Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Starring (voices): Chloe Bennet, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Albert Tsai, Joseph Izzo, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson, Tsai Chin, Michelle Wong Rated PG for Some Action and Mild Rude Humor I've long felt that labeling a movie as "formulaic" is unfair.  As long as the intangibles are in place (strong characters, good storytelling, etc.), the fact that the audience knows the the broad strokes of the storyline is of relatively little importance.  In fact, in certain circumstances, knowing what has to come next can enhance the film's effect (see " The Last Samurai " if you don't believe me).  "Abominable" is a case in point.  The story is pure formula, but we like the characters and writer/director Jill Culton is a good enough storyteller that I really didn't mind. A monster is on the loose.  He has broken out of his pen at a high tech security facility and is out on the streets of a big city.  After being hit by a car, he takes refuge in ...

3/4 Starring: Ivan Jandl, Montgomery Clift, Aline MacMahon, Jarmila Novotna Not Rated (probable PG-13 for Thematic Material) At first glance, one would think that once a war is over, everyone just packs up and goes home.  As if it's an extended camping trip or something.  Sure bombs dropped and people died, but once the surrender happens, life goes back to normal.  Of course it isn't that simple.  Families get separated and must find each other (if possible), lives and governments must be rebuilt, and so on.  Few films take the time to acknowledge this.  " Black Book " did so, albeit tangentially.  But Fred Zinnemann's "The Search" focuses on this and therein lies its core drama. After the end of WWII, Europe is in tatters.  Buildings are destroyed, families are ripped apart, and people cling to the faint hope that they can rebuild.  The US Army takes in children that are orphaned or otherwise separated from their parents.  One s...

1.5/4 Rated PG-13 for Some Intense Crash Sequences Many people are wary of documentaries.  I think the thinking goes like this: talking heads - plot = boring college lecture.  Or they just amount to pontificating by Michael Moore or someone like him.  In some cases I suppose that's true, but not always.  Documentaries can be just as funny, sensational, outrageous and heart pounding as any traditional narrative film.  If you recall, I pegged " They Shall Not Grow Old " as the best film of 2018.  It isn't alone.  Documentaries like " Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport ," " Waco: The Rules of Engagement ," and " Meru " are all excellent films.  I'm a huge Alex Gibney fan (he directed " Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room " and " The Armstrong Lie " and won an Oscar for his searing and disturbing " Taxi to the Dark Side ").  Documentaries are a form of storytelling just like any o...

3.5/4 Starring: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Donald Sutherland, Liv Tyler Rated PG-13 for Some Violence and Bloody Images, and for Brief Strong Language His eyes are tired.  His face is weathered from years of suppressing his emotions in favor of the job.  Roy McBride is weary from life and the struggle to avoid anything that can bring him down.  But the impossible quest of not feeling anything has hurt him in ways he cannot admit. This is a movie where it is better to go in knowing as little as possible, so I will be intentionally vague.  In the near future, space travel is more advanced than it is today.  Trips to the moon are no big deal (it has all the amenities of Earth, including Subway and Applebee's.  Mars has a permanent base.  Further out is dicier.  Roy (Pitt) is an astronaut famous for his professionalism and his ability to remain calm under immense pressure.  However, the solar system is experiencing frequent e...

2.5/4 Starring: Jennifer Tilly, Redman, Hannah Spearritt, and the voices of Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly and Billy Boyd Rated R for Strong Horror Violence/Gore, Sexual Content and Language It's really gruesome, but it's a heartwarming story. -Jennifer Tilly If you can buy that argument from the helium-voiced actress (who clearly has no problems making fun of herself), then you'll get some hearty laughs out of this horror movie.  Oh, they're as mean-spirited as you think.  This is a movie about a duo of mass murdering pieces of plastic.  Well, a trio.  I don't know.  Watch the movie and you tell me. In Britain, a ventriloquist's doll (Boyd) is having nightmares.  You read that right.  The doll is sentient and his puppeteer doesn't have to manipulate him (which is probably a good thing, considering how much of a jerk he is).  Anyway, one day the doll sees Chucky (Dourif) and Tiffany (Tilly) being "interviewed" on TV.  They're playing t...

3.5/4 Starring: Jillian Bell, Micah Stock, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery Rated R for Language Throughout, Sexuality and Some Drug Material I didn't like this movie at the start.  The characters were unpleasant, especially the lead, and it was depressing.  Then a funny thing happened.  I started to pay attention.  I grew interested in the characters.  I started to care.  By the end of the movie I was surprised at how involved I got in Brittany's attempt to turn her life around. Plump party girl Brittany (Bell) is stuck in nowhereland in New York City.  She had an internship in advertising that fizzled out, and now spends her days working a dead end job and partying with her roommate Gretchen.  While visiting a doctor to con an Adderrall prescription from him, he tells her that she is morbidly obese and risking her health.  Initially she scoffs at him and refuses to do anything about it.  But the news nags at h...

3/4 Starring: Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen, Julia Roberts Rated R for Sequences of Graphic Sexual Dialogue, Nudity/Sexuality and Language They say that honesty is the best policy, and I suppose that in most cases it is.  Not for the people in "Closer."  For Dan, Larry, Alice and Anna, it causes more problems than it's worth.  A lot of misery could have been spared all around had they been willing to live down a lie or two.  But then since they all hate themselves for being the most selfish people on the face of the earth, maybe not. "Closer" tells the story of two couples: Dan (Law) & Alice (Portman) and Larry (Owen) and Anna (Roberts).  Initially, both couples are happy, but for various reasons sparks begin to fly between the opposites of each pair.  Thus begins a four-year odyssey where couples change and change back and every good person turns rotten. If there is a movie with a more cynical point of view on love and sex, I haven't ...

2.5/4 Starring: Chevy Chase, Madolyn Smith Rated PG (probably for Mild Language and Sensuality) I've been a lifelong movie fan, and used to religiously read the movie reviews in our local paper.  One criticism I had is that critics seemed to trash the ones that made me laugh out loud while give overwhelming praise to the ones that were filled to the brim with subconscious, internal laughs (if that).  I always found that really irritating.  I mean, when I want to see a comedy, I want to laugh until my sides hurt, not have suppressed chuckles.  Isn't something like " Ted " harder to pull off than " State and Main ?"  The David Mamet picture may be wittier than the movie about the teddy bear, but shouldn't guffaws count for something? I have the same feelings about "Funny Farm."  The script by Jeffrey Boam is clever and witty.  More thought went into this movie than cheap slapstick and crude humor.  But at the same time, it feels like it s...

3.5/4 Starring: Jessica Chastain, James McAvoy, Bill Hader, Isaiah Mustafa, Jay Ryan, James Ransone, Bill Skarsgaard, Andy Bean Rated R for Disturbing Violent Content and Bloody Images Throughout, Pervasive Language, and Some Crude Sexual Material Note: I missed the first part of the opening credits and forgot about it until I wrote the review.  While I strongly doubt I missed anything, I will catch up to it at some point. The first installment of the two-part theatrical franchise of Stephen King's " IT " was released two years ago and became a surprise hit.  Personally, I didn't think it was all that special because it didn't take the time to really develop the characters, especially when compared to the legendary miniseries released in 1990.  I watched it again recently, and although some of my criticisms remain, I enjoyed it more than I remember.  So the question is how does the climax fare?  Quite well, in fact.  It's a superior film in every w...

2/4 Starring: Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Austin Zajur, Gabriel Rush, Dean Norris, Gil Bellows, Natalie Ganzhorn, Austin Abrams Rated PG-13 for Terror/Violence, Disturbing Images, Thematic Elements, Language including Racial Epithets, and Brief Sexual References The movie theater I frequent had a showing of " Jurassic Park " tonight, which I saw almost immediately after this one.  Legendary film critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert and famed internet reviewer James Berardinelli felt that it had good action scenes and special effects but weak and cliched characters.  I disagree with their criticisms.  The characters in "Jurassic Park" weren't deep or especially original, but they were easy to identify with and care about.  That's all that matters in a movie like "Jurassic Park." I mention this because, ironically, I have the same criticism of "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark."  The special effects and scares are effectiv...