MOVIE REVIEW: THE KING'S MAN

 

One man must race against time to stop history's worst tyrants and criminal masterminds as they get together to plot a war that could wipe out millions of people and destroy humanity.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Cast: Ralph Fienne, Gemma Arterton, Rhys Ifans, Matthew Goode, Tom Hollander, Harris Dickinson, Daniel Brühl, Djimon Hounsou, Charles Dance

Release Date: December 22, 2021

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Thriller

Rated R for sequences of strong/bloody violence, language, and some sexual material

Runtime: 2h 28m

Review:

The King's Man is one of the strangest and unnecessary prequels in recent memory.  Matthew Vaughn's film is tonally off kilter with the previous entries, deciding to go for a more self serious tone that's sure to confuse fans who come in expecting a loose goofy bit of fun.  Ralph Fienne leads the film ably even if it does feel like he's a in a different franchise all together.  To his credit, Fiennes seems fully committed to the role and he makes the entire thing much more watchable than it deserves to be.  Rhys Ifans seems to be the only one who's aware of the franchise hallmarks and he hams it up as Rasputin.  His character big action sequence is a dizzying death ballet that outlandish, goofy and one of the sole bits of fun in the entire film.  Sadly, he comes and goes far to quickly and are left with a so so WW1 drama that isn't ashamed to steal scenes from Wonder Woman.  Gemma Arterton and Djimon Hounsou do solid supporting work but you get the distinct feeling that the film would have benefited from using their talent far more than it does.  Even worse, the film cast Daniel Brühl and decides to have him do nothing for the better part of the film.  The King's Man is a bizarre follow up that doesn't fit in the franchises tone or spirit and ultimately feels like a bad misstep.

C

MOVIE REVIEW: THE CLOVERFIELD PARADOX

The story set in the near future, centers on a team of astronauts on a space station making a terrifying discovery that challenges all they know about the fabric of reality, as they desperately fight for their survival.

Director: Julius Onah

Release Date: Jan 12, 2018

Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris O'Dowd, Zhang Ziyi

Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr. 42 min.

Genres: Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

Review:

Years from now The Cloverfield Paradox, originally titled The God Particle, will be remembered mostly for Netflix’s release strategy more than the actual content of the film.  Ultimately, Netflix’s strategy of releasing a repurposed sci-fi film, which had been delayed a couple of times before, after the Super Bowl shortly after premiering the first trailer gave the film the kind of visibility it wouldn’t have received otherwise.  The gambit surely paid off in spades even though the final product is lacking in several areas.  Sadly, for all the hoopla the film is simply a passable sci-fi film that recalls better films like Sunshine or even Event Horizon with a heaping serving of Star Trek’s oft used multiverse conceit.  The result is an uneven story with a subplot grafted onto it’s spine that tries desperately to connect the main story to the larger franchise.  It’s a choppy feel throughout resulting in a story that never finds it’s footing even with the ensemble’s best effort.  The cast assembled is impressively strong but the script leaves way too many of them hampered with one dimensional character.  Gugu Mbatha-Raw does her best to give the entire production a heart beat and is only partially successful; displaying some real chops in the film’s final act.  The rest of the cast is populated by top notch actors like David Oyelowo and Daniel Brühl who try their best to bring some sort of life to uncooked characters but they can only do so much with razor thin characterizations.  Elizabeth Debicki’s character could have been thoroughly fascinating if she’s been explored properly.  In the end, The Cloverfield Paradox is a glossy looking misfire which could have used more fine tuning and less overt franchise shoehorning to work effectively. 

C

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Our Brand is Crisis & Burnt

Dearest Blog: Welcome to Awards Season, where every film feels vaguely like it *could* be based on a true story. Thus, yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for two stories that kinda sorta seem like they maybe could be a little bit real: Our Brand is Crisis and Burnt.

 

First on my agenda: Our Brand is Crisis.

 

An American political strategist reluctantly becomes part of an unpopular Bolivian presidential candidate's team.

 

Our Brand is Crisis probably isn't a bad movie for any other time of year, but plunked down in October, when everything either hopes for an Oscar or hopes to scare the pants off of you, it seems an inexcusably poor offering. Crisis is hilarious at times, yet the premise is so depressing it feels wrong to laugh. 

 

The film never really earns your full attention, and, sadly, there's no amount of humor that could buoy this all-too-real real depiction of politics with no soul. If there's any good news to be had, it's that the movie boasts uniformly strong performances. Sandra Bullock has a few bravura moments that might justify another Oscar nod, Billy Bob Thornton is an able adversary, and the delightful Anthony Mackie is solid as always. The real star of the picture, though, is Bolivian actor Reynaldo Pacheco, whose earnestness single-handedly salvages what's otherwise a depressing exercise in cynicism.

 

Our Brand is Crisis clocks in at 107 minutes and is rated R for "language including some sexual references."

 

It provides a few good laughs, but Our Brand is Crisis is a mostly-discouraging look at the political process. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Our Brand is Crisis gets five.

 

Next on the docket: Burnt.

 

Bradley Cooper stars as Adam Jones, a brilliant chef who is so messed up he does nothing but hurt the people who care for him, and you'll be too distracted by those baby-blues to really care.

 

Dear reader(s), I don't mean to belittle chefs, as nobody--and I mean NOBODY--has a greater regard for food than I do (as my profile photo will attest), but I am unsold on any attempt to portray a chef, even the world's greatest, as some kind of rock star worthy of a feature film. I'm something of a rock star, myself, when it comes to secretaries, and last I looked, Angelina Jolie wasn't queuing up play me on the big screen anytime soon. 

 

Thus Burnt starts out at an insurmountable handicap: it's just not that great a story. The high-emotion, high-stakes kitchen scenarios may accurately portray behind-the-scenes action at the world's finest dining establishments, but the drama seems plain silly (is it *such* a tragedy if the scallops are a bit overdone?), and the rest of the story is so done-to-death you won't care about any of it for a single second. Bradley Cooper swaggers his way through the film like an actual rock star, and, to his credit, makes the dull exercise almost watchable. 

 

Daniel Bruhl is terrific as Jones' supportive and long-suffering friend, and Matthew Rhys is outstanding as his top rival. Sadly, though, fantastic performances can't save a lame premise that's predictably executed.

 

Burnt runs 101 minutes and is rated R for "language throughout."

 

Much like the pretentious dishes whose preparation it depicts, Burnt is far more interested in collecting awards than it is in actually satisfying anyone. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Burnt gets four.

 

Until next time...

MOVIE REVIEW RUSH

Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl star as legendary Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda respectively in this biographical drama set during the 1970s, at the peak of their heated rivalry. Both on the track and off, Hunt (Hemsworth) and Lauda (Bruhl) couldn't have been more different. Yet as much as Englishman Hunt's showy public persona clashed with Lauda's reputation for tightly-controlled perfectionism, both men remained bound together by one undeniable fact -- they were both among the best drivers ever to grace the racetrack. Olivia Wilde and Alexandra Maria Lara co-star in a film directed by Academy Award-winner Ron Howard, and penned by Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon, Hereafter). ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Director: Ron Howard

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde.

Release Date: Sep 20, 2013

Rated R for sexual content, nudity, language, some disturbing images and brief drug use

Runtime: 2 hr. 3 min.

Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama

Review:

People that know me know I love my sports. I’m a fan of pretty much any and every sport but I’ve never been a fan of sports movies because they all have the same trajectory and beats. That being said it takes alot for a sports movie to capture my attention the way Rush did. Ron Howard’s love of the subject matter is readily apparent from the get go. He directs the racing sequences with a white knuckled ferocity that delivers the most visceral experience I’ve ever had in a movie about racing. His film does dip in some of the non racing sequences mainly because the script lacks subtly, beating themes into your head instead of letting them flow organically. Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl both impress in their roles as Hunt and Lauda. Hemsworth’s natural on screen charisma is perfect for the role. Hemsworth is believable and likeable even though the character is a bit of a jerk. Brühl is given the meatier part of Lauda and he’s easily the most interesting thing onscreen, outside of Hemsworth’s unnaturally chiseled body. Brühl performance is measured but on point, don’t be surprised if his name comes up during awards season. Sadly the characters don’t feel tactile, mostly because of the script. They are types more than they are real life people and while it’s not a sin it would have been nice to get inside the heads of both characters a bit more. Something the wonderful documentary Senna did so well. Still, Rush is a quality “prestige” film which may get some nods come awards season.

A-