The Creator
The obsession with artificial intelligence has entered the current zeitgeist. The Creator explores the well-worn cliche of whether AI is a menace to humanity. The threat of cognitive machines and software has been getting a lot of press in the news lately. However, the concept is far from some recent phenomenon. Fritz Lang’s silent landmark […]
Strays
In this live-action “tail”, talking dog Reggie (Will Ferrell) is abandoned by his owner, Doug (Will Forte), far from home. Thinking his master is playing a game, the Border Terrier attempts to find his way back. In doing so, he meets up with four other dogs: a Boston Terrier (Jamie Foxx), an Australian Shepherd (Isla […]
Gran Turismo
Gran Turismo may be another movie adapted from a video game, but that description doesn’t do this film justice. The racing simulation was first released as “The Real Driving Simulator” in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation. Designer Kazunori Yamauchi (Takehiro Hira) combined detailed cars from authentic manufacturers and the ability to drive them in a […]
Blue Beetle
If you’ve seen more than — let’s say — three superhero movies in your life, then Blue Beetle is going to feel familiar. The plot liberally borrows from Spy Kids 3-D, Iron Man, Spider-Man: Homecoming and a host of other films. A young man stumbles upon an alien artifact that gives him extraordinary abilities. An […]
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
The title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is quite a tongue-twister. The seventh theatrical iteration featuring the crime-fighting team is a reboot of the series. I saw the first release back in 1990, but I had not seen any since…until now. * The chronicle is another origin story that recounts how these four turtle […]
Barbie
A group of young girls are playing with baby dolls. The toys are plump and round like newborns, and the girls ostensibly pretend to be their mothers. Suddenly a statuesque and shapely poseable figure in a bikini looms large in the distance like a monolith. The girls are inspired to smash their current playthings against […]
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One
The panic over Artificial Intelligence (AI) has fluctuated in the public consciousness ever since Fritz Lang’s Metropolis in 1927. However, the current fixation with the technology has become a ridiculous obsession in the modern zeitgeist. The latest chapter in the Mission Impossible franchise capitalizes on that fear. Covert ops agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) finds […]
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Indiana Jones is out to retrieve another ancient artifact. In this chapter, it’s Archimedes’ Dial, a legendary compass that might have the ability to affect time. But it’s split in two, so both parts must be joined for that to happen. Indy is joined by his quick-witted goddaughter Helena Shaw in a spirited turn by […]
Elemental
Element City is a thriving metropolis. It is shown that water showed up first. Land came next. Air followed. Fire was the last to arrive. A hierarchy emerged. Fire is marginalized as the municipality was not designed in their best interest. The different elements live in mostly segregated spaces. Any similarities to New York City […]
The Flash
Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is the Flash, the fastest man alive. He fondly recalls his loving parents, Nora (Maribel Verdú) and Henry (Ron Livingston), before his happy childhood was shattered by his mother’s murder. His innocent father is in jail. Henry was wrongly convicted. In a particularly vulnerable moment, Barry discovers he can go backward […]