Uninspired ’WONDER WOMAN 1984’ A Careless Sequel I Wish Didn’t Exist

December 23, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chris Pine, Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig, Out in Theaters, Patty Jenkins, Pedro Pascal, Reviews, Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 1 Comment

An aimless, uninteresting, and frankly deeply disappointing follow-up to 2017’s critically beloved and widely-adored Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman 1984 is a top-down failure of a sequel. Losing nearly all the magic of what made the Diana Prince character work so well in her first solo venture and throughout her tenure in the DCEU, this unintelligible next chapter is a total overstuffed mess that somehow manages to be both too heavy and too thin on plot, one that shambles around for a two-and-a-half-hour runtime without ever truly convincing us that it has much of a story to tell in the first place. Folks, it’s a damn mess. Read More

‘HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD’ Doesn’t Manage to Fly Higher

February 20, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Dean DeBlois, Gerard Butler, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Justin Rupple, Kristen Wiig, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

If looks could kill, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World would engulf audiences in a deathly conflagration of dragon fire. The animated second sequel looks absolutely brilliant on the big screen, roaring to life in luscious detail. From the crystal-clear scale of its big set pieces to the minutia of the movement of sand and water, Dreamwork’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World splashes every penny of its 129 million dollar budget up on the screen for audiences to behold. If only they could have dumped equally as much energy and effort into the story mechanics, which are far and away the weakest of the three HTTYD films. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘DOWNSIZING’

December 20, 2017 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alexander Payne, Christoph Waltz, Downsizing, Hong Chau, Jim Taylor, Kristen Wiig, Matt Damon, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

The reach of possibilities that could unfurl within the world that director Alexander Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor have imagined in Downsizing – one where a small population of citizens have opted to shrink themselves to live a bigger, better life – is near limitless. At a microscopic size, everything fundmentally changes. You can get hammered off a thimble-full of wine. When traveling at sea in a tiny vessel, the threat of the most minor whitecap would pose tsunami-sized peril. A mosquito would be a winged monstrosity. And a daring cinematic spectacle. Even the humans who have not opted to go the way of the Shrinky Dink could wield awesome power over their minuscule counterparts, the most average citizen having the ability to go on a Godzilla-like rampage throughout the wee one’s shrunken cities if ever they decided to. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘GHOSTBUSTERS’

July 13, 2016 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Charles Dance, Chris Hemsworth, Ed Begley Jr., Ghostbusters, Kate McKinnon, Katie Dippold, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Melissa McCarthy, Out in Theaters, Paul Feig, Reviews 2 Comments

It’s been a long road to the theater for Paul Feig and the girls of Ghostbusters. Beset by accusations of vagina-washing from a very vocal (and rather pathetic) corner of the internet, a less-than-reassuring first trailer and a borderline insufferable Fall Out Boy/Missy Elliot rendition of the iconic “Who You Gonna Call?” theme song, the remake of Harold Ramis’ much-adored 1984 supernatural-comedy had many hurdles to summit. But rather than scale the obstacles in its path, Ghostbusters dispenses a powerful proton pack of carefully constructed charisma, nostalgia-fueled callbacks and no-holds-barred performances, blasting the besmirching naysayers to smithereens like cardboard cutouts of Slimer in a Chinatown back alley. Read More

‘ZOOLANDER 2’ Trailer Features Ugly Benedict Cumberbatch and Murdered Bieber

November 18, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Ben Stiller, Benedict Cumberbatc, Christine Taylor, Kristen Wiig, Owen Wilson, Penélope Cruz, Trailer, Will Ferrell, Zoolander 2 Leave a comment

It’s been 15 years since Derek Zoolander shot his last Blue Steel at the camera and, for better or worse, he’s back in the first full trailer for Zoolander 2. Years retired and now thought of as a bit of a joke, Zoolander is recruited once more to stop the evil fashion designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell) from assassinating all the beautiful people in the world, including, of course, Justin Bieber and Kayne West. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘THE MARTIAN’

September 30, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Drew Goddard, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, Kristen Wiig, Mackenzie Davis, Matt Damon, Michael Pena, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Ridley Scott, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, The Martian Leave a comment

Ridley Scott’s most mainstream-minded movie in years, The Martian is 80 percent more Apollo 13 than it is Duncan Jones’ similarly themed (but wholly superior) Moon. Like Moon, The Martian involves a Starman (David Bowie’s space anthem of the same name is used tremendously in Scott’s film) contending with crippling solitude and psychological tremors when he’s left for dead on Mars. Unlike Moon, the narrative is a straight-forward locomotive, employing the mantra “I think I can” to such a degree that you can be almost one hundred percent confident that everything is going to work out in the end. Read More

Out in Theaters: ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES

December 18, 2013 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam McKay, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, Christina Applegate, Comedies, David Koechner, Greg Kinnear, James Marsden, Kristen Wiig, Out in Theaters, Paul Rudd, Reviews, Steve Carrell, Will Ferrell 1 Comment

“Anchorman 2”
Directed by Adam McKay
Starring Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Steve Carrell, Christina Applegate, Kristen Wiig, James Marsden, David Koechner, Greg Kinnear
Comedy
119 Mins
PG-13

Following up a comedy classic like Anchorman is no easy task. In order to achieve a modicum of success, this sequel was already tasked with paying tribute to its predecessor while also setting itself far enough away so that it doesn’t seem like a play-by-play rehashing of the original. In this pursuit, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a success. But while the first film had me in a constant state of stitches and continues to be a go-to favorite in the comedy stable, Anchorman 2 is far more spotted. Attempts to capture the comic vibrancy of men let off the leash fizzles with some performers more than others, revealing gags sautéed in randomness that come across as definitively hit-or-miss. And while more jokes land with a thud than you’d hope for, when it shines, it shines like the sweet diamond-crusted grills of Flava Flav. Read More