Sonic The Hedgehog

In the past when moviemakers took an old school video game or tv character favorite and threw them into a live-action film it never worked out.  Even though I can’t’ say this movie did a much better job than the other, one thing it was, was fun.  Definitely not a film I think many adults will think is very good, but your kids will.  It’s not a complicated story to follow, for them, the animated Sonic is cute and funny and Jim Carrey is in rare form.  Like I said, not a film really for adults but Sonic The Hedgehog is gonna be a good way to keep the kiddos and you entertained and out of the house for a while.

Fantasy Island

So this is one of the films they didn’t let us movie critics see ahead of time.  And that usually means it’s not good… and it wasn’t.  I paid to see it over the weekend and was actually hoping for the best but expecting the worst.  The worst is what I got.  Hard to believe that it’s only February and I’ve already seen the worst movie of 2020.  Right from the get-go, it seemed like they were trying too hard.   One-liners that were supposed to be funny, weren’t.  Tense situations that failed miserably.  And a cast that couldn’t make me start to believe anything they were doing or saying.   That included Michael Pena, who’s usually pretty good in everything he does.  Seriously, this is one of only two movies over the years where I actually wanted to get up and leave.  Had I not paid for it, I probably would have.

Downhill

I’m a big Will Farrell fan, but when it comes to his movies, he’s hit and miss.  Lately, he’s mostly been, miss.  But the trailer did its job and actually made this one look promising.  Especially when you have another one of my favorites, Julia Louis-Dreyfus in it too.  However, this one fell flat on its face really fast.  I was thinking it would end up being like some of Will’s other movies, Everything Must Go or Stranger Than Fiction.  Where it wasn’t an all-out, knee-slapping good time.  Just a straight-faced light comedy… I barely smiled.  Will’s character wore me down instantly, and Julia, even though she was better, didn’t or couldn’t do enough to save this one at all.  Downhill isn’t just the name of the movie, it’s literally telling you what to expect from it.

The Photograph

The one movie I wish I had seen but didn’t have time to.  Starring LaKeith Stanfield & Issa Rae, where their characters connect in a romance and where a woman must learn from the secrets in her mother’s past if she is to move forward and allow herself to love and be loved.  Others I’ve chatted with seem to really like this one.  And will probably be the one I get up to go watch for the redemption of the other bad films I watched instead.

Although I have seen other movies just like this one, like all the Ocean’s movies, I still found it intriguing.  Personally, I like when a story gets me emotionally involved where I’m anxious to see how it all plays out.  This one had all those elements of who’s on who’s side and who’s working with who and you have to pay attention to what’s going on and try to notice even the little things because, at some point, they might mean something important.  And it’s like that all they way up to the end.

I think the cast in this one was decent too, but I mostly enjoyed the characters of Hugh Grant and Colin Farrell.  Even thought the parts didn’t seem like a stretch for these two, what they gave to the movie, in the humor aspect, was very much appreciated.

The only thing I did have a bit of a hard time with was the dialog.  Because the movie takes place jolly ol London, they used a lot of English verbiage that takes a minute or two to figure out the meaning, if you can figure it out at all.   Star, Matthew McConaughey, was the only one I didn’t have to try to hard to understand.

So, kudos to Guy Ritchie, for finally giving me something I actually enjoyed.  He may not have created a classic film, but at least it will still be a good way to spend a couple of hours.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this was a great movie, it was good.  It just didn’t have the action impact like in number two.  I thought there were some corny moments in some action sequences that could have been done better and a lil more aggressive.   Maybe that would have happened if Michael Bay was directing.

What makes this story work, for me, is how the characters kinda make fun of themselves.  In the first film, Marcus & Mike (Martin Lawrence & Will Smith), were the young guns that did whatever ever it takes to get the bad guys.  But now, time’s caught up with them, mostly Marcus, and they aren’t the bulletproof cops they once were.  And the jokes about how they’ve changed or better put, gotten old, added some much appreciated comic relief.

I also enjoyed watching, what seemed like, most of the entire original cast coming back for this third film.  In doing that it made it kind of important to have seen the previous films if you wanted to pick up on some of the references from the other films.

Even though I don’t think this is the best one in the trilogy, the story is still good and it’s fun.  it will still be a good way to spend a few bucks this weekend.

Bombshell

Based on a real scandal, I found this one to be really fascinating.  Although it happened in the recent past and made plenty of headlines, I always wondered how true or accurate the behind the scenes stories really are.  Regardless, Bombshell’s cast of three outstanding lead actresses deliver a most impressive telling of this story.  And the transformation, somehow, of Charlize Theron into Megan Kelly was, in a word… WoW.  Although it didn’t completely pack the punch I think the studio hoped for, it’s still one worth watching.

Cats

Not that I’m the biggest fan of musicals, except for Phantom Of The Opera, I’ve never had much desire to sit down and watch one.  But since Andrew Lloyd Weber was the man behind Phantom, and the man behind Cats, I’ve had a small curiosity to see it.  Maybe I should have seen on the stage and not the big screen, cause it didn’t take long for me to want this big screen adaptation to be over.  Being very picky with special effects, the C.G.I. costumes were horrible.  Not to mention how the green screen background didn’t blend well with the characters during their performances.  The only positive thing about Cats is Jennifer Hudson.  Although she wasn’t a big part of the movie, but her performance of the classic, Memories, was the only real highlight.

A Hidden Life

Every year I watch more than 100 movies.  Some are good and most are bad. Then there are some that are neither.  I like to say they’re not my cup of tea.  A Hidden Life is one of those cups.  Based on the real story of an Austrian farmer and devout Catholic, Franz Jagerstatter, who refused to fight for the Nazis during World War II, even in the face of his own execution.  Personally, this just seemed to move too slow for me.  Mix that in with all the soft spoken dialog and I tend to lose interest quickly.  The cinematography was some of the best I’ve seen all year.  But that doesn’t tend to make a movie, for me, any more interesting.  This is one of those films you have to see for yourself and be the judge.  To see it though, know that it is playing exclusively this weekend only at the Harkins Camelview At Fashion Square Mall.

The Rise of Skywalker had a lot of questions to answer.  And as a fan of the series since the first film, A New Hope, came out in 1977, I wanted to see just how they answered those questions.  And I gotta say, I wasn’t disappointed.

Just like every movie, The Rise Of Skywalker had its fair share of surprises.  One or two that had me mouthing… WTF???  & No Waaaaay… as well as WoW!!!  Basically, fans are gonna be on a great emotional roller coaster ride.

Now, one thing besides the story that I really liked and it was very easy to notice, was the new visual effects they gave us.  There are some standard efx that we see in every movie, but this one added some new and much-appreciated visual looks to the action sequences in space.  But since J.J. Abrams was leading this film, it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise either.

There was one thing, however, that happened in the movie and I don’t recall them ever coming back around to it… unless I fell asleep and totally missed it, but that’s the only thing at this point I can say disappointed me.  I guess I’ll have to see it again just to make sure.

I think this is gonna make almost all fans happy.  Of course, there will be those who don’t like the way it ended but to each their own.  As for me, I keep thinking about that one line… No One’s Ever Really Gone… and what that means for any more films that may come out in the near future… Just gonna have to wait and see.