Mike's Movie Tips

3.5/4 Starring: Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart, Seth Green, Vince Vieluf, Whoopi Goldberg, Lanai Chapman, Jon Lovitz, Kathy Najimy, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese Rated PG-13 for Sexual References, Crude Humor, Partial Nudity and Language "Rat Race" depends on, more than anything, comic momentum.  This is 90 minutes of madcap insanity, and for it to work, the laughs have to come one after the other.  On that level, the film is a flat-out success.  While there are a few dead spots, it's consistently amusing and occasionally uproarious. A group of people has been randomly selected for a special game in Las Vegas. They are: risk-averse Nick (Meyer), narcoleptic Italian Enrico Pollini (Atkinson), Vera (Goldberg) and her long lost daughter Merrill (Chapman), dimwitted thieves Duane (Green.) and Blaine (Vieluf), family man Randy (Lovitz) and notorious referee Owen (Gooding Jr).  As casino magnate Donald Sinclair (Cleese) explains, there is a duffel bag sitting

3/4 Starring: Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover, Paul Bettany, Thandie Newton Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Sci-Fi Action/Violence The advanced word for the Han Solo spin-off was unenthusiastic.  Original director Josh Trank was fired due to the (mostly undeserved) bad press regarding his " Fantastic Four " reboot, and the subject of the film was changed from Boba Fett to Han Solo.  Co-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were replaced by Ron Howard, who re-shot more than 80% of the movie.  And up-and-coming actor Alden Ehrenreich was tasked with doing the impossible: replacing Harrison Ford in one of his iconic roles. So the question remains?  Is it as bad as the advance word would suggest?  Hardly.  I enjoyed myself immensely watching this movie.  Don't get me wrong.  The film has its share of problems, but the criticisms thrown at it are generally unwarranted. Han (Ehrenreich) is a man on a mission.  He is desperate to becom

2.5/4 Starring: Luke Evans, Rebecca Hall, Bella Heathcote Rated R for Strong Sexual Content including Brief Graphic Images, and Language "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women" is not afraid to take chances or explore some intriguing and unconventional ideas.  This is, as far as I can recall, the first film since "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" to explore a polyamorous relationship between two women and a man (incidentally, both films star Rebecca Hall).  It's just that it addresses this material with disappointing superficiality.  Despite a trio of strong performances, I just didn't believe any of it. William Moulton Marston (Evans) is a psychology professor studying emotions.  Together with his wife Elizabeth (Hall), he's going to try and prove the validity of the D.I.S.C. theory of human emotion.  To do this, he selects a pretty student named Olive Byrne (Heathcote) to be his research assistant.  As Elizabeth predicts, William and Olive fall for e

1/4 Starring: Wesley Snipes, Sean Connery, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Harvey Keitel, Tia Carerre, Ray Wise, Mako, Steve Buscemi Rated R for Strong Sexuality, Language and Some Violence "Rising Sun" made me uneasy.  It has nothing to do with the violence or sex.  Instead, what made me uncomfortable are the racist overtones in the film.  The depiction of Japanese culture is offensive because it is filled with contempt.  I like movies that take me into another world, but rather than create a rich society that the hero slowly discovers, "Rising Sun" presents Japanese people as duplicitous, superficial and vicious.  If this sounds unpleasant to you, it's even worse having to experience it through a stupid murder mystery and bad filmmaking. A controversial sale between an American arms company and a Japanese conglomerate has been sidetracked by the murder of a call girl.  Cheryl Lynn Austin (Tatjana Patitz) has been found strangled in a boardroom during a party to

3.5/4 Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, Julian Dennison, Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic Rated R for Strong Violence and Language Throughout, Sexual References and Brief Drug Material The success of " Deadpool " surprised everyone.  A self-aware superhero movie about a smart-ass who has no problem with wanton murder and destruction isn't something that a studio executive would jump all over.  But it had the right star, Ryan Reynolds, on board, so it went ahead.  Still, "Deadpool" had the words "cult movie" written all over it.  No one could have predicted the phenomenon that it ended up becoming.  With a gross of $783 million against a $58 million budget, it became the highest grossing R-rated film of all time.  Together, with the success of the overrated " Logan ," Hollywood again saw profitability in the R-rated genre. In all honesty, I didn't think it was that great.  While I appreciated it

1.5/4 Starring: Ron Perlman, Daniel Emilfork, Judith Vittet, Dominique Pinon, Genevieve Brunet, Odile Mallet, Joseph Lucien Rated R for Disturbing and Grotesque Images of Violence and Menace A few times during my illustrious career as a film critic, I've seen a movie that simply left me at a loss for words.  The first time I remember it happening when I saw the 1973 cult horror film "The Wicker Man," and again last year when I saw Darren Aronofsky's hotly debated " mother !"  It happened again tonight when I watched "The City of Lost Children."  This movie has a lot going on, but almost none of it makes any sense. The film takes place on a harbor that was apparently stranded in hell.  A crazed scientist named Krank (Emilfork) is kidnapping orphaned children.  His goal is to stave off old age by stealing their dreams.  One such victim is Denree (Lucien), a toddler with a voracious appetite and a large but simple-minded guardian named One (Pe

3/4 Starring: Whoopi Goldberg, Mary-Louise Parker, Drew Barrymore, Matthew McConaughey, James Remar Rated R Strong Language and Some Sexuality "Boys on the Side" has too much plot.  I realize for a narrative film, such a statement seems all wrong.  But in this case, it's the truth.  Well, sort of.  The problems come from how director Herbert Ross chooses to move the story forward and the deficiencies in Don Roos's script.  This is not a particularly well-written movie.  Whenever something happens in the story, it reeks of contrivance and shatters the spell that the three lead actresses cast.  Fortunately, Ross concentrates on character interaction, and that's where the film shines. Jane (Goldberg) is a lounge singer who, after she's fired, decides to pack up and head out west in the hopes that her career will take off.  She answers an ad in the newspaper for someone to drive out west with.  Her name is Robin (Parker), a realtor headed in the same direc

2/4 Starring: Danny Huston, Chris Cooper, Maria Bello, Richard Dreyfus, Kris Kristofferson Rated R for Language If there is a political satire more bitter and cynical than "Silver City," I haven't seen it.  John Sayles doesn't hide his anger at governmental and corporate corruption.  In fact, he embraces it, ripping apart the web of secrets, lies and money that allow very wealthy people to do some very unsavory things.  While "Silver City" is fiction, almost no suspension of disbelief is necessary to accept what goes on during the two hours it takes for this story to unfold.  The problem is that very little of it is told well. "Dickie Pillager (Cooper) cares about you!"  That's what his ads loudly proclaim.  Presenting himself as the everyman espousing small government and family values, Dickie is the front-runner for governor of Colorado.  While shooting a campaign commercial, Dickie accidentally pulls up a corpse with a fishing rod. 

1/4 Starring: Franka Potente, Sean Harris, Paul Rattray, Jeremy Sheffield Rated R for Strong Bloody Horror Violence, Language, Some Drug Use and Sexual Content Not to be confused with the 2014 film of the same name When you see as many movies as I do, they all start to bleed together sooner or later.  I remember having a sense of deja vu while watching " Dark Shadows " a few years back.  I got that same feeling here with "Creep."  I felt like I had seen it all before.  Was it because I actually had, or was it just because it was such a totally generic horror movie. Party girl Kate (Potente) is at a party bragging about how she's going to meet George Clooney.  And possibly sleep with him.  But her luck isn't that good: her friend has left without her and a guy she knows, appropriately named Guy (Sheffield), does not know the meaning of the term "boundaries."  She falls asleep at the train station and is cornered by Guy, who proceeds to ta

3/4 Starring: Patrick Wilson, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington Rated PG-13 for Intense Thematic Material, Violence, Sexuality, Language and Some Drug References The scariest villain is not the one who is insane.  Far more terrifying is the one insane but does not understand it. Chris (Wilson) and Lisa Mattson (Washington) have just purchased their first home in a Los Angeles suburb.  Their next-door neighbor is Abel Turner (Jackson), a decorated member of the LAPD.  With a rash of crimes plaguing the area and a fire closing in, it would seem that Abel will provide a sense of security for the new homeowners.  No such luck.  Abel is bitterly opposed to interracial marriages (Chris is white while Lisa is black), and it doesn't take long for Abel show his feelings of hostility.  He has security lights aimed at their bedroom window.  Chris and Lisa, being the "Berkley liberals" that they are, try to resolve the situation peacefully. However, when they "break in

3/4 Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson, Valerie Edmond, Martin Clunes, Tcheky Karyo Rated R for Drug Content and Language No one does the feel-good comedy quite like the Brits.  The list of successes in this type of movie has made it a genre unto itself.  Examples include "Waking Ned Devine," "The Full Monty," " Pride " and many others.  Add "Saving Grace" onto this list.  Although the comedy is uneven, it's impossible not to like and contains more than a few hilarious bits. Grace Trevethan (Blethyn) is living a life of luxury in a small coastal English town.  Then her husband dies (he went skydiving but forgot to open his parachute).  About a month later, she finds out that his death may have not been as accidental as everyone thought.  Mr. Trevethan had made a number of investments that didn't pan out and used the house as collateral.  Facing the loss of everything, Grace believes there is no hope until her groundskeeper M