Mike's Movie Tips

 3/4 Starring: Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, Susannah Harker, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Adrian Lukis, Alison Steadman, Benjamin Whitrow, David Bamber, Julie Sawalha, Polly Maberly, Lucy Briers Not Rated (probable PG for Thematic Elements and Momentary Sexuality) When a book is put to film, it is usually condensed and altered to fit the new medium.  The reason is that 99% of the time there is too much material to squeeze into a two hour time slot without losing something. Such as character development or plot coherence.  With the 1995 BBC adaptation of Jane Austen's legendary novel "Pride and Prejudice," the filmmakers have done what Kenneth Branagh did in his brilliant cinematic version of "Hamlet:" film and release an uncut cinematic version of the story.  It lasts just a hair under five and a half hours (neatly divided into five segments).  While there is merit to presenting the material uncut, not all of it is inherently cinematic.  That causes some of the fi...

 3/4 Starring: Javier Gutierrez, Luis Callejo, Patrick Criado, Isak Ferriz, Karra Elejalde, Andres Gertrudix, Edgar Vittorino, Alex Monner, Florin Opritescu, Miquel Gelabert Not Rated (probable R for Strong Violence and Language Throughout) Last year, Spanish actor Javier Gutierrez gave the best performance of 2020 in " The Occupant ."  He was so good that I said that no one in any movie released that year could possibly come close and I was right.  No one did.  Not the late Chadwick Boseman in the overrated " Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ," not Sacha Baron Cohen in either " The Trial of the Chicago 7 " or " Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ."  No one.  In a perfect world, he would be the lock for a Best Actor winner at the Oscars.  The problem was the absolutely no one saw it.  Netflix didn't know what they had on their hands, and thus spent no money advertising it.  To this day, I'm still super annoyed at this. Gutierrez now stars in another ...

 3/4 Starring: Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny, Wayne Knight, Theresa Randle, and the voice of Danny DeVito Rated PG for Some Mild Cartoon Language "Space Jam" is very much a movie of its time.  Not least because Michael Jordan has long since retired and neither he nor the other NBA stars that appear in the movie have been relevant for 20 years.  Nor are the Looney Tunes, for that matter.  So without star power driving the film, what's left?  A 90 minute piece of fluff.  It's good fluff, at least. Michael Jordan has just retired from basketball, and has just decided to give baseball a try.  It doesn't go well.  As he's struggling with his new sport, trouble is brewing with the Looney Tunes.  Their demented existence is disrupted when an amusement park magnate, Mr. Swackhammer (DeVito), decides that his theme park needs new attractions.  He sends his minions, the Nerdlings, to capture the Looney Tunes for his park.  Bugs and company don't...

 2/4 Starring: Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Jordan Routledge, Archie Panjabi, Emil Maria, Chris Bisson, Jimi Mistry, Raji James, Ian Aspinall, Lesley Nicol Rated R for Language, Sexual Content and Some Domestic Violence It's hard to know what to make of "East is East."  For a comedy, it's not especially funny (nor does it even seem to try to be).  For a drama, it lacks the story or characters to generate much interest.  And for a culture clash film, it lacks the insight of other movies in this genre, such as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" or " Bend it like Beckham ," which also starred Archie Panjabi. When I was growing up, I loudly complained how critics seemed to trash comedies that were actually funny.  Instead, they fawned over arthouse comedies that were filled with understated laughs or "depth."  As I saw it, they sneered at movies that had the gall or immaturity to go for belly laughs and adored movies that were "above" such thing...

 2.5/4 Starring: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Jo Hartley, Keith Allen, Iris Berben Rated PG-13 for Some Suggestive Material, Partial Nudity and Smoking "Eddie the Eagle" is Generic Sports Movie 101.  It even has a soundtrack peppered with obligatory inspirational songs to get the blood pumping and a score that sounds so similar to that of " Chariots of Fire " that it is certainly not coincidental.  There is one important difference, however.  The hero, Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards (Egerton) has no chance whatsoever of coming in first place. For Eddie, competing in the Olympics has been a lifelong obsession.  What sport he competes in is of no great consequence.  Nor is the fact that he is a worse athlete than Charlie Brown.  He just wants to be there.  He has spent his parents savings trying to achieve his dream, but to no avail.  His mother (Hartley) encourages him, but his father (Allen) believes him to be hopeless and tells insists that he jo...

 2/4 Starring: Dominic Purcell, Brooke Langton, Orlando Jones, Jurgen Prochnow, Gideon Emery, Gabriel Malema, Dumisami Mbebe Rated R for Strong Graphic Violence, Brutality, Terror and Language "Primeval" is a bizarre mishmash of genres and tones that one struggles to identify just what it wants to be.  It's too serious for a jungle adventure movie and too goofy for a serious look at the Burundi Civil War.  It wants to have its cake and eat it too, and while such a thing is possible (" Blood Diamond " comes to mind), it requires a deftness of touch that eludes Michael Katleman. After publishing a story that turned out to be wrong, hard news reporter Tim Manfrey (Purcell) has an opportunity for redemption.  A fellow journalist named Aviva Masters (Langton) is on the trail of Gustave, a man-eating crocodile in Burundi, and his assignment is to cover its capture.  He doesn't want the job, but he has no choice.  So with his cameraman Steven Johnson (Jones) taggi...

 3/4 Starring: Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes Rated PG-13 for Brief Sensuality and Partial Nudity Maybe it's just me, but I found parts of "The Dig" fascinating.  I love ancient history, and studied it in college.  Just today, my mom sent me a link about an ancient brewery found in Egypt.  So maybe my bias is causing me to go a bit easier on this movie than it may deserve. Edith Pretty (Mulligan) is a wealthy widower who has decided to excavate a group of large mounds on her land.  To do this, she hires Basil Brown (Fiennes), an excavator who has the skills but not the pedigree.  Together, they discover the Sutton Hoo burial site, which house two medieval cemeteries that are still being excavated to this day.  But the more they discover, the greater the outside interference they face. "The Dig" is part buddy movie and part David versus Goliath story.  These certainly aren't diametrically opposed g...

 3/4 Rated PG-13 for Disturbing/Violent Material It was a crime that shocked the world. Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident living in the US and working for The Washington Post, entered into the Saudi consulate in Turkey to obtain paperwork so he could marry his new fiancee.  He never left.  Instead, he was attacked, murdered and dismembered by fifteen assassins overseen by Mohammed bin Salman. This we know.  What "The Dissident," a riveting documentary by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel, does is explain who Khashoggi was, how he earned the ire of MBS, and how it was pulled off.  "The Dissident" is part true crime story, part political thriller, and part advocacy piece.  It may not be the most balanced mixture of those genres, but there's no denying that this is as fascinating as it is horrifying. At first glance, Jamal Khashoggi may seem like the last possible journalist to be targeted by his own government.  He was one of the elites. ...

 3.5/4 Starring: Eric Roberts, Mariel Hemingway, Cliff Robertson, Roger Rees, Carroll Baker Rated R (probably for Strong Language, Sexuality/Nudity, and Some Brutal Violence) Showbiz stories typically take a young man or woman (or a group of them) and show how they, with a bit of luck and pluck, became superstars.  Of course, that's the exception rather than the rule.  "Star 80" shows the darker side of that tale, where a woman grew to have it all only to have her life ended by the man who gave it to her. When Paul Snider (Roberts) first saw Dorothy Stratten (Hemingway) working behind the cash register at a burger joint, he fell instantly in love.  He was transfixed with her beauty and showered her with attention and gifts until she was dizzy.  It didn't take long for him to groom a naive kid like her.  He persuaded her to get professional nude photos taken, claiming that he had an in at the Playboy mansion.  Lo and behold, she did get accepted to Hef'...

 3/4 Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker, Sarah Snook Rated R for Language, Sexual Content, Graphic Nudity and Brief Drug Use In general, people watch movies for entertainment.  That word implies joy or fun, neither of which apply when describing "Pieces of a Woman."  Those who watch movies strictly to have a good time should not bother with this film.  This is a drama, and a bleak one at that.  It hits you in the gut and leaves you reeling. Martha (Kirby) is a young woman who is expecting to give birth to her first baby any day now.  She and her boyfriend Sean (LaBeouf) have decided on a home birth rather than going to a hospital.  Their preferred midwife, Barbara, is busy with another delivery, so Eva (Parker) comes in her place.  Things seem to be going smoothly, but things take a turn for the worse.  The child dies shortly after birth, and the survivors are left to pick up the pieces. The first hour of this ...

 3/4 Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kate Capshaw, Jeremy Davies, Ashley Judd, Paul Rudd, Jessica Capshaw Rated R for Sexuality Plainly speaking, "The Locusts" is an old story told well.  The plot has been seen before, but the writing and the acting breathe new life into it.  I've often defended films that use old formulas as long as the intangibles are in place, and that's true here. Clay Hewitt (Vaughn) is a man without a past who arrives in a small farm town one day.  He's looking for a bit of work to finance a trip across country to visit his brother, a U.S. Marine.  He gets a job as a ranch hand working for Delilah Ashford Potts (Capshaw), who has a reputation for giving her workers "a room, a job, and a whole lot more than [they] bargained for."  Clay soon starts making waves by wooing a local girl named Kitty (Judd) away from her alcoholic brute of a boyfriend and striking up a friendship with Flyboy (Davies), Mrs. Potts's troubled son.  This doesn...