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Showing posts with label Sigourney Weaver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sigourney Weaver. Show all posts

Sunday, November 21, 2021

MOVIE REVIEW: GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE

 






















When a single mother and her two children move to a new town, they soon discover they have a connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.

Director: Jason Reitman

Cast: Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts

Release Date: November 19, 2021

Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

Rated PG-13 for supernatural action and some suggestive references

Runtime: 2h 4m

Review:

Ghostbusters: Afterlife peddles heavily in nostalgia but unfortunately it doesn’t bring much new to the table.  Jason Reitman’s film decides to follow the J. J. Abrams template of franchise revivals by lifting memorable moments from the original film and repackaging them with a new cast.  That’s not to say the film doesn’t have it’s moments where it comes to life due to a capable cast but it never really hits the sweet spot. Mckenna Grace is the film’s best addition as she delivers a fun, enjoyable performance as Ego’s granddaughter.  She has an air of authenticity and earnestness that works in the film’s favor.  Logan Kim is her defacto sidekick and they share some solid comedic chemistry which is rare among younger performers.  Paul Rudd and Carrie Coon deliver workman like performances unfortunately the script doesn’t take advantage of their talents.  The original cast appears in what amounts to extended cameos and the film works in the late Harold Ramis with mixed results.  Ultimately, Ghostbusters: Afterlife feels like it should have left a bigger impression but it’s mostly forgettable. 

C

Sunday, January 15, 2017

MOVIE REVIEW: A MONSTER CALLS







































A young boy (Lewis MacDougall) befriends a wise tree monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) while coping with bullying and the terminal illness of his mother (Felicity Jones). He moves in with his grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) as his mom's condition deteriorates, and uses his imagination and friendship with the monster to escape reality. J.A. Bayona (The Impossible) directed this fantasy drama. ~ Daniel Gelb, Rovi

Director: Juan Antonio Bayona

Cast: Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, Liam Neeson, Toby Kebbell, Ben Moor, Lewis MacDougall

Release Date: Dec 23, 2016

Rated PG-13 for Thematic Content and Some Scary Images

Runtime: 1 hr. 48 min.

Genres: Drama, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

Juan Antonio Bayona’s A Monster Calls is an interesting fantasy parable with a very human message.  Bayona crafts together a beautifully gothic tale with some impressive visual flourishes peppered in throughout.  Its pace is decidedly measured and methodical throughout.  It might be a turnoff to some because it does move at snail’s pace during large portions of the film.   The monster and his tales are wonderfully animated through lush water colored animation which is as striking as it is effective. The cast lead by Lewis MacDougall is stellar through out and you’d think with the bigger names in the film, MacDougall might get lost in the shuffle but he never does. He turns in an impressive performance filled with melancholy and visible pain.  Its finale delivers a simple and 
straightforward lesson but do so with a strong emotional punch sure to leave many in tears.  

B+

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Finding Dory & Central Intelligence





























Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for a promising pair of pictures: Finding Dory and Central Intelligence. 
 
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers. 
 
First on the docket: Finding Dory. Everyone's favorite memory-challenged blue fish goes searching for a piece of her past. 
 
Dear reader(s): Finding Nemo is my favorite thing that Pixar has ever done. Outside of dear ol' Captain Jack, it may be my favorite thing Disney's ever done, too, so it was with equal parts excitement and trepidation I accepted the idea of a welcome, but unnecessary, sequel. I am pleased to report that, if Finding Dory doesn't quite match Finding Nemo, it does an admirable job of carrying on the franchise nonetheless. 
 
In the grand tradition of Pixar product, Finding Dory looks amazing. Outstanding art, bold colors, and lovely animation combine to create a picture that appears to live and breathe on its own. If Dory were a real, live person instead of a cartoon fish, Ellen DeGeneres undoubtedly would earn some serious awards consideration; she is brilliant. 
 
Her supporting cast is filled with familiar and capable voices, including Albert Brooks, reprising his role as the clownfish Marlon, as well as Ed O'Neill, Diane Keaton, Idris Elba, and Sigourney Weaver. 
 
The predictable-but-charming tale is backed by a lovely score by Thomas Newman. If I were to quibble over one small flaw, it's that the movie has too many false endings, which make it seem to drag on a bit, but the post-credits scene is well worth weathering the extensive end credits. Finding Dory runs 97 minutes (which includes an adorable short called Piper) and is rated PG for "mild thematic elements." Finding Dory is an almost-perfect mix of beautiful art and a sweet, family-friendly story. 
 
Of a possible nine Weasleys, Finding Dory gets eight.
 
Fangirl points: Idris Elba, Dominic West, Kaitlin Olson. 
 
Next up: buddy comedy Central Intelligence. 
 
A bullied youth turned CIA agent drags his only high-school friend into the world of international espionage. If you took all of Hollywood, put it in a bag and shook it up, then dumped out any ten random actors, Dwayne Johnson would probably have more charisma than all ten combined. 
 
He's no Crowe or Denzel in the acting-chops department, but the guy is always fun to watch, and, in Central Intelligence, he has great chemistry with his hilarious co-star Kevin Hart. 
 
Central Intelligence boasts a well-plotted story with a fair few twists, and, though most of its laugh-out-loud moments were revealed in trailers, the movie is uniformly entertaining and amusing, and the action keeps it moving at a good clip. 
 
Central Intelligence clocks in at 114 minutes and is rated PG13 for "crude and suggestive humor, some nudity, action/violence, and brief strong language." 
 
A serviceable buddy comedy that provides both laughs and thrills a-plenty, of a possible nine Weasleys, Central Intelligence gets seven. 
 
Until next time...

Sunday, March 8, 2015

MOVIE REVIEW: CHAPPIE



Neill Blomkamp expands on his 2003 short film Neill Blomkamp in this futuristic sci-fi saga written in collaboration with screenwriter Terri Tatchellmore

Director: Neill Blomkamp 

Cast: Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Sigourney Weaver, Hugh Jackman

Release Date: Mar 06, 2015

Rated R for Language, Brief Nudity and Violence

Runtime: 2 hr. 0 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Review:

Chappie is a worrisome film, not because it’s an awful film by any stretch but because it lays bare Blomkamp’s flaws as a director.  Chappie is filled with big ideas but mired by substandard execution and cartoonishly drawn characters.  Casting South African rappers from Die Antwoord is an odd choice made even worse by the fact that they are main characters.  If they’d been supporting characters it might have worked out a bit better for everyone involved.  Dev Patel, Sigourney Weaver and Hugh Jackman (who’s sporting Wolverine’s hairdo in reverse) are saddled by poorly drawn characters who are types instead of well formed characters with depth.  As for Chappie himself, he’s a well formed creation even though he leans a bit too much on the cutesy side than he should.  When all the explosions have ended and the film has run its course you can’t help but wonder if you’ve watched sub par Short Circuit remake.

C+

Saturday, December 13, 2014

MOVIE REVIEW: EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS










































From acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Prometheus) comes the epic adventure “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” the story of one man’s daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Using state of the art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott brings new life to the story of the defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale) as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

Director: Ridley Scott     

 Cast: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Paul 

Release Date: Dec 12, 2014

Rated PG-13 for violence including battle sequences and intense images     

Runtime: 2 hr. 22 min.    

Genres: Drama    

Review:

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a throwback to the big scale biblical epics from the past.  Ridley Scott brings a sweeping grandeur to the whole thing but it never really gets its footing with any of the characters.  The film clocks in at nearly 2 and half hours, some of which is quite a slog, yet we never really get any real connections to the characters.  Christian Bale is fine as Moses but he doesn’t give the character any heartfelt drive to save his people.  As such Moses comes off as an annoyed nut whose just doing something because he has to.  At lease the script gave Moses a bit more of a tacticians mind as he plots his revolt that will lead to the liberation of the Israelites.  Rames, played by a guy liner-rrific Jole Edgerton, comes off as a bumbling buffoon all the way through.  There’s a little effort to give him a bit more depth but not nearly enough to matter in the long run.  The supporting cast is prestigious but underused and ultimately wasted.  The film’s lack of three dimensional characters is ultimately its biggest downfall.  Ridley Scott created a visual spectacle which is finely produced but it all feels hollow since we really don’t care about any of the characters, not the way we were supposed to at least.

C+

Cindy Prascik's Review of Exodus: Gods and Kings








































Dearest Blog, end of the year means burning that unused vacation, so today I found myself at a mid-afternoon screening of Exodus: Gods and Kings.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.
Believing he's been called by God, Moses leads hundreds of thousands of Hebrew slaves out of Egypt.

Dear reader(s), in the interest of full and fair disclosure I'll note that to me the Bible is as real as a Twilight novel. I mean that not to insult anyone's beliefs, but to make it clear that Biblical accuracy or lack thereof is not why I hated this movie. I hated it because, to quote one of my all-time favorite reviews, it is "a lumbering bore."

Much has been made of all the white folks portraying characters who would have been decidedly un-white, and that does make it a bit hard to take the movie seriously. Sigourney Weaver as an Egyptian queen gave me a fit of the giggles that I almost didn't get past, and I'm pretty sure a servant girl was wearing one of Lady Gaga's wigs. Close-ups reveal French manicures on some of the women. (I'm not even kidding.) Accents are all over the place--hell, Christian Bale runs through four or five different ones himself--and the language is too modern to suit the movie's time frame. If Lord of the Rings bought its battle scenes at Wal-Mart, they'd probably look a lot like the ones in Exodus. Much of the CGI is laughably bad; in fact, the whole thing kinda looks like a regional theatre production of Jesus Christ Superstar. And if being bored to tears isn't bad enough, there's a boatload of explicit animal cruelty for your viewing pleasure, and a blustery score that occasionally goes all "NCIS terrorist cue." It's more than a little offensive.

Bale's Moses is an unsympathetic character, who, like Russell Crowe's Noah, comes off as cold-hearted screwball rather than a man agonizing over choices he must make for the greater good. Moses' "brother" turned nemesis Ramses, played by a barely recognizable Joel Edgerton, is a buffoon in enough guyliner for a Motley Crue video. Ben Mendelsohn turning up was a pleasant surprise, but that's about the only good thing I have to say about Exodus.

Exodus: Gods and Kings clocks in at a bloated 150 minutes and is rated PG13 for "violence including battle scenes and intense images."

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Exodus: Gods and Kings gets two. It's a trainwreck.

Until next time...



I am, in fact, too fast for love.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Movie Reviews: AVATAR 3D

Saturday, December 19, 2009
Movie Reviews: AVATAR 3D
IN THEATERS

AVATAR 3D

AVATAR takes us to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on an epic adventure, ultimately fighting to save the alien world he has learned to call home. James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of “Titanic,” first conceived the film 15 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not exist yet. Now, after four years of production, AVATAR, a live action film with a new generation of special effects, delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.


Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore


Director: James Cameron


Opened ..December 18, 2009..


Runtime: 2 hr. 30 min.


Rated PG-13 for warfare, intense battle sequences, some smoking, sensuality and language


Genres: Sci-Fi Action, Science Fiction


Review:


James Cameron’s Avatar is a thrilling and mind blowing visual feast for the eyes and ears. It’s the type of film that will leave you with your mouth wide open on more than a few occasions. Cameron’s Pandora and the Na’vi are completely realized creations that feel entirely real and believable the entire way through. The lush landscape and its inhabitants are incredible marvels of technological achievements. This is epic filmmaking in every sense of the word and nothing here is done on a small scale. The environments are massive there isn’t nary a sense that anything was skimped on. While this is Cameron’s crowing achievement in visual and technical feats, the story and characters don’t come anywhere close to living up to them. The plot is a predictable rehash of the “gone native” themes that’s been done plenty of times over the years. The characters are mostly single dimensional and paint by the numbers. Sam Worthington gives a mostly wooden performance throughout but he’s not really done any favors by thread bare scripting. He does his best to emote passion in the last act but it never reaches a believe level. Faring much better is Zoe Saldana who gives life and energy to her CGI Na’vi character. Saldana adds as much depth and pathos to her character as she can. Sigourney Weaver is mostly in Jane Goodall mode for the better part of her time on screen. Stephen Lang plays the one dimensional army head well and I would have liked to have seen what he could have done with a more fleshed out role. Michelle Rodriguez and Giovanni Ribisi are in the film for what amount to extended cameos and neither really adds anything to the goings on. Regardless of the story’s shortcomings, this the type of movie watching experience that will leave an indelible experience and won’t be quickly forgotten. It’s a real disservice to not see this film in 3D as it adds a wonderful level of immersion to the entire thing.


B
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