Motherless Brooklyn: Movie Review

Classic film noir without an intriguing story.

Writer, director and producer Edward Norton has assembled a large cast of prominent actors, all very adept at comedy, and gave very few of them anything interesting to do. Motherless Brooklyn is a classic film noir played out on the Tourette's spectrum – and that's the comedy. Norton plays Lionel Essrog, a private investigator suffering from multiple vocal and physical tics often erupting at awkward moments, and again – that's where the comedy is. With this cast and premise, the movie was ripe for a dark comedy take on a film noir, but Norton chose a less comfortable, less interesting route.		2019 Directed by: Edward Norton Screenplay by: Edward Norton Based on the novel by Jonathan Lethem Starring: Edward Morton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin and Bobby Cannavale

Falling Inn Love: Movie Review

Cheap ploys, nice romance.

Falling Inn Love is another generic Netflix rom com/dramedy. It’s hard to call these pure rom coms when it’s very light on the comedy, and the conflicts are always built up as if they’re dramatic. But it’s all there, romance, comedy and the usual, predictable conflicts, all wrapped up in an easy-to-watch package.		2019 Directed by: Roger Kumble Screenplay by: Elizabeth Hackett, Hilary Galanoy Starring: Christina Milian, Adam Demos

Little Italy: Movie Review

Clichéd romantic comedy about family rivalry.

I’ve heard Little Italy most often being described as lazy, but I don’t think that’s entirely fair. Is it lazy to hire Emma Roberts, niece of Julia Roberts, in a movie which borrows from Mystic Pizza both on the surface and in its design? No, it’s more luck that the filmmakers were able to get a capable and known actress for their little movie about pizza. That’s what this movie was originally - a celebration of pizza and the unique cultural cross-section of Toronto’s Little Italy.		2018 Directed by: Donald Petrie Screenplay by: Steve Galluccio, Vinay Virmani Starring: Emma Roberts, Hayden Christensen

The 15:17 to Paris: Movie Review

A heroic ending with a muddled beginning and nothing in between.

Based on the true events of a terrorist attack successfully thwarted on a train from Amsterdam to Paris in August of 2015, The 15:17 to Paris is mostly a reminder that 5 minute events should not become two hour movies. Granted it does run 94 minutes, and director Clint Eastwood wanted to focus on the lives of the men before their heroic actions, but ultimately only the final 15 minutes were good and everything else he wanted to say got muddled in the mundaneness of life.		2018 Directed by: Clint Eastwood Screenplay by: Dorothy Blyskal Based on the book by Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone and Jeffrey E. Stone Starring: Anthony Sadler, Alek Skarlatos, Spencer Stone

Blood Honey: Movie Review

A campy story with death and bees.

There are a number of working titles floating around including “The Hive” and “The Bequest” but I wonder if they considered the very fitting “Death by Bees”. Not only does this film feature a literal death by bees but it also brings to mind the B-horror films like Killer Bees which should attract the right audience for this campy thriller. Although I’m not sure campy is the right word for a poor story played out very dramatically.		2017 Directed by: Jeff Kopas Screenplay by: Jeff Kopas, Doug Taylor Starring: Shenae Grimes-Beech

The Incredible Jessica James: Movie Review

Not as incredible as she thinks she is.

The Incredible Jessica James is only partly a misnomer. The title Jessica (played by The Daily Show’s Jessica Williams) thinks of herself as incredible. She also likes to use many other adjectives to describe how wonderful she is, but it doesn’t take long before the audience just finds her annoying and incredibly insufferable. Oddly the movie around her is mostly non-descript. An unremarkable comedy-drama mixing together a little quarter-life crisis with a romantic comedy.		2017 Directed by: James C. Strouse Screenplay by: James C. Strouse Starring: Jessica Williams, Chris O'Dowd

Snatched: Movie Review

Implausibility rules raunchy adventure comedy with mother-daughter relationship.

As demonstrated in Trainwreck, Amy Schumer is really good at playing an extreme version of a regular woman – being relatable and funny at the same time. In Snatched, Schumer’s Emily is more incompetent than the average woman, and is really funny when she quits her job right after she’s fired or breaking up with her boyfriend right after he dumps her (speaking of which, Randall Park was great as said boyfriend).		2017 Directed by: Jonathan Levine Screenplay by: Katie Dippold Starring: Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn

The Outcasts: Movie Review

The movie about unpopular high school kids on a power trip that we don't need.

The Outcasts is an indie version of a studio movie. It feels like a movie that cares more deeply about following a formula that will guarantee everyone will want to watch as opposed to just crafting a movie that everyone will actually want to watch. The norm these days is filling high school movies with overly-witty teenagers, but this high school is filled with overly-smart and philosophical teenagers who sound like they just memorized a sociology textbook. I hate that unnatural wit in teen movies, but I’m not convinced this is any better.		2017 Directed by: Peter Hutchings Screenplay by: Dominique Ferrari, Suzanne Wrubel Starring: Eden Sher, Victoria Justice

Country Crush: Movie Review

Finding its own country musical niche in a generic, uninspiring way.

It should be made very clear that Country Crush is a musical. There’s a big difference between a drama about a singer, and a musical-musical. While lead character Nancy (Madeline Merlo) is a singer and a third of the plot is her musical aspirations, this movie is pure musical. But more specifically, it’s a country musical. Similar, at least in part, to High School Musical, but make it country, very country. That description alone should turn off many viewers, but for those that are left, it does make this film unique.		2016 Directed by: Andrew Cymek Screenplay by: Andrew Cymek, Jake Helgren Starring: Munro Chambers, Madeline Merlo

The Girl on the Train: Movie Review

Great lead character leads the film astray.

Part of the problem with The Girl on the Train is that it’s not the film it was meant to be – this is of course assuming we know what it was meant to be; or at the very least it’s not the film it seems like it should be. Let’s start with the pedigree: it’s based on a popular thriller novel by Paula Hawkins, and stars it-girl, always-on-the-cusp-of-making-it-huge Emily Blunt. She’s always seemingly one good role or one big movie away from an Oscar. This could have been it.		2016 Directed by: Tate Taylor Screenplay by: Erin Cressida Wilson Based on the novel by Paula Hawkins Starring: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Rebecca Ferguson

Brother Nature: Movie Review

Fish-out-of-water, nature hijinks and familial dysfunction served up with some chaotic, rambling and unpleasant comedy.

It’s the classic fish-out-of-water story told as dysfunctional family hijinks comedy. Straight-laced and meticulous up-and-coming politician Roger (Taran Killam) is brought by his soon-to-be fiancée Gwen (Gillian Jacobs) to meet her free-spirited family at their lake house, including soon-to-be (not completely sane) brother-in-law Todd (Bobby Moynihan). But Brother Nature seemed to decide to tell this entire story on meth. Funny at times, but chaotic, rambling and mostly unpleasant.		2016 Directed by: Oz Rodriguez, Matt Villines Screenplay by: Taran Killam, Mikey Day Starring: Taran Killam, Bobby Moynihan

The Duel: Movie Review

Too many storylines spoil the intrigue and mystery.

The Duel’s description suggested that it was going for a mystery/thriller twist on a classic western. It feels about perfect time for such a send-up of genres. But the movie is actually a collection of about a dozen great ideas, only half thought out, all clashing with one another. There’s a good movie in there somewhere, but it’s hard to find. A Texas ranger is sent to a small community investigating mysterious deaths, and he got lost – or the movie did.		2016 Directed by: Kieran Darcy-Smith Screenplay by: Matt Cook Starring: Woody Harrelson, Liam Hemsworth

Get a Job: Movie Review

Miles Teller and a few good jokes can't save a schizophrenic comedy.

Is the indie star-studded Get a Job a morality tale about the pitfalls awaiting recent college grads, or a ridiculous comedy about what not to do, or is it a romantic comedy about a guy trying to keep his girlfriend happy? Who knows. It never once feels like a quarter-life crisis dramedy even though that’s exactly what it should be. The characters and their situations never feel real, which also explains why it’s just not funny enough for a comedy.		2016 Directed by: Dylan Kidd Screenplay by: Kyle Pennekamp, Scott Turpel Starring: Miles Teller, Bryan Cranston

Mr. Right: Movie Review

Combining rom-com with murder is funny but also inane nonsense.

A romantic comedy and a hit-man murder-fest. Comedy, sure, and with Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell, you’ve got the romance, chemistry, and quirky comedy to boot. If anybody can sell this violent, insane, romantic Mr. Right hero, it’s Sam Rockwell. He is fantastic. It’s just that the plot is so far-fetched and complete nonsense, that it’s just too hard to find him or this story interesting.		2015 Directed by: Paco Cabezas Screenplay by: Max Landis Starring: Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell

We Are Your Friends: Movie Review

An overly dramatic, mostly uninteresting story of a DJ.

There are three (well, actually, four) things that We Are Your Friends wants you to know: Zac Efron is really hot; electronic music is really cool; and Emily Ratajkowski has really nice boobs. Presumably you already know and/or don't care about points one and three which leaves you with the music. Thankfully, it didn't give me a headache and when Efron was actually creating his tracks, it was even interesting; just not enough to carry the entire movie.		2015 Directed by: Max Joseph Screenplay by: Max Joseph and Meaghan Oppenheimer Starring: Zac Efron

No Way Jose: Movie Review

Not enough comedy to break up the pessimistic monotony.

No Way Jose stars Adam Goldberg as Jose, born as Joseph Stern but he's 1/8th Mexican so Jose it is. There's a lot of humour present in the lead character but he's also very tiring, pessimistic, passive aggressive, and did I mention tiring? He complains for the full hour and a half run-time of the movie. While some of his complaints are funny, there is just no reprieve from his verbose pessimism.		2015 Directed by: Adam Goldberg Screenplay by: Adam Goldberg, Sarah Kate Levy Starring: Adam Goldberg, Ahna O'Reilly

Just Before I Go: Movie Review

Multiple storylines confuse the tone between comedy and drama.

Just Before I Go stars Seann William Scott as Ted Morgan, a guy who's done nothing but the middle-of-the-road approach to life and is now paying for it after his wife left him and has nothing to live for, so he's going to kill himself. It's a movie that tries to walk that line between comedy and drama but ends up failing because it's not really either.		2014 Directed by: Courteney Cox Screenplay by: David Flebotte Starring: Seann William Scott

While We're Young: Movie Review

A somewhat funny but uninteresting examination of modern life.

While We're Young is Noah Baumbach's most recent film, re-teaming him with star Ben Stiller. It's a good match since Baumbach allows Stiller to be funny but grounds him into a more mature, substantial character. Here, unfortunately, Stiller's Josh was very subdued and lacked interest and intrigue and the other characters weren't any better. Josh is married to Cornelia (Naomi Watts) whose inability to have kids is the only interesting thing about her.		2014 Directed by: Noah Baumbach Screenplay by: Noah Baumbach Starring: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts

Home: Movie Review

Leaves the comedy behind as home becomes over-populated with aliens.

Home is DreamWorks Animation's children adventure film about finding where home really is, but it's a rather misguided attempt that says a lot less about the title concept than they should. Home is where family is. That's it. The rest is filled with childish toilet humour, aliens who might look cool (but really aren't endearing at all), one cat and one human girl who is our only connection to emotion and maturity.		2015 Directed by: Tim Johnson Screenplay by: Tom J. Estle, Matt Ember Based on the book by Adam Rex Starring: Jim Parsons, Rihanna

Playing It Cool: Movie Review

Forgets the structure of a rom-com and loses the romance and comedy.

Playing It Cool. A generic title for a generic movie. The premise attempts to poke some light fun at all the over-used elements in romantic comedies. Our narrator (Chris Evans) is a screenwriter who has to write a Hollywood rom-com before he can get the job for writing an action movie. But he hates it. He doesn't care about love, romance, nor movies which combine the above with clichés. I was all set for his life to play out exactly like the movie that he's writing that he hates.		2014 Directed by: Justin Reardon Screenplay by: Chris Shafer, Paul Vicknair Starring: Chris Evans, Michelle Monaghan