Category: Movie Reviews
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Uglies
2 outta 5 Uglies is a YA novel adaptation that really doesn’t offer anything particularly good. It feels cobbled together from other sci-fi dystopian franchises and that bubble burst a few years ago. The central hook, that people in a dystopian future society undergo mandatory, mind-controlling cosmetic surgery, feels basic. Even the action, such as…
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The Instigators
4 outta 5 The Instigators is a fun flick about low rent crooks getting up to hijinks and setbacks trying to get one big score. Also, there is a psychotherapy angle as the crooks get caught up with a therapist amidst a series of unfortunate heist bungles. There is a pretty stacked cast that is…
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Jackpot!
4 outta 5 As far as action comedies about future dystopias go, Jackpot! is entertaining. The leads have good chemistry, and the constant action is engaging, even if just a bit numbing. It is consistently funny with some random asides like one of the main characters rapping the “Turtle Power” rap from the 1980s movie,…
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Alien: Romulus
4 outta 5 Alien: Romulus is a crackerjack entry in the Alien franchise that flips between knowing homages, splicing in bits of continuity, flat-out ripping off others and repeating some bits exactly. It can be sort of a “greatest hits” version of a few Alien movies all combined into one, and its willingness to take…
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Alien: Covenant (2017 review)
4 outta 5 Director Ridley Scott straight up made a sci-fi horror masterpiece with 1979’s Alien. After staying away from the series for a few decades, his return in 2012 with Prometheus was a heady, sideways, horror-infused look at the fringes of the mythology surrounding the series. It’s an interesting take on the Alien storyline…
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Prometheus (2012 review)
4 outta 5 There’s a scene in Prometheus, Director Ridley Scott’s kinda-prequel to Alien, that involves a character and a surgical procedure that is riveting. It recalls the shocking chest-burster scene in Alien and doesn’t quite reach that level but it gets close. That, in a nutshell, is what you would say Prometheus is. It’s…
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Borderlands
2 outta 5 Borderlands is a movie that isn’t as much fun as it tries to be. There is some fun stuff in here, like a lead performance that is a lot more enjoyable than others in the role would be. But there is also a heck of a lot of unneeded lore and plot…
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Young Woman and the Sea
4 outta 5 Young Woman and the Sea is a stirring sports drama that is inspired by the true story of a woman from 100 years ago who swam the English Channel, a feat that was an incredible display of athletic endurance. The film is affably performed and features impressive swimming scenes as the audience…
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Deadpool and Wolverine
5 outta 5 Deadpool and Wolverine is the third Deadpool starring film but due to corporate buyouts and expanding cinematic universes, it sort of becomes a quasi-sequel to multiple film and TV series, integrating into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe storyline. It is a lot, but it is never overbearing, as the story really focuses…
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Twisters
3 outta 5 Twisters is the few decades later sequel to 1996’s Twister that at least manages keep in the same tone of the original. There are specific beats ripped from there: interpersonal melodrama and flirting, an opening traumatic tornado to establish the main character’s fear of storms, competing storm chasers (one cool and indie…
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