Mike's Movie Tips

4/4 Rated R for Disturbing War Images This year was the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended The Great War, thought at the time to be The War to End All Wars.  Of course, that never happened, but there you have it.  Peter Jackson, the now legendary director with a trio of Oscars under his belt and self-proclaimed World War I buff, was tasked to keep the memory of the war alive.  With his film "They Shall Not Grow Old," he has accomplished his task.  Of all the movies about that four year conflict that I have seen, none has so enraptured me. "They Shall Not Grow Old" is simultaneously fascinating, sobering and astonishing.  Fascinating because, with the wealth of footage and interviews supplied to him, Jackson has given us a first-hand look at the life of a grunt in the trenches.  Sobering because he spares us nothing; Jackson shows the good, the bad and the ugly of being an infantryman in Europe between 1914 and 1918.  And it's astonishing because

3/4 Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Kidman Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Action, and for Some Language By all accounts I should be incredibly enthusiastic about "Aquaman."  It looks great, James Wan is a great director, the action is fun, and it isn't afraid to draw outside the lines (as far as any film with a $160 million price tag will allow).  Had it been released 10 years ago, I would have been.  But the film suffers from awful 3D and despite top talent, can't overcome what has been plaguing summers at the multiplex for the past 10 years: superhero fatigue.  If James Wan can't breathe new life into a genre, it's time to retire it. Arthur Curry (Momoa) is secretly moonlighting as a superhero in his free time.  His identity is an open secret, because everyone is talking about the "fish man" who can breathe underwater, swim really fast, and is super strong.  You se

3/4 Starring: Martin Short, Kurt Russell, Mary Kay Place, Benjamin Salisbury, Meadow Sisto Rated PG-13 for Elements of Sensuality, and for Some Language "Captain Ron" belongs on a list of movies that you see in your aunt's dusty VHS collection but despite having a big name cast, you've never heard of it.  Or you find it in a discount DVD bin, which is what I did.  The point is that this movie silly fun while it lasts, but it's no surprise why it ended up with such an unenviable fate. Mild mannered office drone Martin Harvey (Short) is about to get a surprise that he so richly deserves.  A relative (an uncle, if memory serves) recently died, leaving him in possession of a yacht once owned by Clark Gable.  Its worth a fortune, so he plans to sail it from Ste. Pomme de Terre (his wife correctly translates that to 'potato') to Miami with his family and sell it for big bucks.  When they get there, it turns out that it's a bit of a fixer-upper.  To h

3.5/4 Starring: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Sci-Fi Action Violence, Bloody Images, Some Suggestive Material, Partial Nudity and Langauge "Ready Player One" is a haven for geeks and other pop culture nerds.  It knows fandom and rather seeing it as a cynical cash grab like Marvel Studios, it honors it.  This is a celebration of the loving impulse that has put superheroes, video games and other media into the fabric of human history. Welcome to the OASIS.  It's a virtual reality simulator where the only limits are your imagination.  Want to walk around looking like Freddy Krueger ?  You can do that.  Or do you want to be a badass ninja that can swing swords and hurl magic at people in massive battles?  You can do that too.  The OASIS is so popular that it has overtaken just about every part of life.  And it's all the brainchild of James Halliday (Rylance), a genius de

2/4 Starring (voices): John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Taraji P. Henson, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk Rated PG for Some Action and Rude Humor A good sequel takes the characters and concepts from the first one and launches them into a new direction.  Consider "Batman Begins," where Bruce Wayne discovers who he is and what he stands for only to find that in " The Dark Knight ," his every value is brutally challenged by a nihilistic psychopath.  A bad sequel merely retreads old material in new clothing, with a few Easter eggs and call backs for the fans.  This includes most superhero movies these days, which is one of the many reasons why each day I pray that the genre will finally die. "Ralph Breaks the Internet," the sequel to 2012's " Wreck-It Ralph ," belongs in the latter category.  Yeah, the original was clever and fun, and it had plenty of charm.  But it didn't need a sequel, as "Ralph Breaks the Inte

3/4 Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier, John Magaro, Pilou Asbaek, Iain De Caestecker, Dominic Applewhite Rated R for Strong Bloody Violence, Disturbing Images, Language, and Brief Sexual Content There's a nice 95 minute genre flick buried inside "Overlord."  It has other problems, such as an inconsistent tone and a tendency to take itself too seriously at times.   But its length is its biggest Achilles' heel.  Shave ten minutes or so off this horror flick and you'd have a nice little genre flick.  Okay, maybe not so nice, but you get my drift. Boyce (Adepo) is a simple guy from Louisiana who has found himself right in the middle of World War II.  In preparation for the D-Day landing, he and his squad are tasked with blowing up a radio tower in a church.  But his plane is shot down, and when he gets to the ground, he finds that the only ones left are the wisecracking jerk Tibbet (Magaro), the shy photographer Chase (De Caestecker) and

2.5/4 Rated PG-13 for Brief Strong Language In 2015, mountain climber/filmmaker Jimmy Chin and his wife Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi released " Meru ," which is easily the most beautiful, fascinating and harrowing documentary about climbing that I've ever seen.  I strongly suggest that you check it out.  I thought it was of a such excellence that I fudged my parameters by about four months so I could include it on my Top 10 list of 2016 (had I not been such a procrastinator, I would have been able to include it on my Top 10 list of 2015, but I digress).  So when I found out, quite by accident, that Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi were coming out with a new documentary about climbing, I was excited. Why did I not like this movie as much?  I'm not quite sure.  The film is professionally made.  The suspense remains high (at times reaching such levels that I had to turn away) and it's never boring.  Maybe it's because the lead individual isn't especially endearing

3/4 Starring: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Mozhan Marno, Navid Negahban, Ali Pourtash, David Diaan, Parviz Sayyad Rated R for A Disturbing Sequences of Cruel and Brutal Violence, and Brief Strong Language I've taken a great pride in not letting my political or moral views cloud my judgement when reviewing films.  After all, a movie is the artist's statement and should be viewed on those terms, not my own.  So while I disagreed with the point of view of the Christian film " War Room ," it did accomplish what it set out to do and was on some level entertaining (this does not include the scene where the lead character literally casts Satan from her house...I'm sorry, but my conscientiousness does not extend that far).  By the same token, I shared the same viewpoints as Ale Abreu, but I elected not to recommend his experimental animated film " Boy and the World " because it was unbearably dull. Why the disclaimer?  Because I have very serious reservations abo

2.5/4 Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Andi Matichak, Judy Greer, Haluk Bilginer, Will Patton Rated R for Horror Violence and Bloody Images, Language, Brief Drug Use and Nudity Forty years ago, a little film called " Halloween " defined an entire genre.  By taking inspiration from "Psycho" and molding it into a new form, it gave birth to the slasher genre.  While undeniably scary and crafted with skill, it was also overrated.  The majority of the film felt like set up; by the time all the pieces were set, it was the final showdown with Laurie Strode and Michael Myers.  Despite the passage of time and attempt by shock rocker turned filmmaker Rob Zombie to reboot it, Michael never managed to truly die.  Now in 2018, Michael has come out of dormancy to do his best to make Haddonfield, Illinois into the largest graveyard and turn his special victim, Laurie Strode, into fish food. Laurie (Curtis) is actually ready and waiting for Michael.  Having lived in such fear af

3/4 Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Toni Collette, Sam Trammell, Tracy Letts, Pawel Szajda Rated R for Language Throughout The problem with being a teen idol is that it's fleeting.  As soon as your franchise is over or you get pimples, your career is doomed to a TV spot if your lucky and reality TV if you're desperate.  From the moment he got the once-in-a-lifetime role of The Boy Who Lived, Daniel Radcliffe has been actively carving out a career outside playing Harry Potter.  From the TV movie "My Boy Jack" and "December Boys," which I don't know if anyone saw, to his controversial stage appearance in "Eqqus" (opposite his "Harry Potter" co-star Richard Griffiths, who if memory serves defiantly defended his decision to appear nude on stage), it's hard to imagine that Radcliffe took a year off filming to be a normal teenager. Even after "Harry Potter" franchise wrapped up in 2011, Radcliffe has stayed busy.  While he

I can safely say that there is no movie that has occupied my thoughts as much as Martin Scorcese's "Silence."  I've thought about it every day since I saw it on January 18th, 2017.  It's hard to believe at first, but not so much when I think about it since Martin Scorcese and I approach this with similar mindsets.  We were both Christians growing up (he was Catholic while I was Episcopalian) but are now agnostics.  And while faith has been a little testy for my once I admitted to myself that I was gay, it was a devastating personal tragedy two and a half years ago that put me firmly in the "agnostic" category.  I won't go into detail, but those who know me will know what I'm referring to.  That said, please don't ask. "Silence" is a curious film.  It certainly isn't your standard cinema fare, with a routine plot, stock characters, and so on.  In fact, for the most part such things are actually irrelevant.  This is a movie abou

2.5/4 Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Kyle Chandler, Jason Clarke, Ciaran Hinds Rated PG-13 for Some Thematic Content involving Peril, and Brief Strong Language The Space Race always fascinates, and probably will continue to do so, because it speaks to the explorer in all of us.  There is a certain part of every human being that seeks to push boundaries, to answer the unknown, and to go where others have not.  When a movie taps into this, such as " The Right Stuff " or " Interstellar ," the results can be captivating.  However, much as he tries, Damien Chazelle can't generate the same thrill of discovery that those other films did. On paper, "First Man" is about Neil Armstrong's journey to becoming the first man to step on the moon.  However, as a result of trying to do too much and a poorly thought out screenplay, "First Man" is a muddled, confusing mess.  There's Neil, of course, well played by the always interesting Rya

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.  -Neil Armstrong For a while now, there has been a controversy growing about "First Man," the new biopic of Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon.  Specifically, the part about the fact that the American flag has been left out.  A few weeks ago, my dad sent me an article from Douglas McKinnon , who wrote an article blasting this decision with such claims as that it was insulting to Armstrong, that it was Hollywood liberalism going out of control, and so on.  Oh boy... The first criticism is Gosling's remark that Neil Armstrong didn't view himself as an "American hero."  A poor choice of words opened him up to a lot of criticism, but look at what he was referring to.  Both Gosling and McKinnon refer to Armstrong being very humble and uncomfortable with fame or the spotlight.  Gosling explained that there were 400,000 people that made that mission possible and that Armstrong didn't want to take th

0/4 Starring: Jeffrey Wright, James Badge Dale, Alexander Skarsgaard, Riley Keough Not Rated (Probable R for Strong Brutal Violence, Language, Some Sexuality and Nudity, and Brief Drug Content) I hated this movie.  I hated every single stupid, pretentious, nonsensical line and plot development.  I hated the unpleasant violence, the incoherent plot and everything else about this piece of shit that dares to call itself a movie.  This is a disgusting and reprehensible piece of filth, all the more so because it apparently has aspirations of being something more profound when in reality its just an ego trip for director Jeremy Sauliner.  One that makes Seth Rogen's movies look restrained. In a small Alaskan town, three children have gone missing.  Presumably they have been taken by wolves.  Medora Sloane (Keough), whose son Bailey (Beckam Crawford), is one of the missing children, writes to famed wolf hunter Russell Core (Wright) for help.  When he gets there, he realizes that t

2.5/4 Starring: Kevin Hart, Tiffany Haddish, Taran Killam, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Ben Schwartz Rated PG-13 for Crude and Sexual Content Throughout, Language, Some Drug References and Violence "Night School" is an inconsistent but at times uproarious comedy.  When it works, the laughs are explosive.  But the stuff in-between them is straight out of a limp sitcom or an after school special.  The half dozen credited screenwriters could be the cause of the uneven nature of the film, since its leads, Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish, are always on their game regardless of what the film is trying to do. After panicking during a final exam, Teddy Walker (Hart) calls it quits.  Years later, he's defied the odds to have the life that anyone would drool over.  He's engaged to the wealthy bombshell Lisa (Echikunwoke), has plenty of money, and has just been handed the keys to the BBQ store where he is a master salesman.  But with every rise, there is certain to be a fall.  Wh

2/4 Starring: Khomotso Manyaka, Harriet Lenabe, Lerato Mvelase, Keaobaka Makanyane, Aubrey Poolo Rated PG-13 for Mature Thematic Material and Some Sexual Content The fault of "Life, Above All" is not that it doesn't have anything new to bring to the table.  Quite the contrary, in fact.  Rather, it's that director Oliver Schmitz doesn't find a way to make them gel.  Or make each element feel complete.  "Life, Above All" feels muddled and at times incoherent. Chanda (Manyaka) is struggling.  Her mother Lillian (Mvelase) is inconsolable after the death of her infant daughter, her father Jonah (Poolo) is only around when someone finds him and brings him home (which is a good thing since at such times he's usually falling down drunk), her younger siblings are impossible to manage, and her best friend Esther (Makanyane) is ostracized by the community since she's forced into prostitution.  But Chanda is a strong girl, and when her mother grows s

3/4 Starring: Macauley Culkin, Jonathan Hyde, John Larroquette, Edward Hermann, Christine Ebersole, Steph Lineburg, Mariangela Pino, Chelcie Ross, Michael McShane He Rated PG for Mild Violence and Language What would you do if, at age fourteen, you were the richest kid in the world? It's an interesting question, and I suppose everyone would have a different answer.  But by watching "Richie Rich," we can vicariously live that fantasy through the eyes of a kid named Richie Rich. Richie Rich (Culkin) is the richest kid in the world.  His dad, Richard Sr (Hermann) is a business mogul worth $70 billion and is always on hand to give the President advice.  Think the Koch Brothers, Robert Mercer and Jeff Bezos in one man.  Only, instead of your traditional ruthless tycoon a la Gordon Gekko, he's a devoted husband and father.  A devoted philanthropist, he buys a factory called Union Tool with the intention of revitalizing it and giving it back to his workers.  This d

4/4 Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Izabella Scorupco, Sean Bean, Famke Janssen, Gottfried John, Alan Cumming, Judi Dench Rated PG-13 for A Number of Sequences of Action/Violence, and for Some Sexuality Not only is "GoldenEye" the best Bond movie I've ever seen, it belongs on any list of great action movies.  No, I haven't seen every 007 adventure, but in terms of action, adrenaline and story, it's hard to imagine any topping it. 007 (Brosnan) is at it again.  His mission is to destroy a Soviet army base in the middle or Russia.  This time, he has help from his friend Alec Trevelyan, aka 006 (Bean).  But just as they're about to escape, 006 is caught and executed by a Russian colonel named Ouromov (John). Cut to five years later.  Bond is up to his usual derring-do, but his friend's death weighs heavily on him.  A Russian prototype helicopter has just been stolen.  Hours later, a secret weapon codenamed GoldenEye has just been detonated over Severnaya.

1.5/4 Starring: Anne Hathaway, Patrick Wilson, Andre Braugher, Clea Duvall, David Morse, Dianne Wiest Rated PG-13 for Thematic Elements including Some Scary Images, and Sensuality Not to be confused with the 2016 film starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence "Passengers" is a movie so dumb that I guessed the ending before I even ordered it from Netflix.  I'm dead serious.  Basically every movie with this premise has taken this ending.  I thought, surely a movie starring Anne Hathaway couldn't possibly be this dumb, but no.  It is. A plane has crashed on the beach leaving few survivors.  Claire (Hathaway), a crisis counselor, is called in to speak to those that made it.  Most are understandably rattled.  One, a handsome man named Eric (Wilson), is different.  He's charming, jovial, and when he first meets Claire, he shamelessly flirts with her.  Claire is determined to help her patients, but Eric proves to be an especially hard challenge, since she fin

1.5/4 Starring: Boyd Holbrook, Olivia Munn, Trevante Rhods, Yvonne Strahovski, Jacob Tremblay Rated R for Strong Bloody Violence, Language Throughout, and Crude Sexual References There's only one good thing about "The Predator," a desperate attempt by a studio to keep an old franchise alive if there every was one.  That is Boyd Holbrook.  The Kentucky native has been on the list of up-and-coming actors since his career debuted a decade ago with his appearance in " Milk ."  I first noticed him a few years back when I saw him in " A Walk Among the Tombstones ," and his performance in the largely forgettable " Logan " showed that he had the presence and talent to make it as a movie star.  I suppose it's a compliment that he sticks out for the right reasons in a big budget would-be franchise starter, but not really.  Aside from Holbrook, this is just a noisy, bloody, incoherent waste of time. Badass sniper Quinn McKenna (Holbrook) mak

2.5/4 Starring: Owen Vaccaro, Jack Black, Cate Blanchett Rated PG for Thematic Elements including Sorcery, Some Action, Scary Images, Rude Humor and Language "The House with a Clock in its Walls" has more flair than substance.  The special effects are kinda cool (and there are a lot of them), the film has enough energy for two movies, and there are some decent laughs.  What it doesn't have is a strong story.  Oh sure, it has a plot if you look for it, but it's so thin and so fast moving that at times it the whole thing feels like a movie trailer. After the death of his parents, Lewis Barnavelt (Vaccaro) is sent to live with his uncle Jonathan (Black).  It doesn't take long for him to realize that there's a reason behind the bizarre behavior of his uncle and his new neighbor, Florence Zimmerman (Blanchett): they can do magic.  Like real magic.  The lonely Lewis begs Jonathan to teach him, which he does.  But his new home carries a dangerous secret, and

2.5/4 Starring: Edward Furlong, Giuseppe Andrews, James DeBello, Sam Huntington, Lin Shaye Rated R for Strong Language, Drug Use and Sex-Related Humor "Detroit Rock City" is a movie that was probably more fun to make than it is to watch.  It's a small movie made with a lot of energy and heart, and it has a sense of fun.  Of course, I could be wrong.  This could have been a living hell for the cast, the crew and the caterer.  But I don't think so.  It's too silly and too cheery to be made by anyone who didn't positively want to be there and was not having a grand time.  The movie is a little too thin for me to be able to recommend out right, but far be it for me to try and stop anyone from seeing it. The year is 1978.  The world is in turmoil, American culture is shifting radically, and heavy metal band KISS has carved its own niche.  Hawk (Furlong), Trip (DeBello), Jam (Huntington) and Lex (Andrews) are die-hard KISS fans, and are beyond excited that,

2.5/4 Starring (voices): Nobuo Tobita, Yoko Sakamoto, Toshihiko Seki Rated PG-13 for Some Thematic Material Hollywood believes that animation should be reserved for musicals and cute, cuddly animals.  The Japanese know better.  There is nothing in "Ocean Waves" that couldn't be filmed with live actors and sets and no CGI.  But animating it gives it life and energy that live action cannot.  Mood, setting and character can be played with by animators to get different effects.  So while "Ocean Waves" did not need to be animated to work, it wouldn't have been the same movie.  Unfortunately for the movie itself, the animation is really all that it has going for it. Taku (Tobita) and Yutaka (Seki) are best friends.  That is, until a girl comes between them.  Her name is Rikako (Sakamoto), an intelligent and athletic girl from Tokyo, whose big city ways impress, then offend, the country folk of Kochi.  She's a loaded pistol who is the object of Yutaka&#

2/4 Starring (voices): Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joseph Fiennes Rated PG for Adventure Action, Some Mild Sensuality and Brief Language If "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" had any less substance, it wouldn't exist.  With cliched characters and a plot that is less complicated than its premise, this would-be swashbuckler is a misfire no matter how you slice it. Sinbad (Pitt) is a fun-loving pirate who intends to steal the Book of Peace as one last score before he and his crew retire to Fiji.  Of course, that means taking it from the rightful hands of his childhood friend Proteus (Fiennes).  Just then, they are attacked by a wicked monster and Sinbad is pulled overboard.  He is "saved" by Eris, the Goddess of Discord (Pfeiffer), who offers him a deal: steal the Book of Peace for her, and she will give him anything he wants.  Sinbad accepts, but reneges on the deal.  Eris then impersonates Sinbad and steals the book for herself.  C