‘ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP’ Is Mindless Zom-Com with Neither Bite Nor a Point

October 16, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Abigail Breslin, Dave Callaham, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Luke Wilson, Out in Theaters, Paul Wernick, Reviews, Rhett Reese, Rosario Dawson, Ruben Fleischer, Thomas Middleditch, Woody Harrelson, Zoey Deutch, Zombieland 2, Zombieland: Double Tap Leave a comment

Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) have taken up residence in the White House to brave the lingering zombie apocalypse. Their days spent coiled like dragons atop stockpiles of munitions and supplies have led to a general sense of longing. For Tallahassee, it’s the road that’s calling. Witchita meanwhile can’t calm her fear of committment while Little Rock longs for a romantic companion of her own. It’s only the group nerd Columbus who seems to enjoy a sense of post-apocalyptic calm, probably because the apocalypse has afforded him the impossible scenario of hooking up with Emma Stone. When the ladies unexpectedly pack up and head out one night, Tallahassee and Columbus meet a new tagalong in Madison (Zoey Deutch) and brave the great zombieland unknown to reunite the group. Read More

‘DOLEMITE IS MY NAME ‘ Puts Eddie Murphy Back in the Spotlight, Right Where He Belongs

October 15, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bob Odenkirk, Chris Rock, Craig Brewer, Craig Robinson, Da-Vine Joy Randolph, Dolemite is My Name, Eddie Murphy, Keegan-Michael Key, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Larry Karaszewski, Mike Epps, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Rudy Ray Moore, Scott Alexander, Snoop Dogg, Tituss Burgess, Wesley Snipes 2 Comments

Dolemite is My Name, or How Eddie Murphy Got His Groove Back, is one of those movies about a bunch of guys who don’t know how to make a movie making a movie. Craig Brewer’s biopic of industrious comedian-turned-actor/producer Rudy Ray Moore shares similar broad strokes to James Franco’s The Disaster Artist in that capacity but the flavor here is unmistakably ebony. Also, there is much clearer deference to the film’s subject and his undeniable talents. Read More

Expect Double the Will Smith, Half the Fun in ‘GEMINI MAN’ Dud

October 9, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ang Lee, Benedict Wong, Billy Ray, Clive Owen, Darren Lemke, David Benioff, Gemini Man, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Will Smith Leave a comment

All Will Smith’s Henry Brogan wants is to retire in Ang Lee’s muddled faux-cerebral actioner Gemini Man but perhaps it’s the once-celebrated director who should be submitting his resignation instead. The two-time Oscar winner is nearly unrecognizable in his new role as a beta-James Cameron techno-chaser, confusing higher frame rates, CGI Frankenstein creations, and 4k projection for the inklings of a passable story. But even if you remove the muddled slop-fest that is Gemini Man’s narrative out of the equation, you’re left with jumbled CGI-heavy action scenes and distinctly unsophisticated moral imperatives. Read More

Takashi Miike’s ‘FIRST LOVE’ Is a Rambunctious Yakuza Rom-Com, and That’s Awesome

October 3, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged First Love, Gangster, Masa Nakamura, Masataka Kubota, Out in Theaters, Rebecca Eri Rabone, Reviews, Sakurako Konishi, Takashi Miike Leave a comment

For a man 59-years of age with well over 100 feature films under his belt, Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike shows no signs of slowing down. The prolific auteur has dabbled in everything from sweeping historical epics (13 Assassins) to slow-burn horror showstoppers (Audition) to schlocky gangster yarns (Ichi the Killer) to gory Samurai adventure flicks (Blade of the Immortal) to child-centric ninja fare (Ninja Kids!!!) with literal countless smaller projects filling in the gaps between those more high-profile pictures that end up playing in theaters internationally. With the director often making upwards of five, six, or seven films a year, it’s nothing short of incredible that he’s able to craft something as wildly enjoyable, energetic, and giddy as his most recent film, First Love, and yet here we are. Read More

Zellweger Stages a Full-Throated Comeback In ‘JUDY’, A Sturdy Biopic That Doesn’t Quite Find Next Gear

September 23, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Andy Nyman, Biopic, Darci Shaw, Finn Wittrock, Jessie Buckley, Judy, Out in Theaters, Peter Quilter, Renée Zellweger, Reviews, Rupert Goold, Tom Edge Leave a comment

Fame is toxic. Particularly for the young. Ask River Phoenix. Or Lindsay Lohan. Brittany Spears. Macaulay Culkin. We’ve seen the tragedy of adolescent fame, one as old as the concept of fame itself, play out across history time and again. In Judy, the prepubescent bargain for fame opens the film. Flanked by a yellow brick road, a young Judy Garland (played by Darci Shaw) trades her songbird voice and every ounce of independence for the opportunity to be more than “just a mother” or another “office girl”. For the chance to be seen, admired, beloved by a nation. Unknowingly selling her soul to the devil of entertainment and damning herself to a challenging life of self-commodification, Judy is the OG tragedy girl struck down by fame’s cantankerous venom. Read More

‘HUSTLERS’ Would Be a Guilty Pleasure, If It Weren’t Also Pretty Damn Great

September 12, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Constance Wu, Hustlers, J Lo, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Pressler, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lorene Scafaria, Out in Theaters, Reviews, The Hustlers at Scores, Todd Banhazi, Wai Ching Ho Leave a comment

This whole country’s a strip club. Or so says Jennifer Lopez’s hard-stripping, drug-dosing, cash-stealing Ramona. A stripper with a heart of mink fur, Ramona posits, “Someone’s got the money and the rest of us dance for it.” Her solution to this American ordeal is a brand of laissez-faire free market exchange: dress to kill, ensnare rich dudes, add drugs, run up their credit cards. Ramona and her merry band of clothing-optional pilferers trade in hitting the pole to hitting credit limits. And their gambit works. Skipping the whole lap dance flesh transaction and getting straight to the knock-out bling-bling money-please of it all, Ramona runs a crew of ambitious and unscrupulous ladies who take from the rich and give to themselves. Read More

Over-The-Top Horror-Comedy ‘READY OR NOT’ A Bloody Hoot

August 20, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Brody, Andie MacDowell, Guy Busick, Henry Czerny, Horror, Mark O’Brien, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Nicky Guadagni, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Ryan Murphy, Samara Weaving, Tyler Gillett 1 Comment

And you thought your in-laws were bad. Ready or Not, the splatter-tastic, tongue-in-cheek horror comedy from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett (Southbound) is a subversive little slice of late summer mayhem that doubles as a masterclass in how not to welcome a new addition to the family. Grace (Samara Weaving) is marrying into the Le Domas family, a wealth-stricken collection of gaming barons, but her vows come with the unexpected consequence of a mandatory midnight game. When she draws a card that demands a ritualistic, bloody bout of hide and seek, the Le Domas’ playful inner world reveals itself to be one as sinister as it is opulent. Read More

Sunny ‘THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON’ a Ray of Hope in Otherwise Bleak Times

August 20, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bruce Dern, Dakota Johnson, John Hawkes, Michael Schwartz, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Shia LeBeouf, The Peanut Butter Falcon, Thomas Haden Church, Tyler Wilson, Zack Gottsagen Leave a comment

In the era of an American president who openly mocks disabled people, Tyler Wilson and Michael Schwartz’s The Peanut Butter Falcon is a defiantly feel-good revelation, one that dares to celebrate the differently-abled amongst us in a story whose behind-the-scenes drama is just as heartwarming as what lays on the page. The saga involves an aspiring actor with Down Syndrome, two homeless wanna-be filmmakers living out of a tent and a Hail Mary DM to Josh Brolin. And that’s all before the movie even gets started. Read More

Raunchy, Sweet ‘GOOD BOYS’ Makes for Raunchy, Sweet Good Times

August 15, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Brady Noon, Evan Goldberg, Gene Stupnitsky, Good Times, Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Midori Francis, Molly Gordon, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Seth Rogen, Will Forte Leave a comment

The 12th year of any child’s life is hand’s down one of the hardest. Puberty. Crushes. Kissing – or, worse still, not kissing. Navigating tribal social hierarchies. Pimples. 12-year olds are cruel by nature, subhuman often. Nasty little balls of hormones and primordial grease, desperate for acceptance, playing at their sick game of systematic demoralization. But so too can they be funny little buggers – particularly in hindsight – and never moreso than in Point Grey Picture’s uproarious and devious little guy comedy, Good Boys. Read More

Linklater’s ‘WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE’ a Shocking Disaster of a Movie

August 14, 2019 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Cate Blanchett, Emma Nelson, Maria Semple, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Richard Linklater, Where'd You Go Bernadette, Worst Movies of 2019 Leave a comment

Where’d you go Richard Linklater? The homegrown Texan auteur known for such critical darlings as Boyhood, Dazed and Confused and the Before Trilogy as well as commercial hits like School of Rock and Bad News Bears has always been a bit of a wild card when it comes to what kind of movie he’ll spit out next but his choices have always been interesting, often experimental, and always gifted with some kind of personal touch, all elements that are almost entirely absent from his latest film, Where’d You Go Bernadette, a befuddling trainwreck of a movie and the worst film of 2019. Read More