Movie Reviews from Chris

★★ ★   out of ★★★★ The Whale (2022) Runtime: 117 minutes MPAA: Rated R for language, some drug use and sexual content. Man, what a tortured path Brendan Fraser has gone through. From the star of The Mummy, Encino Man, or George of the Jungle, he was one of the biggest entertainers that dominated theatres from the 1990s to 2000s. Then, in 2003, he was a victim of sexual assault by Philip Berk, a former HFPA President. Because he spoke what was right, Fraser would eventually be blacklisted by Hollywood. With additional injuries sustained from The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, his appearance in Hair Brained in 2014 marked the final time he made it to the big screen. Plagued with family issues, financial issues, and career issues, it was really an unfortunate and sad fall from fame that also caused Fraser to battle with depression. In 2021, director Darren Aronofsky, who had spent roughly 10 years finding the perfect actor to play the main character in yet another intens...

★★ 1/2   out of ★★★★   ( 👍 ) Women Talking (2022) Runtime: 104 minutes MPAA:  Rated PG-13 for mature thematic content including sexual assault, bloody images, and some strong language. "This story ends before you were born." 'Women Talking", literally titled and the equivalent of one character saying, " if we leave we will be gone", is based on the 2018 book by author  Miriam Toews. Her book is a reimagining of a very horrific real-life event that is already harrowing. For several years since the mid 2000's, men from the Manitoba Colony would use cattle anesthetic to drug young girls and women of a wide variety of ages and render them unconscious. The victims would often wake up with blood on their legs, some becoming pregnant, some eventually dying or committing suicide.  The actual story: one woman in 2009 was awake during the assault and caught two men committing the other-worldly crime. Eventually, the accused men were handed over to the...

★★ ★   out of ★★★★ Top Gun: Maverick (2022) Runtime: 131 minutes MPAA: Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action, and some strong language. What's amazing about Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel that hits theatres over three-and-a-half decades after the original, is that it has a sense of relevancy even after arriving so late. Director Joseph Kosinski, with a script from writer Peter Craig, largely avoids the problems that made the first installment a rather flimsy one. Top Gun: Maverick is undoubtedly more technically accomplished, stunning, more focused, more emotional, and finally, has a sense of competition. Someone seated near me complained about its patriotism, but that feels almost non-existent in a film with genuine heart in the right place. Set 30 years after its predecessor, Top Gun: Maverick sees its titular character return to the  United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (Top Gun), where he is tasked with training a new group of recruits ...

★★   out of ★★★★ Top Gun (1986) Runtime: 109 minutes MPAA: Rated PG. It might seem rather strange that the beloved classic "Top Gun" ultimately feels cheesy today. Sure, "Top Gun" is mostly cheerful and its action sequences are bursting with kinetic energy, but its on-the-surface script feels like a let-down most of the time. A plot recap: United States Navy elite fighter Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is a skilled yet reckless and dangerous pilot, whose stunts always end up endangering and almost killing himself and his other crewmates. He and his best friend, Lieutenant Nicholas "Goose" Bradshaw (Anthony Edwards) are sent to the  United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, or Top Gun. There, Maverick encounters a rival, Lieutenant Tom "Iceman" Kazansky (Val Kilmer) and his RIO Ron "Slider" Kerner (Rick Rossovich). Maverick soon also has an affair with Top Gun instructor Charlotte Blackwood (Kelly McGillis), which also ...

★★ ★ 1/2   out of ★★★★ The Banshees of Inisherin (2022) Runtime: 114 minutes MPAA: Rated R for language throughout, some violent content and brief graphic nudity. How do we define the meaning of friendship? Friendship is a bond you make with someone because of, perhaps, common interests, talents, or to have conversations. This is where the line dividing acquaintance and friendship kicks in. Take, for example, people you socialise with temporarily in a place like the pub. Like the characters in the film, with only a friend you would reveal more about your personal life and have more deep conversations with them. The Banshees Of Inisherin is a warm and tender exploration of friendship and the consequences it has on life, set on an idyllic and lush island, Inisherin, off the coast of Ireland. It is the year 1923, during the Irish Civil War. Lifelong friends, Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) suddenly see their friendship end, when C...