September 29, 2024

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Loosely based on actual events, it’s a wartime tale in the early part of WWII where a group of special agents sabotage a Nazi U-Boat supply ship. Lots of violence, in the actual mission, no one was killed. Team dynamics are good, and action is exciting, if manufactured. All in all an OK action film.

September 8, 2024

Ticket to Paradise

Rating: 4 of 5 coconuts
Mostly a vehicle for Julia Roberts and George Clooney to exchange banter and show us chemistry, and they are hillarious together. It’s also a sweet romance story, with a hint at drama, but not really. Great supporting cast, lovely locations. Really just a very solid rom-com.

September 8, 2024

The Boy and the Heron

Rating: 3 of 5 Totoros
A visually stunning story about a Japanese boy during WWII. The boy looses his mother, his father moves them out of Tokyo, and he has fantasy adventures. That’s about it, without giving any of the adventures away. As seems typical of these stories, it’s sad and scary, but beautiful. I got lost as to what was going on, but just went for the ride. And then it abruptly was over.

August 25, 2024

Haunt

Rating: 4 of 5 Escape rooms
Starts off as a formulaic horror movie, with young folks filling the various stereotypes. They go to a haunted house in the middle of nowhere. And, it’s a bit more over the top than they were hoping for. Not Saw level violence (thank goodness), but it also doesn’t rely solely on jump-scares. All in all, scary with some surprises, decent visuals, competent acting.

August 24, 2024

The Union

Rating: 4 of 5 Parkours
A lot of action, a little plot, just how we like it. During a chase scene a bit in, I realized there was some plot about information or a device, or whatever was in a briefcase being something a lot of heavily armed people with no interest in collateral damage want. But that’s just the substrate on which they put another film with a secret agent who pairs with a regular person who ends up having The Right Stuff to quickly become an action star.

July 26, 2024

Ghostbusters Frozen Empire

Rating: 4 of 5 slimers
A fun and nostalgic story. Nothing particularly innovative though. Effects were fine, having most of the original cast back was fun. I particularly liked the addition of Kumail Nanjiani, his comic timing is so good. Hoping they put a ghost in this series though. None match the first for originality, humor, and scale.

May 7, 2024

Talk to Me

Rating: 3 of 5 Cursed hands
Wasn’t sure going in, teenagers doing stupid things with cursed objects is overdone, and seldom well done. And, certainly the start of the movie is thick with it, gotta bite your lip and not yell “you stupid kids!” Kids keep poking at the evil until it pokes back hard, and gets pretty chilling. Nothing really unexpected, although they try to hint at a deeper plot, it never really gets fleshed out.

May 6, 2024

When Evil Lurks

Rating: 5 of 5 apple ice creams
Another demonic possession movie? Yawn. But… Not so fast! This is scary. It’s also introspective, and explores human reactions to unknown horrors. Being an Argentinian film, many things which are simply not done in American Horror (or you’d risk an adult-only rating) are free game. That means all bets are off, and scenes you’d expect are just tense, get horrific in an instant. Not for the squeemish, and keep that cuddle blanket close.

April 6, 2024

Warriors of Future

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
A Hong Kong film about, yes, a future dystopia. Something about alien plants that are very nasty, and grow very, very large. Vehicle/robot/aliens are really well designed and crafted (or generated). Tons of action, even more than in a typical Mission Impossible, I’m betting. Only downside are annoying stereotypical characters and situations.

March 28, 2024

Vesper

Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Another dystopian future flick. This one centers around a teenager with biohacking skills. Visually impressive, but very slow moving. Not terrible, just kinda boring. For an indie film, the visuals are all the more impressive, just a shame the story doesn’t keep up.