Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Starring: Tom Hardy, Emily Browning, David Thewlis, Christopher Eccelston Rated R for Strong Violence, Language Throughout, Some Sexual and Drug Material With "Legend," it isn't a case of having a dearth of material.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  This movie is jam-packed with intriguing characters, plot elements, and violence.  It's just that Brian Helgeland doesn't know what to do with them all.  "Legend" has a lot of stuff going on, but no real drive.  Despite all this, it's never boring. Twin brothers Reggie (Hardy) and Ronnie Kray (Hardy) have it all: they're rich, connected, and well-liked.  Nightclub owners in London's West End, the pair is famous for hanging out with the rich and famous, and for their spread into other areas of London.  But there is a darker undercurrent to their public personas, much more than the "bad boy" image that gets them a lot of fame and fortune.  They're vicious gangsters, and while...

3.5/4 Rated R for Disturbing Violent Content and Some Language The case of the West Memphis Three is one of the worst miscarriages of justice in history.  Anyone who knows what happened to them is certain that that statement is not a mere opinion.  It is fact.  Three teenage boys were convicted of savagely murdering three eight-year-old boys despite the fact that the evidence pointed to the fact that none of them had anything to do with it.  Religious zeal, felonious police and prosecutorial misconduct, and the need for closure sent Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley to prison for eighteen years simply for being easy scapegoats. I wish I could tell you that this was the work of a great screenwriter, but alas, I cannot.  This is absolutely true.  It's an event so shameful that the Founding Fathers were surely turning in their graves for the better part of two decades.  Fortunately, a few people with pluck and determination started...

4/4 Starring (voices): Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach Rated PG for Thematic Elements Pixar Animation has been in a bit of a slump lately.  Their last great movie was " Brave ," although I realize that many people liked " Inside Out "a lot more than I did.  Lately, they've been putting out sequels with little inspiration (plus the misfire, " The Good Dinosaur ").  That may make executives and shareholders happy, but Pixar has always been at its best when its blazing new trails and trying new things.  Only when they're telling a story that they actually care about do they shine.  While none of their recent films was awful, the team's heart wasn't in them.  That's changed with their new film "Coco," which is easily their best film since "Brave." Miguel (Gonzalez) is a young boy with the heart of a musician.  Unfortunately, his family frowns on music, as his great grandmother I...

2/4 Starring: John Cusack, Jennifer Carpenter, Dallas Roberts, Mae Whitman, Gary Anthony Williams Rated R for Strong Violence including Disturbing Images, Language Throughout and Some Sexual Material Despite starring A-lister John Cusack and "Dexter" co-star Jennifer Carpenter, "The Factory" was released four years after it was shot and bypassed theaters altogether.  Not a good sign.  A movie as troubled as this usually signals a disaster, but that's not the case here.  Like " Shanghai ," which suffered a similar fate (and coincidentally, also starred John Cusack), "The Factory" is simply mediocre. A number of prostitutes have gone missing in Montreal over the past few years.  Detective Mike Fletcher (Cusack) is convinced that there's a serial killer at work.  It's not a popular theory since there have been no bodies of the missing women have not been found.  The only one who believes him is his energetic partner, Kelsey Walke...

2.5/4 Starring: Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Ciaran Hinds Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Action Everyone is trying to mimic Marvel Cinematic Universe: an unending series of interconnected films built on fan loyalty and the build-up to a final smackdown.  Legendary Pictures has MonsterVerse, where all the cinematic monsters will duke it out.  Universal tried to get the so-called Dark Universe going with this year's "The Mummy," but considering how badly that movie was received, it's doubtful it's going anywhere (despite best attempts to set the stage for a zillion characters).  Warner Bros. has DC, and while fans of Batman, Superman and the rest of the DC ensemble rival that of Marvel, the studio has yet to capture even a fraction of the MCU magic.  Considering that the critical and audience reception to this movie has been tepid, and it was DOA at the box office, I doubt ...

3/4 Starring: Jay Hernandez, Kirsten Dunst, Bruce Davison, Taryn Manning, Lucinda Jenney Rated PG-13 for Mature Thematic Material involving Teens, Drug/Alcohol Content, Sexuality, and Language "crazy/beautiful" has to be the tensest teen romance I've ever seen.  Check that, the tensest romance I've seen period .  While there have been plenty of movie romances with high stakes (" Titanic " and " Casablanca " come to mind), few are as real as "crazy/beautiful." Carlos Nunez (Hernandez) is a straight-arrow student from a poor part of town looking to better himself.  He gets up before six a.m. to take the bus to school the ritzy Pacific High School, works on the weekends and studies hard.  He wants to get into Annapolis and become a pilot, despite the fact that he's never been on a plane before.  One day at the beach with friends, he spies Nicole Oakley (Dunst) doing community service.  There's a spark of attraction, and when ...

4/4 Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, Chen Chang, Cheng Pei-Pei, Sihung Lung Rated PG-13 for Martial Arts Violence and Some Sexuality It could be reasonably argued that "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" fits better into the romance genre than martial arts extravaganza.  Oh sure, there are plenty of truly sensational action sequences, but, at its heart, this is a love story. Legendary warrior Li Mu Bai (Yun-Fat) wishes to leave his fighting days behind him.  To bring closure to his past life, he has decided to give his legendary sword, the Green Destiny, to his benefactor, Sir Te (Lung).  Meanwhile, the woman he loves (but has never admitted it), Shu Lien (Yeoh), has developed a friendship with Jiao Long (Zhang), a governor's daughter who is set to be married into wealthy family.  When the Green Destiny is stolen, these three people will find their futures tied together as they confront their pasts. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is li...

3.5/4 Starring: Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell, Kathryn Hahn, Christine Baranski, Cheryl Hines, Susan Sarandon, Jay Hernandez, Peter Gallagher, Justin Hartley Rated R for Crude Sexual Content and Language Throughout, and Some Drug Use Last year's " Bad Moms " was a breath of fresh comic air.  In an age where comedy is apparently watching a bunch of stand-up comedians riff incessantly on the same non-existent joke while trying to be as gross and offensive as possible, watching "Bad Moms" was like finding a lake of crystal clear water in the middle of the Sahara.  Unlike " Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates " or the pair of Seth Rogen monstrosities, the tone-deaf " Sausage Party " and the horror that was " Neighbors 2 ," "Bad Moms" had an actual script.  It was about actual characters and situations, and it had a comic point of view.  It was a big hit for those reasons, but mainly because it was absolutely hilarious.  Thus, a ...

4/4 Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino da Hora, Phellipe Haagensen, Seu Jorge, Alice Braga Rated R for Strong Brutal Violence, Sexuality, Drug Content and Language In what some may view as the height of arrogance or naivite, I once proclaimed "City of God" to be the best film ever made.  Now that I'm older and hopefully a bit wiser, I realize that such a claim is probably impossible to make about a single film.  That being said, Fernando Meirelles' 2002 masterpiece is definitely up there.  This is a fascinating thriller that is as disturbing as it is illuminating. The protagonist of this story, which is based on true events, is Rocket (Rodrigues).  He is our guide through this hell on Earth, introducing us to its inhabitants and clearly informing us how they relate to each other.  Unlike many other citizens of the slum known as the City of God, Rocket isn't a hood (his attempts to rob people end up with him getting advice from a friendly man,...

2/4 Starring: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Grant Roa, Cliff Curtis, Rachel House Rated PG-13 for Brief Language and a Momentary Drug Reference "Whale Rider" is a good little indie coming-of-age story provided you've never seen a little indie coming-of-age story.  Readers of my reviews are well aware that I have zero problem for formula pictures, provided that they are done well.  Unfortunately, that's not the case here.  With a poorly explained cultural foundation, a badly written lead character and a clunky story, it's a wonder why this movie became such a hit back in 2002.  I can think of a half dozen foreign and/or indie films that impressed me more.  By several orders of magnitude. In Maori tradition, it's the first born grandson of the leader who inherits the title, back to the original whale rider who arrived from Hawaiki.  But tragedy has struck: the grandson of the current leader, Koro (Paratene) has died along with...

2/4 Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Cate Blanchett, Tom Hiddleston, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Anthony Hopkins Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Action, and Brief Suggestive Material The Achilles' Heel of the MCU is what makes it so insanely popular: all the movies feel exactly the same.  It makes it easier for Marvel executives to sleep at night, since there's considerable reward with virtually no risk.  And obsessed fans will be happy since Marvel Studios takes enormous pains to fill the movies with in-jokes and Easter eggs.  Not to mention a Stan Lee cameo.  MCU fans will love this movie, since it (presumably) has everything they want in a MCU movie.  But for everyone who isn't a member of that group, you're not going to miss much. Thor (Hemsworth) has returned to Asgard after taking the crown of a nasty demon/god/some king of monster.  There, he finds that Loki (Hiddleston) is alive and well but that his fathe...

3.5/4 Starring: Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic, Jonathan Tucker, Raymond J. Barrie, Josh Lucas Rated R for Some Violence and Language, and for a Strong Sex Scene How far would you go to protect someone you love? The immediate response would be "to the ends of the Earth."  Or something like that.  But how far would you really go?  And are you willing to pay the price? That's the question Margaret Hall (Swinton) is forced to ask herself.  You see, her gay son Beau (Tucker) was in a car accident with a sleazebag named Darby Reese (Lucas).  She pays him a considerable sum to stay away from Beau, but that doesn't keep him away.  He and Beau fight and Darby ends up dead.  Margaret finds his body the next day, and makes a spur of the moment decision to cover it up.  She thinks that the whole sordid event is over and done with, until a man named Alek Spera (Visnjic) shows up with some damning evidence.  He tells her that unless she gives him ...

2/4 Starring: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, David Gulpilil, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke Rated PG for Emotional Thematic Elements There are few doubts in anyone's mind that the Stolen Generation is a black stain on Australia's history.  This policy, which lasted from the 1910's to, unbelievably, the 1970's, allowed the government to forcibly take "mixed-caste" children (who had one parent of an indigenous race) from their families and "integrate" them to European society.  Estimates place between one in ten and one in three children were subjected to this, and the effects are still being felt to this day. Clearly, this story needed to be told.  However shameful or painful this mark on the history of the land down under is, we must not forget it.  But as a snapshot of history, or even conventional filmmaking, "Rabbit-Proof Fence" comes up short...and by quite a bit.  What should have been a powerful and harrowing e...