Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Movie Review
It pulls out all the stops in its effort to entertain and to bring the overriding story arc to a popular conclusion, this includes surprise cameos and events that have been on the cards for quite a while now. It provides almost too much information upon first view and will certainly divide the uber fan as few franchises have such vested followers.
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Even with a long running time of 141 minutes, there is little down time. The action is relentless as these characters ...
Playing with Fire Movie Review
The premise of an uptight workaholic, in this case, fire station leader Jake Carson (John Cena) being stuck with a trio of misfit children has worked in the past. The missing element here is a solid script with strong characters. The jokes, when they do arrive are just not funny enough to carry the film.
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There are some gross out moments that elicit a rumbling of laughs from the audience, but those moments are few and far between. Few comedies in recent memory have ...
Black Christmas Movie Review
Still set in the world of sorority houses, hazing and the holidays, we follow Riley Stone (Imogen Poots) as she recovers from a traumatic experience and tries to bond with her fellow sorority sisters. When a number of her friends go missing, she alone feels that something is not right.
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The film’s pacing does little to build the tension as its middle section is quite slow and doesn’t really take advantage of the underlying reason that the girls are going ...
The Addams Family Movie Review
The film is filled with imaginative moments like Thing (the hand with no body) watching appendage porn on his laptop and the butler Lurch (Conrad Vernon) tickling the ivories and belting out the R.E.M. song Everybody Hurts. One strange part is that most of the tidbits of clever are tailored to an audience a generation (or two) older than the current crop of youngsters.
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The story as it is involves the art of being yourself and not following the norm and that message is ...
The Good Liar Movie Review
Producer/director Bill Condon has a history with McKellen with Gods & Monsters and Mr. Holmes and does little to rein in his eccentricities. Mirren gives as good as she gets and does so with a thinly veiled look of superiority. With the ad and press campaign for the film leaving little doubt that both participants have something up their sleeves, the real surprises don’t arrive until the last reel reveal.
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The twist when it does come, will catch most by ...
Martha: A Picture Story Movie Review
That she did this on her own (without paid assignment) and at a time when street artists were considered criminals makes her work even more risky and remarkable. This aspect of her life forms the backbone of the film but it’s far from the defining factor. Martha, now in her mid-seventies has remained unconventional and still totally involved in documenting humanity in the world around her.
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The scenes where she risks injury and arrest to capture street art show ...
Frozen II Movie Review
Wth the sequel, the filmmakers have increased the spectacle in almost every way. The computer generated visuals are amazing to look at and often times approach photo realism standards. The story also expands on the mythology from the first film and breaths new life into the franchise to maintain its momentum.
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The story picks up a few years after the first chapter and does its best to flush out a number of elements from before that remained a mystery. As a refres...
Knives Out Movie Review
Having the writer also be the director, in this case Rian Johnson, makes the entire exercise feels more on point. Little seems diluted from what is a classic whodunnit. It’s clever but not so clever the it leaves you behind. There are plenty of clues and it’s entirely up to you to decipher real from ruse.
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With such a packed cast, it also prevents the blame from landing on the most famous shoulders as so often happens. To help throw you off the scent, contras...
Farming Movie Review
This often times led to disillusion and alienation as some of the children never felt fully immersed in either culture. Some of the foster homes were also far from perfect environments and racial prejudice was rampant at that time and greatly added to the internal unrest.
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The film is loosely based on writer/director Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s actual childhood and it tells a horrifying tale about his early years. It also presents a challenge to the audience to ...
21 Bridges Movie Review
Starting with a drug heist that goes seriously awry and causes the death of eight policemen, this sets up what one hopes will be a clever manhunt where the police use street smarts and good detective work to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
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What actually transpires though is a by the book dirty cop scenario where you have little doubt about the players and which side of the law they reside on. Chadwick Boseman is accomplished as Detective Andre ...
