Category: 4 Stars
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Star Trek Beyond (****) feels like films before
There is an old ship, that lay dormant for years that is discovered in the midst of the chaotic pace. That ship has a story that is only touched upon for purposes of pushing forward with the action at hand. How and why that ship was there for so long is what I wonder about…
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The Green Room (****) Gives us a glimpse of Yelchin’s future gifts
Yelchin gives a vulnerably heroic performance as a guy who has no idea what he’s in for, but he has to learn fast. It’s an unusual type of lead performance. Why that is, you have to discover for yourself. The movie is put over the top by his nervous energy. The world will miss his…
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The Conjuring 2 (****) secures Wan’s spot at the top of Horror
The Conjuring 2 – 2016 Director James Wan Screenplay by Wan, Chad and Carey Hayes, David Leslie Johnson Starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Frances O’Connor, Madison Wolfe, Simon McBurney, Franka Potente, Bonnie Aarons So difficult is it to pull off a movie about a haunting or even more, a possession, that it makes one want to shout from the hills and declare a…
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Midnight Special (****) has a familiar shine
Nichols succeeds with this story, but not to the level of his previous work. The pace works, and the effects are in keeping with the rest of the story up until that big reveal. If you loved what Nichols has done before, you will like this one. That it’s not the groundbreaking work one would…
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Joy (****) – Norma Rae can stuff it
Joy – 2015 Written and Directed by David O. Russell Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Edgar Ramirez, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, Isabella Rossellini, Bradley Cooper, Elisabeth Röhm, Dascha Polanco If there is a special ability portrayed by the actors and director of Joy, it’s that none of this feels that much like a movie. This half-fiction portrayal of the life of the creator…
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The Big Short (****) counts on us not liking bad news
The Big Short – 2015 Director Adam McKay Screenplay Charles Randolph and McKay Starring Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Brad Pitt, Marisa Tomei, Tracy Letts, Hamish Linklater, John Magaro, Byron Mann, Rafe Spall, Jeremy Strong, Finn Wittrock, Melissa Leo There are a whole bunch of facts being spit out in The Big Short. Director and writer…
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The Revenant (***1/2): It’s mostly true…mostly
It would be one thing if the story played a little closer to Hang ‘Em High and a bit less artificially constructed as A Beautiful Mind. The Academy never gave any awards to the first movie, though. The original Glass just wanted his gun back from Fitzgerald. DiCaprio’s Glass has to have a victim-class son…
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Creed (****): One step at a time, one round at a time…
Creed – 2015 Director Ryan Coogler Starring Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashād, Tony Bellew, Graham McTavish Screenplay Coogler, Aaron Covington, Stallone As a tribute to a classic series, Ryan Coogler could not have taken a better angle. The thought of Rocky’s kid taking the throne was mercifully left in the garbage bin of history with the last proper entry in the…
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The Gift (****) that cannot be returned
The Gift – 2015 Written, Directed and Starring Joel Edgerton Starring Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall Joel Edgerton is one of the more talented actors I have seen in recent years. His work in Animal Kingdom, Warrior and more recently The Great Gatsby are a good start for the uninitiated. At first glance of the trailer, this movie…
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Bone Tomahawk (****): I believe those fleas were alive and talented
Bone Tomahawk Written and Directed by S. Craig Zahler Starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins, Lili Simmons, David Arquette, Sid Haig, Sean Young, Evan Jonigkeit Two murdering thieves (Haig and Arquette) hear a sound as they rob the corpses of their victims. Going off to investigate, they end up crossing into the sacred ground of a tribe of cannibalistic Troglodytes…the kind that…
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 