Mike's Movie Tips

2/4 Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shaloub, Ed Harris, Rebel Wilson, Bar Paly, Rob Corddry Rated R for Bloody Violence, Crude Sexual Content, Nudity, Language Throughout and Drug Use One has to give Michael Bay credit for trying something different.  Bay, the king of monster budget special effects extravaganzas (like the "Transformers" franchise and " Bad Boys " and "Bad Boys II"), opted to do a smaller budget ($25 million, which is a fraction of his usual budget) movie for a change of pace.  Fair enough.  I'm about as sick of metal robots pounding the hell out of each other as he probably is.  The film looks great, as his films always do.  Unfortunately, he commits the cardinal sin of any movie: he filmed the movie with a script that is in desperate need of a few rewrites to clean it up. Daniel Lugo (Wahlberg) is a personal trainer at a gym that he has saved from ruin.  But he wants his own version of the America...

3.5/4 Starring: Zachary Quinto, Paul Bettany, Kevin Spacey, Penn Badgely, Simon Baker, Demi Moore, Stanley Tucci, Jeremy Irons, Mary McDonnell Rated R for Language No gunshots.  No car chases.  Unbearable suspense. How is this possible?  When you have a top-notch everything, a lack of violence and stunts is irrelevant.  The acting is superb from top to bottom.  The writing is strong and intelligent.  The direction, by a filmmaker who has only made one other professional short, is terrific.  Those three things, my friends, are what really make a good movie. A major financial company is going through severe cutbacks, and Eric Dale (Tucci), the risk management division head, is one of the victims.  Before he leaves, he hands a jump drive to one of his underlings, a 28-year old guy named Peter Sullivan (Quinto), with the warning to "be careful."  The jump drive contains a project that Eric was working on but wasn't able to finish. ...

2/4 Starring: Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Sam Shepard, Jamie Foxx, voice of Wentworth Miller Rated PG-13 for Intense Action, Some Violence, Brief Strong Language and Innuendo While it's unfair to lay the blame of "Stealth's" failings completely at the feet of director Rob Cohen (the script is ambitious but half-baked, and the performances are flat across the board), most of it has to do with Cohen's utter lack of talent as a filmmaker.  Cohen can only make brainless popcorn flicks, and he's not even very good at those ("The Fast and the Furious" was wimpy and I'm going to pretend that the third "Mummy" movie doesn't exist).  At least he has flair, unlike another special effects director who shall remain nameless ... Ben Gannon (Lucas), Kara Wade (Biel) and Henry Purcell (Foxx) are the top three pilots in the Naval Air Force.  As such, they are assigned to fly on the cutting edge of military technology.  Now, the three of them ...

3/4 Starring: Bailee Madison, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Jack Thompson Rated R for Violence and Terror "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" does exactly what it sets out to do: chill viewers for 99 minutes.  This is a creepy monster movie that will cause the hairs on everyone's back to stand up.  It's not particularly ambitious, nor does it take any chances, but it is effective. Sally (Madison) has just been shipped off to New England to live with her father Alex (Pearce) and his business partner/girlfriend, Kim (Holmes).  She's uncommunicative with her father and borderline hostile towards Kim.  Things change when Sally discovers a basement to the house that Alex and Kim have been refurbishing.  It gives the three of them a chance to bond, although that doesn't last long when Sally begins to realize that there are creatures living underneath the house and they want something from her. The film is solid, but not spectacular, on all fronts.  The performanc...

3.5/4 Starring: Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko, Andrea Riseborough, Morgan Freeman, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Rated PG-13 for Sci-Fi Action Violence, Brief Strong Language, and Some Sensuality/Nudity When I watched the trailer for "Oblivion," I was intrigued because it looked awesome, but I had absolutely no idea what it was about.  There's a reason for this: the film is about ideas, rather than action.  No doubt Universal wanted to highlight the gunfire and special effects to bring in the teenagers.  They'll earn their money's worth, although not in the way they were expecting.  This is not "Star Wars." A war has decimated Earth.  In Jack's words, "We won the war, but lost the planet."  Jack is a technician who cleans up the last of the aliens that attacked Earth, and making sure that the machines that are being used to extract the last of Earth's resources (which are going to be moved to Titan, Saturn's largest moon).  But strange...

As you all know, I'm a strong supporter of gay rights.  The LGBT movement, which has been in full swing for the past thirty years, is the great civil rights battle of our time.  Progressions towards gay marriage are sweeping the nation, including a trio of issues that are before the US Supreme Court.  Support for gay rights has never been higher, and numbers are growing.  Celebrities like George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt and Steven Spielberg (to name a few of many) are active supporters.  Businesses are also taking note, adding protections against discrimination in the work place and giving benefits to their gay employees. But there is another, more important, reason why I'm such a gay rights booster. I'm gay myself. Coming out in public isn't an easy decision for anyone, and it wasn't for me.  I've come out in stages, starting shortly after I first realized and accepted it towards the end of my junior year in high school.  Admitting it is th...

2.5/4 Starring: Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ryan Gosling, Ray Liotta, Ben Mendehlson, Rose Byrne, Dane DeHaan, Emory Cohen, Bruce Greenwood, Mahershala Ali, Harris Yulin Rated R for Language Throughout, Some Violence, Teen Drug and Alcohol Use, and a Sexual Reference There's no denying that Derek Cianfriance's sophomore feature is ambitious and has potential.  But while there are elements that are worthy of high praise, the film is too problematic for me to recommend. Luke (Gosling) is a stunt motorcycle rider for a travelling circus.  He wants to reconnect with an old flame, a pretty waitress named Romina (Mendes), but she's already in a relationship with Kofi (Ali).  But Romina has given birth to Luke's son, of which she only just now has informed him.  Luke wants to provide for his new baby, but a job is hard to come by.  With the help of a mechanic named Robin (Mendelsohn), Luke takes up robbing banks.  But then he has an interaction with a poli...