Reviews

Picking up 18 months after the disastrous events of the disaster of a film MAN OF STEEL, Batman (Affleck) fears future collateral damage from Superman (Cavill), and sets out to stop him. Disappointing for the Superman fans, since this outing focuses more on Batman (with Affleck given top billing); and disappointing for the Batman fans for the lost opportunity of THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. There are some noteworthy ideas, but they're few and far between; for example, Batman's voice-changer is an excellent addition that would've saved Christian Bale some throat scratching. But never once is the viewer rooting for or against anyone; what with this gumbo of several important characters all being crammed into one film leaves everyone underdeveloped and the audience apathetic—there is no beat for us to cheer for the introduction of Batman or his batmobile, nor the reintroduction of Superman or Lois Lane. Aside from flashbacks of Bruce Wayne's childhood (which is only necessary because the history was rewritten for the sake of a cheep plot device), there is very little development or interaction from our stars (besides fighting) and it is all just go, go, go, CGI mess everywhere for almost two-and-a-half hours. Worst yet is the immature common ground Batman and Superman find to set their differences aside.

★½ (out of four)

Murray plays himself in this variety show within a variety show, which nobody attends due to a blizzard. With his worries come true, Murray wallows through New York City's Carlyle Hotel with the holiday blues, but fellow guests will get him by with some Christmas spirit. Great song selection and performances, but each number is performed in its entirety, dragging things on a lot longer than necessary. The ensemble cast includes cast and crew that have become part of Murray's modern clique, making A VERY MURRAY CHRSTIMAS seem (appropriately) like a group of friends getting together for the Holidays but at the end of it all, this Christmas special just doesn't end up being all that funny.

★★½ (out of four)

Rushed sequel with Freddy Kruger (Englund) manipulating main character Patton into doing his murders for him. Black sheep of the franchise, with it being the only film in which the male is the protagonist and also to have no recurring characters aside from Freddy. Typical inferior horror sequel, but it does make attempts at honoring its predecessor. Its low points are a scene with Freddy possessing a pair of lovebirds; and another scene where Myers is inexplicably right on her hunches, trying to convince Patton that it wasn't him who committed a murder when he admits to it, but also that he made his confession to her with his hands soaked in blood! Rusler is slightly more appealing as the bully-turned-friend; unfortunately, he's not explored enough and ultimately comes across as a contradictory character. Concept may have actually worked had they given it another year or two to fill the bumps in the script.

★★ (out of four)

A group of teens are haunted by Freddy Kruger (Englund), a burn victim with knives for fingers who murders his prey in their dreams. Not only scary for its violence and Englund's performance, but director Craven does a terrific job toying with the audience's perception between imagination and reality. However, the film is plagued by terrible dialogue, and Oscar-nominee Blakley's delivery is horrendous. Depp is surprisingly forgetful in his debut. Despite its overwhelming flaws, it's still worth a replay every five or so years. Seems kind of like a cheap-shot to villain-ize a burn victim, but Kruger's attire and his boiler room lair are just so perfect for the horror genre.

★★½ (out of four)

Film set in 1959 (based on screenwriter Schulman's own experiences at academy) about liberal English teacher Williams influencing his students who attend all-boys Welton Academy. Focuses more on the group of boys, but Williams is able to work his off-the-cuff dialogue enough to keep you reminded that it's still him. Absolutely beautiful Northeastern setting, with excellent enough pacing to keep you entertained the entire way through. The boys are surprisingly less dorky than you'd think. The film never takes the easy way out, with Weir and Schulman seeming perfectly content with impending gloom. Kudos also for developing how important teachers can be to their students and vice versa. Williams' character was inspired by Samuel Pickering.

★★★½ (out of four)

Tragedy meets melodrama meets the fearless hip '90s, following the Burnham family as they deal with their first-world problems. Lester and Carolyn (Spacey and Bening) are getting older, and both are trying in their own way to hang on to the last moments of what each thinks is the prime of their lives; while their teenage daughter Jane (Birch) is having issues of her own, dealing with finding her identity and not feeling pretty enough next to her "friend" Angela (Suvari). Neighboring Fits family (consisting of Bentley, Cooper and Janney) work their way into the mix because the son is stalking Jane. A film that speaks to those who have seen a midlife crisis, and is still entertaining to those who have it to look forward to. Oscar-winner is entertaining right from the get-go, and is an experience as flawless as a rose upon first viewing. However, after you've seen it a few times, the rose begins to wilt, unmasking contradictory characters and inexplicable events that unfold just to appease its themes of confinement, conformity, redemption and sexuality—why does Lester lecture Carolyn about materialism right after HE's the one that bought a Pontiac Firebird? Why didn't writer Ball or director Mendes at least try to make Bening's character slightly redeemable? All the many other questions to raise require spoilers, but the list goes on... Hard to completely hate because it's easy to understand why so many people like it.

★★½ (out of four)

After being ditched at the alter, wedding singer (and aspiring rockstar) Sandler decides to give up love for good and live life as a bachelor, until he falls for coworker Barrymore and ends up helping her plan her wedding to womanizing Glave. The soundtrack is amongst some of the better 1980s playlists out there, and even if you don't care about a retro flashback, this outing is still a charming romantic-comedy. Some of the laughs are more side-jokes than plot related, and Sandler has a few moments of his annoying trademark tirade, but why pry too much when it has the fun, romance and ability to be replayed no different than your favorite '80s record?

★★★½ (out of four)

A group of monster-savvy kids must rescue their city from Dracula (Regehr) and his monster troops. It's as stupid as it sounds, with some of the kids not even being likable, such as Gower's character, who is so underdeveloped that there's the need to flesh him out by dragging his parents and five-year-old sister into the mix, with the mom and dad's conflict being that he works too much and then we have Dracula actually calling the five-year-old sister a well, that part's worth seeing, so no spoilers there. Rightly earns itself a cult status for Stan Winston & Co reimagining the Universal Monsters but the terrible story still can't be redeemed by amazing SFX. Some versions of the film foolishly credit Noonan as Frankenstein when the movie itself points out the common misconception of it being the monster's name when it's actually the creature's creator's.

★½ (out of four)

Roadtrip hit with all the right moves, following a dysfunctional family traveling from Albuquerque to Redondo Beach in an antiquated yellow Volkswagen T2 Microbus so that Breslin can be a contestant in a beauty pageant. While they fail at leaving their problems behind, their experiences on the road ultimately help them grow closer to each other and cope with their personal situations. The entire cast contributes their share, with grandfather Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Very rare to mix seriousness in a comedy without it coming across as melodramatic, but screenwriter Arndt and directors Dayton and Faris make it work!

★★★★ (out of four)

The trio are back as their own bosses this time around, inventing a carwash-like shower system that they foolishly invest to businessman Waltz, who shamelessly takes full advantage of their inexperience and stupidity. In an attempt to break even, they kidnap his equally cruel and charming son Pine and hold him for ransom. The banter between Bateman, Day and Sudeikis is just as sharp as the original, and the plot itself isn't half-bad for a sequel. The downfall is the minor roles from Aniston and Spacey that—albeit fun—are too forced into the story that is stretches the movie into unnecessary territory.

★★★ (out of four)

Panned 1992 family-adventure about middle-class family man Martin unexpectedly inheriting a boat, and instead of paying a boat mover to sail it from the Caribbean to Miami to sell it, he takes his wife (Place) and children (Salisbury and Sisto) on a "spontaneous adventure" led by an incompetent captain-for-hire (Russell in the title role). Viewers may be getting too hung up on the fact that it is Russell in the funny role and Martin in the serious one, but the latter is excellent as a dorky yuppy whose patience is being chiseled away by the former's family-unfriendly antics. If you sit back and roll with it, it's like letting the wind carry the sails, with its wonderful score by Pike and beautiful filming locations (mainly shot in Puerto Rico).

★★★ (out of four)

After numerous breakups over what his friends and family consider shallow and a way to avoid commitment, the hard-to-please aspiring poet Mike Myers finally finds himself the perfect match in Nancy Travis... there's only one flaw... she might be an axe murderer! Very Mike Myers humor with lots of buddy comedians in supporting roles or cameos, all taking place in a so-very-'90s San Francisco—this film only works because all the pieces fall into the right place. Surprisingly light-hearted given its title, only getting dark in the third act. Killer (pun?) soundtrack. Travis actually cut off the tip of her finger during a scene at the butcher shop.

★★★ (out of four)

One of Apatow's signatures is to really dig deep into his characters; which, for a comedy, sometimes ends up turning things unexpectedly serious and/or surprisingly heartwarming. For FUNNY PEOPLE and KNOCKED UP, toying with drastic genre shifts was tolerable because there was at least payoff with good jokes and interesting characters. However, in his 2005 outing about sweet but overly awkward Carell, there is a major lack of satisfaction when attempting to explore the root-causes of why our main character just can't (or won't) "get any". The jokes are few-and-far-between, but when they are finally delivered, it is so juvenile that actual 40-year-old virgin aren't even this desperate for a laugh. Its attempts at being funny are the painful reactions of getting waxed (hairy people don't get laid?) or that our maiden-man thinks breasts are hard (you have to feel them to know they're soft?).

* (out of four)

Frustrated veteran reaches his breaking point after being harassed by a sheriff (Dennehy) and his deputies in the small town of Hope. Neat to see forests of the Pacific Northwest turned into a jungle of combat, but characters suddenly disappear from the story without explanation (Caruso and Mulkey, for example); and the ending is abrupt that the narrative arc almost seems absent, it feels like they just ran out of ideas and decided to stop. Stallone is great as Rambo, but his delivery is so bad that even a heartfelt monologue has to be deciphered through closed-captions and replays.

★★½ (out of four)

Wayans notices unusual occurrences after he welcomes girlfriend Atkins to move in, with their experiences being documented through security video and a hand-held camera. Includes a fair share of jokes that both land and miss. Surprisingly insensitive at times, but this one's not for those who can't take a joke anyway. It's frustrating that Wayans feels the need to succumb to loud, childish reactions when he's proved himself quite capable of delivering clever comedy. Unlike many parodies, which usually have several targets, this outing focuses mainly on PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, which ends up limiting the range of mocking the "found footage" genre. Presented to the MPAA in two versions, but both ended up with an R-rating.

★★½ (out of four)

A group of college kids go camping and cross paths with the two titular hillbilly characters, who end up being far more well-meaning than their appearances suggest, making for some hilariously bloody, tragic misunderstandings. Make a cake by mixing DELIVERANCE, EVIL DEAD, Friday THE 13TH and SLEEPAWAY CAMP together; and ice it with HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE, JANE AUSTEN'S MAFIA!, SCARY MOVE and SILENCE OF THE HAMS for the frosting. Labine and Tudyk know how to bring quality laughs to the table; while the makeup, SFX and visual-effects departments all deserve a kudos for their impressive talents that would make a more serious movie legitimately horrifying. And let's face it, the two leads are so likable that they even bring a strange sweetness to this incredibly goofy outing. A parody-comedy that gets some good chuckles from those outside its target.

★★★ (out of four)

Pretty interesting account showcasing the lives of the FULL HOUSE cast while the hit series was in production from 1987–1995 (and book-ended by relevant events outside of the show's run), with a primary focus on Stamos (Gaston), Coulier (Mader) and Saget (Brawith). Very well-casted, and its pacing is impressively smooth. A main setback is the lack of major conflict warranting such a "dramatic story". It's also a bit strange how the characters can say they wish their real lives were as simple as FULL HOUSE when the show was about a young widower and his three motherless daughters.... Still, kudos to the attention to detail—they even make sure to cover Posey as Danny Tanner in the unaired pilot.

★★★ (out of four)

Well-received fifth installment follows Cruise as he chases down terrorist Harris; while at the same time staying under the radar (but not without the help of loyal Rhames, Pegg and Renner) of CIA agent Baldwin, who is convinced the IMF has done nothing for global security and has instead been criminally endangering and compromising previous missions. At times, the dialogue is just as bad as Woo's second installment; but from the opening scene of Cruise climbing on the outside of a flying Airbus A400M (without the use of special effects or a stunt double, by the way), there's no doubt another impossible mission will accomplish your entertainment. It's nice to see reprising characters getting fleshed out a little more, and the minor references to previous films are indeed fun; but this excellent series runs the risk of slowing down if each installment is becoming less and less self-contained. Hats off to Harris, who breathes life into a textbook greedy madman just by his unique voice.

★★★ (out of four)

A so-very-'90s disaster film that's excellent at everything except the acting. After trucks carrying toxic waste explode in a tunnel under the Hudson River, former Emergency Medical Services chief Stallone has the instinct to put himself in danger and go down to rescue any potential survivors. The explosion alone is worth watching, and there are plenty of other SFX that hold up to this day. Unfortunately, there are just way too many obstacles to keep the intensity fresh on top of the pedestrian acting—it's hard to tell if it's the cast or the script that's to blame. The nostalgia of it all will give it some brownie-points for replay value.

★★½ (out of four)

With his career failing, dimwitted male fashion model Stiller is brainwashed and used as a pawn to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia (Asai) by a group of corrupt executives. Pretty decent if you give it a shot, with Taylor's backstory demonstrating some real thought being put into some of these characters. Long list of cameos are real fun, but it's Stiller and Wilson together on screen that takes the cake. The film contains elements from a pair of short films for VH1 Fashion Awards television specials in 1996 and 1997. Surprised there is not more fashion model cameos. The soundtrack is terrible, despite possibly being intentional.

★★½ (out of four)

John Woo dumbs down this sequel to the 1996 action-spy blockbuster so much that it's almost unwatchable. What was cool back in spring 2000 and became out of style by autumn 2000 is all here: Limp Bizkit's rendition of Lalo Schifrin's theme, Tom Cruise's bad haircut, Thandie Newton as the leading lady, Anthony Hopkins hanging out in Spain, Rade Šerbedžija and his mustache, etc. Yes, this film's predecessor is a bit more complicated than what it needed to be, but it didn't need to be given a lobotomy. Even Ving Rhames' reprisal and the Australian setting can't save this hopeless, dull waste of two hours. The 1960's show's cast responded negatively to the first film, it'd be interesting to hear what they have to say about this one.

★½ (out of four)

The Griswolds (changed to "Griswalds" for this outing) are back and off to Europe after winning the free trip on a game-show. Predictable and inferior, likely the weakest of the series, but still offers some worthy laughs nonetheless. Both kids are replaced, but the recasting has since become a fun ongoing gimmick in the following films. Perhaps working Randy Quaid back into the plot somehow would've made this holiday more memorable? Despite its flaws, the concept of sightseeing with Sparky and his fam still "works" per se, so this installment is far from a complete waste. Followed by NATIONAL LAMPOON'S Christmas VACTION.

★★ (out of four)

Reminiscent of his tenure as Batman, Keaton is perfect as a washed-out celebrity famous for the eponymous role whose Broadway play acts as a reflection for his fear of worthlessness. The film is structured to appear like one long take, where we are able to branch off into other characters' stories who reveal a similar fear of being insignificant. One of a kind and never boring. Met with overwhelming acclaim, including the Oscar for Best Picture. Main character's decisions in the third act are a bit too questionable for everyone to be gaga over this outing, but all-around outstanding performance (especially by Norton) will carry any dead weight.

★★★½ (out of four)