Lots of movies this week! We didn’t see Ice Age: Collision Course (sorry), but we have horror thriller Lights Out, BritCom Absolutely Fabulous, and of course Star Trek Beyond!
Lights Out is a cool concept but the director telegraphs every move and scare. Not good. 1/10
Absolutely Fabulous might be for fans of the series only, but it is uproariously good for those fans. Sweetie Darling.7.5/10 and a more full review here.
Star Trek Beyondis part heady sci-fi that deconstructs the essence of the franchise, and part big dumb action movie thanks to director Justin Lin. All kinds of fans will find different things to like here. 7.5/10 and a more full review here.
We’re back! Andy is out of the hospital and ready to review movies again, so this week we’ve got Melissa McCarthy’s The Boss andsci-fi instant classic Midnight Special.
The Boss – from director/writer Ben Falcone (also real-life husband of Melissa McCarthy) a rags to riches to rags story who ends up turning to her former assistant, Kristen Bell. Wackiness ensues, but the movie doesn’t really know what it wants to be. Why can’t they find better material for Melissa McCarthy? Strong female characters and the Bechdel test. Tyler Labine is great. How does this turn into a samurai movie for the last 20 minutes? Adam gives it a 5/10 and there’s a more full review here.
Midnight Special – go into this movie knowing as little as possible. Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton are trying to escape somewhere with a young boy with undetermined superpowers that seemingly pose a danger both to himself and those around him. Like 80’s kid-centric sci-fi and also 60’s and 70’s social commentary sci-fi. This movie makes you work for it a little bit. Amazing performances by main cast. Great visual filmmaking. And thinks it’s possibly the best movie of the year so far. He gave it a 9.5when he saw it at SXSW and he’s still there. Adam is close at a 9.
The Gallows – A high school play production is haunted by the ghost of a cast member who died in the same school 20 years earlier. Andy was bored the first hour, think they didn’t do a good job as a found footage movie, but liked the last 20 minutes. Likes it was done in a high school auditorium. 3/10. Adam thought they earned the found footage and loved what they did with this. He was genuinely scared in some parts and the ghost itself was super scary. 7.5/10
Self/less – What is this movie? Sci fi? Action? How did it become a chick flick for a minute? Who would enjoy this? 3/10. Andy thinks this sounds par for the course for Tarsem Singh.
Minions – The plot and lead actors weigh down the movie. Andy and Adam’s opinions diverge on whether or not you can enjoy this movie as a series of skits and gags or whether you think those are boring. Andy says yes: 7.5/10 Adam says no: 4/10
Prequels: We’re getting a Han Solo prequel– what Andy doesn’t want to see and why that’s what makes a bad prequel. Good prequels deepen character and build the world. Star Wars prequels. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Godfather Part II. You don’t even know they’re prequels!
Andy’s prequel: X-Men: First Class.
Adam’s prequel: Prometheus
Fassbender is the common denominator. Because he denominates.
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