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THE NIGHT BEFORE Review

Over the past half-decade the R-rated comedy has mostly languished in a post-Hangover hangover, having a difficult time finding the balance between being crass and convivial. Pre and post the 2009 dirty-minded line of demarcation, the producing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (Pineapple Express, Superbad, This is the End, Neighbors) has remained consistent with their brand of approachable insolence. The Night Before is another success, examining the state of suspended adolescence in the face of impending adulthood with honesty and observant chutzpah.

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BY THE SEA Review

Shortly after a struggling writer and his wife arrive in a picturesque French seaside resort he observes, “Anyone could find a story here.” Though By the Sea pretends he does in the end, he does not. Neither does writer/director/star Angelina Jolie Pitt. Her shiny vanity project wallows in contrivance and mistakes its dullness for profundity. At least the scenery is pretty.

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SPECTRE Review

2012’s Skyfall was a high point in Daniel Craig’s run as superspy James Bond. Not only was it a satisfying Bond blockbuster, it felt like a payoff, with the more introspective, feral take on the classic character gaining perspective and closure on his past. He seemed ready to move on to more impossible missions with a smaller chip on his shoulder and a larger spring in his step. For its first half, Spectre looks as though it may fulfill that promise, until some clunky plotting gets in the way and 007, and the audience, are forced back into the muck with a focus on more unnecessary revelations that derail the fun to a degree.

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THE GREEN INFERNO Review

There are a couple stomach-churning moments in Eli Roth’s The Green Inferno, but probably not the ones you’d expect in a modern-day feature derived from the cannibal exploitation cinema of the ‘70s and ‘80s. After the ritualistic bloodletting begins in earnest, there’s a complete release of the tension Roth had effectively established, including an intense plane crash sequence and the initial encounter between a group of college-student activists and the South American tribe they traveled to the rainforest to protect.

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BLACK MASS Review

Given its salacious true life subject matter and a talented cast doing fine work, Black Mass doesn’t feel nearly as weighty as it should. The matter-of-fact approach of director Scott Cooper doesn’t exploit or glorify the terrifying acts of notorious criminal James “Whitey” Bulger, but the flat telling of his story zaps much of the impact. As presented, the gangster tale feels like Scorsese-lite.

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WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS Review

Much like the Electronic Dance Music at the core of its story, We Are Your Friends samples beats from several other sources. While the film doesn’t reinvent the dramatic story of an aspiring artist who dreams of making it big, it arranges the raw materials in an exuberant, stylish way – kind of like a good EDM song – even if some plot mechanics drain a bit of the verve from the melody.

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AMERICAN ULTRA Review

In mashing together Pineapple Express and The Bourne Identity (among several other better movies), American Ultra never settles on which film to borrow from most heavily. The premise is filled with potential and the very nature of the film gives it an offbeat wit in the first act, but the stoner comedy and uber-stylized violence don’t come together to sustain the drollness. What could be chaotic fun is instead a disjointed mix of farce and bloody combat that’s occasionally interesting as an oddity, but is tonally strange and often obnoxious.

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THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. Review

With director Guy Ritchie at the helm, it’s no surprise that The Man from U.N.CL.E. has style to burn. What is a little surprising, however, is how effectively the slick production sustains momentum despite two stiff lead actors who basically serve as hangers for period clothing and mouthpieces for the affected, double entendre-laced dialogue of Ritchie and co-scribe Lionel Wigram.

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VACATION Review

The Griswold kids from 1983’s National Lampoon’s Vacation are all grown up, but the part sequel, part reboot they inhabit more than 30 years later is an immature, witless shell of the seminal comedy. Repurposing plot points from the original and reimagining its twisted charm as a series of tasteless gags, Vacation is an insufferable experience. It goes for gross-out humor, but only understands the first part of the phrase.

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SOUTHPAW Review

Redemptive boxing stories are old had; almost as familiar as riches to rags to emotional awakening boxing stories. Southpaw adds little to the formula. Despite director Antoine Fuqua’s signature gritty sheen and some heavy lifting – in both physical preparation and an attempt to elevate the material – from star Jake Gyllenhaal, the film can’t conceal its prescribed signposts. There’s tragedy, a stripping away of material wealth, and a fracturing of family, followed by a training montage and a final physical confrontation that serves as a metaphor for overcoming personal struggles.

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THE GALLOWS Review

The Gallows is comprised of a trifecta of horror movie lameness. The film’s found footage conceit uses standard tricks to deliver the requisite jump scares, it includes a supernatural element in order to conveniently break the rules of the physical world when needed, and weak third act twists pose as meaningful when they’re really meager. It all adds up to a whole lot of nothing.

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TERMINATOR GENISYS Review

The quality of Terminator films has rapidly declined since James Cameron’s first two installments. Terminator Genisys is a bottoming-out. It’s a rat’s nest of typical time travel plot holes, garbled mythology, bland CGI action, superfluous narrative divergences, and hokey comic relief – even by Schwarzenegger standards. One may be able to pinpoint the death of the franchise as the moment when Schwarzenegger’s aged Terminator is arrested and smiles awkwardly for his mug shot while the theme from Cops plays on the soundtrack. That’s the level of inspiration on display throughout.

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JURASSIC WORLD Review

After 22 years and two middling sequels, we’ve finally gotten what feels like a natural successor to Steven Spielberg’s 1993 dino-centric classic. While Jurassic World doesn’t conjure the same magic as Jurassic Park, it taps into a lot of the same themes and appropriates several action beats. Oftentimes the reverence is detrimental, but there’s enough distinction and forward momentum in this adventure to make it one worth taking.

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SAN ANDREAS Review

About five minutes into my screening of San Andreas a ceiling tile in the auditorium popped loose right in front of the screen and obstructed the projection. The film was stopped, an employee wielding a large pole appeared, and he knocked the intrusive object out of the way. The loud, effects-filled earthquake disaster movie was promptly fired back up. The few moments spent watching that ceiling tile flutter several feet to the floor were the most thrilling of my two-plus hours in the theater.

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POLTERGEIST (2015) Review

The restless souls of 2015’s version of Poltergeist have upgraded their method of communication to HDTV, but the film as a whole does little to repackage or freshen-up the 1982 original. This update is a half-hearted and half-baked retread that coasts on straight mimicry rather than tweaking the now well-worn formula for supernatural intrusions into suburbia.

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EVERY SECRET THING Review

The secrets of Every Secret Thing should feel bigger. There’s lots of talent behind and in front of the camera, working with potentially deeply affecting, relatable material, but the drama is flat. The subject matter of the crimes at the center of the film is horrific and stirs emotions on premise alone, though that’s not enough to make up for pedestrian execution.

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