Mike's Movie Tips

 2.5/4 Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge Rated PG-13 for Substance Abuse, Strong Language, Suggestive Material and Smoking "Elvis" is two films in one.  One is wretched, the other is a solid if familiar showbiz drama.  When the film slows down long enough to tell us a story, the film works.  But too often co-writer/director Baz Luhrmann falls victim to self-indulgence.  There is a line between flourish and showing off, and he is frequently on the wrong side of it. It's a shame, too, considering what the film has going for it.  Tom Hanks may be the biggest name in the cast and the film is told from Colonel Tom Parker's point of view (a deathbed confession), but it's young Austin Butler who steals the show.  The up and coming California native is phenomenal as the music legend, capturing Elvis's talent, energy, naïveté and sense of rebellion.  He throws himself into the role, reminding us that while movie stars have their place, it ...

 1/4 Starring: Josie Lawrence, Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright, Polly Walker, Alfred Molina, Jim Broadbent, Michael Kitchen Rated PG for Some Mild Language My God, this movie was boring .  When people who haven't seen a Merchant/Ivory movie imagine a Merchant/Ivory movie, this is the kind of movie they are thinking of.  It's a stuffy, posh, inert film where almost nothing happens.  I would get more entertainment looking at a blank wall. The film takes place shortly after The Great War.  The weather outside is miserable, the nation is reeling from the conflict, and Lottie Wilkins (Lawrence) is at her wit's end.  Her piggish, controlling husband Mellersh (Molina) treats her as if she is no better than her servant.  That's when she sees an ad in the local paper advertising a month long getaway in an Italian castle.  Observing that Rose Arbuthnot (Richardson) is also eyeing the ad, Lottie begs her on impulse to go on vacation with her.  After ...

 3/4 Starring: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, John Boyega, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Jimmy Odukoya Rated PG-13 for Sequences of Strong Violence, Some Disturbing Material, Thematic Content, Brief Language and Partial Nudity "The Woman King" is one of those big, splashy Hollywood epics that came out at Oscar season in the hopes of earning a few statuettes and leftover Christmas money.  Before Disney gained a stranglehold on Hollywood.  Think along the lines of " The Last Samurai " or " Gangs of New York ."  This Africa-set adventure story isn't in that same league, but it's still entertaining and exciting. The film takes place in the early part of the 19th century.  Ghezo (Boyega) has just been crowned king, and seeks to exit the slave trade, which has brought prosperity to the kingdom of Dahomey but few are still comfortable with where that wealth comes from.  That doesn't sit well with the Oyo Empire, who uses Dahomey to acqui...

 3/4 Starring: Robert Hayes, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Lorna Patterson Rated PG (for Brief Nudity and Comic Drug Content) "Airplane!" needs no introduction.  In fact, it's not a movie that a critic can write about very easily.  Explaining why a movie like "Mass" works and what it does is significantly less difficult than enduring the film.  With a ZAZ film, the opposite is true.  What can I write about?  It's a spoof movie that ruthlessly parodies disaster movies in every way the filmmakers can think of.  It's rude, gross, stupid, and cheesy.  But that's why it works.  And also because there is no one on screen with an ounce of shame. The movie is a checklist of cliches from disaster movies.  The traumatized hero (Ted Stryker, played by Robert Hayes), his ex-girlfriend (Elaine Dickinson, played by Julie Hagerty), his old mentor with whom he has an as to grind (Rex Kramer, played by Robert H...

 0/4 Starring: Sara Klimoska, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert, Noomi Rapace Rated R for Violence and Gore, Sexual Content, Graphic Nudity, and Sexual Assault The longer I do this film critic thing, the less patience I have for movies like "You Won't Be Alone."  This is pretentious, unpleasant swill passing itself off as existential horror.  It wants to be "above" a standard horror flick, and instead illustrate some greater truth.  The problem is that it doesn't say anything original or profound, and writer/director Goran Stolevski seems to be daring his viewers to stay awake.  Perhaps so he can laud them for "getting" his film. If nothing else, the film can boast a clever conceit.  Though Stolevski is such a bad storyteller that I had to look up the synopsis on Wikipedia to figure out what I just saw.  Maria (Marinca) is a witch who has just selected her next victim: an infant she will turn into a witch.  Desperate, the child's mother begs her ...

 3/4 Starring: Rupert Everett, Julianne Moore, Jeremy Northam, Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver Rated PG-13 for Brief Sensuality/Nudity How refreshing it is to find a comedy that doesn't go for the least common denominator.  "An Ideal Husband" is a comedy for the thinking person.  Rather than crude humor, pratfalls and stand up comics shooting their mouths off (Seth Rogen, this means you!), this is a movie that is as smart as it is witty. Lord Arthur Goring (Everett) is universally recognized as the "idlest man in London," preferring to lay about doing nothing than take anything seriously.  In fact, when someone mentions that he is doing something serious, his reply is priceless: "Forgive me, it won't occur again."  Trouble starts with the arrival of Lady Cheveley (Moore), who has scandalous news about his good friend, Sir Robert Chiltern (Northam).  Sir Robert is a rising star in Parliament, but his unimpeachable morals aren't quite as clean as t...

 2/4 Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton Rated PG (probably for Terror/Violence and Gore) In many ways, Steven Spielberg's 1975 film changed movies forever.  It gave birth to the summer blockbuster.  It was the first film to cross the $100 million box office threshold.  It launched the career of Steven Spielberg.  It slandered sharks as a species (Peter Benchley, whose book served as the loose inspiration for the film, regretted writing the book).  And it has influenced film ever since.  The impact that "Jaws" had on the film industry cannot be underestimated. Looking back at "Jaws" nearly a half century after it was unleashed to the public, it's hard to imagine this film having such an impact.  It has not aged well.  Everything that "Jaws" does has not only been done numerous times in the years since then, but often much better too.  Compared to other adventure thrillers like Spielberg's...

 3/4 Starring: Jamie Foxx, Dave Franco, Snoop Dogg, Karla Souza, Eric Lange, Meagan Good, Zion Broadnax Rated R for Strong Violence and Gore, and Language It would be a lie to say that "Day Shift" gives the vampire movie new life.  No pun intended.  Certainly not to the extent that " Daybreakers ," an under appreciated vampire movie if there ever was one.  But the new wrinkle it uses is intriguing enough to make a silly romp like this work. Everyone thinks that Bud (Foxx) is a pool guy.  But that's just a cover.  He's really a vampire hunter, and a damn good one too.  Of course keeping something like this a secret can strain any marriage, and his ex-wife Jocelyn has long since had enough with his lies and broken promises.  She's about to take her daughter Paige (Broadnax) and move to Florida.  Bud begs for one week to come up with the money he owes for Paige's tuition and braces.  To do that, he needs to rejoin the vampire hunter union, ...