James Cameron is one of the many students of Roger Corman who spent a lot of his early career cutting his teeth on doing smaller jobs for Corman and learning the basics. Finally given a shot with “Piranha II,” Cameron delivers a movie that’s terrible, but charming in its terribleness. It’s the beginnings of a blockbuster titan and his ability to serve something up on a grand scale.
Author Archives: Felix Vasquez
Desolation (2017) [Blu-Ray]
No matter what the tragic back story the writers feed us it’s impossible to root for characters when they make consistently stupid decisions. “Desolation” is heavy on clunky symbolism, and comprised of three characters that do nothing but make bad choices when they’re in the middle of a bad situation. Anyone with common sense probably could have made it out of the situation director Sam Patton presents, but there’s more concern with doling out goofy poetic irony than any kind of chills or suspense.
Life of the Party (2018) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]
Are we still under the spell of Melissa McCarthy? Can we admit she’s just a mediocre comedian trotting out endlessly trite and dull movie vehicles? After her attempt to revisit “Back to School” with her own silly, weird, often meandering comedy “Life of the Party,” I’m pretty much over McCarthy. Beyond “Bridesmaids” and “Spy,” she’s never managed to impress and keeps relying on vehicles that become vanity projects with husband Ben Falcone who doesn’t seem to know how to utilize McCarthy. One moment Deanna is hiding in the bushes crying after being dumped by her husband, the next as she burns her husband’s possessions, it explodes in her face, causing her to comically plop on to the ground.
Our House (2018)
I’m always a sucker for a very good ghost movie, and “Our House” is not one of them. The problem with it is both narrative and tonal, where it’s much too melodramatic to invest in the horror elements, and too horror to appreciate it as a tale of a grieving family struggling to keep it together. What we’re left with is a pretty crummy, rather monotonous supernatural drama that we’ve seen a dozen times in the past. Anthony Scott Burns seems to be aiming for a genre entry in the vein of “We Are Still Here,” but it ends up feeling more like a tame sequel to “White Noise.”
Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)
I can safely say that among the long running action franchises out there, “Mission Impossible” might just be my favorite. Not only has the series managed to re-invent itself time and time again, but Tom Cruise continues to impress and compel as series hero Ethan Hunt. He is a classic hero, a man who is bound to his work, or else the world literally falls apart at the seams. He’s a daring, bold, and clever force of nature, but he’s also one chained forever to the IMF, forced to confront not only terrorist threats, but the fall out of his past enemies that have come back to finally haunt him.
“Across the Universe”: An Underrated Tribute to the Beatles
Coming Back to theaters July 29, July 31 and Aug. 1. For Showtimes and Tickets check Fathom Events.
I still remember going online back in 2006 and watching the trailer for “Across the Universe.” As a budding Beatles fan making himself familiar with their catalogue at the time, the prospect of a movie built around their music made me excited and over joyous. I mean if they can build a whole storyline around ABBA, they can surely do the same with the Beatles, whose music tell stories of their very own and even had interesting commentaries on where the group were at the time. I was quite crestfallen when the movie landed with a thud and was generally dismissed by audiences.
Tag (2018)
One of my most anticipated movies of 2018, “Tag” is based on a true story of a group of friends who managed to stay in touch for decades by engaging in a game of tag. Playing the game since they were kids, and finding ways to be in other’s lives for the sake of playing the game and one upping each other, current “it” player Hoagie begins gathering his group of friends for one more big game of Tag. It seems their friend Jerry is retiring from the game, and in all the years they’ve played he’s never once been tagged. Now with Jerry about to get married, the group takes it upon themselves to take advantage and end his streak once and for all.