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

Out in Theaters: ‘LOGAN LUCKY’

August 15, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Driver, Channing Tatum, Daniel Craig, Hilary Swank, Jim O’Heir, Katherine Waterston, Katie Holmes, Out in Theaters, Rebecca Blunt, Reviews, Riley Keough, Seth MacFarlane 4 Comments

Following a four year stint in “retirement”, American auteur Steven Soderbergh returns to the multiplexes with the kind of snappy, crowd-pleasing, whizzbang fare that throttled him from indie delight to box office superstar. Assembling a sublimely cast trio of Magic Mike (Channing Tatum), Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Bond, James Bond (Daniel Craig) in a delightful supporting role, Logan Lucky, much like the film that rocketed Soderbergh to success (Ocean’s Eleven), rides on the back of its stars’ natural well of charisma as well as a pithy screenplay (courtesy of maybe pseudonym Rebecca Blunt) that constantly waffles between sly, chuckle-inducing commentary and witty narrative sleight of hand. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘ALIEN: COVENANT’

May 17, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alien: Covenant, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Dante Harper, Guy Pearce, John Logan, Katherine Waterston, Michael Fassbender, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Ridley Scott 2 Comments

One thing’s for certain, Alien: Covenant is a Prometheus sequel. Ridley Scott doubles down on the 2012 prequel’s cerebral but ultimately sloppy storytelling, reveling in yet another cast of characters who make stupid decision after stupid decision in a misguided attempt to hoist ideology above character. In essence a film about discovering meaning, Prometheus failed to define its own, collapsing under the weight of its admirable ambition by throwing too much at the screen and having too little stick. By the end of that venture, everything remained a bit of a head-scratcher but Scott, for what it’s worth, attempts to make up for such here in Alien: Covenant. For its faults, Covenant brings the message of this deeply intertwined prequel series into focus here and its irreverent thesis is far darker than we might have anticipated: creation is nasty business. Our makers can be monsters. Gods and Devils are one and the same. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM’

November 15, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alison Sudol, Colin Farrell, Dan Fogler, David Yates, Eddie Redmayne, Ezra Miller, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.K. Rowling, James Newton Howard, Johnny Depp, Jon Voight, Katherine Waterston Leave a comment

A pleasant but slight distraction from the wickedness of 2016, J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them turns back the clocks on the Harry Potter Universe to 1928 where the pesky Newt Scamander and his suitcase full of fantastic beasts have just entered New York City. Beasts earns points distinguishing itself from its predecessor by taking on a new time period, centering on an older (if still largely charming) cast and moving the action to America where new rules, regulations and verbiage (“muggles” are no more, “no-maj” being the US equivalent) prevail. There’s hints of magic peppered throughout – James Newton Howard’s electrifying score, sharp visual tricks up the sleeve, Eddie Redmayne’s recklessly crooked smile – but as a standalone installment, Fantastic Beasts certainly stops short living up to its titular adjective. Read More