Tale of Tales

Interwoven fantasy yarns featuring an astonishing amalgamation of cheesy dialog and emotionally impressive performances. Big-budget visuals are given an odd tone by slow editing and a monotonous but pretty score. Passionate project allows complexity to consume its own heart and the method of telling is telling but ultimately lacks any

Ralph Breaks the Internet

Arcade world explodes outward, but moral message narrows for a cautionary tale about over-controlling friendships, in sharp contrast to the out of control online universe. Brilliant allusions to reality, a perfect peppering of product placements and an exemplary exploitation of Disney’s dynasty effectively fix up a wreck of a plot.

The Little Hours

The Disaster Abbott is an extraordinarily unConventional literary adaptation, that serves up rations of raucous amusement and beautiful scenery, but neither in substantial enough portions to support the film’s weight. The leading performances are all entertaining, but they seem too consistent and the quest for an arc reveals there’s nun.

Kong: Skull Island

Sam Jurassic says hold onto your buts. So… Fascinating fights between King Kurtz and apocalizards BUT vfx get crushed by videogame aesthetic. Stellar cast are assembled BUT their running faces are their best contributions to two-dimensional characters. Reilly’s Hopping mad loon is outstanding BUT emotional final scene doesn’t fit in.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Gunn hits bulls-eye with this branch-in-cheek rendition of Star Wars: The Force Avenges.  Bautista finally flexes acting muscles while Cooper perfects Pesci impression, Diesel and Seldana go green and Pratt cements his star status.   Effects, humor and heart make up for misused collection of bit-players and deus ex galactica finale.

The Dictator

Cohen returns to Ali G movie's overt scriptedness with shock-comedy rendition of Zohan.  Reilly and Kingsley make amusing appearances but Fox can’t even play herself well.  Clever tongue-in-cheek Tosh jokes periodically hit their marks despite mediocre plot and tonally inconsistent political point speech.  Real life Whadiya antics funnier than film.

Carnage

Trapped in a tiny apartment, Oscar winners perform a charming play.  Foster leads the pack performance-wise while Reilly and Waltz play it heavy, but it’s difficult to make such an underwhelming story truly compelling on the screen.  Bookend shots leave apartment but stay far from kid subjects.  Director Polanski’s choice?

9

Mini Oogie Boogie accidentally restarts sentinel and instigates a second Matrix, which is never a good thing. Even the best visual look poorly rendered and the story drifts from interesting to ludicrous as it attempts to make a point. Culminates in silly soul saving scene that dooms Earth and film.

Boogie Nights

Compelling look at veritable porn family and even more compelling looks at RollerGraham and most of Moore. Brilliant long shots, great performances, and resurrection of Reynolds lend to nearly perfect ensemble film. Wahlberg accurately predicts ‘big stardom’ despite odd car scene with his ten dollar 13-inch-long. Cast reappears in Magnolia.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Depp and Dicaprio spend time At World’s Endora before taking their careers to the seas. Young Romeo is so powerful that he inspires Scissorhands to embarrass himself in Benny and Joon, and Lewis sets in motion a string of trailer trash performances. Quirky Dewey and Willard are overshadowed by mother.

Magnolia

Anderson channels Altman to perfect his Boogie Nights structure. Complex non-story with who’s who of actors delivering performances of their careers. Cruise plays his most obnoxious and sympathetic character yet and Hoffman proves how great he is. Even spontaneous musicality and amphibious precipitation can’t detract from this mind-bogglingly beautiful masterpiece.