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 astonishi...

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 Halli...

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...