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Hot Take: Consistent with the franchise. This’ll be one you’ll happen to trip across on cable in a few years and watch again. The all-female cast doesn’t have as much fun as the all-male Ocean’s Eleven crew but comes pretty darn close.

In 2016, a gender bending twist on Ghostbusters hit theaters and was met with vitriol from Internet trolls everywhere. Despite the fact that I wasn’t overly impressed with the all-female reboot, the film wasn’t the atrocity the anonymous Twitter trolls and the secret Rotten Tomato commenters would have had you believe. With all of the controversy around that film’s release and the firestorm of opinions offered, it was natural to ponder if Ocean’s 8 would receive the same type of reception. Fortunately, the all-female cast of Ocean’s 8 led by Sandra Bullock didn’t have the icy reception of Ghostbusters which means the focus can be on whether or not the film was any good. For the most part, the answer is yes. Considering Ocean’s 8 is the fourth film in the franchise and is more sequel and less reboot since Bullock’s character is Debbie Ocean, sister of Danny Ocean, having enough gas left in the tank in its fourth iteration is a feat in itself. Ocean’s 8 actually ends up being a slick, speedy, fun but formulaic heist flick  that rests on its charismatic laurels and mimics many of the characteristics that made Ocean’s Eleven a huge success. Read More →

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In: 2018, Hot Take, Uncategorized

Hot Take: Filmmaker Ava DuVernay says A Wrinkle In Time is for kids or the kid in you, if you still have a kid in you. I hope you do because I’m still able to find that and A Wrinkle In Time was an amazing adventure.

It’s unusual how you remember some things from your childhood. I remember seeing The Neverending Story for the first time when I was 8. For a while, it was favorite movie of all time. (At that age, my favorite movie was the last movie I saw that I really enjoyed.) There was so much great about it: Atreyu, Bastian, The Childlike Empress, Falkor, The Rock Biter. It was one of the moments of clarity that I knew I’d be watching a lot of movies if the experience was anything like that. A decade later, a more cynical teenage version of myself tried to watch The Neverending Story again. It didn’t work out too well. What was wrong with 8 year-old me that I like such a kid’s movie. Having not been to the movies in quite some time thanks to a cruise to Mexico, Honduras and Belize, A Wrinkle In Time was the first film I had seen since coming back. I had heard the DuVernay commentary about the film being made for the kid in you and decided to take that approach walking in. While it’s easy to be cynical right now, leaving all of that baggage outside the theater can be helpful and, in this case, it might be necessary. A Wrinkle In Time is essentially a movie for children but it doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed by adults. The visuals are stunning, the story is whimsical and there are enough strong, meaningful messages (at any age not just children’s age) to make this version of A Wrinkle In Time a  successful adaptation of the “unadaptable” children’s book.Read More →

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In: 2015, Hot Take

Hot Take: If you loved This Is The End, you’ll enjoy but probably not love The Night Before.

If I ever get back to ranking 2013 movies, I’m pretty sure This Is The End will come in at the top of my list. It was one of the funniest movies of the last decade. Fortunately (and unfortunately), The Night Before has a similar feel. While it was a very funny holiday movie, the comparisons and the way too revealing trailers for the film stole away some of the better moments and made it feel like a regifted tale.Read More →