Reviews

It seems they had a horror picture in the works and decided not to deliver it full term.

It was clear that the intent was not to debate abortion or to question the impact of Roe v Wade. Instead, the focus is to expose abortion for what it is and how it is conducted, especially during later stages of the pregnancy.

During one scene a witness for the prosecution is describing how pregnancies are ended in the supposedly "friendlier" confines of a women's health clinic. Director Nick Searcy, who also plays Gosnell's defense attorney, does a clever job of showing that the "healthy" alternative isn't a far leap from the gruesomeness that went on in Gosnell's clinic.

There's also a clever use of a POV shot. It can almost be used to analyze someone's views on the subject. If you instantly recognize the point of view, then there is no debate.

So why pull the punches during scenes when they were raiding the clinic? It was like tv detectives showing up to a crime scene. It should've been presented like something out of "Silence of the Lambs" or investigating a John Doe murder in "Se7en." After all, there were fully developed feet in those jars.

I never thought I would say this...but I wish Michael Bay had directed this. Maybe the earlier entries hold something dear to his heart and he wouldn't have allowed this to go off the rails.

The biggest casualty is the riffing between the Lawrence and Smith, which practically rips the soul right out of the franchise. The laughs from the first two movies came from the strong chemistry between the two leads and how they could argue in the middle of gun fights, car chases, etc. Here they just sound like an old married couple who have grown tired of each other.

The other casualty is the action scenes. The great Sam Peckinpah once said of the violence in his films that he wanted the audience to feel the impact of getting shot. Modern day use of CGI and such does the exact opposite. It feels more like you're watching somebody else play a video game. While some praise the visuals, I criticize its effect of pushing the viewer further away rather than drawing them in.

This could have been like Lethal Weapon IV and had some fun with its theme of the loose cannon dealing with aging. Instead its more like Beverly Hills Cop III and becomes a sad entry in an otherwise solid franchise.

These are the worst kinds of movies...it disguises itself as a socially conscious film and I'm sure its makers claim they want the viewer to be challenged by a story that revolves around the impact of a police shooting and several different characters. It doesn't bring anything new to the table and its all thinly veiled references to real life cases such as Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and even Colin Kaepernick.

It only provides partial and one sided stories which make any try at debating the issues completely useless, let alone come up with any answers. This film has more in common with propaganda than any thought provoking drama.

This is "The Blues Brothers" for fans of Black Metal. Metalheads are going to enjoy it more than those who aren't fans of the genre. Its still good for a few laughs even if you aren't familiar with the instantly recognizable opening of Pantera's "Walk."

At the very least, it injects humor and shows a lighter side of a musical scene that's notorious for church burnings in the 90's, or that one of these bands once used a photo of the corpse of a former bandmate (after committing suicide) as an album cover.

Hereditary was a good drama with some tense and thrilling moments for about an hour and 45 mins or so. Then the final act fell apart.

The last 20 mins felt like I just watched a Donnie Darko inspired remake of Rosemary's Baby. Just in case anyone is wandering, that isn't meant as a compliment.

Hate to be the millionth person to point out that this is a Die Hard rip off...but it is what it is.

Doesn't mean you can't have fun watching it. It can always be turned into a drinking game. Every time there's a pale imitation of Die Hard, then everyone drinks.

Not going to be a game for lightweights.

There are some good laughs scattered around Deadpool 2 but all of the meta and self-referencing humor wore out by the end of the credits in the first movie.

Occasionally they try to throw in a one liner aimed at social and political targets. For example, there's a George W. Bush "Mission Accomplished" joke that's about fifteen years too late...and it wouldn't have been funny even if it had been on time. If you get all of your political insight from Trevor Noah and Stephen Colbert then I guess this material is for you.

There's also groan worthy attempts at appealing to the #metoo movement, LGBTQ groups, and other Social Justice millennial groups. I wish writers would realize that these people are not capable of laughter or joy and its not worth the effort to try and entertain them.

That aside, just like the first one, Deadpool 2 is at its best with slapstick comedy and over the top violence. Unfortunately, that's hard to maintain for 2 hours. I guess that's why the Three Stooges made short films.

There's some good moments of parody in there as well. I especially liked the credits that mimicked the Roger Moore era of James Bond title sequences. Moments like that make Deadpool 2 momentarily worth watching. Now if they could just get Ryan Reynolds to quit ad-libbing to the camera how he's in a Marvel movie, then there would be more time for better jokes.

I had heard this movie described as Death Wish meets The Six Million Dollar Man. I would argue that the revenge aspect owes more to The Crow than Death Wish. The action scenes are good and the production value was great for its low budget.

I would have rated it slightly higher but the ending was a bit on the weak side. Seems like filmmakers these days need a refresher on how to end a movie. I realize that not all films are going to be like Se7ven, for example, and get the ending they deserve...but that's no excuse for going with the worst possible ending.

The Commuter plays like the first draft a screenwriter would come up with if they were on a train to meet with studio execs and then realizing they better come up with an idea to pitch real soon. I can picture someone pacing about the cars coming up with one lame idea after another.

It also plays out like a train on a schedule. Each reveal comes with an ETA and is right on time. Without giving anything away, I was able to spot one of the villains from their name in the opening credits and the obvious lack of screen time that was going to follow. I knew about when they would reappear towards the end...right on time.

Its pretty standard material in the "YOU SET ME UP!" genre blended in with Liam Neeson's special set of skills. The action and the fight scenes are atrocious as far as editing. I don't care if the hero does something improbable, but what makes this so bad is that what's happening on the screen is indecipherable. All the viewer can do is wait for the action to stop and see who's left and where they stand.

For some reason there are people who still like Neeson in these roles. Obviously I'm not one of them.

The Death of Stalin is good satire about the power struggle that ensued after, well, the death of Stalin. I'm sure there are people who will pick away at historical inaccuracies. Ignore them. This is satire not a documentary. I don't look to this movie for historical perspective any more than David Irving would look to Life Is Beautiful for a deeper understanding of the Holocaust.

Reagan once quipped that he couldn't get anywhere with the Russians because they kept dying on him. This movie has a similar problem. There are funny scenes that are Marx Brothers and Python-esque, but then it throws in the occasional mass murder and execution.

That shouldn't deter anyone from watching it though. It's running time clocks in at 1 hr 47 mins and there are enough laughs to justify sitting through to the end.

There's no easy way to assign a rating for a movie like Den of Thieves. On its own merits it gets 5/10 stars since it draws so heavily on Heat from director Michael Mann and is undeniably inferior to its predecessor.

However, Heat was made almost 25 years ago and maybe the viewer hasn't seen it. If that's the case, then anyone who is watching Den of Thieves, and is unaware of Heat's existence, then add 1 star to the rating.

The other obvious inspiration Den Of Thieves draws from is The Usual Suspects and its "character who isn't who isn't who he seems to be" as well as its "Garsh! I just figured out what was going on all along" ending.

Again, ripping off a movie from a quarter of a century ago. If the viewer hasn't seen The Usual Suspects then I guess add half a star to the rating. Can't give it a full star because...well, the Den of Thieves twist isn't that clever.

One other little note is the scene where one of the thieves intimidates his daughter's prom date with implied threats from his fellow tattooed thugs and ex-cons. This would have been funnier if it could have lived up to Martin Lawrence and Will Smith using the same tactic in a hilarious scene from Bad Boys 2. If you haven't seen it, add another half star to Den of Thieves.

So this is anywhere from 5/10 to 7/10...its the best I can rate it.

Rampage is based on a thirty-year-old arcade game that I don't recall with much clarity. I know I played...I mean, if it was in arcades thirty years ago then I definitely played it...It's just not as memorable as some of the classics.

Which is where the movie struggles as well. It's goofy fun while your in the middle of it, but remembering what was enjoyable afterwards is like popping a quarter in an arcade game and trying to recall what was fun after the game is over. You know it was fun because you'd put another quarter in and try again...but you only bought yourself an evening of entertainment and not a lifetime of quotable moments. That's exactly what you get out of Rampage, the movie and the arcade game.

One day someone was listening to the Steve Miller Band's "Take the Money and Run" and thought they could make it into a feature length film. They took the character of Billy Joe and shortened it to BJ and made Bobbie Sue into two characters, Bobby and Sue. The writer then tossed these characters into a plot about stolen money and young lovers on the run.

I'm ok with people wearing their influences on their sleeves but unfortunately you get more pleasure from the three or so minutes running time of Steve Miller's song than you can extract from this train wreck of a movie.

The obvious joke is the film's title doubles as its review. This is bad enough that it deserves nothing more than the obvious joke.

"The Shape of Water" is filmed by an artist but written by an immature man-child. It's a sort of "Beauty and the Beast" and "Creature From the Black Lagoon" mash up with some themes that Disney would target to an 8-year-old.

During the opening scenes we see a naked female masturbating in a bath tub, which would seem to indicate the movie to follow is targeted towards a mature grown up audience. Instead, we get something on the same intellectual level that can be found in a book that teachers would read to 3rd graders.

I guess the more liberal viewers will be ok with its portrayal of white, straight males as being the real monsters, no matter how clichéd and intellectually boring this has become. For some reason there's a heroic sidekick who seems unnecessarily gay, i.e., it serves no purpose to the plot other than to serve as a contrast to the cruel, uber-hetero alpha male and main antagonist portrayed by Michael Shannon.

There's just enough sex, violence, and language to get an R rating, which would have been fine in a movie with a script that was mature enough to handle it. Its a real shame the script is so puerile because it's beautifully shot and looks great. In the end its hard to imagine this being enjoyable by anyone who reads above a first grade level or has maturity beyond a thirteen-year-old who gets titillated by a naked woman in the bathtub.

This movie has about as much personality and charm as a school shooter...and that seems to be its target audience. Not sure why its getting a single recommendation or positive review...It's not smart, it's not original, and there isn't a single redeemable quality.

It throws the occasional horror reference (like Dario Argento) just to prove its makers have seen horror movies before but they clearly don't have a clue how to make an effective one. There's a few grisly death scenes that might have been amusing in a Herschell Gordon Lewis movie but here it just comes off as desperation.

The story of social media addicted teen girls who kill for fame seems like a setup for satire. The problem is there isn't any evidence of it. In fact, I can't see any evidence the film has a problem with the sociopathic behavior of its central characters. It doesn't matter though since none of their victims are given any opportunity to make the viewer care.

This is horror/comedy for the Miley Cyrus generation. There's a lot that went into the production to make it look shiny, but in the end there's no entertainment in the final product.