Tag: 2024
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The Apprentice
4 outta 5 The Apprentice is the biographical film about the early days of Donald Trump that shows nasty events and rich people being terrible. Biographical movies come with a disclaimer that this was based on real events, but certain events and names have been fictionalized. That disclaimer is usually at the end of the…
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Venom: The Last Dance
4 outta 5 Venom: The Last Dance is a fun entry into a comic book superhero series that has always been a bit askew. It offers more spectacle than the first film although it isn’t as full on crazy as the second film was. This movie strips out a few elements from the series that…
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Saturday Night
4 outta 5 Saturday Night is an entertaining bit of mythmaking about the first time that NBC’s comedy institution Saturday Night Live went on the air (before it added Live to the title). It is a bit of an obscure topic for an entire movie, even though the show remains popular to this day, and…
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The 4:30 Movie
4 outta 5 The 4:30 Movie by writer/director Kevin Smith is him cobbling together well worn thematic bits from his previous films but in an entertaining way. This is pretty much Smith’s third film adapting his rise from QuickStop convenience store to filmmaker after Zack and Miri Make a Porno and Clerks III so it’s…
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Joker: Folie à Deux
3 outta 5 Joker: Folie à Deux is an even stranger sequel to an already strange film. While the first film is heavily influenced by the classic work of Martin Scorsese, this goes more in an unexpected direction. It is sort of a musical, but not really because a lot is mumble singing and none…
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Wolves
4 outta 5 Wolfs is a zippy movie from writer/director Jon Watts, the director of the last three Spider-Man films, and he brings a similar pace here. There is even a bit where a young man is parkour running across the rooftops, so he doesn’t entirely let the whole Spider-Man vibe drop. In his Spider-Man…
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Transformers One
4 outta 5 After several “live action” installments of the Transformers franchise, the series returns to its animated roots with Transformers One. However, there was so much CGI animation in the series’ previous films, that it’s hard to make much of a distinction between live action and animation by now. Which isn’t a bad thing.…
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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,…
BigAl Reviews 