Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Not Rated (probably PG-13 for Brief Language) Anyone wondering why Congress is seemingly caught in an impenetrable deadlock and why last year's presidential election resembled Jerry Springer need only look at the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision.  In essence, it rolled back nearly a century of campaign finance law, and allowed both corporations and unions to donated unlimited amounts of money to politicians, albeit indirectly.  Now, the Koch Brothers, for example, can spend $900 million dollars on elections, and can hide the fact that they're doing it. If that doesn't chill you to the bone, well, watch this documentary to see the devastation it caused.  Unions are crippled, people's benefits are vanishing, and the idea of a corporatocracy is becoming a reality. "Citizen Koch," a clever, if unsubtle, word play on "Citizen Kane" and the Koch Brothers, seeks to do two things: show how corporate money has hijacked our government ...

As bad as the state of movies these days is (and it's pretty bad), it's nice to know that Hollywood is still able to make good movies.  So while movies like "Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice" and whatever Marvel movie was released last year are cynical cash grabs, movies like the criminally overlooked " Eye in the Sky " or "Manchester by the Sea" are still getting made.  And that's a good thing for people like me, who view movies as something other than amusement park rides or porn for Joss Whedon. This year's Oscar line-up is surprisingly strong.  There are some great movies nominated and some strong performers too.  There are few, if any, categories where I'm hoping against hope that a nominated movie doesn't win (I suppose it helps that Wes Anderson didn't release anything this year and that the Academy apparently sees Seth Rogen for who he is). As usual, I'll list the nominees, then go ahead with my predictions an...

3/4 Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Ken Watanabe, Naomi Watts Rated PG-13 for Mature Thematic Material, Some Disturbing Images and Brief Strong Language Judging by the critical reception (it has a measly score of 23 on Metacritic) and the fact that even with a trio of big names and a independent film maverick at the helm, it was barely visible upon release, I was expecting a train wreck.  One on par with " Paranoid Park ."  Fortunately, this was not the case.  It has its problems, but on the whole, I liked it.  In fact, I might argue that I will probably like it more when I see it again. Arthur Brennan (McConaughey) has bought a one-way ticket to Japan.  His intention is to go to Aokigahara Forest (aka "Suicide Forest"), down a bottle of pills and leave this earthly realm.  But just as he's about to do the deed, he spies a desperate man walking through the forest.  Taking pity on him, Arthur resolves to help this man named Takumi Nakamura (Watan...

2.5/4 Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Donnie Wahlberg, Michael Fairman, Amber Valetta, Joan Heney, Bob Gunton, Judith Roberts, Laura Regan The version being reviewed is unrated.  For the record, the theatrical cut is rated R for Horror Violence and Images "Dead Silence" has a pretty nifty idea for a horror flick: a ventriloquist as a villain.  However, it stumbles in the execution.  The acting is subpar and the screenplay could have used another run through the computer.  Perhaps the rumored studio meddling was to blame.  Still, it's far from a disaster. Jamie Ashen (Kwanten) has just gone out to pick up some Chinese takeout.  His wife Lisa (Regan) ordered it while he was trying to fix the sink, which was a futile endeavor, apparently.  When he returns, he finds her savagely murdered.  The local detective, a macho smart-ass by the name of Lipton (Wahlberg) thinks he's the one who did the deed.  But Jamie thinks otherwise.  He and Lisa re...

1/'4 Starring: Matt Damon, Tian Jing, Pedro Pascal, Andy Lau, Willem Dafoe Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Fantasy Action Violence I've been playing some of my favorite video games again lately, such as the "Uncharted" games.  This is my fourth time going through the whole story again, but I return to them fondly because I enjoy the characters and the storytelling.  I wonder why movies can't do the same thing.  They used to, but now they're just soul-sucking, noisy cash grabs.  For a while I thought that it was just them trying to appeal to foreign audiences or the filmgoer that doesn't want to use their brain, or to sell a spectacle.  Now, I realize that it's simply contempt for the audience.  They're lazy and think that the audience is so hard up for entertainment value that they'll watch anything.  Or maybe they're still bearing a grudge after that writers strike a few years ago.  I don't know, but I do know that unless Hollywood ...

1.5/4 Rated PG for Thematic Material and Images "Boy and the World" is a "Fantasia" short stretched out to nearly 90 minutes.  Although the art style is adventurous and it looks great, there's nowhere near enough material for a feature length film.  Even one as short as this. The film is light on plot: a boy's father doesn't come home from work so he goes searching for him and undergoes a series of surreal adventures.  It's so light because writer/director Ale Abreu is using this as a jumping off point to illustrate the dangers of out-of-control capitalism, industry and the plight of workers. I have no problem with a filmmaker using film to make political points or metaphors.  What I do have a problem with is the fact that the end result is so boring.  In addition to basically being a checklist of just about every left-leaning cause, the points are obvious, trite, and with no interesting characters or plot to guide us through it, it comes acr...

4/4 Starring (voices): Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin, Robin Williams, Jonathan Freeman, Gilbert Gottfried, Douglas Seele Rated G I remember the first time I saw this movie in theaters.  It was at the AMC Galleria in 1992.  I remember going down the darkened hallway with my family, settling down in my seat.  The little man made of film flew down the screen on a film reel and introduced AMC.  Then the movie started.  It was an amazing experience, and the sound and images enveloped me.  Being able to hear the echoes in wide spaces or deep bass in close-up really made the film come alive for me.  Now, all these years later, the film still holds up surprisingly well. Aladdin (Weinger) is a young thief living in Agrabah.  With his pet monkey, he gets by on stealing food, but when he dreams of living in the castle, where he would be wealthy and have no problems at all.  At the same time, Princess Jasmine (Larkin) is feeling the pressures of pa...

3/4 Starring: Jay Gillespie, Matt Carey, Dylan Edrington, Marla Malcolm, Robert Englund, Lin Shaye, Brian Gross, Gina Marie Heekin, Mushond Lee, Bianca Smith Rated R for Strong Horror Violence and Gruesome Images, Sexuality/Nudity and Language One of my best friends is from the South.  Whenever we get together, we're usually trying to out-insult each other (he wins every time, except for that one time...).  Occasionally, I make fun of him for being a redneck (which he's not).  Still, I think he'd get a kick out of this movie.  Or he might be insulted.  I'm not sure, but my guess is that he will laugh as hard as I did. "2001 Maniacs," a remake of a 1964 horror movie, is hilarious.  Let's get that right out there.  It's so campy that it had to be intentional.  Of course, since the acting is either wooden or over-the-top, the shot selection unsophisticated and the special effects obviously cheesy, that would be "intentionally unintentional....

1/4 Starring: Ryo Ishibashi, Eihi Shiina, Jun Kunimura, Tetsu Sawaki The version being reviewed is unrated. For the record, the theatrical cut is rated R for Violence/Torture and Sexuality For those of you who think that critics hate all the movies in the multiplex and only like those snooty, abstract neo-whatever foreign films, well, you're wrong.  There are movies in both categories that are excellent (take for example " Avatar " and " Farewell, My Concubine ." Or " The Dark Knight ," for those readers who are convinced that I have some sort of bias against superhero movies by nature (I don't.  Just the bad ones). By the same token, there are movies in both categories that are unmitigated crap.  " Split " and "Audition" belong in there, although I'm forced to admit that the Japanese cult horror flick is less painful to sit through.  Or should I say, slightly less painful. After his wife died seven years ago, Shigeh...

3/4 Starring: Michael Douglas, Sean Bean, Brittany Murphy, Famke Janssen, Jennifer Esposito, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Oliver Platt Rated R for Violence, Including Some Gruesome Images, and Language It's so nice to see a thriller that trusts its story and its characters to get the job done.  Too often in thrillers we get lazy or inexperienced filmmakers who try to get the attention of the ADD crowd by overflowing the story with flash cuts or MTV-like special effects.  It's meant to keep the audience's attention when in reality it distances them. Brilliant psychiatrist Dr. Nathan Conrad (Douglas) is on his way home to make preparations for Thanksgiving with his Aggie (Janssen), who broke her leg in a skiing accident, and adorable daughter Jessie (Bartusiak) when he gets a 911 from a colleague.  Dr. Louis Sachs (Platt) has just received a difficult patient and needs Nathan's help.  Her name is Elizabeth Burrows (Murphy), whose chart is a laundry list of ...

2/4 Starring (voices): Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Zach Galifianakis Rated PG for Rude Humor and Some Action When " The Lego Movie " came out three years ago, I was as incredulous as the next guy.  A movie about Lego building blocks?  I mean, I know Hollywood has a phobia of risk and an obsessive love of "brand names," but this is ridiculous.  Also like everyone else, I was blown away by the result.  It was a clever, inventive and hilarious movie that was bursting with energy and creativity.  But that manic zeal of ideas and gags that tumbled all over themselves is missing in this spin-off.  Instead, we have an unending list of superhero cameos and nerd culture shout outs.  It may please the Comic Con cosplayers and Joss Whedon, but everyone else will see it for what it is: a sequel from when sequel meant a movie rushed to theaters to capitalize on its predecessor's success. Batman (Arnett) is the most self-absorbe...

2/4 Starring: Angelina Jolie, Live Schrieber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski The version being reviewed is unrated.  For the record, the theatrical cut is rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action The idea behind "Salt" is better as a concept than a reality.  Is the woman we are told to sympathize with a hero or a villain?  It sounds great in theory, but there's a problem: we in the audience don't know who to sympathize with.  There's no one on screen to form a bond with, because everyone is so mysterious that we aren't sure who they really are.  Not only does this highlight the seams of the plot (of which there are a few), it makes feel resentful at the film for jerking us around. CIA agent Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is on her way out the door to celebrate her anniversary with her husband when a Russian spy walks in prepared to spill his guts.  His name is Orlov (Olbrychski).  According to Orlov, the Soviet Union raised a signific...

2.5/4 Starring (voices): Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Kelsey Grammar, Christopher Lloyd, Angela Lansbury Rated G The idea of turning the murder of the Romanov family into an animated movie for kids would try the talents of even Steven Spielberg.  I guess I can say that Don Bluth does about as good of a job as anyone could.  But by staying so far away from any weighty material in favor of light humor and slapstick, he robs it of much of the potential drama. Let's get the obvious out of the way: Anastasia did not survive the attack by the Bolsheviks.  While more than a few women (most famously Anna Anderson) have claimed to be her, DNA tests proved that she died with her family.  Let me also say that I have no problem with a movie claiming otherwise.  After all, some of the best biopics have been born from fudging the truth.  Or outright making it up.  "Braveheart" is one such example, and there are many others.  But even with that leeway, Don Blu...

2/4 Starring: Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe, Johnny Galecki, Vincent D'Onofrio, Aimee Teegarden Rated PG-13 for Violence/Terror, Thematic Elements, Some Sexuality and Brief Drug Material When a movie is a sequel/reboot/something to a remake that hasn't been relevant in the last decade, was released in January with an advertising campaign that could charitably be called limited and has been withheld from critics, it's usually a bad sign.  A very bad sign.  I walked into this movie expecting a trainwreck; my silver lining was the faint hope that at least it couldn't be as bad as " Split ."  Yeah, I was not excited to see this movie.  Fortunately I was pleasantly surprised. "Rings" isn't a good movie, but it's nowhere near as bad as I expected.  There are problems (some of which are serious), and I can't recommend watching it except as a relief for boredom when it's streaming on Netflix, but it's not terrible.  For a January releas...

2.5/4 Starring: Woody Allen, Helen Hunt, Dan Aykroyd, Charlize Theron, David Ogden Stiers Rated PG-13 for Some Sexual Content As is the case with many a misfire, it's easy to see what "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion" is trying to be.  Parodying the Bogart-esque film noir movies is a difficult task, but I could see it being a fun time at the movies.  In fact, there are times when Allen shows us flashes of what it could have been.  But the whole thing never really comes together.  It's fitfully amusing and rarely dull, but it's not a successful movie. CW Briggs (Allen) is a hardboiled private dick for the North West insurance firm.  He's hugely successful with his lowlife contacts and ability to think like a criminal.  However, his boss Chris Magruder (Aykroyd) has brought in an efficiency expert named Betty Ann Fitzgerald (Hunt) to take the office into the modern times (the film is set in 1940).  For CW, it's hate at first sight, and the feeling...

4/4 Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Jason London, Emily Warfield, Sam Waterston, Tess Harper Rated PG-13 (probably for Sensuality, Brief Nudity and Language, and for a Disturbing Image) Relationships are complicated.  Especially when you're fourteen.  That's when hormones start running amok and you're incredibly naïve in the treacherous waters of love.  What makes "The Man in the Moon" so special is that it acknowledges this.  Even the better romances like " Titanic " or more appropriately, " The Notebook ," streamline it from the "meet cute" to the "happily ever after."  Not here.  Romance is portrayed as it really is: where mixed messages, uncertainty and betrayals cause as much pain as love. Dani (Witherspoon) is the precocious daughter of two farmers, stern Matthew (Waterston) and heavily pregnant Abigail (Harper).  She is very close to her older sister Maureen (Warfield), with whom she shares chores and taking care...

2/4 Starring: Leon, Doug E. Doug, John Candy, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Yoba, Peter Outerbridge, Raymond J. Barry Rated PG (for Mild Language and a Fight) Critics often whine about formula pictures.  I'm not among them.  If the other aspects of the film, such as acting and directing, are up to par, knowing the beats of the film can be acceptable, and at times, even an asset.  " Blood Diamond ," which I watched again a few days ago, is a prime example (although knowing the adventure movie formula didn't add anything to the film, certainly not in the way Edward Zwick's earlier film, " The Last Samurai ," did).  Of course, if the screenplay and the direction are lacking, you can end up with a movie like "Cool Runnings," which in addition to being predictable at every single moment, is written and directed at the level of a TV sitcom.  That's something I will not defend. Derice Bannock (Leon) is the fastest man in Jamaica.  Or at least tha...

0.5/4 Starring: James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, Betty Buckley Rated PG-13 for Disturbing Thematic Content and Behavior, Violence and Some Language In 1999, M. Night Shyamalan released "The Sixth Sense," a thriller that no one saw coming (pun intended).  It was a massive hit, earning six Oscar nominations and earned nearly $700 million at the box office.  Personally, I didn't think it was all that great; apart from a few decent shocks and one hell of a twist ending, there wasn't much to distinguish it from other supernatural thrillers.  He followed it up the next year with "Unbreakable," which I didn't see, and then "Signs," another massive hit.  Soon he became a known name (rare for a director) and was called the "new Alfred Hitchcock."  Then came "The Village."  While not universally derided, it signaled a slump, but when "Lady in the Water" bombed two years later, Shyamalan...

2/4 Starring: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Ziyi Zhang Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Stylized Martial Arts Violence, and Some Sexuality The success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was unprecedented.  I was old enough to remember how massive of a hit it was.  Everyone was talking about it.  For a film to do that is rare.  Rarer still if it's an independent film not bankrolled by a major studio.  But a foreign film?  Unheard of.  It was a heavy hitter at Oscar time including Best Picture (which it should have won) and a massive financial success in the U.S.  But when a movie comes out that breaks new ground and becomes a massive hit, inferior knock-offs inevitably follow.  Such was the case here; a re-release of "Iron Monkey" (directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, who choreographed the action scenes in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers" (the latter two being directed by Zhang Yimou.  Yimou's film...