Mike's Movie Tips

2/4 Starring: Michael Beck, James Remar, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, David Patrick Kelly, Dorsey Wright, Brian Tyler, David Harris, Tom McKitterick, Marcelino Sanchez, Terry Michos, Lynne Thigpen Rated R for Violence and Language On the basis of style and visual flair, "The Warriors" is a flat-out triumph.  The film looks fantastic .  It is so rare to find a movie that looks great without being ostentatious, and Walter Hill manages to do this.  But when it comes to other areas, like plot and characterization, it comes up short.  Simply put, this is not a well-written motion picture. The film takes place in the near future from when the film was released (1979).  Gangs rule the city, and there are a lot of them.  All combined, they outnumber the police three to one.  That's why Cyrus (Roger Hill), the leader of the most powerful gang in the city, makes a play for this gangs to join forces so they can rule the city.  It's going well until he is...

1.5/4 Starring: Paul Walker, David Belle, RZA, Catalina Denis, Ayisha Denis, Bruce Ramsay Rated PG-13 for Frenetic Gunplay, Violence and Action Throughout, Language, Sexual Menace and Drug Material I almost didn't see this movie.  Paul Walker was favorite screen star, and I had a huge crush on him.  So when I heard of his death last year, I was devastated.  I feared that it would be too painful.  But I saw it anyway, and unfortunately, it's pretty lame. Few things are worse than bad action movies, and "Brick Mansions" is one of them.  The film is constantly moving, but there's no point to it all.  I didn't care about the plot (which is very lame), and it takes itself far too seriously. In 2018, Detroit is a war zone.  The worst part of town is Brick Mansions, a housing project that is a cross between Cabrini-Green and Estonia as portrayed in " Lilya-4-Ever ."  The mayor wants to tear it all down and rebuild, but the question remains abou...

2.5/4 Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Anna Paquin, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Gabriel Mann Rated R for Violence, Drug Content, Strong Language, and Some Sexuality "Buffalo Soldiers" was as much a victim of timing as it was anything else.  It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on September 9, 2001.  Naturally, after the horrors that occurred two days later, the market for a black comedy about soldiers running a drug ring dried up almost instantaneously.  The film would be slammed as being "unpatriotic," and two years later a woman in the audience threw a plastic water bottle at the filmmakers during a Q&A session in an outrage over the film's presentation of American soldiers. While I can see that point of view, it's a little misguided and unfair.  It's not so much that these guys are bad people, it's that they're stuck with nothing to do.  Selling stuff on the black market simply fills up time. Elwood (Phoenix) loves three things about ...

3.5/4 Starring: Adam Butcher, Campbell Scott, Gordon Pinsent, Jennifer Tilly, Michael Kanev, Tamara Hope Rated PG-13 for Some Sexual Content and Brief Nudity Inspirational stories are a dime a dozen.  Few are as enthusiastic or entertaining as "Saint Ralph." Ralph (Butcher) is a gawky, socially awkward freshman at a Catholic high school in Canada.  His hormones are just starting to act up, which runs him afoul of the headmaster, a stern man named Father Fitzpatrick (Pinsent).  In other words, he's your average teenager.  His father died in the war and his mother is in the hospital, Ralph is also living on his own.  When his mother falls into a coma, a sympathetic nurse named Alice (Tilly) tells him that it will take a miracle to wake her up.  After a cutting remark from his cross country coach, Father Hibbert (Scott), Ralph decides that he'll perform a miracle by winning the Boston marathon.  Reluctantly coached by Father Hibbert, Ralph sets ou...

3/4 Starring: Clare Higgins, Ashley Laurence, Sean Chapman, Andrew Robinson, Doug Bradley Rated R (probably for Extreme Horror Violence and Gore and for Some Language) "Hellraiser" is a frightening little horror film with some nice performances and impressive special effects.  On that level, I recommend the film.  However it must be said that this is a very disturbing and extremely graphic film that will turn off many who try to watch it. Julia (Higgins) is not particularly enthused about moving from the city into the house that once belonged to her husband Larry's (Robinson) parents.  It was also lived in by his brother, Frank (Chapman), and judging by appearances, he was still living there before he disappeared (I think that's how it went...the film isn't too clear about this).  Actually, Julia's coldness isn't so much the move, but the fact that she's living with Larry when she was really in love with Jack.  Jack had an affinity for t...

2.5/4 Starring: Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Treat Williams, James Remar, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Bill Smitrovich, Patrick McGoohan Rated PG for Action/Adventure Violence and Some Mild Language Superheroes were much more interesting when they kept things simple.  Good guy wears costume, fights evil.  The trend towards Shakespearean tragedy or being bigger and more extravagant than the last one has made the comics and their film counterparts lose sight of why we go these movies in the first place: to see the likable hero kick ass, defeat the villain, and of course get the girl.  " The Dark Knight " is a great movie, but sometimes we want something more innocent and fun. "The Phantom," based on the comic by Lee Falk, remembers this.  It's got all the hallmarks of the simple adventure yarns that everyone loves to romanticize but no one wants to make anymore.  The tough but sensitive hero who holds a torch for the rich girl, the villain bent on obtaining a MacG...

1/4 Starring: Wesley Snipes, Marie Matiko, Anne Archer, Maury Chaykin, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Donald Sutherland, Michael Biehn, James Hong Rated R for Strong Violence, Some Sexuality, Language and Brief Drug Content "The Art of War" was a military treatise that was written nearly 2500 years ago by Sun Tzu, and its ideas have been used ever since.  But that is incidental to the film that takes its name from Tzu's work.  For the most part, Tzu's philosophies have little to do with the film itself; they're barely mentioned a few times at the end.  The real story is a complete bore. Alex Shaw (Snipes) is an operative for the United Nations whose assignments are always on the shady side of the law.  Now, shortly before the signing of a trade agreement between China and the West, which was facilitated by the Secretary-General (Sutherland), a Chinese Ambassador (Wong) is assassinated.  Shaw is fingered for the crime, and he and a pretty translator named Julia Fa...

3/4 Starring: Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Katee Sackhoff, Rory Cochrane, Annalisse Basso, Garrett Ryan, James Lafferty, Miguel Sandoval Rated R for Terror, Violence, Some Disturbing Images and Brief Langauge "Oculus" is an ambitious little horror film, that may not succeed in its ultimate goal of scaring the audience, is successful and audacious enough that it's worth seeing. Tim (Thwaites) has just been released from a mental institution.  He's been there ever since his parents died, but his psychiatrist (Sandoval) thinks that he's no longer a danger to himself or others, and suggests that he be allowed to leave.  His sister Kaylie (Gillan) is waiting for him.  She drags him back to the house where their parents died and has set up an experiment.  She knows that it wasn't as simple as him killing her parents.  She believes that a cursed mirror is the real culprit, and sets out to prove it.  Meanwhile, we get to see what happened to them and the...

It seems pretty obvious what a film critic is supposed to do, right?  Watch a movie, and write what you think about it.  Nevertheless, I've heard comments that make me want to write down my thoughts about the job.  With something this opinionated, clearly there are going to be times when people are going to be wondering what I was thinking. First and foremost is honesty.  I have to be completely honest about what I thought about a film.  If I give a positive review to a movie I didn't like (or vice vera) because it's a popular movie or something, my credibility is shattered.  No one will ever believe that what I'm saying is my honest opinion.  There are definitely some movies that I like that many others didn't (" Congo " and "House of the Dead" are two examples) and others that everyone seemed to like but me (" The Avengers ," "Gladiator," anything by Wes Anderson).  But if I gave them a positive review just because everyon...

2/4 Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara Rated PG-13 for Sci-Fi Action and Violence, Some Bloody Images, Brief Strong Language and Sensuality "Transcendence" was the second movie of 2014 that I was really looking forward to (after Hayao Miyazaki's " The Wind Rises ").  While "The Wind Rises" was slightly disappointing because my hopes were too high (a filmmaker as talented as Miyazaki will do that to a guy), "Transcendence" is a complete letdown.  It's another case of "good idea, bad execution." Will Caster (Depp) is a computer genius who makes Steve Jobs look like Borat.  He is close to creating a self-aware, artificial intelligence.  He has a prototype called PENN, although it's not quite there yet.  But his ambitions (however noble they may be) and his genius have made him a number of enemies (led by Bree, (Mara)).  After a TED-ish conference, he is shot by a...

3.5/4 Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, William Lee Scott, Chad Lindberg, Natalie Canerday, Laura Dern, Scott Miles Rated PG for Language, Brief Teen Sensuality and Alcohol Use, and for Some Thematic Elements How rare it is to see a movie succeed simply because it's a good story.  Sure, there isn't a weak link in the cast and the film is splendidly put together, but there's no showboating on either side of the camera.  No one tries to call attention to themselves in any way, and that allows the story and the characters to take center stage.  Exactly what every movie should do. It's October 1957.  The town of Coalwood, West Virginia is talking about Sputnik (much like the rest of the world), the satellite that was launched into space by the Russians.  After watching it fly by, Homer Hickham (Gyllenhaal) decides that he wants to build rockets.  So he, his two friends Roy Lee Cooke (Scott) and Sherman O'Dell (Lindberg), plus the clas...

2/4 Starring: Askel Hennie, Synnove Macody Lund, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Eivind Sander, Julie R. Olgaard Rated R for Bloody Violence including Some Grisly Images, Strong Sexual Content and Nudity "Headhunters" is a thriller with a couple of neat twists and smart characters.  Those are rare in movies these days.  Unfortunately, a confusing story and a lack of an interesting protagonist keeps the film from ascending to the greatness it strives for. Roger Brown (Hennie) is a headhunter for a business in Norway.  He's married to the beautiful Diana (Lund), who has expensive tastes.  To supplement his income in order to make her happy, Roger steals artwork and fences them.  A new man in town named Clas Greve (Coster-Waldau) turns out to be in possession of a very valuable painting that was stolen by the Nazis during WWII.  It's so valuable that if he were to get his hands on it, he and Diana would be set for life.  The robbery goes off without a hitc...

1.5/4 Starring: the voices of Toru Emori, Aya Okamoto, Yoshiaki Umegaki Rated PG-13 for Thematic Elements, Violent Images, Language and Some Sexual Material Meet the ultimate dysfunctional family That's the tagline for "Tokyo Godfathers," an extremely warped Christmas movie.  The protagonists are three homeless people, and during their time between Christmas and New Year's, they run into crazy adventures ranging from a mafia hit to a drag club and a bizarre car chase. This sounds like a great movie, and I'm sure it could be.  The problem is that I didn't care about anyone in this movie.  The characters are undeveloped, and their backstories (when reveales) fail to make them interesting. The homeless trio is Gin (Emori), a grumpy drunk who became homeless after he got caught throwing a bike race to save his wife and unborn child (who later died), Miyuki (Okamoto), a sassy runaway, and Hana (Umegaki), a devoutly Christian transgender.  While arguing ...

2.5/4 Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Michael Caine, Robert DuVall, Kyra Sedgwick, Nicky Katt Rated PG for Thematic Elements, Language and Action Violence There is a good movie lurking within the 109 minutes of "Secondhand Lions."  It is a wonderful, nostalgic and magical film.  Alas, we don't get to see it.  "Secondhand Lions" isn't a bad movie at all, but due to poor direction and the occasional stiff moment from the actors (all of them have moments where they fail to convince), the film never becomes the heartwarming family film it so desires to be. Walter Caldwell (Osment) is entering the seventh circle of hell.  His flighty mother Mae (Sedgwick) is dumping him off at his great uncles' farm in the middle of nowhere for the summer while she takes a court reporting class.  He's never known them and based on the evidence, neither does Mae.  They've been gone somewhere for 40 years and have just resurfaced.  Rumor has it that they're sit...

3/4 Starring: Paul Dano, Brian Cox, Bruce Altman, Billy Kay, Walter Masterson Rated NC-17 for Some Explicit Sexual Content Michael Cuesta said that "L.I.E.," his directorial debut, is about sexuality.  So it is.  What he says about it is ultimately unclear.  As a character study of an aimless teen abandoned by just about everyone (in one way or another), it's much more successful. Howie Blitzer (Dano) is going through a rough time.  His mother recently died in a car accident.  His father doesn't get him, and appears to be more interested in his business and his new girlfriend than his son.  His relationship with his friend Gary (Kay) becomes close enough to raise suspicions about his sexuality among his friends.  He's also falling into a life of crime, committing petty robberies with his friends.  One day Gary convinces him to rob a house containing two expensive pistols.  When caught, Gary fingers Howie to the homeowner, a man named ...

3/4 Starring: Stuart Townsend, Marguerite Moreau, Vincent Perez, Paul McGann, Aaliyah Rated R for Vampire Violence For a movie that was made simply because the rights to the books were about to expire, "Queen of the Damned" is better than expected.  You see, Warner Brothers purchased the rights to the first three novels in Anne Rice's vampire saga, but only the first film ever made it to the screen.  During the last year that they had the rights to the novels (after which time they would go back to Rice, who could sell them to someone else), they realized it was their last chance to see a return on their investment.  So they combined the second two novels, "The Vampire Lestat" and "Queen of the Damned," into one film.  The result has its problems, but it's pretty decent for a rush job. Jessie (Moreau) is a young student in London studying the paranormal.  She thinks that she has found a vampire coven, and goes to investigate.  There, she me...

2/4 Starring: Peyton List, Tony Curran, Cameron Goodman, Dave Power, James Snyder, Cullen Douglas Rated R for Strong Violence, Terror, Language and Brief Nudity "Shuttle" aspires to be something more than a common horror film.  The final scenes are bleak and sad because they are so real (in a very general way).  But is that the right way to end a movie that features many horror cliches, such as characters doing stupid things and not hitting the bad guy when he's down?  I don't think so.  It's an effective ending, but in the wrong movie. Mel (List) and Jules (Goodman) have been best friends for years.  They have just gotten back from a trip to Mexico when Mel drops the ball that she broke off her engagement.  Needing a ride home, they are ditched by one shuttle but offered a ride by another man who says he'll take them for half the price of the first one.  Also along for the ride are Seth (Snyder), a horny 20-something who saw them in a bar in M...

3/4 Starring: Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Redford, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence, Gunplay and Action Throughout Another year, another superhero movie.  The genre has seen entries for as long as there have been movies, but they've never been bigger than they have been in the last decade and a half.  Despite what can only be described as "oversaturation" (and that's not coming close to covering how many there are), the genre is still going strong.  Anything Marvel is cinema gold, especially after " The Avengers " became the third biggest blockbuster in history two years ago.  Still, as tired as I am of the genre, the second "Captain America" movie is at least entertaining. Despite being frozen for the better part of a century, Steve Rogers (Evans) is adjusting to his new period in history.  He's a mega hero and one of S.H.I.E.L.D's poster boys (he even has h...

3/4 Starring: Jason Bateman, Kathryn Hahn, Rohan Chand, Philip Baker Hall, Allison Janney Rated R for Crude and Sexual Content, Language and Brief Nudity You gotta love a movie that has the guts to be as deliciously nasty as "Bad Words."  Because it stars the one-note comic actor Jason Bateman, I was fearing it would be the second coming of " Identity Thief ."  Fortunately I was wrong.  Although it's a little too long, "Bad Words" is an often hilarious dark comedy. Guy Trilby (Bateman) is the world's biggest asshole.  He's a bigger jerk than Roger Swanson from " Roger Dodger ."  He insults and berates everyone he comes into contact with, and is not above cheating and humiliating the other contestants in a kid's spelling bee.  You see, Guy has found a loophole that would allow him to compete in a spelling bee against kids who haven't yet hit puberty.  And, for reasons not immediately revealed, he intends on winning it. ...

0/4 Starring: Shane Harper, Kevin Sorbo, Cory Oliver, Hadeel Sittu, Trisha LaFache, David A.R. White, Benjamin Ochieng Rated PG for Thematic Material, Brief Violence and an Accident Scene CONTAINS A MINOR SPOILER! I am a difficult guy to offend.  Perhaps it's because I have a "glass is half full" point of view when it comes to movies, but there are very few films that have angered me or made me uncomfortable simply because of their content.  Thankfully, movies like "God's Not Dead" don't come along very often. The idea behind "God's Not Dead" is a great concept: a college student has to prove that God exists to his atheist philosophy professor.  Unfortunately, director Harold Cronk tanks the film by trivializing thoughtful and complex issues and using thin character types as avenues to explore them.  Cronk is only interested in one thing: preaching to the converted. Josh (Harper) is an incoming freshman to an unnamed university....

3/4 Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy, Donald Sumpter, Gerard McSorely, Pete Postlethwaite Rated R for Language, Some Violent Images and Sexual Content/Nudity John Le Carre's novels are not easy to digest.  There are so many characters, double talk, and twists that reading them turns one's mind into a pretzel...and you still don't know if you've got it all right.  That was the problem with "The Tailor of Panama," another film based on one of his stories, and it's true of "The Constant Gardener."  But Fernando Meirelles follow-up to his masterpiece, "City of God," which is probably one of the best films ever made, is confusing in specifics, the general thrust of the story is not.  But what really makes the film special is the love story between Justin and Tessa Quayle. Justin (Fiennes) is a mild-mannered diplomat who is giving a speech in the place of someone higher up.  He is bombarded with question...