’s story which features a young girl who befriends a big, friendly giant and whisks away to Giant Country and Dream Country before the young girl, Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) comes up with a plan to help the BFG (a CGI-enhanced Mark Rylance) rid himself of his bigger brethren who both pick on BFG and happen to munch on children in their spare time. The story itself is purely juvenile with discussions of snozzcumbers (a foul-tasting vegetable grown in Giant Country), frobscottle (a bubbly concoction), whiz poppers (the flatulence caused by drinking frobscottle) and a number of other uniquely pronounced words specific to the BFG’s bungling of them.Read More →
Last week, Finding Dory kicked some serious butt as it took down Independence Day: Resurgence and friends (Dory beat all four new releases combined). This week, Finding Dory will own Independence Day weekend as four newcomers vie for second place. Will a Tarzan reboot topple a Purge sequel or will a Spielberg adaptation of a Roald Dahl classic be the BFD (big first début, of course!)? Here’s MHT’s recommendations of what to see and not see for the weekend of July 1st:Read More →
Disney has dominated 2016 but with only The BFG on the horizon in July, it looks like the House of Mouse is willing to let someone play in the box office sandbox this month. There are 25 movies ready to hit theaters in July and here are the trailers for all of them, ranked by anticipation:
1. The Secret Life of Pets (July 8)
The question is will The Secret Life of Pets be Despicable Me big or Minions big at the box office? Our guess is somewhere in the middle but it is more than capable of winning July. According to Box Office Pro, it should run away with the crown but stranger things can happen.
Hot Take: Aristotle said, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” Aristotle didn’t see Free State of Jones which has some great parts but falls short as a great movie.
For my money, Free State of Jones was the most promising film of the summer. At one point, my expectations were set way too high. Fortunately, before seeing it, the first batch of reviews were mixed and brought down my expectations a little. You can’t blame me for getting excited though. Matthew McConaughey almost always delivers a strong performance (and does again in Free State of Jones). Writer/director Gary Ross also delivers more hits than misses and when he misses — The Flintstones, Mr. Baseball — no one is too surprised nor are the stakes particularly high. Read More →
Eight movies hit the DVD rack this week. Eye in the Sky highlights this lukewarm batch of releases which also features two documentaries, another Tina Fey disappointment, another generic Bruce Willis flick, another low budget shark horror and another shining example of 2016’s love of the sequel. Here’s MHT’s guide to what to buy, rent, stream or skip for June 28th:Read More →
Hot Take: Despite the all-star cast, Get A Job fails to be funny. It’s kind of important for a comedy to be funny, don’t you think?
Get A Job is about as lazy and predictable as they come. It’s a lot like How to Be Single in the way it is structured. You could say it is to employment what How to Be Single is to dating. The only problem is How to Be Single was actually funny. Get A Job has very few moments that even bring a smile to your face let alone make you laugh.Read More →
Hot Take: Ummmmmm… Twisted?
Admittedly, I’m not familiar with director Nicholas Winding Refn’s earlier works. The Neon Demon was my first foray into his world of art. It’s fair to call it art. One thing The Neon Demon isn’t is a straightforward movie with a cut and dried plot. This is one for the film school crowd. If it were 1996, my Film History & Appreciation class would have had a field day with this one. Read More →
Hot Take: Beautiful visuals combined with some tense scenes. The perfect contrast. Kind of the perfect summer popcorn flick, actually.
Whether or not you enjoy the actual movie, one thing is surely certain about The Shallows: It’s beautiful. Not just the setting — a secret beach somewhere in Mexico — or the star — a bikini-clad Blake Lively — or the camerawork even. Everything about it is beautiful. Even in the most terrifying moments, The Shallows has a natural beauty to it that keeps you watching. Read More →
This week features two very summer movies paired with two very un-summer flicks as sequelitis continues to plague the summer box office. The four wide releases might not even add up to Finding Dory‘s second week haul and the two platform releases — including one about a flatulent corpse — won’t help. Here’s MHT’s recommendations of what to see and not see for the weekend of June 24th:Read More →