Reviews

How do you escape from the crawl space under a Florida house during a hurricane after the discovery of a series of very large alligators have headed to the same space? With only eighty-seven minutes running time this film spends most of its time in action scenes as Haley (Kaya Scodelario) and her father Dave (Barry Pepper) […]

Rhymes with MacGruber. Might be less enervating than that almost decade old action fiasco (a spin-off of an SNL sketch whose domestic returns couldn’t equal its budget) which starred Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, and Val Kilmer (as the heavy) because of what its game headliners bring to the mix. Stuber finds solace in uniting crudity to its mayhem and wit that for older cineastes may hearken back to stuff like Midnight Run and 48 Hrs. It’s the buddy comedy template in our ‘Uber’ age that could be considered as a modern lurid and snarky spin on Collateral. Though it isn’t fair to Martin Brest and Michael Mann to mention Michael Dowse’s film with theirs. But, perhaps the set-up is inviting enough for those into the pairing of Pakistani-American Kumail Nanjiani and beefy Filipino descendant Dave Bautista as the former looks for an opportunity to receive the coveted five-star rating for the semi-eponymous ride-share app. Nanjiani’s Stu will have to take Bautista’s unhinged, driven Vic all over (with at least a couple of eye-catching set pieces) to apprehend a brutal drug baron (a one dimensional, if volatile Iko Uwais of The Raid). This odd couple are together because Vic is just a recipient of Lasik surgery and plenty of banter ensues with Nanjiani (given plenty of pungent verbiage) doing his stand-up routine behind the wheel and other weird predicaments. The narrative just doesn’t spark more than being an advertisement for what has potential for a gratuitous drollery – more humdrum than outrageous fun if one considers the likes of the recent Baby Driver. Natalie Morales, Karen Gillian, and Betty Gilpin are the notable distaff elements, mostly devices for the reluctant duo to lift each other to a better place, so to speak. You see Nanjiani had more ideal material in The Big Sick where he toiled in the same occupation (he co-wrote it, too) and Bautista more doltish appeal as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy. A self-help exchange is par for the course between Stu and Vic in between the kind of interludes that could sate John Wick Chapter 3 Parabellum applauders. Nonetheless, Stuber mostly stubs itself from the generic approach which extends to a mostly shallow delivery of course with an edge that is misjudged by Dowse (who excelled in a gritty ice-hockey milieu in “Goon” awhile back). Here, the raging and risible […]

It’s 2019 we have a group of high school teenagers on a European trip behaving like it’s the 1950s.  What a bunch of Geeks, this also includes their two chaperones.  I’m also baffled by the title Spider-Man: Far From Home.  Spidey (Peter Parker) went to Europe, an eight hour flight is not very ‘Far From Home’.  […]

Yesterday is better than it deserves to be.  On the surface we expect a science fiction gimmick has allowed Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) to become the only person on the planet to remember the Beatles many musical hits.  Director Danny Boyle and writer Richard Curtis blend the famous music with a muted romance and a twist […]

In some ways the toy characters in Toy Story 4 are suffering from the empty nest syndrome.  The end of the story revolving around Andy ended at the finish of part 3.  Now little sister Molly is willing to send almost all of the toys off to new homes.  A new owner is Bonnie a […]