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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Don Cheadle’s depiction of Miles Davis is worth the price of admission.

It’s a shame Miles Ahead came out in April because Don Cheadle’s masterful turn as Miles Davis will be largely forgotten by the time Oscar season rolls around. The Academy doesn’t go out of it’s way to nominate performances from the first half of the year or ones by black actors so it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion Cheadle’s on-screen brilliance will get lost in the shuffle.Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: More Jessica Chastain. More queens battling. Less everything else. (This is a wish list, not a description of the movie.)

The Huntsman: Winter’s War was entertaining. It also wasn’t very good. Surely, these are contradictory statements but true, too. Watching The Huntsman, it was hard to pin down who the audience was for it. If it was for fans of the first installment — Snow White and the Huntsman — then why remove Snow White from the tale? If it was aimed at a younger audience then why have sexual overtones, violence and crude language? If it is aimed at an older audience then why not make an attempt at giving maybe just one character a little bit of depth? If it is aimed at fans won over by the trailer then why not give the audience more of the queens than we actually get?Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Good characters. Boring movie. Unearned romance.

It’s hard to put into words the experience of watching A Hologram for the King. Some might say Tom Hanks is brilliant because, well, they always say he’s brilliant. He’s that everyman character he usually plays but he is out of place in Saudi Arabia, drinking illegal booze and even having sexual encounters. But that’s the Tom Hanks everyman in wolf’s clothing, all right. It’s a stranger in a strange land tale. Nowhere near the success Lost in Translation was. Nowhere near the disaster of Rock the Kasbah. Actually, the best comparison might be Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, if the lead were male and there was no war.Read More →

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In: To See or Not To See

We’re still basking in the glow of The Jungle Book this week as no one will come close to knocking it off of it’s box office thrown… not even two powerful queens. Neither will a multi-cultural action duo, Tricky Dick and the King, a holographic image being sold to a king, a meddling mom or anyone else for that matter. Even though they won’t contend for the box office crown, let’s take a look at the theatrical releases for the week of April 22nd:

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In: 2016, Ranked

On March 9th, MHT recapped the first 25 movies seen in 2016. After seeing 25 movies (29 if you count Raiders of the Lost Ark, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and a second viewing of The Bronze) in 42 days, here is the second set of 25 movies viewed in 2016, graded on a scale of 0-5 stars:

The “Thumbs Up” Group

Everybody Wants Some!! 5 out of 5 stars (5 / 5) REVIEW
Best film of 2016… so far! Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Dazed and Confused go to college.Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Apparently, many roads lead to nowhere.

At this point, I’m going to have to say it’s me. I continue to watch dramas starring James Franco with optimism only to be let down time and again. Last year, it was True Story. Earlier this year, Yosemite left me unimpressed. Now, it’s The Adderall Diaries.Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take, Trailers

Anticipation (Before Trailer): 70/100

Anticipation (After Trailer): 65/100

The star-studded cast of the remake of The Magnificent Seven definitely makes the film intriguing. Director Antoine Fuqua has done enough to add to the intrigue. The teaser trailer, however, kind of misses the mark a little bit as far as adding to the build. You barely get glimpses of anyone outside of Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt. Actually, we’re overloaded with Pratt’s mugging which makes you feel like it should be called The Magnificent One, Denzel and Five Other Dudes. They have until September 23 to at least get the trailer right and we’ll probably get two more so we’ll take a wait and see attitude toward the next one.

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In: BuRStS

It’s a crowded release week featuring 9 new movies vying for your entertainment dollar. The obvious choice features a gruesome bear attack and an Oscar winning performance by Leaonardo DiCaprio. The other 8 films are slightly less memorable: A killer for hire, an animated bear doing the Arctic Shake, a legal drama, a martial arts sequel, a lady in a van, a comedy about sex, a comedy spoofing a movie about sex and a documentary about a the National Lampoon which has probably spoofed everything mentioned at one time or another. MHT breaks down what to buy, rent, stream or skip for the week of April 19th:Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: There are a lot of messages in this heavy return to the Chicago South Side neighborhood barbershop. If there’s a return visit, maybe take a little off the top.

You can’t blame a film for poor marketing but the marketing department did Barbershop: The Next Cut no favors. While there’s plenty of things to laugh at, the way the film is packaged in the trailer as a non-stop comedy is a little disingenuous. The third installment in the Barbershop series is the most serious of the three films and takes it’s social commentary seriously. While this doesn’t hurt the quality of the film, it did take some adjusting as a viewer. It’s like biting into a peanut butter & jelly sandwich only to find out the person who made it used chunky peanut butter instead of creamy. It’s still PB&J but it’s different.Read More →