“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” the third installment of the Marvel sub-franchise, is a testament to the power of storytelling and the importance of having the right person at the helm. Writer-director James Gunn has demonstrated a remarkable talent for seamlessly navigating between different realms and maintaining a harmonious equilibrium between grandeur, sarcasm, and […]
The “Jurassic World” franchise has been on a steady decline since revitalizing the franchise in 2015. Nothing was ever going to recapture the magic of the original from 1993, which now seems like a modest, less-is-more film, compared with the five subsequent sequels. Colin Trevorrow (“Jurassic World”) returns to finish the series, which must end,
This is a fun animated movie that kids are likely to love (and some adults too, based on the guffaws I heard at the screening), with a couple of good messages. Two brothers live with their solicitous mother, getting along fairly well (except maybe for the older one’s bossiness toward the younger, and his chaotic way
As westerns go, “The Kid” has little to offer in the way of original content. You don’t have to look very far to find stellar examples of the genre that once ruled Hollywood. Scott Cooper’s 2017 epic “Hostiles” raised the bar for future westerns. Not only is it a lackluster western, ”The Kid” isn’t even
Following upon The Lego Movie (2014), this sequel continues the adventures of the “Master Builders” who started out as resistance fighters against Lord Business and his army of Micro Managers. Emmet (Pratt) and Wyldstyle (Banks) were heroic in the previous story and ended up as best friends in a happy town, Bricksburg, where everyone is special. It should be
You can officially stop wondering or hoping if the modern “Jurassic Park” franchise will ever re-capture what audiences felt in 1993. These desperate sequels will never have the effect on a current generation that Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster did on ours. That said, Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 “Jurassic World” came close. “Fallen Kingdom” unfortunately lives up to
A fellow critic asked the rhetorical question, “does latest Avengers live up to the hype”. What is hype, the excellent marketing Disney (which owns Marvel) telling fans who were already going to buy a ticket and love the film without seeing it to get excited? “Avengers Infinity War” is the 19th entry in Marvel’s Cinematic
Significantly better than the first one, “Guardians of the Galaxy” is still Marvel’s sitcom, but “Vol. 2” uses emotion in the third act and inserts more dynamic female characters to its benefit. While the plot line still involves saving the universe (something I keep hoping Marvel writers will tire of) the theme of family and
Jon Spaihts script chooses stupidity over intelligence at nearly every corridor. That’s too bad since Passengers, directed by Oscar nominee Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) has an intriguing premise. Continuing audience’s fascination with all things space related, Passengers has difficulty deciding whether it’s a thriller, love story or comedy. It starts off as a one-man
The only thing Antoine Fuqua’s version of “The Magnificent Seven” adds to the slew of remakes that came before is diversity. Based on the original 1954 “Seven Samurai” by Akira Kurosawa, then Americanized into a western in 1960, a sequel in ’72, then a TV-series in 1998, this story has been told to death. Fuqua