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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Richard Linklater is one of the best at making characters you are genuinely interested in even when almost nothing happens. (Even though so much happens.) Best movie of 2016 so far!

5 out of 5 stars (5 / 5)

Everybody Wants Some!! takes us through the weekend before school starts for a college baseball team in 1980. Our central character Jake (Blake Jenner) is a freshman pitcher joining a successful southern Texas college baseball team. Second team all-state on his high school team, Jake is now just one of the many good players on this team. He arrives at school and quickly learns the environment will be competitive and filled with parties and trying to meet girls. But, as with it’s spiritual predecessor Dazed and Confused, it’s more than that as Jake and the group are establishing their identity for the rest of the year and maybe longer.Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Criminal – adj. Shameful, disgraceful… Yup! That’s about right.

In Criminal, Kevin Costner plays Jericho Stewart, a death row inmate who because of a frontal lobe injury at a very young age makes him the prime candidate for an experimental memory transplant surgery to save the memories of CIA agent Billy Pope (Ryan Reynolds) in a race against time as screamingly incompetent CIA honcho Quaker… yeah, that’s really the name they gave him… Wells (Gary Oldman) and his equally incompetent CIA agents need those memories to stop “The Dutchman” (Michael Pitt) from selling a dangerous technology called the Wormhole to the highest bidder. Wells seeks the help of Dr. Frankenstein Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) to transfer Pope’s memories to Stewart whose impressionable frontal lobe (and source of his horrible behavior… the ridiculous gruff voice is free of charge). Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: Intense and gorgeous to watch. This isn’t your animated classic, this is a captivating tale with grit and heart that’s actually an improvement.

Director Jon Favreau’s adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling classic The Jungle Book may be a Disney product and might have a few recognizable ingredients from the 1967 animated concoction but this only vaguely resembles it’s predecessor. Instead Favreau’s version is a much more mature, coherent, intense thrill-a-minute adventure about an endearing young boy growing up in the jungle and trying to find his place in the world. It’s almost too scary for young audiences but too special to not risk a couple nights of bad dreams.Read More →

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In: To See or Not To See

The Boss earned a TKO at the box office last week as Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was bumped from the top spot (thanks to The Boss‘ Thursday preview dollars) but everything is out of contention for this week’s #1 at the box office. This week you can write The Jungle Book in Sharpie but will it top $80 million? It’s not expected to approach April’s biggest opening (Furious 7 opened at $147 million last year) but it could make it to #3 (Fast Five at $86 million) or it could miss the mark and not even make it to #4 (Fast & Furious at $71 million). Also joining the fray is yet another sequel with a huge gap between it’s last appearance on the big screen: Barbershop: The Next Cut which comes 12 years after Barbershop 2. All that, a Kevin Costner film and two very exciting platform releases in To See or Not to See for the week of April 15th:
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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: High Strung is the pure joy of music and dance on screen. You’ll rarely hear this here but this one could have done with even less story and just spent more time on dance.

If it weren’t for So You Think You Can Dance? — one of the few reality TV shows worth watching — I doubt I would know the pleasure I get from watching dance. For the longest time, it was an art form I chose to ignore. However, thanks to that show, I have a bigger interest and a better understanding of dance and the emotion and dedication it takes. So, even though I knew very little about High Strung, I was mildly excited to see it on screen. Read More →

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In: 10 Things, Lists

Every Wednesday (hopefully!), we’ll drop “10 Things” a list of 10 things about a hot topic in movies:

Since it feels like forever since Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released (it was March 25th!) and SO MUCH was said about the movie, let’s talk about everything else going on in the cinematic comic book universe. Here’s the 10 things we’ve learned about comic book movies since the Bat from Gotham took on the Son of Krypton (for about 5 minutes, 3 if you take out the part where Wonder Woman checks her e-mail):

1. Suicide Squad has ANOTHER incredible trailer!Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: You can make a decent Sci-Fi film without laser rifles and space ships after all.

If you’re one dissatisfied to leave the theater with more questions than answers, Midnight Special might not be your cup of tea. If you’re one for film nostalgia, nods to the Sci-Fi work of Spielberg and Carpenter and The X-Files and some great performances, put Midnight Special on your list of movies to see for 2016.Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: At least it didn’t make me vomit?

The first-person-shooter video game has really taken off since it appeared a quarter century ago. So, it was only a matter of time before Wolfenstein, Doom, Halo and Call of Duty eventually morphed into an actual first-person movie. Enter Hardcore Henry where, essentially, you are Henry. Hardcore Henry is basically an over caffeinated, ultra-violent theme park attraction in theatrical clothing. Read More →

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In: 2016, Hot Take

Hot Take: If you like Melissa McCarthy, you’ll probably enjoy The Boss. If you don’t or you’re looking for something more than a toilet paper-thin story filled with gags, crude language and pratfalls, stay far away.

If you can’t figure out how the story of The Boss will play out after watching the trailer and the first five minutes of the movie, you haven’t seen enough movies. In addition to being predictable, The Boss is vulgar, crude, full of pratfalls and inappropriate humor. That predictability reduces the film to a few memorable comedic moments that produce some hard laughs scattered through the movie’s 99 minutes. Read More →