Month: July 2018

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of July 23, 2018

Mission: Impossible – Fallout
Rated PG-13 for violence and intense sequences of action, and for brief strong language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96% at time of writing
In Theaters
Tom Cruise teams up again with Rogue Nation writer/director for this sixth outing in the Mission: Impossible franchise. This time out, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and team (Simon Pegg and Ving Rhames) set out to stop the underbelly of anarchy from getting their hands on some stolen weapons-grade plutonium meant to create great suffering in the world. The one thing which all of these films excel at is their ability to create some fantastic action sequences that will impress your eyes and get your heart racing. This new project is no different and some of the set pieces are truly mind-blowing. The problem here lies in a script full of head-scratching plot points that depends on an audience not overthinking it. And it doesn’t help that the dialog is the cheesiest we’ve seen in this series. But quite honestly, you get your money’s worth as its hard to imagine someone not having a great time watching it. B

Ready Player One
Rated PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence, bloody images, some suggestive material, partial nudity and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%
Available on disc and streaming
It’s been a while since Steven Spielberg has made a film that actually feels like a classic Spielberg picture. So when he signed on to direct one of my favorite recent novels, which just happened to have a screenplay written by the original author, Ernest Cline – needless to say I was excited. And my excitement paid off big time without a hint of disappointment. The story revolves around a kid (Tye Sheridan) living in a future where a large part of the planet has chosen to forgo social interaction and instead live inside a single video game world called the OASIS, searching for hidden clues that would award the winner of the final puzzle complete ownership of the company. Rather than copying the book here, Cline created brand new puzzles for the audience to follow along with, and a newish adventure to cheer for. The reinvention of the story, along with a terrific cast and Spielberg’s incredible artistry as a storyteller and filmmaker, gives us one of 2018’s best movies so far. A

Operation Red Sea
Not Rated, but equivalent to a strong R
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%
Available on disc and streaming
This follow-up to 2016’s Operation Mekong, follows the Chinese military as they attempt to thwart a Middle-East terrorist plot to obtain nuclear materials. While the thought of watching a modern Chinese military in action is very interesting, so little attention is paid to character building that the whole thing turns into a two plus hour action sequence with nothing to keep you engaged other than the next explosion. It’s an extremely well-produced film, and at times it is quite riveting, but had they just invested in a stronger character-driven screenplay, they could have ended up with the Chinese version of Blackhawk Down, rather than this more generic facsimile. B-

Super Troopers 2
Rated R for crude sexual content and language throughout, drug material and some graphic nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 31%
Available on disc and streaming
The Broken Lizard boys are back and this time facing off with the Canadians once it is announced that part of Canada really is America, and they will be policing the change. This modern-day answer to Cheech and Chong is very much for the pot-smoking community and has a juvenile feel that can be quite funny if you are under the influence. I’m not a smoker, but I will admit that the film was much funnier than it should have been while drinking a couple of glasses of wine. It still isn’t great, and to give a positive review could greatly embarrass me later, so I’ll just throw out that at the right time, and under a bit of influence (please be safe), this film might just entertain you for a couple of hours. C

Popcorn Perspectives with Danny Minton

Week of July 16, 2018

Isle of Dogs
Rated PG-13 for thematic elements and some violent images
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90%
Available on Disc and Streaming
In Wes Anderson’s latest eclectic stop-motion animation project, Japan has rounded up all of its dogs and sent them to live on a giant trash island off of its coast. When the Emperor’s adopted son sets off on a mission to reclaim his stolen pooch, a gang of rough and tough dogs decide to help him on his quest. While the extensive voice talent (including Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray and more A-listers than you can shake a stick at) and the beautiful storytelling are enough to draw a big crowd, I found that the massive creativity is what made me fall in love with it. Any movie that can put me in such a state of awe and wonder is worthy of the term masterpiece. A+

I Feel Pretty
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some partial nudity, and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 32%
Available on Disc and Streaming
Amy Schumer plays a woman suffering from low self esteem who takes a spill at her cycling class only to wake up thinking she has transformed into a beautiful woman. The hitch is that the rest of the world can see that nothing has changed, presenting the message that confidence trumps beauty any day of the week. Upon its release, the film was met with with a strong wall of critical resistance, claiming that the film was mean-spirited and shallow. But I would disagree. This is not new territory for Amy Schumer and the message feels very personal for her, but while many see the film in a negative light, those that have suffered from body image issues will not only identify with the story, but might just find the pic to be quite empowering. My biggest qualms lie in the humongous plot holes in regards to her work place movement, but those unfamiliar with corporation marketing will likely not have any difficulty with its gross simplification of the industry. Overall, this is a miss that probably should have been at least a modest hit. B

Rampage
Rated PG-13 sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief language, and crude gestures
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 52%
Available on Disc and Streaming
I used to spend hours playing the video game with which this new Dwayne Johnson movies is based on. After all, what can be more cathartic than pretending you are an ape, wolf or reptilian monster, wreaking havoc on buildings and destroying cities. I can applaud the effort here which could have turned out to be an unwatchable mess. And were it not for Johnson it probably would have been. Instead you get a mindless but mildly entertaining monster movie that isn’t necessarily great, but at least doesn’t suck too bad. C+

Popcorn Perspectives

Week of July 2, 2018

Sicario: Day of the Soldado
Rated R for strong violence, bloody images, and language
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 63%
In Theaters
Shifting its focus from the war on drugs to the war on illegal immigration and trafficking, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin return as an assassin and a federal agent who place their sights on disrupting the cartels by trying to get them to fight each other for something the US government is secretly instigating. What was most impressive about the original Sicario was how the third act changed the entire film’s theme and plot in a way that managed to thoroughly excite audiences, including me. Here we get quite the opposite. While the first act almost feels like an advertisement for Trump’s wall by creating a world where Muslim terrorists sneak in through Mexico to commit random and senseless violence in the U.S., it is still quite frightening and the story feels organic throughout. This leads to some seriously exciting set pieces pulled together by a script that gets you salivating for each subsequent next scene. The big change here is that while the end of the film once again changes its theme and plot, it does so in a way that steals from the momentum the rest of the film had going. Its a real disappointment to say the least. For ninety minutes I was thinking to myself that this is the best-written movie of the year so far. This twist actually converted the film from a great movie into a mediocre one at best. C+

Blockers
Rated R for crude and sexual content, and language throughout, drug content, teen partying, and some graphic nudity
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%
Available on disc and streaming
Blockers takes the plot of American Pie and asks the question: what if girls made the same pact to lose their virginity on prom night? The big difference here is that the story is largely about the parents of the three girls, John Cena, Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz, as they attempt to do everything they can to stop their precious daughters from doing the deed. While there are some serious problems with the plot, namely the girls make their pact on the day of prom and two of them don’t even have dates yet and the logistics for everything are almost perfect, the story makes the many mistakes easy to forgive as it shifts from being about the girls to rather being about the parents who just can’t deal with the fact that their girls will eventually grow up. And while the film has a severely raunchy but very funny side, its sentimental side wins out by the end. Sure it suffers from a lack of originality, but it does so unabashedly, standing firmly on the legs of the talented cast, its funny jokes and gags, and its great big heart. B+

Beirut
Rated R for language, some violence and a brief nude image
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 77%
Available on disc and streaming
From Rogue One and Bourne Identity screenwriter Tony Gilroy comes this state department drama that couldn’t find an audience in theaters, but that will hopefully fare better for home viewers. Jon Hamm plays a former diplomat from Beirut who is asked by the CIA to go back in order to help rescue a friend he left behind years ago. While Hamm hasn’t exactly pulled off the same success in theaters as he did on TV, this role is perfect for him and really shows off his chops. Honestly, the film is relevant, interesting and exciting. Unfortunately, it probably needed a bigger A-list cast to find its box office footing. B+