Discombobulated ‘Serenity’ Nears ‘The Room’ Levels of Unintentional Hilarity

January 24, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Anne Hathaway, Jason Clarke, Matthew McConaughey, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Serenity, Steven Knight Leave a comment

There are bad movies and there are bad movies, the distinction being that the one is purely torturous to watch whereas the other has the alchemic ability to actually bring us great pleasure. To transmute movie-making stool into movie-watching gold. It’s observed in the difference between Michael Bay’s Transformers movies and XXX: The Return of Xander Cage; the line in the sand dividing Yoga Hosers and The Snowman. They’re all bad but some are bad enough to double back and turn sour to sweet. Read More

Well-Meaning ‘THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING’ A Mostly Meh Modern Reimagining of Arthurian Lore

January 22, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Angus Imrie, Dean Chaumoo, Denise Gough, Joe Cornish, Louis Serkis, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Rhianna Dorris, The Kid Who Would Be King, Tom Taylor Leave a comment

Joe Cornish huffed and puffed and blew down the gates of Hollywood in summer 2011 with his critically-acclaimed inner-city alien invasion flick Attack the Block, blowing back the hair of sci-fi fans the world over in the process. In the intervening eight years, Cornish hasn’t had much on his platter, his solitary IMDB credit one of a small army of writers on Marvel’s Ant-Man (prior to that, he earned marks co-writing Tintin). After a long holiday away from the director’s chair, Cornish’s latest The Kid Who Would be King slashes into theaters in the midst of January’s dumping ground and despite being a somewhat imaginative PG-take on King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table plopped in 21st century London, this fails to feel like the brainchild of someone who’s been methodically tinkering away at a passion project in the many-year interim and seems more like a desperate last minute plea to not be forgotten to the annals of directorial history. In short, it’s just not that special. Read More

The ‘GLASS’ is Half Empty in Laughably Bad Conclusion to Shyamalan Trilogy

January 16, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Anya Taylor-Joy, Bruce Willis, Glass, James McAvoy, M. Night Shyamalan, Samuel L. Jackson, Sarah Paulson, Spencer Treat Clark, Split, Unbreakable Leave a comment

The Unbreakable trilogy that started in 2000 at the peak of M. Night Shyamalan’s powers, then went subterranean during his dark ages (the brutal run of films that spanned Lady in the Water to After Earth), and stealthily re-emerged in the midst of his recent revival of sorts (the one-two punch of The Visit and Split re-ameliorating the Indian director with American audiences) has officially ended. Along with the hopes of a true Shyamalanasance (say that three times fast.) And folks, Glass concludes the promise of a 19-years-in-the-making unprecedented movie triptych in the worst way possibly imaginable. Read More

‘MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS’ an Uneven but Politically Relevant Costume Drama

November 28, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Beau Willimon, Josie Rourke, Margot Robbie, Mary Queen of Scots, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Saoirse Ronan 1 Comment

Mary Queen of Scots is billed as a showdown between two hardened female monarchs, battling for title, supremacy, and future United Kingdom lineage. In truth, the film from first-time director Josie Rourke and screenwriter Beau Willimon (The Ides of March, House of Cards) is really only the story of the titular character, the rightful ruler of the Scottish throne, heir to the English and alleged uniter of countries and cultures. The focus centers less on the public rivalry and secret compassion shared between Mary and Queen Elizabeth I and much more on the battles Mary must fight within her inner male-dominated circle. Read More

‘BEN IS BACK’ A Troubling Two-Hander You Should Never Trust

November 27, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ben is Back, Courtney B. Vance, Julia Roberts, Kathryn Newton, Lucas Hedges, Peter Hedges 1 Comment

Ben is Back, the father-son collaboration between writer-director Peter Hedges and actor son Lucas Hedges, plays out like a paperback page-turner with an inevitable conclusion. That the elder Hedges mostly succeeds in obscuring the histories of these characters and therefore where their paths will ultimately lead is a proverbial feather in his cap, the strongly-acted drama slinking suspiciously in narrative shadows in its earlier parts, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs that we intrinsically know lead nowhere good. As Hedge’s script unspools the mystery behind Ben and his being back, the thriller-tinged drama loses a touch of its suspect pull, relying strictly on emboldened performances to see the journey through. The experience is far from pleasant. Read More

‘ROMA’ a Dreamy, Gorgeous Slice-of-Life Historical Fiction

November 26, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Alfonso Cuarón, Marina de Tavira, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Roma, Yalitza Aparicio 1 Comment

Life is what happens when we’re not paying attention. Small, routine moments mark our transition through the world, often going ignored or unnoticed. We live in them, with them. It is here that Alfonso Cuarón sets his story – in the seeming mundanity of the life of a 1970’s Mexico City housekeeper named Cleo. Her story is quaint, upon first brush. She tends to a middle-class family, lighter in skin tone than she but suffering their own afflictions nonetheless, and we’re invited to drop in, given visitation rights to observe the lulling normalcy of this chaotic collection of lives. Read More

‘THE FAVOURITE’ is the Cattiest Movie of the Year in the Best Way Humanly Possible

November 21, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Best of 2018, Deborah Davis, Emma Stone, Nicholas Hoult, Olivia Colman, Out in Theaters, Rachel Weisz, Reviews, The Favourite, Tony McNamara, Yorgos Lanthimos 3 Comments

Vying for the sole affection of Queen Anne – and all the status that comes with it – two cousins from different stations stoke a bitter rivalry in Yorgos Lanthimos exquisitely-mounted The Favourite. Scrumptiously rancorous, Lanthimos’ foray into costume drama is a series of verbal death matches, its characters clawing at one another’s reputation, the performances from its perfectly-cast stars provide each and every syllable of Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara’s wonderfully cutting script a searing eclipse of clever-wit, cunning undercuts and good-humor that never second-guesses going straight for the jugular. Read More

‘CREED II’ a Heartfelt but Inferior Second Round

November 20, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Cheo Hodari Coker, Creed II, Dolph Lungren, Florian Munteanu, Michael B. Jordan, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Steven Caple Jr., Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson 1 Comment

The Cold War didn’t officially end until the early-90s with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and in that 40-odd years of looming nuclear holocaust, many a film has used this intercontentional tension to deliver quality motion pictures – see Dr. Strangelove, The Hunt for Red October, and The Lives of Others. And – of course – Rocky IV. In light of Trump’s presidential-defining ties to Russian interference and a newly ignited political rivalry with Putin’s Russia, the idea of a Creed sequel that played off USA/Russian relations seemed not only narratively apt but also incredibly timely; a fine point of entry for any inevitable sequel and one that could have more on its mind than a couple of meatheads whacking at each other for two-ish hours. Instead the movie is just a couple of meatheads whacking at each other for two-ish hours. Read More

Winning ‘GREEN BOOK’ a Necessary Read

November 19, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Green Book, Mahershala Ali, Out in Theaters, Peter Farrelly, Reviews, Viggo Mortensen Leave a comment

An old-fashioned racial mash-up of Driving Miss Daisy and Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, Green Book is an exceedingly pleasant two-hander that soars off the pinball chemistry of stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. Mortensen plays Tony Lip, a Bronx-dwelling bullshit artist and Copa fixer hired to drive and serve as bodyguard for flamboyant piano aficionado Don Shirley (Ali) as he tours the American south. The stick in the proverbial spokes? Shirley is a black man and the year is 1962. Jim Crow lurks everywhere. Read More

Avada Kedavra! ’THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD’ Kills Harry Potter Spin-Off Series Before It’s Even Started

November 15, 2018 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged David Yates, Eddie Redmayne, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, Out in Theaters, Review 4 Comments

The crimes of Grindelwald are apparently many but the crimes of The Crimes of Grindelwald are doubly so. This dreary snooze-fest puckers up to give the once-beloved franchise the Dementor’s Kiss, bewitching the audience with an irresistible urge to shutter their eyelids and be whisked off to that warm and welcoming valley of sleep – wherein they would miss little that couldn’t be summed up in a few throwaway sentences of recap. In two-plus-hours of screen time, this sequel to the somewhat mildly-received Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them manages little more than to draw battle lines in the sand, introducing a few new bland characters and then shuffling the deck for the inevitable, and presumably more-engaging, skirmishes to come. Read More