2018 in Film

January 5th
Goldbuster -
In Between -
Insidious: The Last Key -
The Strange Ones -

January 12th
Acts of Violence -
The Commuter -
Condorito: The Movie -
Paddington 2 - A
Proud Mary -
Vazante -

January 19th
12 Strong -
A Ciambra -
Den of Thieves - C
Django -
The Final Year -
Forever My Girl -
Kangaroo -
Mary and the Witch's Flower -
The Road Movie -
This Giant Paier-Mache Boulder is Actually Really Heavy -

January 26th
American Folk -
A Futile and Stupid Gesture - A-
Have A Nice Day -
Hostiles - A-
The Insult -
Kickboxer: Retaliation -
Maze Runner: The Death Cure -

February 2nd
Bilal: A New Breed of Hero -
The Cage Fighter -
A Fantastic Woman -
Scorched Earth -
Winchester - D

February 9th
15:17 to Paris -
Before We Vanish -
Fifty Shades Freed -
Golden Exits -
La Boda de Valentina -
Padman -
Permission -
Peter Rabbit - C+

February 16th
Aiyaary -
Black Panther - A-
The Boy Downstairs -
Double Lover -
Early Man -
Loveless -
Mind Game -
The Monkey King 3 -
Nostalgia -
Oh Lucy -
The Party -
Samson -
Tehran Taboo -
Western -

February 23rd 
Annihilation - A
Beast of Burden -
The Chamber -
Every Day -
Game Night - B+
Hannah -
The Lodgers -
November -
Operation Red Sea -
Survivors Guide to Prison -
The Young Karl Marx -

March 2nd
Dance Academy: The Movie -
Death Wish - C
Foxtrot -
Red Sparrow - D-
Souvenir -
Submission -
They Remain -

March 9th
Gringo -
The Hurricane Heist - C-
Leaning Into the Wind: Andy Goldsworthy -
The Leisure Seeker -
The Strangers: Prey At Night -
Thoroughbreds -
A Wrinkle in Time - B-

March 16th
Allure -
7 Days in Entebbe -
Demon House -
Flower -
I Can Only Imagine -
Josie -
Journey's End -
Love, Simon - B
Maineland -
Ramen Heads -
Tomb Raider - D+

March 23rd
Back to Burgundy -
Beauty and the Dogs -
A Bag of Marbles -
The Endless -
Final Portrait -
Getting Grace -
Hichki -
I Kill Giants -
Isle of Dogs - A-
Ismael's Ghost -
Izzy Gets the Fuck Across Town -
Midnight Sun -
Pacific Rim: Uprising - B
Paul, Apsotle of Christ -
Unsane - A-
What We Started -

March 30th
Acrimony -
Birthmarked -
The China Hustle -
Finding Your Feet -
Gemini -
God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness -
Outside In -
Ready Player One - B

April 6th
Blockers - B+
Chappaquidick - 
The Endless - 
Lean on Pete - 
The Miracle Season - 
Pandas - 
A Quiet Place - A-
Spinning Man - 
Spiral - 
Where is Kyra - 
You Were Never Really Here - 

April 13th
20 Weeks -
Beirut -
Borg vs. McEnroe -
Rampage - C+
The Rider -
The Secret of Marrowbone -
Truth or Dare - D
Zama -

April 20th
The Devil and Father Amorth -
Genesis -
Ghost Stories -
Godard Mon Amour -
I Feel Pretty - C
Super Troopers 2 -
Traffik -

April 27th
Avengers: Infinity War - C
Backstabbing For Beginners -
Disobedience - A-
The Escape of Prisoner 614 -
Kings -
Let the Sunshine In -
Love and Bananas -
The Week Of - C-

May 4th
Bad Samaritan - C
The Desert Bride -
The Guardians -
Overboard -
Racer and the Jailbaird -
Tully - A

May 11th
Always at the Carlyle - 
Anything - 
Beast - 
Boom For Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat - 
Breaking In - C+
Class Rank - 
Dark Crimes - 
Life of the Party - C
Lu Over the Wall -
Revenge -

May 18th
Book Club - C-
Deadpool 2 - B
First Reformed - A-
On Chesil Beach -
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word -
Show Dogs -

May 25th
The Gospel According to Andre -
How to Talk to Girls at Parties -
In Darkness -
Mary Shelley -
The Misandrists -
Solo: A Star Wars Story - B+
Summer 1993 -

June 1st
Action Point -
Adrift - B-
American Animals - A
The Doctor From India -
A Kid Like Jake -
Upgrade - B-

June 8th
Hotel Artemis - B
Ocean's 8 - C+
Hearts Beat Loud -
Hereditary - A+
The Quest of Alain Ducasse -
Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist -
Won't You Be My Neighbor? - A

June 15th
Eating Animals -
Gotti -
Incredibles 2 - A-
Loving Pablo -
Race 3 -
Straight Into a Storm -
Superfly - D
Tag - B+

June 22nd
Boundaries - B
The Catcher Was a Spy -
Damsel -
Distorted -
The King -
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - C+
Spiral -

June 29th
The Cakemaker -
Dark River -
Leave No Trace - A-
Love, Cecil -
Sanju -
Sicario: Day of the Soldado - B
Three Identical Strangers - A
Uncle Drew - B
Woman Walks Ahead -

July 4th
The First Purge - C+

July 6th
Ant-Man and the Wasp - B
No Postage Necessary -
Sharp Edges -
Sorry to Bother You - A
Under the Tree -
Whitney -

July 13th
Dark Money -
Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot -
Eighth Grade - A-
Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti -
Hotel Transylvania 3 -
Shock and Awe -
Skyscraper -
Soorma -

July 20th
Blindspotting - A
The Equalizer II - D
Damascus Cover -
Generation Wealth -
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again - C-
McQueen -
Teefa In Trouble -
Unfriended: Dark Web -

July 27th
Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings -
Hot Summer Nights -
Mission Impossible: Fallout - A-
Puzzle -
Scarred Hearts -
Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood -
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies - A-

August 3rd
40 Years in the Making: The Magic Music Movie
Along With the Gods: The Past 49 Days -
Christopher Robin - D+
The Darkest Minds -
Death of a Nation -
La Familia -
Like Father - C+
The Miseducation of Cameron Post -
Never Goin' Back -
Nico, 1988 -
The Spy Who Dumped Me - D

August 10th
BlacKkKlansman - A+
BuyBurst -
Dog Days -
Madeline's Madeline -
The Meg - B-
A Prayer Before Dawn -
Skate Kitchen -
Slender Man -

August 17th
Alpha - C
Billionaire Boys Club -
Crazy Rich Asians - B+
Juliet, Naked -
The Little Mermaid -
Memoir of War -
Mile 22 - F
Minding the Gap - B+
We the Animals -
The Wife - B

August 24th
A.X.L. - C+
Beautifully Broken -
The Bookshop -
The Happytime Murders - C
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection -
An LA Minute -
Papillon -
Replicas -
Searching -
Support the Girls - A-

August 31st
Blood Fest -
Kin - B
The Little Stranger -
Operation Finale -
Ya Veremos -

September 7th
The Apparition -
Bisbee '17 -
God Bless the Broken Road -
Peppermint - F
The Nun -
Winter Ridge -

September 14th
American Chaos -
Antonio Lopez 1970: Sex, Fashion, and Disco -
Bel Canto -
The Children Act -
The Dawn Wall -
Hal -
MDMA -
Lizzie -
The Predator - C+
A Simple Favor - B
Unbroken: the to Redemption -
White Boy Rick - B+

September 21st
Assassination Nation - B
Colette -
Fahrenheit 11/9 -
The House With a Clock in Its Walls -
Life Itself -
Love, Gilda -
My Son -
The Sisters Brothers -

September 28th
All About Nina -
Bad Reputation -
Hell Fest -
Little Women -
Monsters and Men -
Night School - B-
The Old Man & the Gun - A-
Smallfoot - C

October 5th
Chasing the Blues -
The Happy Prince -
The Hate U Give - A
Heavy Trip -
Loving Pablo -
Over the Limit -
Shine -
A Star is Born - B
Stavisky... -
Studio 54 -
Venom - D

October 12th
Bad Times at the El Royale - B+
Beautiful Boy -
Bigger -
First Man - A-
Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer -
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween - B-
Jane and Emma -
Liyana -
Look Away -
The Oath -

October 19th
The Advocates -
American Deep State -
Can You Ever Forgive Me? -
Change in the Air -
Halloween - B
Horn From the Heart: The Paul Butterfield Story -
The Guilty -
Mid90s - A-
On Her Shoulders -
The Price of Everything -
What They Had -

October 26th
Burning -
Hunter Killer -
Indivisible -
Johnny English Strikes Again -
London Fields -
Monrovia, Indiana -
Senso -
Stuck -
Suspiria - A

November 2nd
Bodied -
Bohemian Rhapsody -
Boy Erased -
In Search of Greatness -
Maria by Callas -
Nobody's Fool -
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms -
A Private War -
Searching for Ingmar Bergman -
Tiger -

November 9th
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs - A-
El Angel -
The Front Runner - B+
The Girl in the Spider's Web -
The Grinch -
Lez Bomb -
Narcissister Organ Player -
Overlord - B+
Postcards From London -
Rivers Run Red -

November 16th
At Eternity's Gate -
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald - D
Heart, Baby -
Instant Family -
Jonathan -
The Last Race -
Team Khan -
Widows - B+

November 23rd
Becoming Astrid -
Creed II - A-
The Favourite - A-
Green Book -
Ralph Break the Internet - D+
Robin Hood - D-
Shoplifters -
The World Before Your Feet -

November 30th
Anna and the Apocalypse -
Bathtubs Over Broadway -
Head Full of Honey -
The Possession of Hannah Grace -
Sicilian Ghost Story -
Unstoppable -

December 7th
Ben is Back -
Central Park -
The Charmer -
Clara's Ghost -
Divide and Conquer - The Story of Roger Ailes -
Great Great Great -
The Great Pretender -
The Invisibles -
Mary Queen of Scots -
Tyrel -
Vox Lux - A-

December 14th
If Beale Street Could Talk -
Capernaum -
Mortal Instruments -
The Mule -
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse - A
The Wedding -

December 21st
Aquaman - B-
Between Worlds -
Bumblebee - B
Cold War -
Mary Poppins Returns - B-
Second Act -
They Shall Not Grow Old -
Welcome to Marwen - D-
Zero -

December 28th
Destroyer -
Holmes & Watson -
On the Basis of Sex -
Stan & Ollie -
Vice - A-

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Major League

I want to start this review with the negatives, so I can attempt to not undercut my true feelings about this film. Three big things stand out to me: First, the pacing is really weird. Many scenes in the first two acts move at such a quick clip, that not many things get to properly breathe. Second, despite how much I like Jesse Eisenberg's energetic performance as Lex Luthor, they didn't delve enough into his character to make him anything but evil for evil's sake. I wouldn't be surprised to find a lot of his scenes on the cutting room floor. Third, some of the dialogue is pretty heavy handed. A lot of it was given to Eisenberg, so it makes it really hard to enjoy the character without a good backstory in a film that is a bit overcrowded.

That being said, the movie is passable, and it doesn't just feel like the two-and-a-half hour long "Justice League" trailer that many feared it would be. The plot was well constructed, even if the script was a little lacking. It ended up being the opposite of "Deadpool" in that way (great script, dumb plot). I can't think of anything that was a bad idea in the film, and all the character motivations made perfect sense (besides the aforementioned Luthor problems). The build to the marquee showdown is especially excellent. The action scenes are well done, and the fights have their own contained storylines that help drive the film forward better than any of the dialogue.

The characters are intriguing, and the performances carry the film so well, that it seems implausible anybody ever doubted them. Henry Cavill continues to be a soulfully tortured Superman trying to do his best in a world in need of saving. As Batman, and Bruce Wayne, Ben Affleck turns in what is possibly the best performance of his career. He is unhinged, untrusting, and unbelievably spot-on. His Batman committed a little more homicide than I would cared for, but I guess Keaton's Batman had quite a bit of Blood on his hands as well. Gal Gadot gave an incredible amount of depth to a character that didn't get a lot of screen time. It is rare that I appreciate a major character getting such a minimal amount to do, but after seeing the "Wonder Woman" footage, and knowing that we will get a full backstory on her later, it felt exciting to not get to know her better. Much like Rey in "The Force Awakens".

All in all there is way more positive about this film than anyone expected, and it outweighs the shaky problems that unmistakably plague it. It is a lot of fun to watch if you allow yourself to get lost in it, and serves as a great lead-in to a DC movie universe. If future films can improve on this structure, we may be in for a lot of fun in the future.

Grade: B-
Easter Egg: No
3D: If you can find it in 2D, see it that way.

Starring: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg
Director: Zack Snyder
Writer: Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer
RT: 151 min
Rating: PG - 13 for intense sequences of violence and action throughout, and some sensuality

2016 in Film

January 8th
Anesthesia -
The Forest - F
Lamb -
The Masked Saint -
The Treasure -
Wazir -
Yosemite -

January 15th
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - C+
Band of Robbers -
The Benefactor -
Moonwalkers - D
Norm of the North -
A Perfect Day -
Ride Along 2 - D-

January 22nd
The 5th Wave -
Aferim! -
The Boy -
Dirty Grandpa -
Exposed -
Ip Man 3 -
Mojave -
Monster Hunt -
Synchronicity -

January 29th
Fifty Shades of Black - F
The Finest Hours - A-
Jane Got a Gun -
Kung Fu Panda 3 -

February 5th
The Choice -
Einstein in Guanajuato -
Hail, Caeser! - B
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -
Regression -
Southbound -
Tumbledown -

February 12th
Deadpool - B+
Fitoor -
How to Be Single -
Of Mind and Music -
Providence -
Touched With Fire -
Where to Invade Next -
Zoolander 2 -

February 19th
Busco novio para mi mujer -
Embrace of the Serpent -
Neerja -
Race - C
Risen -
Rolling Papers -
The Witch - A+

February 26th
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny -
Eddie the Eagle -
Gods of Egypt -
The Last Man on the Moon -
Tere Bin Laden Dead or Alive -
Triple 9 -

March 4th
Desierto -
Emelie -
London Has Fallen -
Knight of Cups -
The Other Side of the Door -
The Wave -
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot -
Zootopia -

March 11th
10 Cloverfield Ln -
Backgammon -
The Brothers Grimsby -
City of Gold -
Creative Control -
Eye in the Sky -
Hello, My Name is Doris -
Hyena Road -
Lolo -
Marguerite -
The Perfect Match -
River of Grass -
The Young Messiah -

March 18th
Allegiant -
The Bronze -
Krisha -
Midnight Special -
Miracles From Heaven -
My Golden Days -
The Program -

March 25th
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice - B-
Born to Be Blue -
I Saw the Light -
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 -
They're Watching -

April 1st
The Dark Horse -
Everybody Wants Some -
God's Not Dead 2 -
Kill Your Friends -
Meet the Blacks -
Miles Ahead -
Natural Born Pranksters -
Standing Tall -

April 8th
Before I Wake -
The Boss -
Demolition -
Hardcore Henry -
Louder Than Bombs -
Wedding Doll -

April 15th
Barbershop: The Next Cut -
Colonia -
Criminal -
Fan -
Green Room -
The Jungle Book -
Our Last Tango -
Rio, I Love You -
Sing Street -

April 22nd
Compadres -
Elvis & Nixon -
A Hologram for the King -
The Huntsman: Winter's War -
The Meddler -
Sworn Virgin -
Tale of Tales -

April 29th
A Beautiful Planet -
Keanu -
The Man Who Knew Infinity -
Mother's Day -
Ratchet & Clank -
Viva -

American Ultra (2015)

Often we are given films that try to blur the lines of traditional genres, which, to be fair, is not an easy thing to do. Very few films have ever truly had success with this, that weren't just spoofs of the genres, or specific films. "American Ultra" is the latest movie to attempt this. Writer Max Landis ("Chronicle") strives to mix stoner comedy with hyper-violent action flick, and director Nima Nourizadeh ("Project X") never fully achieves this balance.

The first twenty minutes, before the gun fights and explosions, never quite elicits laughs. Instead, we are treated to weighty exposition about the relationship of our two protagonists: Mike (played by Jesse Eisenberg), a burnout stoner who works at a convenience store in West Virginia, and Phoebe, his inexplicably dedicated girlfriend of five years (Kristen Stewart). Mike is unable to leave his sleepy little town, because he gets panic attacks every time he tries, and the film opens with him ruining a trip to Hawaii, in which he was going to propose. This leads to a lot of apologizing, and a metaphor about a car crashing into a tree that makes Mike ponder if his roots are holding his love back.

We then learn he is a CIA experiment gone wrong, and is now going to be disposed of by a middle-manager, for some silly reason involving his promotion, played by Topher Grace. His only hope for survival is to be "activated" by his personal Dr. Frankenstein (Connie Britton), which sets him off into a violent spiral of self-preservation in the face of trained super-soldiers like himself. The action sequences that spawn from this are often clumsily edited, and shy away from serious gore or bone-crunching hits that robs it of being the Tarantino-esque action film hiding in the script.

Despite its failings at finding a genre, and its awkward tonal shifts, there are a lot of things that work in this film. Eisenberg and Stewart are vibrant and likable, and boast an impressive amount of chemistry with each other. Their shared screen time keeps you somewhat invested in the story, and makes you root for them to succeed, both in survival and love. Topher Grace is excellent as the sniveling one-note CIA villain, who is given a great couple of one-liners, and Walton Goggins, as Grace's lapdog assassin, is wonderfully madcap. Much of the stylized cinematography, from "Zombieland" DP, Michael Bonvillain, is very pleasing to look at.

I feel that in the hands of a more capable director, this could have been something special. As it stands, it is just a little more than okay.

Grade: C+
Easter Egg: No
3D: N/A

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Topher Grace
Director: Nima Nourizadeh
Writer: Max Landis
RT: 95 min
Rating: Rated R for strong bloody violence, language throughout, drug use and some sexual content

Two Sentences:

Big Game: Not as off the wall as I was hoping, but it was still a lot of madcap fun. The plot is mostly sparse, and the characters aren't very deep, but the silliness of the action keeps it driving to the end.

Grade: B-

Cop Car: Jon Watts has made one of the most dark and entertaining films of the year. Kevin Bacon is on top of his game, while his foils (two young boys played by Hays Wellford and James Freedson-Jackson) are a complete joy to watch.

Grade: A

Episode 00 - Crying UNCLE

http://manofconstanthatred.podbean.com/e/00-crying-uncle/

Have you ever wondered what I think about Pete's Dragon, The Land Before Time sequels, and the Masters of the Universe cartoon? Tune in to my new podcast! Also, my thoughts on "The Man From UNCLE".

Fantastic Four (2015)

Flame Off

I feel like this movie is going to take entirely more flack than it deserves. Yes. It is a mess. Yes. It does feel like two different movies that were thrown together at the last minute. Yes. The writing is bad, and the story amounts to big heap of nothing. That being said, there are far worse films that have been released in this genre (cough. cough. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2") that have set it back far worse than this movie will. If anything, Fox's reboot of "Fantastic Four" just (sort of) exists. "Fantastic Four" is roughly half of a movie. It is too short, and ends before any actual plot, or character development, has a chance to unfurl. It is a film stuck in neutral, trying to eek out an existence from what producers assume people want from comic book movies.

The excellent cast is wasted with characters who are all too singular in purpose, and lack any real depth, or emotion. It is hard to say that any of them gave a decent performance, because their characters look bored and mopey throughout the entirety of the run time. The action sequences were bland to the point of nearly putting the audience too sleep, and the film is so murky looking that you can't even find joy in the visual quality. There were a few giggles in the first thirty minutes or so, but you hit a transportation device building montage, and the whole project begins to sink.

About an hour into the movie they reach "Planet Zero", an alternate dimension... or planet... or something, and it goes from a somewhat intriguing idea to capture the adventurous nature of Jules Verne to... 80's style David Cronenberg? Except, like "The Fly", or "Videodrome", it lacks any substance, or social commentary. Then it just devolves into another convoluted plot about an evil Military Industrial Complex trying to use the team to fight foreign enemies. What we really have here is the downside of movies being made by committee. Everybody wants a slice of what Marvel has, and fanboys are clamoring for it, but nobody else has cracked the code quite yet. I guess we'll see what DC has to offer soon enough.

It was hard to watch this movie. It is hard to see one of the greatest group dynamics in comics get mistreated time and again on screen. This makes four bad movies based on one comic book property. This one, however, lacks the fun of the 2005 film, and the ambition of the 1994 original. That's right. This film had less ambition than the never-released catastrophe made the king-of-schlock, Roger Corman. We're talking about the man who made a film in less than two days. ON A DARE. Congrats Fox, that is the guy you had to do better than, and you failed. Miserably.

AND WHY WAS KATE MARA'S RESHOOT WIG SO INEXPLICABLY AWFUL?!

Grade: D
3D: N/A
Easter Egg: I left before the credits ended.

Starring: Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan
Director: Josh Trank (Sort of)
Writer(s): Simon Kinberg & Jeremy Slater and Josh Trank
RT: 100 min
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action violence, and language

Cinderella (2015)

To be completely honest, there is nothing stunningly wrong with Disney's newest adaptation of the Grimm's Fairy Tale, "Cinderella". It is beautifully shot, and the costumes and sets are marvelous. Cate Blanchett is absolutely wonderful as the Stepmother, and "Downton Abbey's" Lily James is easy to fall in love with as the title character. It just falls flat in so many places that it fails to capture the magic of the 1950 animated classic. Though Chris Weitz's manages to fill in some of the plot holes in the story, it flushes some of the characters (mostly the step sisters) out in dreadful and unfunny ways. The entire subplot with the always fantastic Stellan Skarsgard feels silly and forced, and drags the film down in many scenes. All in all, it does little to add to the mythology, but it is an easily digestible piece of cinema.

Grade: B-
3D: N/A
Easter Egg: No

Starring: Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Writer(s): Chris Weitz
RT: 105 min
Rating: PG for mild thematic elements