Mike's Movie Tips

3/4 Rated PG-13 for Drug Content and Some Strong Language James Berardinelli said in his review of "American Movie," a documentary about a filmmaker trying to make a movie, "to succeed in the independent film industry, a director must possess three critical attributes: luck, drive and talent.  The absence of any one of those characteristics can be fatal."  I think that's true of any industry with a lot of demand and few opportunities.  Berardinelli was describing Hollywood, but it applies to other areas of life, from being President of the United States to the next Mark Zuckerberg.  Or an NBA star. Actually, Berardinelli simplified things for the purposes of making his point, and "Hoop Dreams" proves just how much.  Becoming a "star" of sorts in some respect takes those things that he listed, but it also takes incredible drive and sacrifice.  It's also a situation where if one small thing doesn't line up in your favor, everythin...

2.5/4 Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Donald Sutherland, Sam Claflin, Liam Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Woody Harrelson Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Violence and Action, Some Disturbing Images and Thematic Material I'm not the world's biggest fan of this franchise, and that's mainly because the world the story takes place doesn't seem very real or interesting.  The settings of "Harry Potter" and " The Lord of the Rings " felt alive; it was as if the filmmakers had created whole entire worlds rather than just telling the stories.  Middle Earth and the Magical World of Harry Potter had personality.  Panem is just a word. Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) has been responsible for turning her world entirely on its head.  An act of defiance has caused her home district to be flattened by the Capital, which is led by the ruthless President Snow (Sutherland).  There are survivors, including District 12 President...

3/4 Starring: Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Walton Goggins, Olek Taktarov, Laurence Fishburne, Louis Ozawa Changchien, Mahershalalahshbaz Ali Rated R for Strong Creature Violence/Gore and for Pervasive Language To be quite honest, I wasn't all that enthused with the original " Predator " starring Ah-nuld.  I gave it a 3/4, but if memory serves me correctly, I wasn't very enamored with it.  The 2010 reboot produced by Robert Rodriguez isn't a classic (and neither was the original), but it's better. A man wakes up to find himself falling through the sky.  It's a common nightmare, only this guy (he's named Royce, and played by Adrien Brody), isn't dreaming.  Fortunately a parachute opens up and he hits the ground in one piece.  Shortly thereafter, he hooks up with a number of other people in the same position.  None of them know where they are or how they got there, but that's going to be the least of their problems.  It turns o...

2/4 Starring: Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Jenifer Lewis, Chi McBride, Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, Vanessa Bell Calloway Rated R for Domestic Violence, Strong Language, Drug Use and Some Sexuality Few things are more dull than a paint-by-the-numbers biopic, and that's what this is.  Not only does the film recycle old cliches without giving them any sort of life, it doesn't even fully present them.  So not only are we seeing things we've seen in just about every other showbiz drama (the film opens with one of those generic Deep South settings, with the minimalist bluegrass soundtrack...yawn), we're not even seeing all of it. That's a shame, because Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne give performances that should be seen.  Both were given Oscar nominations (deservedly, I might add), but neither the script by Kate Lanier and director Brian Gibson do them justice.  The story is generic and the script is weak.  Only in the second half are the two allow...

3.5/4 Starring: Klaus Kinski, Isabella Adjani, Bruno Ganz Rated PG (probably for Scary Images) Watching Werner Herzog's re-imagining of of F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent classic starring Max Schreck will make you realize how twisted the " Twilight " franchise actually is.  While there's certainly no rule against taking common folklore and putting your own spin on it, I'd be less eager to use that as a counterpoint if it wasn't so awful. "Nosferatu the Vampyre" is unlike any vampire movie you've ever seen (unless you've seen the 1922 film).  There's little in the way of violence and almost no blood and gore.  It's all atmosphere.  This is a movie that works because Herzog takes his time.  Rarely has the presence of evil slithered off the screen like this. The story is like a bare bones version of "Dracula" (the copyright on "Dracula" expired long before this film was made, which wasn't the case with the...

3.5/4 Starring (voices): Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, Daniel Henney, Maya Rudolph, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk Rated PG for Action and Peril, Some Rude Humor, and Thematic Elements "Big Hero 6" is big time fun.  That's probably the best thing I can say about the movie, but since a single too-cutesy sentence isn't a review, I'll go on.  Happily. "Big Hero 6" is a superhero movie that doesn't feel like a superhero movie.  It uses a number of the same conventions but in different ways.  For example, many films, such as " Spider-Man " and it's way too early reboot " The Amazing Spider-Man ," use a tragic death to jump start the story.  That's the case here, but whereas the Spidey movies used the death of Uncle Ben as a way to launch the plot, "Big Hero 6" uses a superhero story to explore it.  Really, this is an animated action comedy about the grievi...

3.5/4 Starring: Jason Statham, Agata Buzek Rated R for Strong Brutal Violence, Graphic Nudity, and Language Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light. That's a quote from John Milton's "Paradise Lost."  It was used as a tagline for the serial killer thriller, "Seven," and oddly, enough, it's an appropriate descriptor for "Redemption."  You couldn't find two more different films, but the idea applies to both of them. It is human nature to make mistakes.  It's how we learn.  Anyone who says otherwise is only kidding themselves.  When we screw up, we have to make things right, and often times that easier said than done.  Especially when by trying to do right, you inadvertently make things worse. John Smith (Statham) is an ex-Special Forces soldier who ran away from facing a court-martial because of something that happened in Afghanistan.  He's a full-time drunk and living on the streets of London, and sh...