Mike's Movie Tips

 1.5/4 Starring: Kevin Hart, Melody Hurd, Alfre Woodard, DeWanda Wise, Lil Rel Howery, Anthony Carrigan, Frankie Faison, Paul Reiser Rated PG-13 for Some Strong Language, and Suggestive Material The difference between a good tearjerker and a bad one is whether or not the characters and their situations feel real.  Okay, fine.  That standard can serve as the litmus test for any movie.  But a tearjerker needs these qualities desperately.  Otherwise it can turn into a sappy melodrama that pulls your heartstrings so hard they turn into beef jerky.  And that's exactly what happens with "Fatherhood," a film with a decent premise and a surprisingly effective lead performance that is undone by a director who is practically pleading with the audience to tear up.  I frequently rolled my eyes instead. Matt Logelin (Hart) is eager to become a father, although everyone, including his wife Liz (Ayorinde), believes him to be too immature for the job.  Neverthele...

 1.5/4 Starring: Awkwafina, Shuzhen Zhao, Tzi Ma, Diana Lin Rated PG for Thematic Material, Brief Language and Some Smoking Although "The Farewell" isn't really a comedy, it feels like a one-joke movie.  The premise doesn't drive the plot, it is the plot.  Rather than using an intriguing idea as a jumping off point, it repeats the idea ad nauseam for 100 minutes.  The result, rather than the bittersweet tale it so clearly aspires to be, is a boring and inert snoozefest. Billi (Awkwafina) is a 30 something living in New York.  She's very close to her grandmother Nai Rai (Zhao), who lives in China.  That's when her dad drops a bombshell: Nai Nai has stage four lung cancer, and has only four months or so to live.  Billi is understandably devastated, but her parents drop another unpleasant truth upon her: they're keeping the diagnosis a secret from her so she to can live out her last days in blissful ignorance of her impending mortality.  Billi is ou...

 3.5/4 Starring: Gregory Smith, Kirsten Dunst, David Cross, Jay Mohr, Denis Leary and the voices of Frank Langella and Tommy Lee Jones Rated PG-13 for Some Menacing Action/Violence and Brief Drug References "Small Soldiers" is the evil twin of "Toy Story."  They both have the same underlying concept (toys coming to life) but take it radically different directions.  The Pixar film was light and whimsical while this is dark and edgy, albeit with sense of humor. Two toy designers, Irwin Wayfair (Cross) and Larry Benson (Mohr), are stressed out.  Their company has just been bought out by a corporate bigwig named Gil Mars (Leary), and they are worried not only about where he wants to take the company, but whether or not they will still have jobs.  Mars is unimpressed with Irwin's idea of a line of wholesome monsters called the Gorgonauts, and mildly interested in Larry's concept of a line of military toys that make John Rambo look tame.  But Mars wants something...

 1.5/4 Starring: Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea, Mark Strong, Emily Beecham Rated PG-13 for Some Violence and Thematic Elements "Cruella" is a movie that absolutely no one was asking for.  An "origin story" for Cruella De Vil.  Is the character, deliciously evil that she is, even relevant anymore?  Does anyone remember her?  Or care?  Not really.  Although it is "based off" the book by Dodie Smith, my guess is that Disney found a screenplay that they liked (or could market), changed the names and a few details and slapped the Cruella name on it. It certainly doesn't have anything else right. Estella (Billie Gadsdon) is a young child who can't catch a break.  Born with black and white hair, she is the target for bullies and gets sole blame when she has the gall to stand up for herself.  Eventually she is expelled and she and her mother Caroline (Beecham) are forced to move.  While trying to get a nest...

 2.5/4 Starring: Anthony Ramos, Melissa Barerra, Leslie Grace, Corey Hawkins, Gregory Diaz IV, Jimmy Smits, Olga Merediz Rated PG-13 for Some Language and Suggestive References As much as I love musicals, I'm going to have to recommend giving "In the Heights" a pass.  Although I do have some affection for it.  It's light and airy (although it attempts, with limited success, to broach more serious matters), but it's overlong and it's hard to differentiate one song from another. Musicals rarely have strong stories, and "In the Heights" is no exception.  I haven't seen the stage show, but if it's anything like this, its progressive ideals and fusion of musical genres are the only reason I can think of why this film was nominated for a Pulitzer.  In any event, the film follows the goings on in Washington Heights.  This is the fantasy version of New York; a riot of color and energy where everyone knows everyone and a person can own a business and ...

3/4 Starring: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta Rated PG (probably for Mild Language) If you build it, he will come. I can't decide if that line is mysterious or ridiculous.  Perhaps both.  Particularly if you hear it in the middle of a cornfield and no one can hear it but you. That's what happens to Ray Kinsella (Costner), who is a bit confused at this, not unreasonably.  The voice continues until it leads to a vision: if he builds a baseball field on his farm, the long dead Shoeless Joe Jackson will appear.  Even Ray thinks this is lunacy, but the thought nags at him.  Finally, he decides to throw caution to the wind, sacrifice a huge amount of his cornfield, and build a baseball field.  And what do you know?  Shoeless Joe (Liotta) does appear.  Thus begins a strange odyssey that will take Ray all over the country and into the past.  But his journey threatens to bring him financial ruin. "Field of Dreams" is a story a...

 3/4 Starring: Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Judd, Tim Blake Nelson, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Matt Ryan, Mekhi Phifer, John Ventimiglia, Octavia Spencer, Jeffrey Tambor Not Rated (probable R for Violence and Pervasive Language including Some Sexual References) Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have been behind some of the funniest comedies of the past 15 years.  "The Hangover," " Bad Moms ," " A Bad Moms Christmas ."  Those are three great comedies filled with laugh out loud belly laughs.  They also wrote a mystery/comedy called "Flypaper" which flew under the radar for some reason.  Probably because it is so different than the other films.  Don't get me wrong, "Flypaper" is funny, but the humor is more likely to provoke grins as opposed to belly laughs.  And the humor is more clever than raunchy. Tripp (Dempsesy) walks into a bank asking for his hundred dollar bill to be broken up in coins.  He keeps changing his mind about how he wants this done un...

 1/4 Starring: Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Kevin McKidd, Peter Mullan Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Intense Action Violence Oh dear... That was my thought watching this cinematic train wreck.  This is one of those movies where I stared at the screen in a state of dumbfounded shock.  Every scene seems to fall flat because of bad decisions on the part of the director, questionable casting, or an idiotic screenplay.  There are more than a few moments that are laugh aloud funny, but not intentionally.  "The Last Legion" is begging for the MST3K treatment. Romulus (Brodie-Sangster) is the newest Caesar.  But just after he is crowned, Odoacer (Mulan) invades with Wulfila (McKidd), his monstrous second-in-command who has serious anger issues.  Fortunately, he has some allies: the dour-yet-heroic Aurelius (Firth) and his comrades, the mysterious warrior woman Mira (Rai Bachchan) and his mystical teacher Ambrosinus ...