Movie Reviews from Chris

  ★  1/2 out of ★★★★ Madame Web (2024) Runtime: 116 minutes MPAA:  Rated PG-13 for violence/action and language. It might be a coincidence in my schedule to have watched Madame Web after Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire. Despite having drastic differences - one being a "science-fiction" film and this being a "superhero" film - both are pretty much on par with each other in terms of quality and enjoyment (perhaps to a lesser degree for this one) and share a similarity: full of potential and unique ideas, but ultimately wasted. Amidst the wave of strongly negative reviews that have circulated around the internet and audiences, Madame Web is far from an absolute disaster but still isn't anywhere good. Directed by S.J. Clarkson, writers Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless and Claire Parker forget that a narrative is vital to the movie, simply throwing their characters in the same scenarios repetitively until the final act. Madame Web opens in a Peruv...

★  1/2 out of ★★★★ Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023) Runtime: 133 minutes MPAA:  Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, sexual assault, bloody images, language, sexual material and partial nudity. I've got an interesting challenge for you: get a tally counter and press it every time director and co-writer Zack Snyder's unimpressive emulation of Star Wars uses slow-motion. It's a trademark of his films, most of them which come off as unnecessary and overly frequent. But it'll be fun continuously hitting that tally counter. Originally pitched as a Star Wars movie over a decade ago, but never getting off the ground, you can observe the blatant similarities to that beloved film franchise: the opening, which features our protagonist looking at the planets and stars in despair, the plot which involves fighting an evil ruling force, as well as visits to bars where we encounter various creatures and bounty hunters. Rebel Moon is visually magnificent, accompan...

★ ★  1/2 out of ★★★★ Leave the World Behind (2023) Runtime: 141 minutes MPAA:  Rated R for language, some sexual content, drug use and brief bloody images. In a usual post-apocalyptic film, we'll get characters stranded in a city, fighting zombies, aliens, robots or in war. There'll be action sequences, jumpscares, generic exposition and sometimes incomplete endings that require additional installments. Leave the World Behind introduces a unique take on this overdone genre, primarily focusing on a family who's disconnected from the outside world as they're on a vacation, and instead scrambles around the vacation house, which serves as the primary setting of the film. It's a piece that has great ideas, performances, and moments, but fails to coalesce into something satisfying or impactful. Amanda Sandford (Julia Roberts) rents a vacation house for her family, consisting of husband Clay (Ethan Hawke), and children Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rose (Farrah Mackenzie)...

★ ★  out of ★★★★ The Creator (2023) Runtime: 133 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for violence, some bloody images and strong language. Note: Criticisms regarding the film also includes discussions about the plot. You have been warned. Numerous things go boom and various cars flip over and crash in director Gareth Edwards’ The Creator, an ambitious science fiction piece that echoes the likes of Star Wars, The Matrix and Blade Runner. Unfortunately, despite gorgeous set pieces and impressive performances, the script from Edwards and Chris Weitz ultimately falls short compared to its technical achievements, reducing potentially great ideas into a generic battle between human versus AI, without giving us much introspect into why a war is necessary or why artificial intelligence is so important in our lives, especially the emotional components (besides, obviously, completing our tasks efficiently), instead boiling it down to a simple misunderstanding be...

★ out of ★★★★ Heart of Stone (2023) Runtime: 122 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and some language. Since, perhaps, movies like Red Notice that have debuted on Netflix with dull thuds, I've been deathly afraid of every blockbuster manufactured by the gargantuan streaming service. It all just adheres to an overly-familiar formula, where the talented cast are given nothing to work with, while showcasing luxurious places around the world. These blockbusters are distancing, forgettable, and make me approach future projects with a certain amount of dread. Some of this can be applied to Tom Harper's "Heart of Stone", although it looks less grand and more ambitious. However, the problematic execution results in a film that succumbs to unreasonable tonal shifts, plot twists, a lack of emotional connection, and terrible film-making choices that make it difficult to approach. It doesn't feel as formulaic as the...

★★ ★  1/2 out of ★★★★ Nimona (2023) Runtime: 101 minutes MPAA: Rated PG for violence and action, thematic elements, some language and rude humor. We've all heard of the "Once Upon a Time" story countless times, and the opening of "Nimona" spells fear. Would a generic storyline follow up? Would the construction of characters and scenes be depressingly derivative and half-hearted? It's all dispelled within minutes in "Nimona", a terrifically entertaining film with cute details, smart gags, placing objects and people in just the right and funny places, and dazzling action. While I'm not sure whether the tonal shift completely works in the slightly cluttered mid-section as pieces start to unfold in uncertain directions, directors Nick Bruno and Troy Crane find their emotional center and transcend the premise, leading to an inspiring and completely heartbreaking finale that left lumps in my throat countless times. You'd have to be a cold-hearted...