Game Night–
Comedy misses the mark. A really good set up, but falls flat and loses its
focus. (**)
Bad Times at El Royale– A bloody fun
time. Bloody is the word. The film is too long, but it’s stylish and pretty entertaining,
despite being a Tarentino rip-off. (***)
Breaking In– A sloppy and
predictable home invasion film. Very much like Panic Room, but a lot worse.
(**)
Uncle Drew– Surprisingly charming
and pretty funny comedy starring some of the biggest personalities in
basketball. (***)
Venom– A disjointed Marvel film. The identity of the character is never quite distinguished. (**)
House With a Clock in the Wall– A good companion to Goosebumps. A cute pre-teen Halloween film that works for the most part. Not bad. (***)
Roma– One of the best films of the year. It’s a beautiful film, yet slow. Some might say it doesn’t go anywhere, but I thought it was very well done and I found Cleo’s story interesting. (****)
BlacKkKlansman– One of the best of the year and IMO Spike Lee’s best film. It’s very powerful, funny and I thought the story was very engrossing. (****)
Skyscraper– A loud ridiculous action film from Dwayne Johnson. Sort of a Die Hard rip-off with a little Towering Inferno mixed in. Good to see Neve Campbell, but the film is forgettable. (**)
Upgrade– A creative action film with lots of gore and over the top violence. It’s not too bad, but I had a difficult time bonding with the lead. (**1/2)
Tag- Another comedy with a great set-up but falls apart. The cast led by Ed Helms is grating. (**)
The Spy Who Dumped Me– This should’ve been better. It started out really funny, but just got worse and worse. Kate McKinnon’s character is more irritating than funny. It’s also very gory and violent for a comedy. (**)
RBG– Really interesting documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I hope that I have her stamina at her age. (***)
Book Club– A bunch of old codgers in a book club decide to read Fifty Shades of Grey to spice things up and in their marriages. Parts of it are cute, but this movie is a 1 joke film that I didn’t laugh much at. Mary Steenburgen has become to “go to” actress for adult comedies, much like Morgan Freeman has for actors. (**)
Won’t You Be My Neighbor”- The best documentary I’ve seen this year. Who doesn’t love Mr. Rogers? What I liked most about Fred Rogers is that he seemed just like the man I watched as a little kid. (****)
Hotel Transylvania 3– They’re still making these? Drac goes on a cruise to meet a woman. I liked the first movie, but whatever charm that film had came as a surprise. Ok for the younger set, but my 12 year old was bored. (**)
Oceans 8– The Oceans films are an exercise in self indulgence where really high profile actors are all invited to a private party, but the audience is just eavesdropping. I liked Oceans 11, but the other 2, meh. This all female version is actually kind of fun and engrossing. Just don’t make anymore of them. (***)
Crazy Rich Asians– Your atypical rom com but with an almost all Asian cast. This is really a delightful film with engaging characters, beautiful locales & it’s well acted. (***1/2)
Strangers: Prey at Night- Not a lot of imagination went into this sequel and whatever star power is in this is killed off in the first 10 minutes. Many of the kills are sick and all the moves are telegraphed. (*1/2)
Adrift– A pretty amazing story and it’s well told, despite being pretty slow. It’s worth checking out for the scenery alone. (***)
Hurricane Heist– A standard heist film, but the gimmick of it taking place in the middle of a hurricane doesn’t make this any better. This movie is pretty cheesy. (*1/2)
Rampage- A pretty stupid movie about a bunch of animals that grow really large and get out of control. The villain is something out of an Underdog cartoon. (*1/2)
Deep Blue Sea 2– Full disclosure, Deep Blue Sea is one of my favorite movies, but this belongs at the bottom of the ocean. (*)
Blockers– You can only go to the crude sex humor well so often. This movie about a group of parents trying to make sure their kids don’t have sex on prom night should be a lot funnier. (*1/2)
Chappaquiddick– Poor casting and a very poor script really hinders this story about the infamous Kennedy scandal. (*1/2)
Eric at the Movies 