Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Starring: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Jeff Daniels, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer Rated PG-13 for Intense Violence and Action, Thematic Elements and Some Partial Nudity Of all the tween franchises to come out after "Harry Potter," the " Divergent " series at least has the virtue of being entertaining.  The first two weren't masterpieces and neither is this installment (as has become the norm these days, the final book has been split into two parts), but it's good enough that I recommend seeing it if you liked the others.  It doesn't sufficiently differ from the ground laid out in the first two films, but it really doesn't matter. Janine (Kate Winslet) is dead.  The government leader who used science and lies to overthrow the government was killed by Evelyn (Watts), who has taken it upon herself to rule Chicago in order to establish peace.  But in her desire to do good and satiate the bloodlust of those who wer

2.5/4 Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Holly Hunter, Laurence Fishburne Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action Throughout, and for Some Sensuality Another summer, another wave of superhero movies.  Am I the only one who is tired of watching guys in leotards beat the tar out of each other while being filled with faux-angst?  To be fair, geek god Joss Whedon is nowhere to be found here, which means that the writing is better, and it's more concerned with telling a story than providing a rundown of the most comic references and cross-connections the hack filmmaker can fit into a 2.5 hour run time. The good news is that it's not another origin story.  Marvel pumps out as many of those as it can, it seems.  " Ant-Man ," the third reboot of " Fantastic Four ," and so on.  They all run together.  It's also not a cut-and-paste job like so many of Marvel's movies.  The bad news is that the plot rarely

1.5/4 Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Christopher Lloyd, and the voices of Patrick Steward, Whoopi Goldberg, Frank Welker Rated PG (for Action, I guess) A good idea does not make a movie.  You have to have follow through.  You have to support it with good storytelling and a script that doesn't insult the intelligence or attention span of its audience, young as they may be.  "The Pagemaster" can boast a brilliant concept, but directors Maurice Hunt and Joe Johnston (surprisingly) to a terrible job of bringing it to life. Richard Tyler (Culkin) is afraid of everything.  And I mean everything.  His parents are worried about him, and when they send him on an errand, he gets caught in a terrible storm and takes refuge in a library.  The librarian, Mr. Dewey (Lloyd) tries to get him interested in the books available to him, but Richard is dead-set on getting home.  A nasty fall knocks him out and he ends up inside the library's books.  To reach the exit, he must rely on

2.5/4 Not Rated (probable R for Some Language) When I was in college, I was browsing the bookstore one day when I came across a copy of "The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts."  Knowing little about him outside of " Tommy Boy " and the fact that he had died years before, I picked it up and paged through it.  Done primarily through quotes from his friends and family members, it was a surprisingly quick read (that said, I at first paged through it rather than read it from cover to cover, which I eventually did).  It was a genuinely moving and affecting experience. It would be too much to ask for a film to duplicate that in 90 minutes.  Chris was to complex an individual for a standard-order biopic.  His psychological complexities were fascinating to probe.  By the same token, he was a complicated individual and a tremendously simple one.  It's impossible not to identify with him.  After reading the book and watching "Tommy Boy" again, I

2/4 Starring: Gretchen Mol, Jonathan Woodward, Lili Taylor, Chris Bauer, Jared Harris, Sarah Paulson, David Strathairn Rated R for Nudity, Sexual Content and Some Language Of all the people to who could possibly have been titled "The Pin-Up Queen of the Universe," Betty Page was by far the least likely.  A doe-eyed girl from a small town, Bettie Page had the naiveté of a child and an a innocence to match, Bettie Page was more likely to be a teacher (which she attempted, but hated) or a housewife than a girl who posed for bondage pictures. Betty did not have an easy start in life.  Her first marriage didn't last long and involved abuse, she was abducted and gang raped, and while the movie doesn't go into this, she and her sisters were molested by their father.  However, this stuff takes up about the first ten minutes.  The film is mostly about her career as a model for the S&M scene, and that's where things get interesting.  The contrast between the sal

2.5/4 Starring: Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Goodman, John Gallagher Jr. Rated PG-13 for Thematic Material including Frightening Sequences of Threat with Some Violence, and Brief Language Never before have I seen a movie so thoroughly shoot itself in the foot before the audience even sets foot in the theater.  Oh sure, movies have given away their secrets in trailers; comedies give away the best jokes, thrillers give away the gimmick, action movies give away the best stunts and special effects, and so on.  "10 Cloverfield Lane" stacks the deck by its title.  And for a movie where the central appeal is its ambiguity, that pretty much takes away the point of seeing the movie. According to J.J. Abrams, who produced this and the original " Cloverfield ," "10 Cloverfield Lane" is a "blood relative" of the original.  You'd be hard pressed to convince me of that without the title.  It's not a found-footage movie, it's got name actor

3.5/4 Starring: Michael Stahl-David, T.J. Miller, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Odette Annable, Mike Vogel Rated PG-13 for Violence, Terror and Disturbing Images "Cloverfield" was the first of its kind: a found-footage monster movie.  It wasn't the first film to present itself as being a documentary shot by the actors ("The Blair Witch Project," "The Last Broadcast" and others came first) nor was it the first movie about a monster attacking a major city (that category has too many entries to count, although it's clear that the film takes a lot of inspiration from "Godzilla").  Armed with a modest budget of $25 million and a brilliant marketing campaign, "Cloverfield" attempted something radical.  That it succeeded tremendously is only icing on the cake. Rob Hawkins (Stahl-David) is a young guy leaving for a VP job in Japan.  His friends, including Lily (Lucas) and Hud (Miller), are throwing him a surprise send-off party. 

2/4 Starring: Michael Caine, Steve Martin, Glenne Headley, Anton Rogers, Ian McDiarmid Rated PG (for Crude Humor and Mild Language...I guess) On the French Riviera, Lawrence Jamieson (Caine) is an ex-pat who is looking for money to fund the fight against the communists in his home country.  He's so successful that one wonders why they haven't won yet.  It's because Lawrence is a British con man whose only goal is to enrich himself.  On the train, he spies Freddy Benson (Martin), con a nice lady into a free dinner.  Lawrence doesn't like competition, so he tries to drive Freddy out.  Eventually, they decide on a bet: whoever can con $50,000 out of Janet Colgate (Headley), the American Soap Queen, gets to stay.  The other has to leave. It's an ideal set-up for a zany screwball comedy.  It even has the right director, Frank Oz, who is a master at this sort of thing.  Surprisingly, it misses the mark, and by quite a bit.  Pacing and energy are everything in this

2/4 Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Lee Pace Rated PG-13 for An Intense Scene of War Violence, Some Images of Carnage, and Brief Strong Language I will claim that Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest filmmakers that ever got behind a camera.  Three of his films, " Schindler's List ," " Jurassic Park ," and " Saving Private Ryan ," are instant classics, and others are just a notch below (or equal, depending on who you ask).  So when you put in a movie that proudly bears his name, it's not unfair to expect something brilliant.  But Spielberg has been in a bit of a rut lately.  The last great movie he made was the fourth "Indiana Jones" movie which came out in 2008.  Since not everyone agrees with me, I'll say that he hasn't made something truly special since " Munich ."  That was 11 years ago.  To be fair, nothing he has made since then has been awf

3/4 Starring: Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky, Suchitra Pillai-Malik Rated R for Some Bloody Violence If you're going to mess around with the dead or the supernatural, be sure to follow the rules.  Seriously, has anyone outside of the " Scream " franchise ever seen a horror film? Believe it or not, "The Other Side of the Door" is actually a good movie.  The story is too formulaic for it to be a great one, but the performances are top-notch, and director Johannes Roberts understands atmosphere and tension. Maria (Callies) is not coping well with the death of her son.  Her husband Michael (Sisto) and daughter Lucy (Rosinsky) have moved on, but she has not.  After attempting suicide to escape the pain, her maid Piki (Pillai-Malik) offers her an opportunity to temporarily bring back her son to say her goodbyes and make peace with him.  When she does, she makes the mistake of allowing him back into our world.  When this becomes apparent, s

3.5/4 Starring: Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Christopher Abbott, Billy Bob Thornton, Alfred Molina Rated R for Pervasive Language, Some Sexual Content, Drug Use and Violent War Images With a film produced by "SNL" heavies like Tina Fey and Lorne Michaels and starring Fey herself, you'd think that "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot" would be a lowest-common-denominator comedy straight out of one of the sketches on the overrated show.  You'd be wrong.  Although Fey's new starring vehicle has its share of laugh-out-loud moments, it takes things more seriously than you'd imagine. Kim Baker (Fey) is a copy writer at a news station who gets the chance of a lifetime: covering the war in Afghanistan as a reporter.  Of course, that means leaving her boyfriend behind, but he encourages her to go.  When she arrives, she finds herself out of her element and way in over her head.  But she's smart, savvy, and a quick learner.  She knows how to get sour

2.5/4 Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Alon Aboutboul, Waleed Zuaiter Rated R for Strong Violence and Language Throughout " Olympus Has Fallen " was not a very good movie, but it was an efficient one.  It made enough money to warrant a sequel.  Then again, that's not much of an accomplishment considering Hollywood's obsession with them.  It was a genre flick straight out of the 90's: a high-concept thriller that sold adrenaline at the expense of brainpower.  The problem was not that the story was unbelievable (that's to be expected), but that it was lame.  The new installment has a story that is simultaneously more ludicrous and more entertaining. After his adventure in the attempted White House takeover, Mike Banning (Butler) is still the favorite Secret Service agent of President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart).  However, with the incoming arrival a new baby (his wife is once again played by the enormously talented Radha Mitchell, alt

3.5/4 Starring (voices): Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, Nate Torrance, J.K. Simmons, Don Lake, Bonnie Hunt Rated PG for Some Thematic Elements, Rude Humor and Action Hollywood, for whatever reason, consistently underestimates the intelligence and imagination of their audience, especially in kids' movies.  How else do you explain something as jaw-droppingly stupid and inane as " Norm of the North ?"  Pixar and Hayao Miyazaki in particular have bucked the trend, releasing movies that recognize that the vast majority of kids who actually go to the movies are able to speak in full sentences.  "Zootopia" adds to that list.  The plot is sophisticated without being dense and is unafraid of eschewing formulas and easy payoffs in order to make a quick and easy buck.  The filmmakers have worked hard to come up with new material and explore the possibilities of its premise. The premise for "Zootopia" is gold.  What kid hasn'

1.5/4 Starring: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Casey Affleck, Kate Winslet, Woody Harrelson, Clifton Collins Jr., Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Gal Gadot, Teresa Palmer Rated R for Strong Violence and Language Throughout, Drug Use and Some Nudity Am I the only one who's getting tired of these "gritty" crime movies that substitute graphic violence and frenetic camerawork for good storytelling, macho posturing and angst for character development, and angry guys with a perpetual five-o'clock shadow for people worth caring about?  Don't get me wrong, I'm as happy as the next guy that Hollywood has resumed making action movies for adults, but come on guys!  Who thought that "Triple 9" was actually worth releasing into theaters? The set-up is promising, if more than a little derivative.  A group of corrupt cops, led by Michael (Ejiofor), who isn't a cop, are in debt with Irina Vlaslov (Winslet), a Russian Jewish mob boss.  Their last job had co

1.5/4 Starring: Michael Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, Natasha Henstridge, Justin Lazard, James Cromwell, George Dzundza, Mykelti Williamson Rated R for Strong Sexuality, Sci-Fi Violence/Gore and Language One could make the argument that " Species " was stupid fun.  Sure, it was cheesy, derivative and predictable.  But it contained some decent shocks and special effects.  It was at least watchable and passably entertaining; the kind of thing that will absorb you when you're having trouble sleeping at 3 am.  The same cannot be said about the sequel, which, in addition to being all of those things I listed, is dull, hackneyed and misogynist. After Sil was destroyed at the end of the first film, the U.S. Government cloned the remaining embryo, dubbing it Eve (Henstridge).  The thinking is to study it in order to prepare for a possible attack by the beings who sent them the data in the first place.  She's been genetically modified to make her more docile, although tha