Mike's Movie Tips

I've always thought that "political correctness" was a bad term.  I don't think the problem is that there are some subjects that shouldn't be talked about, but that few are doing it the right way.  And no one is listening to the other side. The battle over political correctness, or how to address difficult topics without offending anyone (or in many cases, as few people as possible), is not new.  To one extent or another, it's been the subject of debate every since we've learned to communicate.  People have different experiences and people have different points of view.  This is nothing new, and quite frankly, it should be celebrated. I've always found that there's always a right way to say something, no matter how ugly or controversial it is.  This only goes so far; if you're a racist, people are going to think you're racist no matter what you say.  But there's at least a way to put your words that encourages dialogue and expressi

1.5/4 Starring: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Farrah McKenzie, Katie Holmes, Brian Gleeson, Jack Quaid, Katherine Waterston, Hilary Swank Rated PG-13 for Language and Some Crude Comments "Logan Lucky" might have been more successful had it had a more consistent vision.  If a movie can't decide how it wants to view its story and characters, how can the audience?  I realize that I get obtuse and abstract when talking about movies in this way, and for that, dear reader, I apologize.  But this movie made me ask questions that should have been answered within the first five minutes.  Like, is this movie a heist film, or a parody of one?  Are we supposed to laugh at the characters' stupidity, or be impressed by their cleverness?  Surely a filmmaker as talented as Steven Soderbergh would know that a movie has to answer those questions as soon as possible or risk falling on its face.  Unfortunately, that's exactly what happens. The plot,

2/4 Starring: Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Brit Marling, Brendan Gleeson, Terrence Howard Rated R for Language No matter how long it takes or how well you cover your tracks, eventually the truth comes out.  Everyone pays the piper. Sharon Solarz (Sarandon) has just been arrested for a bank robbery she took part in decades ago.  It resulted in the death of a guard, and the guilt got to be too much for her.  But before she could turn herself in, she is arrested by the FBI.  A reporter for a struggling newspaper by the name of Ben Shepard (LaBeouf) smells a story beyond the surface details.  He eventually realizes that a local lawyer named Jim Grant (Redford) is actually one of the robbers, forcing Grant to go on the run.  Tailing after him are Shepard and a dogged FBI agent named Cornelius (Howard). "The Company You Keep" has a lot going for it.  A brilliant cast, a good premise and a gifted director behind the camera.  So what went wr

3.5/4 Starring: Paul Giamatti, Alex Shaffer. Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young Rated R for Language It's amazing, isn't it, how good writing and acting can turn something that would otherwise be ordinary into something truly special.  At its heart, "Win Win" is a sitcom.  But with such a strong cast and a screenplay that cares about its characters, it becomes a real winner.  I was surprised at how hard I laughed during this movie.  And how much I cared about the people in it. Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) is in a rut.  His law practice is barely making ends meet, the wrestling team he coaches is so bad that watching them is physically painful, the boiler at his office needs to be replaced and a dead tree in his front yard threatens to wreck his house.  He sees an opportunity for some relief with his client Leo Poplar (Young), a wealthy client who is losing his mental faculties.  By being his guardian and putting him in a nursing home, he gets to

3/4 Starring: Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Graham Greene, Gil Birmingham Rated R for Strong Violence, A Rape, Disturbing Images, and Language With "Wind River," it isn't a case of the Emperor having no clothes.  The movie is too good for that.  But there's no denying that while what is presented is well done, it never expands upon what is really just routine.  Apart from the setting and a few details, there is little that hasn't been done before in other, better movies.  This is not what you'd call a daring motion picture. Cory Lambert (Renner) works for US Fish and Wildlife, which is really just a fancy way of saying that he hunts animals that threaten the local livestock.  While tracking a mountain lion and her cubs that have killed a cattle, he finds the location of a dead body.  For legal reasons, that falls into the jurisdiction of the FBI, who send a passionate and energetic young agent named Jane Banner (Olsen) to find the killer.  With the h

1/4 Starring: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Gael Garcia Bernal, Maury Chaykin, Danny Glover Rated R for Violence including Sexual Assaults, Language and Sexuality/Nudity "Blindness" has one idea, and it keeps hammering it home for two hours: without the conventions of modern society, we turn into animalistic monsters who will lie, cheat and kill to satisfy our own needs and desires.  Not only is this idea as old as the hills, it's a very limiting one.  Which is why "Blindness" gets really old, really fast. A man (Yusuke Iseya) has suddenly been stricken blind.  He goes to a doctor (Ruffalo) to find out what happened and how to fix it, only for the good doctor to be afflicted too.  Soon it becomes an epidemic and those afflicted are quarantined.  That's when things go to hell. This is a thought experiment, not a medical thriller like "Contagion."  Director Fernando Meirelles wisely doesn't bother explaining how and why thi

2/4 Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cliff Curtis, Elias Koteas, Miguel Sandoval, Francesca Neri Rated R for Violence and Some Language "Collateral Damage" was one of many casualties of 9/11.  Originally scheduled to be released on October 5, 2001, Warner Bros. re-edited the film and delayed its release until February 2002, correctly believing that no one on Earth would want to see a movie about terrorism so soon after the worst terrorist attack in human history.  Even if it's a silly yarn starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.  This little factoid is the only thing worth noting about this bland action movie, since it has nothing else worth mentioning. Gordy Brewer (Schwarzenegger) is a fireman, husband and father.  After his wife and son are murdered in a terrorist attack perpetrated by a Columbian rebel known as "The Wolf" (Curtis), Gordy sets out on a mission of revenge.  It won't be easy, since just about everyone from a sleazy CIA operative named Brand

3.5/4 Starring: Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Burstyn, Christopher McDonald Not Rated (MPAA rating was surrendered after it was given an NC-17, probably for Graphic Drug Use, Strong Language and Sexuality and for Disturbing Images) Of "Requiem for a Dream," the late great Roger Ebert said that it "plays like a travelogue of hell."  I couldn't have put it better myself. Movies about addiction are fairly common place.  However, they usually don't get this visceral.  In order to portray the mindset of a quartet of addicts, director Darren Aronofsky made his film appear to be told by an addict.  It is energetic, it is raw and it is maddening.  This is by intent.  "Requiem for a Dream" is unflinching in its depiction of four people who lose everything in the desperate need of a fix. The film follows four people who are addicts of various substances.  Harry Goldfarb (Leto), his girlfriend Marion Silver (Connelly) and his b

0.5/4 Starring: Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson, Stephanie Sigman, Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto Rated R for Horror Violence and Terror "Annabelle: Creation" is shit.  I realize that that's not the most polite or professional way to say how awful it is, but sometimes being polite and professional just won't do.  This movie is so bad that it makes me rethink my review of " Split " earlier this year.  It's not as aggravating as the M. Night Shyamalan disaster (which somehow made enough money to warrant a sequel...don't ask me how), but its almost as bad. Twelve years ago, Bee (Samara Lee), the daughter of Samuel (LaPaglia) and Esther Mullins (Otto) was tragically cut short when she was hit by a car.  Now, they've turned their house into an orphanage for six other girls and a nun.  Things seem okay until Janice (Bateman) finds that Bee's room is unlocked (which she was expressly forbidden to go into) and finds a creepy doll hidden behind a

4/4 Starring: Algee Smith, Jacob Lattimore, Will Poulter, John Boyega, Jack Reynor, Hannah Murray, Ben O'Toole, Anthony Mackie Rated R for Strong Violence and Pervasive Language "Detroit" is absolutely riveting.  Like " Dunkirk " earlier this year, this movie pulls no punches.  It is violent.  It is intense.  It is utterly ferocious.  This movie grabs you and won't let go.  Its impact is difficult to shake. July, 1967.  The racial demographics of the U.S. have been changing since World War I, and now are just as divided.  White people have moved out to the suburbs while black people stay in the cities.  Racial tensions are on the rise, particularly in Detroit.  Not least of which is because of a mostly white police force.  It's a tinderbox waiting to explode, and the spark is lit when the police bust a party for a Vietnam vet.  The city erupts into riots and the National Guard is called in.  Meanwhile, five friends, hoping to make it big as Motow

1/4 Starring: Allison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Kate Micucci, Dave Franco, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon Rated R for Graphic Nudity, Sexual Content and Language I'm about to write off every movie that is mostly or entirely improvised.  They're all awful.  True, there are some actors and filmmakers who do well with improvisation, like Bill Murray, Christopher Guest and Mike Leigh.  But they had a method to their madness.  Bill Murray rewrites existing material.  Christopher Guests starts with a concept and shoots hours and hours of footage and edits it all together in the end.  Mike Leigh does the same thing, only he has his cast go through extensive preparation including actors' workshops and intense rehearsals.  But I guess no one wants to take that amount of time and effort these days.  They just pitch a concept, the studios cast bankable stars, and everyone jumps in front of the camera and shoots their mouth off.  To expect this will result in something that works in any

3.5/4 Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Andy Garcia, Robin Williams, Wayne Knight Rated R for Language and Violence Sleight-of-hand is essential for a thriller to work.  What I mean is that the director must show us something important, but in such a way that we don't recognize it until it becomes important later.  Or that we don't see the twists coming.  It's tough to pull off, but when it happens, it's worth mentioning.  "Dead Again" contains two twists that blindsided me.  Although I freely admit that I'm bad at guessing whodunits in movies, this isn't what I'm talking about. In 1949, classical pianist Margaret Strauss (Thompson) was murdered by her husband Roman (Branagh), a composer and conductor from Germany.  Six months later, he was executed for his crimes.  This information is splashed on the screen in newspaper headlines during the opening credits, so this isn't a spoiler. Cut to present day.  Private d

2.5/4 Starring: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Kimberly Scott, Leo Burmester, Todd Graff Rated PG-13 for Language and Some Scenes of Action "The Abyss" is a departure for James Cameron.  While he is famous for romance (" Titanic ") and science fiction (everything else...save for " True Lies "), "The Abyss" is more philosophical and low-key than his other pictures.  All of his films have included a lot of action, to some degree, and while there is some here, it's more restrained.  Cameron is really telling a love story here, albeit one with mixed success. A U.S. nuclear submarine has gone down in the middle of the ocean after reporting an impossibly fast moving ship.  The US thinks that it's the Soviet Union playing hardball, so they increase their defenses.  They hire an oil rig led by Bud Brigman (Harris) to find out what happened and if there are any survivors.  To aid them, a team of Navy SEALS led by a

3/4 Starring: Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Mike Colter, Kate Walsh, Larenz Tate, Deborah Ayorinde Rated R for Crude and Sexual Content Throughout, Pervasive Language, Brief Graphic Nudity and Drug Material " Bridesmaids " opened the door for women in raunchy romantic comedies.  It broke through the cultural mainstay where women were expected to be either Catherine Trammell or June Cleaver.  That's a good thing, since women have long since proved that they can be just as much at home in rude, crude and vulgar movies as the men.  And while "Girls Trip" doesn't break any new ground, it's a hell of a lot funnier than anything Seth Rogen and the other Frat Packers have done in years. Ryan Pierce (Hall) is living the dream.  She's married to a wonderful guy, an ex-baseball player named Stuart (Colter), and has become the self-help queen of the US.  She's agreed to speak at the Essence Expo in New Orleans, and

2.5/4 Starring (voices): Kevin Conroy, Dana Delaney, Mark Hamill, Hart Boechner, Stacey Keach Rated PG for Animated Violence "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm" is somewhat of a cult classic, and after seeing a rave review by Siskel and Ebert, I was intrigued.  I'm not a fan of superhero movies, and this one is about as good as the most mediocre entries in the MCU and Justice League canons.  It's not awful, but it's not all that great either. A mysterious figure is killing mob bosses.  Batman, aka Bruce Wayne (Conroy) is on the case.  Meanwhile, an old flame by the name of Andrea Beaumont (Delaney) is back in town to visit her new boyfriend, the sniveling city councilman Arthur Reeves (Boechner), who blames Batman for the killings. The problem is not the story, which deals with violence, guilt, and how the sins of the past can literally come back to haunt someone.  The problem is that it's poorly told.  Warner Bros. commissioned it based on the success of

I first realized I was gay at the end of my junior year of high school.  I came out to my family, one by one, that summer.  I came out to friends in college during my senior year.  I grew comfortable with it after college.  Now, I'm completely comfortable with it, so believe me when I say this: being gay SUCKS. There are so many articles and theories and whatnot regarding homosexuality that a person could read them all in a lifetime and still not have read half of them.  One that was circulated a lot around the gay community was called "The Epidemic of Gay Loneliness" by Michael Hobbes .  It examined the stressors of being a gay man and gave some theories.  The picture it painted was, to put it lightly, bleak.  It contained the usual suspects of such articles: constant cries of sin and what not by religious fundamentalists like Kim Davis and James Dobson, minority stress, the fact that social networking apps have been as much a hindrance to a guy's self-esteem as th

3/4 Starring: Dominic Cooper, Ludivine Sagnier, Raad Rawi, Phillip Qast Rated R for Strong Brutal Bloody Violence and Torture, Sexual Content, Graphic Nudity, Drug Use, and Pervasive Language Latif Yahia has everything.  Luxury clothes, classic cars, beautiful women, luxurious homes, and more money than he can possibly spend.  Normally for someone who was suddenly granted access to this lifestyle it would be a dream come true.  For Latif, it's a nightmare.  Everyone has to pay the price, and for Latif, it's being the body double of Uday Hussein.  Considering this means living under the constant threat of death (for him and his family) and watching someone commit atrocities at a whim, it's not a good trade-off.  But that's just me. Actually, Latif (Cooper) wants no part of it either.  Not least of which because it would mean completely abandoning his former life.  He would exist only as Latif's double; ostensibly a bodyguard and bro to the son of the equally