MOVIE REVIEW: TAG

One month every year, five highly competitive friends hit the ground running for a no-holds-barred game of tag -- risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take one another down. This time, the game coincides with the wedding of the only undefeated player. What should be an easy target soon becomes an all-out war as he knows they're coming to get him. 

Director: Jeff Tomsic 

Cast: Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Annabelle Wallis, Isla Fisher, Rashida Jones, Leslie Bibb

Release Date: June 15, 2018

 

Rated R for language throughout, crude sexual content, drug use and brief nudity 

Runtime: 1 hr. 40 min. 

Genres: Comedy

Review:

Tag is one of those goofy comedies that shouldn’t work because of the flimsy premise but it succeeds more often than not.  Jeff Tomsic creates a fun little film that moves along at a steady pace with the “tag” sequences standing out for ingenuity.  The film’s biggest asset is it’s collection of stars.  They all share good comedic timing and chemistry together.  The jokes go off in fairly rapid fire manner with the movie never lingering too much on anything to avoid stagnation.  Its breezy style makes it easier to overlook some of the horrible things these friends do to each other.  Still it makes for a funny movie that’s got a beating heart underneath it’s crude exterior.  There are a few dead spots here and there but nothing damning even though they could have used female members of the cast a bit more.  Same complaints aside, Tag is a surprisingly funny film that doesn’t disappoint. 

B+

Cindy Prascik's Review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

 

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

 

When a volcano threatens a (re)extinction-level event, dinosaurs remaining in the shuttered park must be rescued.

 

Dear reader(s), in the interest of full and fair disclosure, I'll admit I'm not exactly invested in the Jurassic series. I bet there's not a single movie--not even the one that's been popping up on cable for two and a half decades--that I've watched more than once. They're definitely the sort of action-packed pictures that appeal to me, but but for some reason they've never become favorites. That being said, a new Jurassic movie is what's out this weekend, so a new Jurassic movie is what I saw, and it was...okay.

 

First, the pluses: I love dinosaurs. These dinosaurs look amazing. When ol' T-Rex comes at ya from the screen, it's all you can do not to back away, and that's not even in 3D! There's not nearly enough Jeff Goldblum, but no movie was ever worse for having him, even in limited quantities. Bryce Dallas Howard quickly swaps stupid heels for a very sensible pair of boots. Well done, filmmakers, on correcting my biggest complaint from the last movie! Fallen Kingdom has some decent jump scares and one particularly well-choreographed action sequence. It's always a crap-shoot with kid actors, but we've got us a tolerable one here. The movie runs a hair over two hours, but doesn't really seem that long, and Michael Giacchino provides another of his epic scores.

 

Now, the minuses: Really, Fallen Kingdom just isn't all that interesting. It's a done-to-death story (not always with dinos, of course), and the one-trick pony that is Chris Pratt is wearing out its welcome, at least for me. The two main supporting characters are too cartoonish to add much, and Howard is bad, just bad. In fact, the camera wastes a great deal of time lingering on the expressions of people who just aren't that...expressive. It's silly to the point of hilarity. At one point a guy down the row from me stage-whispered, "This is stupid!" I giggled, wondering if he expected Star Lord vs. T-Rex to be an intellectual pursuit, but then I thought, you know what? This IS stupid. Its execution is stupid. It's still a decent bit of summer fun, but...it should have been so much better.

 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom clocks in at 128 minutes and is rated PG13 for "intense sequences of sci-fi violence and peril."

 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will undoubtedly continue the franchise's streak of my not watching more than once. 

 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom gets five.

 

Until next time!

MOVIE REVIEW: INCREDIBLES 2

Everyone’s favorite family of superheroes is back in “Incredibles 2” – but this time Helen (voice of Holly Hunter) is in the spotlight, leaving Bob (voice of Craig T. Nelson) at home with Violet (voice of Sarah Vowell) and Dash (voice of Huck Milner) to navigate the day-to-day heroics of “normal” life. It’s a tough transistion for everyone, made tougher by the fact that the family is still unaware of baby Jack-Jack’s emerging superpowers. When a new villain hatches a brilliant and dangerous plot, the family and Frozone (voice of Samuel L. Jackson) must find a way to work together again—which is easier said than done, even when they’re all Incredible.

Director: Brad Bird

Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson, Huck Milner, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener, Jonathan Banks

Release Date: June 15, 2018

Genres: Animation, Action, Adventure

Rated PG for action sequences and some brief mild language

Runtime: 1h 58min

Review:

Incredibles 2 delivers a crowd pleasing following up to the 2004 original.  The original film is a classic on many levels so there was an incredibly high standard left to meet.  Additionally, in the 14 years since the first film came out there’s been a massive change in the movie landscape with superhero films ruling the box office.  So the biggest question is whether or not a sequel would be as relevant or impact full as the first film.  Writer/Director Brad Bird pulls off the monumental task with relative ease.  Bird delivers a visually striking film that keeps the stylish visuals from the first and expands on it.  The film picks up right after the first film ends and moves easily into the plots of the sequel which is filled with dense topics like marriage equality and gender politics.  It’s script runs a fine balance of generally digestible joy and deeper themes while never becoming a bore.  The voice cast from the original film all slip back into their roles without missing a step.  Newcomers Bob Odenkirk and Catherine Keener mesh well with the cast even if their characters are slightly under served which is one of the films few missteps.  Still, Incredibles 2 pulls off the rare feat where the sequel is a worthy follow up to a classic.  

A

Cindy Prascik's Reviews of Tag & Incredibles 2

Dearest Blog: Yesterday it was off to Marquee Cinemas for a promising double-bill of Tag and Incredibles 2.

Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.

First on my agenda, Tag.

A group of friends continues a game of tag from their high-school days three decades (and counting) into their adult lives.

While Tag's story is "inspired by actual events" rather than "based on a true story," it seems a great deal of it skates hilariously (or alarmingly) close to the truth. Based on a a group of friends from Spokane, Washington, who really have been playing the same game of tag for over 30 years, some of the picture's most outlandish tags are the ones that really happened.

Tag is a comedy, but it's more amusing than laugh-out-loud hilarious. The likable cast includes Jeremy Renner, Ed Helms, and Jon Hamm, yet I found the characters--at best--bland, and--at worst--pretty lousy people, which made it hard to enjoy their exploits. In fact, as I exited the theater, the first thing I did was jump online to check the IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes scores to see if the movie had left anyone else as flat as it had left me. (At this writing, it's got a 7.1 on IMDB and 56% on RT, so I guess it has.) The story is fascinating, and a few cool tunes pop up, but with such a terrific cast it's hard to think it shouldn't be better than it is.

Tag clocks in at 100 minutes and is rated R for "language throughout, crude sexual content, drug use, and brief nudity."

It's good for a few summer afternoon laughs and an eyeful of Jeremy Renner, but otherwise Tag is most definitely not "it." 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Tag gets five and a half.

Next up: the long-awaited sequel Incredibles 2.

In an effort to have the superhero ban lifted, Elastigirl is tapped for some high-profile missions while Mr. Incredible keeps the home fires burning.

Incredibles 2 is a sequel that is well worth the 14-year wait. The characters haven't aged onscreen, but they've aged very well in popular culture, with the stay-at-home-dad angle being a nice touch for 2018. The film's action sequences are exciting and well-choreographed, with nary a one dragging on too long. (Are you paying attention, Avengers?) Incredibles 2 features bright, crisp animation, top-notch voice talent, charming characters, and clever laughs. There's an awful little short called "Bao" that runs before the movie, so, unless you really love the pre-show or you want to grab a favorite seat, give yourself an extra five minutes to get to the theater.

Incredibles 2 runs 118 minutes and is rated PG for "action sequences and some brief, mild language." 

Be advised there is one scene featuring a strobe-light effect that may adversely affect some viewers.

Incredibles 2 is a fantastic family film that (at least on first viewing) seems even better than the original. Only time will tell if it ages as well. 

Of a possible nine Weasleys, Incredibles 2 gets nine.