Mike's Movie Tips

 3.5/4 Starring: Russell Crowe, Mary McCormack, Hank Azaria, Colm Meaney, Ron Eldard, Burt Reynolds, Lolita Davidovich, Maury Chaykin Rated R for Language and Sexuality "Mystery, Alaska" does what every sports movie should do, and then a little more.  Of course it all comes down to a big game with the final score determined in the last few seconds.  That's no secret.  But what surprised me about this movie is its portrait of a town.  This tiny Alaska town begins to feel like a real place, and one that I wouldn't hesitate to visit in a second. For Mystery, hockey is more than a religion.  It's a way of life.  If people aren't playing it, they're watching it or talking about it.  Nothing is more important than the Saturday match, where the best players play a scrimmage match on a local pond for the rest of the town.  This is where men like Sheriff John Biebe (Crowe) become legends on the ice.  The recent gossip revolves around the article ...

 2/4 Starring: Riz Ahmed, Paul Raci, Olivia Cooke Rated R for Language Throughout and Brief Nude Images The problem with "Sound of Metal" is that it has an interesting central character and not much else.  Ruben Stone, played with tremendous skill and focus by Riz Ahmed, is a compelling individual.  Unfortunately, he's stuck in a movie that doesn't go anywhere and doesn't have anything interesting to say. Deafness struck Ruben almost instantaneously.  At first it seemed like some mild tinnitus.  But then his hearing left almost completely and never came back.  The heavy metal drummer was a normal individual the day before, but now he has suddenly lost 75% of his hearing in both ears.  His girlfriend and lead singer Lou (Cooke), believes, perhaps correctly, that the ex-junkie Ruben is destined for a relapse into heroin use.  So they check him into a sober living house for the deaf, run by a kindly Vietnam vet named Joe (Raci).  Joe's policy me...

 1.5/4 Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Wilkinson, Colin Firth, Ben Affleck, Judi Dench Rated R for Sexuality "Shakespeare in Love" feels like one giant in-joke about Shakespeare and the theater.  Like the MCU, it's jam-packed with references, Easter eggs, and meta-humor.  Also like the MCU, such details can't camouflage the lack of a compelling plot and boring characters.  Unless you're a member of the target audience (Shakespeare scholars, not Comic-Con devotees, as it were), in which case it will set off enough moments of recognition that you won't care.  Apparently that was the thinking of the Academy when this otherwise lame period piece took home seven Oscars.  None of which it deserved. Will Shakespeare (Fiennes) is desperately trying to get past his writer's block.  He's delaying his ever-in-debt patron, a man named Winslow (Rush) with the fiction that he has a play called "Romeo and Ethel: The Pirate's Dau...

 2.5/4 Starring (voices): Kellie Marie Tran, Awkwafina, Gemma Chan, Isaac Wang, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Sandra Oh Rated PG for Some Violence, Action and Thematic Elements I get the impression that "Raya and the Last Dragon" started out with a strong screenplay and then it was diluted by the studio executives to increase merchandising, feeling that kids would be lost, or to appeal to a world audience.  In other words, what always happens when too many people get their hands on a single movie.  "Raya and the Last Dragon" is by no means a bad movie, but it feels feeble when it should soar. A thousand years ago, the land of Kumadra was a prosperous land.  Everyone lived together in piece with the dragons as their caretakers.  Then the Druun showed up; evil entities that turned people to stone and then split themselves in two.  The dragons did what they could, but it was a losing battle.  They used the last of their magic to create an orb that wards ...

 1.5/4 Starring: Gong Li, Bo Huang, Gang Wu Not Rated (probable PG for Brief Language) Consider now Gong Li.  She and Zhang Yimou essentially turned the Chinese film industry into an international powerhouse in the 90s, before their personal and artistic relationship imploded 1995, although they did collaborate again on the clunky but visually striking " Curse of the Golden Flower " and the affecting " Coming Home ."  She is widely considered to be one of China's most esteemed actresses with her performances earning raves around the world.  And even at 55, she is one of the most glamorous women in the world. So the question is: why would she choose such a godawful project to be a part of?  Li is notoriously choosy about which films she appears to be in, taking a role once every couple of years.  Having starred in some of China's most well-regarded films, such as " Farewell, My Concubine " and "Raise the Red Lantern," she should have known...

 2/4 Starring: Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Shailene Woodley, Benedict Cumberbatch, Zachary Levi Rated R for Violence including a Sexual Assault, and Language The longer "The Mauritanian" goes on, the less it has to offer.  It starts off as an intelligent a true life miscarriage of justice, but its non-judgmental approach gives way to outrage and grandstanding, that while justified, feel phony.  Passion and personal emotion should never give way to good storytelling.  That's what separates movies like " Schindler's List " and " Only the Brave " from "The Mauritanian." Renowned lawyer Nancy Hollander (Foster) gets asked a favor: there is a man suspected of terrorism named Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Rahim) who has been held at Guantanamo Bay for years without trial, and she is asked to look into it.  She does as her personal pro bono case, despite it being only a few years after 9/11.  Her reasoning is that everyone deserves a fair trial, no matte...

 "Only TRUE Wolverine fans will recognize these Easter eggs?" "Stan Lee confirms a fan theory from beyond the grave that we've all thought since day one!" "Here's what 'The Avengers' directors REALLY had to say about Fat Thor!" Those are headlines I see plastered more or less verbatim every time I open my phone.  CinemaBlend, Den of Geek, Screen Rant...they all do this (and contain no actual insight into any of the "questions" they pose.  Such obvious clickbait is as ubiquitous as it is annoying.  As much of an ear worm and an eye sore as they are, it got me thinking: why do we watch movies anymore? Indulge me for a moment.  Let me take you back to when I saw " Teen Titans GO! To the Movies " in a theater about three years ago.  You may recall, or maybe you don't, that I gave the film a 0/4.  A distinction so bad that only a dozen or so have achieved it.  Watching it was a miserable experience.  It was even more so b...