Mike's Movie Tips

1/4 Starring: Mena Massoud, Naomi Scott, Will Smith, Marwan Kenzari, Navid Negahban, Nasim Pedrad Rated PG for Some Action/Peril Animation provides more energy and flexibility than even the most visionary filmmakers can ever dream up.  Lighting, perspective, movement and other tools of the trade can be toyed with in ways that are just not possible with live actors and cameras.  So without a radical new vision, any live action version of a film that relies heavily on the animators for effect is going to come up subpar.  Armed with that information, I went into this new version of the 1992 classic without high expectations.  Even on that level, Guy Ritchie's new version is a disaster of epic proportions. The plot is almost a carbon copy of the original.  Ritchie tweaks some things (usually to cut down on time), but the movie is more or less the same, which makes this misfire look even worse.  Aladdin (Massoud) is a street urchin who steals to survive...

3/4 Starring: Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright, Pauline Roberts, Aaron Eckhart Rated R for Strong Violence and Language "The Pledge" is a film about obsession.  It understands that there are things in life that we can't let go of, hunches we can't ignore, and gut feelings that won't go away.  Vicious crimes are horrible, but lingering, unanswered questions are worse. Jerry Black (Nicholson) is six hours away from a well earned retirement of fishing and solitude.  While at his retirement party, word gets around that a young girl was found brutally raped and murdered.  Jerry isn't quite ready to hang up the badge and the gun, so he tags along.  He has the unenviable task of breaking the news to the girl's parents (Patricia Clarkson and Michael O'Keefe).  The girl's mother makes him swear that he will catch the killer.  Jerry agrees. The next day, a man named Toby Jay Wadenah (Benicio del Toro) is brought in as a suspect in the murder.  He conf...

3/4 Starring: Taron Edgerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, Bryce Dallas Howard, Steven Mackintosh, Gemma Jones Rated R for Language Throughout, Some Drug Use and Sexual Content It is probably ironic that the biggest problem with a biopic of the famously colorful performer Elton John is that it lacks energy.  Not that it doesn't try; the film is wall to wall music and there's lots of dancing and special effects (most of which are gimmicky).  It's just that it doesn't come across.  What should be a toe-tapping two hours of gaudy glitz and glam feels muted.  Not what you'd expect from a guy whose over-the-top stage antics made him a star. Even as a toddler, Reggie (Matthew Illesley/Kit Connor) had a gift for music.  Unfortunately for him, the only one who believed in his talent was his grandmother Ivy (Jones).  His mother Sheila (Howard) was too busy dealing out passive-aggressive hate to her husband Stanley (Mackintosh), while Stanley is so reserved th...

2/4 Starring: Zac Efron, Lily Collins, Kaya Scodelario, Haley Joel Osment, John Malkovich Rated R for Disturbing/Violent Content, Some Sexuality, Nudity and Language A movie can only work when it has a clear focus.  Complications and color are fine, even encouraged.  But a consistent narrative drive is essential.  There must be something guiding the audience from beginning to end.  Take " Heat ," for example.  Michael Mann's film followed a wide array of characters and their lives, but they were all tied to the central plotline of the thief trying to make a big score and the cop determined to bring him down. "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile" does not have this quality.  In fact, it's hard to imagine what director Joe Berlinger is trying to say about his subjects: serial killer Ted Bundy and the woman who is inextricably linked to him.  It seems to change with every scene.  We don't know how we're supposed to feel about these cha...

3/4 Starring: Octavia Spencer, Diana Silvers, McKaley Miller, Corey Fogelmanis, Gianni Paolo, Dante Brown, Tanyell Waivers, Juliette Lewis Rated R for Violent/Disturbing Material, Language Throughout, Sexual Content, and for Teen Drug and Alcohol Use Octavia Spencer might as well write "scene stealer" as her career label.  Spencer is a gifted actress, but even before she became a hot commodity after winning an Oscar for "The Help," she managed to stick out in every role she played.  She was impossible to forget as the skeptical sign-in lady in " Spider-Man ," for example.  But her roles have always been the sassy yet warm supporting character in movies like " Black or White " and " Gifted ."  Spencer has always shown hints at greater depths in her performances, but she's at risk of being typecast (to be fair, it's something that she does so well).  With "Ma," she's trying to branch out and show what she is re...

2.5/4 Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Bradley Whitford, Charles Dance, Sally Hawkins, Thomas Middleditch Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Monster Action Violence and Destruction, and for Some Language In all honesty, I'm really getting tired of this constant obsession in Hollywood of needing to be bigger than the last movie.  Sure, epic battles and explosions and noise are fun, but it doesn't have much of an impact when you don't care about the story or anyone in it.  Such is the double-edged sword of a movie like "Godzilla: King of the Monsters:" the action scenes are exciting (if unspectacular) but I just didn't care. After Godzilla struck in 2014 , the world is deciding how to prevent another attack.  Some believe that they should all be destroyed.  Others like Dr. Emma Russell (Farmiga) believe they serve an important purpose.  She has found a way to communicate with the monsters.  And it isn't l...

3/4 Starring: Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Miranda Richardson, Adrian Dunbar, Jim Broadbent, Forest Whitaker Rated R for Sexuality, Strong Violence and Language A movie like "The Crying Game" is so difficult to make that it's a wonder that movies like it are made at all.  That it's done so well makes it all the more astonishing.  This movie is so layered, so complicated and so deep that it puts most other films to shame. The movie starts out simply.  Jody (Whitaker) is a British soldier kidnapped and held hostage by a group of IRA terrorists.  One of his captors, Fergus (Rea), makes the mistake of befriending his captive.  Jody reveals that he has a lover named Dil (Davidson), and makes Fergus promise to check in on her.  Fergus agrees. Years later, Fergus puts his violent activities with the IRA behind him and is living the simple life of a laborer in London.  But he remembers his promise to Jody and finds his captive's lover, the sensual and...