New year, new movies, let’s see what’s out there for you right now in the theaters.
This week New Movies and DVD Preview!
The Post
When you toss two huge stars together and have Steven Spielberg directing it, you should have a great movie. But here, you only have a good one. Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep star in the new flick, The Post.
It’s based on a true story that takes place in the early 1970’s, with the landmark case of the Washington Post printing deeply classified Pentagon papers, essentially proving the Vietnam War was a sham, and the government had been lying to the public for 35 years. There’s a court case too, and it’s basically a First Amendment movie. There is nothing really wrong here, there just should have been a lot more right.
Hanks and Streep are fine, and there a moments in this that are really moving. It’s a period piece and we are transported back in time nicely. There’s just something missing. I think it’s the lack of really strong dialogue, instead of a bunch of average speak. It’s a bit too long and a bit to – average, with a ton of potential, but that’s where it ends.
The Post. Rental, or stream in a couple months.
The Darkest Hour
This is simply fantastic. And right up front, Gary Oldman gives one of the best performances I have ever seen. He stars as Winston Churchill in the incredible movie about the early and dark days of WWII in England, and his defiance of Hitler and even members of his own government.
Oldman should win about every award there is for this. It’s one thing to transform and invent a fictional character for a movie. It’s quite another to take on the awesome responsibility to play maybe the most important historical figure of the 20th century. Oldman is amazing, and totally unrecognizable as he becomes Churchill. In this, Churchill is real, good, fallible, and human.
The script is incredible, and the amount of dialogue that Oldman delivers is insane. And he delivers it with unmatched skill. His performance alone is not to be missed.
The Darkest Hour. Fantastic.
The Commuter
Liam Neeson recently said he is done making action movies, but that must have been before he and Vera Farmiga made this one. His formula over the past few Mid-Winters with action flicks has proven to be a winner for him. And despite the formula, and your possible eye-rolling, I enjoyed this.
This is the story of a an ex-cop (Neeson) that has financial problems, that works in New York City and rides a commuter train every morning. He meets up with the very beautiful, but strange woman (Farmiga) who makes him a proposition one morning on the train. He gets 100K if he finds a certain person on the train and gives them up to her and her “peeps.” He reluctantly does, but later learns that he is in a world of trouble, and so is his family.
This drags badly out of the box, and is a bit too laggy after the movies main climax. BUT for the moments in between this is fun, moves nicely and holds us very well. Is this great? No, but it’s January enjoyable, and for the most part is done quite well. Special effects are good, this is filmed well, and Neeson again, is the same guy in another action movie, but I’m good with it.
The Commuter. Worth it now, or a stream later. Matinee good way to go, or bargain day.
All The Money In The World
This may be the most overrated movie of the year. This is one of those dreaded “based on true events” movies, and my radar always goes off when I see that. This is story of the kidnapping of J. Paul Getty’s grandson in the early 1970’s. Getty was the worlds richest man at that time, and his refusal to pay the ransom, and the aftermath.
This stars Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Plummer and the incredible Michelle Williams. SHE is amazing in this as the mother of the kidnapped boy, and deserves every good thing that may come her way as a result of her performance. Plummer, you may remember took over on very short notice for the fired Kevin Spacey, and gives a nice performance. But let’s not get carried away, this is not an award worthy role.
And it’s not his fault. This is too darn long, very draggy in sections, and as you watch this, you can’t help but really wonder what is fact, what is embellished, and what is flat out Hollywood. Don’t get caught up in the hype, this is a decent flick, but not one of the years best.
All The Money In The World. Stream or rental for sure, but Williams is great, she is Hollywood’s best actress.
3 Billboards Outside Of Ebbing, Missouri
This is in very limited release, and should not be missed. This small, independent movie is a remarkable story of a woman in small town Missouri, who takes out a blatant billboard campaign against the local sheriff who has not found her young daughters murderer in over a year.
This is a hard R rated movie, and should be. A GREAT cast of Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, and Sam Rockwell, bring this highly original story to life. This is gritty, powerful and extremely well acted and directed. This is tough to watch sometimes, as there is a fair amount of direct violence, but is is central to the story. This is Fargo like in its feel and in it’s timely dark comedic moments.
And this is very, very good.
Pitch Perfect 3
Do we need this? Well, no we don’t.
The Pitch Perfect series has had some real fine moments of fun, satire and self lampooning. But the old saying three’s a crowd is apt here.
OK, the music with the Bellas and the supporting cast is good again, as it always is with these movies. But the rest of this is a just a mess. They say this is the end of this very successful series, but I’ll believe it when I don’t see it.
There is nothing really new here. Same characters, same jokes, same delivery, and same formula. Movie makes just can’t help themselves sometimes. Take a nice original idea and over time make it anything but anymore, and that’s the trouble here. You’re gonna throw down 10 bones or so and see the exact same movie you saw a couple years ago.
Pitch Perfect 3. Save your money.
Jumanji
It would be very tough to release a movie that is better timed in its release than this one. Jumanji is the continuation of sorts of the 1996 original and it is updated very nicely for the new century and more up to date movie making. This stars, The Rock, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and a really nice supporting cast, that is well casted and flat out funny.
This time, our heroes go inside the game of Jumanji instead of the game coming to them. The effects are fun, the script is very solid and the imagination here is really the star. It would have been very easy to make the same movie over again, but they did not. This does a great job of tipping the cap to the original and just keeping the fun going.
Many people may wonder why this has been rebooted, and the answer is clear. This is funny, entertaining and virtually good for everyone to see. This by the numbers will be no Star Wars, but this will be the family fun movie of the Christmas season.
Jumanji. Flat out fun. Well done!
scott@wqmx.com