It’s been fairly quiet at the movies the past few weeks, but there are some good flicks on the way.
Peppermint
Here comes Jennifer Garner as our revenge hero, Riley North in Peppermint. Hard to see the national critics be more cruel to this movie than they are. They hate it – hard! And there are some things about this movie that are problematic. There a few gaping holes in the plot. This is fact. But, showing the total detachment from Hollywood Critics, about 85% of fans who saw it – Loved it.
North is a young mom, whose family s gunned down in a drive by shooting, and she reemerges 5 years later as a highly trained killer, and she is gonna make it right but cleaning out the gang that did the shooting, the cartel that backs them, and the corrupt officials that dismissed the court case. How did our soccer mom get these skills? We don’t know, and that’s a problem. Yes, there are too many cliche’s, yes this isn’t great, but – Audiences LOVE a vigilante flick, and love watching the wrongs made right. They will root for the underdog every time.
This is mindless vigilante entertainment. Garner is fine as the angry North, and the supporting cast is as well. The writing here is mediocre at best, but the formula works for the audience. If you go, you’ll like it because you like her, and the idea of her. Very violent, angry and action based. Peppermint, critics hate – you may love. And this is set up for more.
Crazy, Rich Asians
It has been a long time since a true romantic comedy has really been a factor at the box office, but this one is. This is terrific.
This is the story of a crazy rich Asian family and the “normal” woman who is about to marry into it. This is rally creative, and is wonderfully written as it walks the fine line between comedy and parody. This feels very good, and is set in the same manner as rom-coms were years ago. This is not vile, or raunchy at any point. It has a story to tell, and does it well. Incredible use of music, wonderfully filmed in Singapore and just flat out entertaining.
This is a breath of fresh air that virtually anyone can enjoy. Plus, this is right on time and should enjoy strong success right through the early fall, as word of mouth will be big on this.
Crazy, Rich Asians. Really well done!
The Meg
Well it’s about time we get a movie like this in the summer theaters. The Meg, is what you would think it would be. It’s campy, it’s parody, and it’s pretty darn entertaining. We need flicks like this to balance out the dark cloud at the movies this summer.
The Meg is about a group of underwater explorers that unearth a gigantic, prehistoric shark like we have never seen. And this thing becomes a big problem. Yes, this is shark movie parody, and yes this is fun and funny at times. Yes, people get eaten, but this is notbloody, or with excessive gore. This is just a a hoot at times, and right on time. But this is also handled so well, that all you see is entertainment on the screen. This does have some moments of SUSpense, but this is not INtense.
I laughed, I cheered, and I enjoyed this glorified Shark Week type of movie. And you will too more than likely. Regardless of what the national critics may say, this is just fun.
Mission Impossible: Fallout
For some reason we just don’t get tired of this Tom Cruise series based on the old TV show of the same name. And this is pretty good.
Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team at the IMF are this time trying to save the world from nuclear attack. This has a great cast, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Henry Cavill, Alec Baldwin, Angela Bassett, Rebecca Ferguson, and Michelle Monaghan. There is plenty of action to go around, and there are some amazing chase scenes that are memorable. This is filmed wonderfully, and set in a beautiful European backdrop for the most part.
This is fun, exciting and has great pace. It may be a bit too long, but what action movie isn’t? For some reason this franchise is aging well. Why? Great cast, and an original premise spawned decades ago, that is holding up against the test of time.
Well Done.
