iamjacksmoviechannel Reviews

Bumblebee (I) (2018)

Surprisingly has some heart

[6/10 · 22 December 2018]

So have you ever wondered what a Transformers flick might look like without oogling chicks, overt racism, constant shaky cam, massive bloat, or giant robot testicles?

New director Travis Knight has and it's a damn good family film.

This new one has the always lovable Bee sent to establish a base for the autobots on Earth, where he befriends a teen named Charlie who helps him in a battle with 2 deceptions.

Hailee Steinfeld plays Charlie, a lonely girl living in the 1980's whose been internally suffering since the death of her father.

She's a change for the Transformers franchise- a girl whose emo, and more amateur mechanic than prom queen who doesn't take kindly to men telling her to smile more.

For Bee his personal challenge here is his voice. He quips like Schwarzenegger before his vocal box gets cut and it's Charlie who helps him heal from that.

The biggest and best change here is how much all this will slow down on occasion and we'll get a gentle, touching scene of how much these two need each other.

This is the best girl and her car story since...well, Thelma and Louise. It has far less suicides.

The two will bond over Alf and 80's music and the movie has the kind of cute, trample on mom's rose bushes-like physical comedy from the first one before Michael Bay felt he had to go bigger.

Not only that but the action scenes are shot with a very steady hand and thankfully don't try to go for the everything and the kitchen sink approach.

I think maybe being plunged into another robot battle is a bit too soon for me but it's the fact Knight makes me even want to consider seeing more that proves this is pretty well done.

If you liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more.

Aquaman (2018)

A True Underwater pleasure

[7/10 · 22 December 2018]

So the best Aqua-version doesn't come from James Cameron and Vinnie Chase anymore but from James Wan and Jason Mamoa.

Mamoa is Arthur, the son of a love affair between a human and the fish queen of Atlantis. A grown-up Arthur wants nothing to do with his mother's kingdom but is called upon to stop his half-brother from starting a war with the surface world.

And Mamoa's got this, turning what is a silly looking character into a true Son of Anarchy. He checks off all the boxes, the physique, the brood, the macho rough-necking, and the funny.

Really the whole cast is excellent here. He's got good chemistry with Amber Heard, who trades comic barbs and personal lessons with him, and fights well, but will be remembered most for this.

Willem Dafoe shows up sporting a man bun as Arthur's former mentor, Nicole Kidman plays Arthur's mom.

Patrick Wilson plays the half-brother, he does a fine job, but runs into the problem that usually plagues Marvel villains of having nothing to do after a while.

I much preferred Manta, a villain with a legit reason for wanting revenge on Arthur.

Most of these fish people talk perfectly underwater, which is silly, but the way they're able to see underwater is a gorgeous effect that rivals Avatar.

Really everything from the action sequences, sets, costumes is a fantastical visual. Is it going for realism? Well at one point we see an octopus playing bongo drums so you tell me.

Point is- it's pretty zany mix of things you might see in a Thor film and Pixar film and it's fun.

Much of this focuses on a magical trident and fish people angry over pollution. Do we care? To a point. 2 hours and 20 minutes of this is a little much though and there should have been more of an effort to curb that.

Overall this is fun, thrilling, and a visual pleasure with a real star turn from Mamoa. You'll want to see it on a big screen.

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

Mortal Engines (2018)

A Patchwork of Other Movies

[4/10 · 11 December 2018]

So Mortal Engines shows just how great it is that we live in a world where an adaptation of a YA novel comes every couple months.

Mortal Engines is...a film. Many films actually. Something of a patchwork of films- Mad Max, Star Wars, Waterworld, Howl's Moving Castle. That's just the surface.

Here cities have had to load themselves up on tank tracks and roam around an apocalyptic wasteland looking for fuel and food.

These gigantic monstrosities adorned with buildings, gardens, roads, and exhaust pipes never feel lived in so much as they're just eyesores.

Hugo Weaving is some big higher-up of the city of London, which is just crushing it in the whole devouring other cities thing, and he's just getting started.

Hera Hilmar plays Hester, a mopey survivalist seeking revenge on Weaving for killing her mom and scarring up her face, though not as badly as in the book cause you know, you gotta sell the teen lover angle.

Robert Sheehan is Tom, the other teen, he looks like a complete puss next to Hester and requires saving constantly.

These two encounter quirky, murderous, and freedom-fighting characters, none of which funny or memorable, as they make their way back to the final showdown with Weaving.

Of course they fall in love along the way but the movie is so fast-paced and scattered you'd hardly ever recognize they even have chemistry.

More problematic than how derivative and frankly joyless this all is is that the only real emotional beats take place in flashbacks I would have rather seen fleshed out than watch the actual movie.

The best that could be said for this is that Peter Jackson actually didn't direct it, as the marketing seems to be misleading people to think.

That dishonor goes to Christian Rivers, Jackson's storyboard artist, although it's hard to tell what drew either to this. It's a movie where even the special effects seem to be saying "we could do alot better."

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

Creed II (2018)

It's a Rocky Universe flick alright!

[7/10 · 21 November 2018]

So whatever freshness Creed brought to the Rocky universe-yeah, that's gone. Creed is now the epitome of this franchise- we get knocked down, we must get back up.

He has reached the highest success as a boxer, all that's left is fight the son of the man who killed his dad.

Rocky of course is here too and it's the layers of loss and loneliness Stallone has added to this character over the years that has made continuing this franchise worth it.

His relationship with Michael B. Jordan is great too- a blend of mentoring, friendship, jokes, and honest verbal fights on occasion that cut deep.

Stallone and Dolph Lundgren get one scene where we find Drago has lost everything except the ability to talk in complete sentences, which he seems to have gained.

These two will never appear together again except to stare each other down in the ring, where Drago pushes his son hard. The ring is where themes of fathers-sons-and legacies.

There's just as many fights as there are training montages. They're good but predictable and the occasional slo-mo punches don't hold a candle to the style Ryan Coogler brought to the first film.

The best thing about them is the focus on tactics, how do you take down a beast like Viktor Drago? That accompanied with the soundtrack is adrenaline-pumping enough to recommend.

A lot of this does follow the same formula though. There's revenge, there are many comparisons between Adonis and his father, there's an inner turmoil that needs to be overcome.

What could have been cool is actually giving Drago and his son a bit more personality.

But as is- Creed 2 is what you might expect. That's both something that works fine but also a bit of a disappointment.

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

A Positive Step for Netflix

[8/10 · 20 November 2018]

So Buster Scruggs is a limited television series from the Coen Brothers retooled into a 6 Part anthology film about the American frontier.

It's a damn near perfect pairing for Netflix, the Tv streaming service that is slowly but surely becoming a movie studio.

Tim Blake Nelson plays the titular character and the movie is never better than in his opening story.

Scruggs is a cocky outlaw with a quirky sort of reasoning that is so quintessetial of Coen brothers humor, plus he comes equipped with a guitar and turns his victims into singalong songs.

Liam Neeson takes another story where he plays a drunk ferrying around an legless and armless theater actor.

The story takes an odd and very dark turn midway through that could very well correlate with the Youtube culture of today.

It's worth noting that the cinematography of desolation in this story, and especially of the skylines, valleys, and mountain ridges of the next story where Tom Waits plays a gold prospector are as beautifully old Americana as it gets.

As the movie goes on the Coen's touch upon themes of treachery, certainty, and existentialism. Some of these end in a cruel way that snatch victory away at the last second, others will surprise you.

All of these are essentially short stories, performed well enough where we care for the characters in a very short period of time.

Some go longer than they need to but much of the time it's the point the Coen's are trying to make that keeps us interested in continuing on.

"Scruggs" is very much a gift for fans of the Coen Brothers and one of the most flat out entertaining films I've seen all year. And also a very positive step for the Netflix movie studio.

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018)

Not as good as the first, but fun

[7/10 · 13 October 2018]

So last week after Venom I said that nobody at Sony would know what going dark was if it licked them in the ass with a giant symbiote tongue. This week, I take it back.

Goosebumps isn't going to wow you with what it has to say, nor does it have much to say in the first place, but this totally understands what it wants to be.

Like the books it's based off of, it's the scary movie starter kit for kids. You get your halloween fright monsters, you get some mild jump scares, you get inspired lunacy and funny references, some for kids, some clearly aimed at adults.

This movie is everything the first movie was and everything that House with the clock in the walls wanted to be.

If you're reviewing it, sure, you can come up with the problem that the plot is pretty much the same from the first movie but the first movie generally was just the creation of a playground to workout zaniness and frights anyway so as long as those work...

Here two kids find a book from R.L. Stine. It winds up bringing Stine's dummy Slappy back to life. Slappy in turn decides he wants to complete the story of one of Stine's earlier works and unleashes a bunch of monsters on the small town in order to do that.

The whole thing is a bunch of fun and nobody is having more of it than Jack Black. He voices Slappy with Crypt-keeper like precision, especially the laugh. He later shows up in person as Stine, full of hillarious mock arrogance.

Slappy is also sure to be the best character here, one who even at his most tame is really mischievous and at his most menacing is enough to make you fear for whoever he's around.

This is also another marvel for Sony Pictures animation. The visual effects, from the costumes in the halloween store that come to life to haunted pumpkins, to demonic gummy bears.

Every once in a while the mom from the Goldbergs or Ken Jeong will come in for some comedic support. The kid actors are fine too and there's a nice message about facing fears.

Really if I was 10 i'd think this was a great movie but even as an adult, I laughed at its absurdity while admiring how it balances being wacky, frightful, and also kid friendly.

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

First Man (2018)

Technically marvelous

[8/10 · 10 October 2018]

So Damien Chazelle had Ryan Gosling dance amongst the stars in La La Land. What higher place is there to reach next but the Moon.

Gosling is first man Neil Armstrong, a pilot picked for the Apollo 11 mission that had it's fair share of hiccups as well as triumphs.

The movie itself is made up of mostly those tests- watching the pilots as they rattle and spin in high speed simulations and practice pod launches, sometimes at the mercy of technical equipment that does not hold up.

To it's credit there is a dizzying effect here. I haven't felt this nauseous in a movie since Peter Berg's Mile 22, though here the effect makes way more sense.

When the pilots wind up puking you understand where they're coming from and you have a new respect for their calm as well as ability to even remain conscious.

By far Chazelle's best feat is the moon landing itself, something as nerve racking as everything else in the film but also done with meticulous detail and moments so triumphant it almost feels like you're watching them in slo-mo. I could not look away.

There are references to the space race and to American Patriotism, it doesn't change the fact that they kind dropped the ball the iconic image of planting the flag on the moon. To me it kinda felt like following your favorite sports team only to see them not hoist a trophy.

It's also hard to gauge the public's interest in all this. Chazelle briefly looks at that but mostly seems to make us think there were far greater interests in Vietnam and Civil Rights.

Later, the public seems to can't get enough of it though. It's a movie that feels very verbatim about the mission, sometimes to the film's detriment.

Gosling is very good here though. It's not a very showy performance, Armstrong was in actuality a very stable ordinary man, emotionally distant, but humble and loving in his own way.

One thing the film does really well is show the amount of deaths he actually endured and the quiet, secret suffering he went through during those periods.

Claire Foy is great here too as his wife, the only person who seems even moderately interested in asking the tough questions, like what if the mission completely goes to crap.

And we don't get much of the relationship between Armstrong and Corey Stoll's Buzz Aldrin but what we do seems as stand-offish as what we've heard.

Overall First Man is a chronicle. That means it can feel long, it can feel too concerned with the facts, but technically as well as performance wise, this hits on the trials and successes of space exploration really well.

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

White Boy Rick (2018)

Pretty mild telling

[4/10 · 27 September 2018]

So White Boy Rick wants its thug card as a famous snitch flick but this dude aint Donnie Brasco and he definitely ain't Henry Hill. At least that's what we could take away from the movie, which is just severely undercooked.

Taking place in Detroit during the 80's, Rick is a teenager with a really crappy home life for all sorts of personal and economic reasons. His father, played by Mathew McConaughey, is trying to upset AK-47's to make ends meet.

The FBI notices this and the connection the two Rick's have to drug dealers in the area and so they recruit the younger Rick to make controlled drug buys for them. Rick will also eventually set out to in the drug game on his own.

First what the movie gets right- this is a very hopeless looking Detroit. In fact i'm wondering if i've ever seen a movie where Detroit isn't poverty stricken and boarded up.

But yeah, the whole place just seems to have shut down and people, like the main character's sister, are ready to shoot up and get strung out in order to shut down along with it.

Other than that the development in this movie is really on a sliding scale in that for the most part it's just not there.

So much of it feels like we're fast forwarding over important events and who people are.

The drug gang was mostly forgettable. Most of the time you wanna know how they're so connected to some of Detroits more elite people but that never comes.

By the time people start getting shot, you're wondering who these people even are.

Biggest disappointment is Rick himself. How does he become so connected with the gang so fast? He gets in with them and a couple scenes later he's dressing in fedoras and fur coats like a boss.

But yeah there should be so much tension in these sting drug buys and there should be some contemplation from Rick, seeing his sister go through the agony of withdrawal, before he begins his life as a bargain basement Wesley Snipes from New Jack City. But there never is cause those scenes are never even put in the movie.

The flick wants us to feel some sympathy for him over the prison sentence he got but we don't even get a sense of how big or for how long his operation was going on for, so it's hard to even assume we're getting the full story here. The character is just very underwhelming.

McConaughey doesn't really work either here. This isn't McConaughey driving a Lincoln, it's him selling guns out of the trunk of an old clunker.

He seems mostly to be a sleaze ball who ruined his kids, yet the movie every once in a while makes him appear like a loving, concerned father- my guess is so that the actor could have a tearful oscar clip at the end of the movie. Maybe this movie did have a shot at being something bigger and maybe there were scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor. But the biggest questions coming out of it is just where's the meat? How did this become as meager as it did?

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

Mandy (I) (2018)

Cage a force is bloody thriller filled with symbolism

[8/10 · 21 September 2018]

So Mandy, the newest bio-pic on Princess Bride's Mandy Patinkin. Actually no, furthest thing from. Wow, this is some movie. Maybe the best gothic revenge thriller since The Crow and the most thoughtful meditation on good vs. evil since Nicholas Windng Refn's Only Good Forgives, and not just because both seem to use bright neons to convey emotion.

Nicholas Cage is Red, the boyfriend of the title character here. He's a logger who spends much of the first half of the movie on the sideline so that we can get to know Mandy. Later on she's kidnapped by a bunch of brain addled Jesus freaks and if you think that's going to end well, you should just go see a different movie. Red seeks vengeance.

It's a revenge thriller but the first half is actually remarkably restrained and very intuned with the spiritual. Mandy for example is an avid reader on the planets and has a few stories of the pain she's felt at seeing dead or wounded animals. One could say she is even one with the heavens and Earth, the two planes of consciousness that God idealized the most.

If you hate this kind of metaphorical stuff I just said, just sit tight cause I have more of it. This movie actually got me to do some theological reading, and I understand it about as well as I did when my parents forced me into to Sunday school as a kid but director Panos Cosmatos actually does make this as fun as any director possibly could. Everything is better with LSD and blood.

That's a for real thing. The villains here really are false prophets completely screwed up on Acid. They think themselves touched by God but in actuality they are the destroyers of all beauty. Nicholas Cage really is playing a version of the Grim reaper. Death metal is the perfect soundtrack to a confrontation with evil. And this is just surface level stuff. I'd be interested in what a real theological person could take from this.

Again if this kind of metaphor is not your thing, the first half may be a bit confusing for you but you still have some excellent direction going on here. The sense of foreboding horror is always present and the lighting, especially the red neon whuch reminded me of scorched Earth, is about as on point as you can get it.

But come second half, this is Cage's show. It's not so much a new turn from him as it's just finally him doing a variation of the same gonzo performance in a movie that expertly matches his over the topness. He's a man of broken heart and righteous rage and he wears both of those things on his very bloody sleeve.

The second half is just awesome. He grabs a crossbow and even finds a sickle for extra emphasis and from there it's just bloody action straight through, with incredible fights along the way, including one with chainsaws. Nothing about this is subtle but it swings for the fences in the boldest of ways. You'll either hate it or love its insane good vs. evil comparisons.

The Predator (2018)

Not a perfect Predator movie..but fun action flick

[7/10 · 12 September 2018]

So how many Predator sequels have there been? Not counting the "vs." films, it's at least two, all of which have tried to re-work a very basic premise that worked cause it was basic.

Now Shane Black, a screenwriter who has written some of the best action comedies ever, and Iron Man 3, tries to do the same in what amounts to a fun action flick, but a pretty average Predator one.

The plot all concerns a rogue predator who escapes his planet with a stolen object, which other predators on his planet want back. The planet where they all crash land of course is Earth.

Sterling K. Brown is a military official who will stop at nothing to acquire the technology first and Narco's Boydd Holbrooke is a decorated soldier who along with a team of misfits tries to stop him.

This is all taking place after the events of Predator 2. There is even a character played by Jake Busey who is playing the son of the Gary Busey character from that movie.

Black tries to swing for the fences in terms of a new story to tell but it's pretty obvious this movie works best when it's working on the hits. Sometimes you just wanna sit back and watch some gore.

Bodies gets severed, people get thrown across the room and clawed in the face, impaled, heads will roll.

What highlights the fun here even more is Black is a funny director who knows a good laugh when he sees one.

A scene with a severed arm, an ongoing dialogue about why we call the predator "the predator" in the first place. Just examples of how Black is very adept at visual comedy and snappy lines.

He's very good with characters too, not so much developing them here but giving them a chemistry that is irreverent lunacy.

Holbrooke and his whole crew, particularly Keegan Michael Key, Thomas Jane, Moonlights Trevante Rhodes kinda reminded me of the A-Team. These guys are total section 8's and I loved each one.

In fact better than the A-Team movie. In fact, i'd like to see Black do an A-Team movie with this cast.

Brown gets some of the best dialogue and Munn is actually quite good here too. Jacob Trembley and Alfie Allen are a bit wasted but the cast is having fun.

There's something off about this movie though and it involves the predators. This movie almost seems like a Sterling K. Brown vs. Holbrooke and his crew movie more than a predator film.

There's no real joy in the hunt cause for the most part they seem to just be making periodic appearances into the story of human vs. human.

In fact this movie actually had to reshoot it's entire third act because of poor test screenings and you can tell because the last act does pull a sharp detour, taking us into the woods for some incognito Predator action.

It almost seems like Black wanted to make this such a new concept that the very nature of why people like the predators in the first place sort of gets lost.

I still contend this is a funny, action-packed flick and I liked the characters too. Even the predator action, when its on screen, is good. Just you may not get enough of them as you might want.

If you liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more.

Uncle Drew (2018)

Not as bad as first indicated

[6/10 · 29 June 2018]

So Kyrie was too injured to help either one of these guys but apparently nothing could stop him from this, a movie supposedly based off a pepsi commercial that could just as easily be a gender swapped remake of Larry Johnson's Grand-ma-ma. There's a tendency to say this movie defies expectations but then again my expectations were very low so that's not saying much. This is not intolerable, but it's sad that that seems to be all this movie is going for.

Here's a movie with a fantastic comic cast like Lil Rel Howery from Get Out, Tiffany Haddish from Girls Trip, Nick Kroll from FX sitcom The League, Shaquille O'Neal from great comedy film Steel. All of these people, and pretty much the whole cast for that matter, seem to be trying as hard as they can to make every cartoonish set piece funny. Most of the time they're just wasted though. Just you're dealing with bad jokes.

One's where guys slap some white hair and old age make-up on themselves and try to make tired jokes about the elderly funny. They only use A-trak. They have no idea about google or tinder. They like to pull over and take naps on the side of the road, complain about the cold, and pee a lot. Every once in a while the sore backs, knees, and so on will disappear and they'll tear it up on the dance floor, which I guess is supposed to be a joke and reminded me of one of those movies that Morgan Freeman does where 80 is the new 30.

Howery's Dax is a coach trying to prepare his team for the Rucker Park 50, which apparently is a legendary black top court tournament. His rival winds up stealing his whole team, his girlfriend dumps him, and he has no other choice but to turn to old Uncle Drew, a legend of the court in the 60's. Drew agrees to help out, but only if they take a journey to get his old crew back together, set to gospel and soul music, which lets us know the screenwriter has seen "The Blues Brothers".

If anything, the whole thing is sincere and the teammates played by Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, and Shaq have a good repoire with each other. I wouldn't call it acting but they're not phoning it either and they're having fun. The best laughs come from self referential material that basketball fans will pick up on. Dikembe Mutombo and Jerry West have some of the best lines.

Uncle Drew seems like the kind of thing that would be fine for families. It doesn't decline into scatological humor and the inspirational speeches seem almost designed to speak to young kids. If you've seen one underdog story, you've seen them all and Uncle Drew is never anything more than conventional and unfortunately it didn't make me laugh. But again, it's not totally disposable.

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more.

Incredibles 2 (2018)

Still Super

[8/10 · 16 June 2018]

So like everybody has been saying, it's been 14 years; there's even an apology from director Brad Bird and the cast before the movie starts. But you know, you gotta get it right. Otherwise you get the "Cars" franchise.

Even though it's been so long, very little time has elapsed between the last film. Superheroes are still illegal so the Parr family is still fighting crime under the radar.

A PR guy who has great respect for super heroes wants to change all that and he wants to send out Elastigirl clad in camera and surveillance tech to prove to the public Supes are A-ok.

"The Incredibles" has never been short on novel ideas and the main one here is that we should be able to trust those that protect us, but can we if we barely even know them?

It's timely and brings up a few questions about blindly trusting as well as public perception vs. what actually is.

At it's heart though is still a great family dynamic, one that sees a father staying home with the kids while mom gets to go out and lead an exciting work life.

The movie seems to understand feminism more than most but also that dealing with the kids is a job in and of itself, one that Bob finds himself hilariously in over his head for.

Kids are volatile all by themselves but try dealing with a pubescent teenager trying to have a social life while being part of a clandestine agency or a baby coming into a slew of powers, and you got some problems.

And of course the movie looks fantastic, from the colors to the kind of old school Metropolis this all takes place in.

The action is also just top-notch as they try to stop runaway monorails, helicopters, boats, and Elastigirl has her motorcycle and Frozone gets in on the action more and more.

It all moves at break neck speed and has a real eye-popping quality to it. You just wish that the villains were as exciting.

The main villain is secret for most of the movie but not so secret that you can't figure out who it is right away.

Also keeping it a secret for so long really does mess with establishing a feel for the character so pretty much by the time we get to the finale battle, it's hard to care about those motivations.

But other than that this is an enjoyable follow-up with comedy, action, way better visuals due to the updating of technology, and above all a charming family.

If you like this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

Ocean's Eight (2018)

Fun and Breezy

[7/10 · 7 June 2018]

So like with "Ghostbusters" the point of these female led reboots is a girl power statement that women can do anything that the guys can do.

I guess the thinking behind this one was women can rob stuff too, and they can do it with three less people. Think about that for a second and it's kinda funny.

Sandra Bullock is Debbie Ocean, sister of that guy; just released from prison and looking to pull a big job she's had planned for years.

It involves the Met Gala, a diamond necklace that has been locked away in a vault, and a glamorous celebrity named Daphne Kluger, played by Anne Hathaway.

To do it she'll need to put together a crew; all ladies you'll notice because shit, I realize i'm guilty of not even batting an eyelash when it's all dudes.

Her second in command is Jules, her former partner who's been running a bar with watered down vodka since Debbie's incarceration.

The rest of the crew consists of a bankrupt, over the hill dress designer, a jewelry maker, a hacker, a tech guru, and a fast handed pick pocket.

Much of the movie is spent hacking, replacing artwork, dealing with magnetic clasps. None of this really presents a road block to the crew but it's diverting til we get to the main course.

Bullock proves again just how underrated an actress she is, being just as good as Clooney at showing the fortitude to corale these people and all these different moving parts.

The rest of the cast is a little on and off and that has a lot to do with the movie never really feeling in-balance with itself.

Blanchett never really gets much to do but there is a cast here who really does click on comedic tangents but then they disappear for a while and when they return that spark seems missing.

Helena Bonham Carter again shows she's good at playing oddballs, Hathaway over-glams her character nicely, and Akwafina is probably the biggest surprise of the whole movie.

Just the time where they really slay is all too short and there isn't nearly as much interest in what they do afterwards.

There is a main heist here though and there is some real slickness involved, but again not much obstacle or much of Soderbergh's high style either.

Luckily director Gary Ross gives the whole movie a fast-paced, lively elegance.

He started his career as sort of a Frank Capra and I do miss those early movies of his but he imitates well and this proves a decent companion to Soderbergh's "Oceans 11".

Sometimes quite a bit so because the movie takes plot points from that liberally, including making the job not just a job but also a revenge mission.

Despite it's flaws though, this is a pretty breezy good time up until the ending which comes off a bit gangly.

James Corden shows up in a funny but unneccesary 10 min role as a detective, apparently the happy ending wasn't happy enough so there are about 6 other happy ending montages to punch it up.

"Oceans 8" could have been a funnier, more suspenseful film instead it spends a bit too much time feeling like a day at the beach, which is kind of a partial reccomendation because, you know, it's summer.

If you liked this, please check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

Deadpool 2 (2018)

The Merc has still got it

[7/10 · 18 May 2018]

"Deadpool 2" is a reminder that a movie coming out of the gate is completely different from one that comfortably falls back on characters and intentions.

That first movie was a shocking blast of the profane, the crude, the gorey, and yeah just the all out mayhem of it brought to film with stunning energy.

This feels like it's falling back; trying to do the same thing over again but as is the case with shock, it doesn't work as well the second time.

I'm not saying this is a bad movie, in fact it's a perfectly entertaining one, but it does feel like a come down from the first.

It sees Wade going through personal changes, becoming an X-Men trainee for a while, taking the fat kid from "Hunt for the Wilder People" under his wing, and dealing with a time traveler named Cable.

You can't fault this movie for trying. It goes for something crude or edgy in every scene, a scene where Wade regrows legs is guaranteed laughter right there.

Does it strain for laughs at times though? Absolutely. You can be edgy without telling 20 pedophile jokes. Five is more than enough.

You can never go wrong with throwing movie and pop culture related gags at movie fans though and these movies roast better than most.

Taking on Wolverine, Passion of the Christ, Batman vs. Superman, Star Wars, and Yentl this all works really well.

Oddly the most surprising thing here is that the movie does try to touch upon subjects of grief and the power of love admidst all the rampant sarcasm.

Ryan Reynolds is carrying most of the load and there's no doubt this will go down as his signature role at this point. From the fourth wall breaks, comedy, action, even a bit of drama, this is the most all-around comfortable we've seen someone in a super suit since Downey Jr. in "Iron Man."

Josh Brolin is good here too in a villain role that is both lethal but also in the realm of world saving. After Thanos and then this, we can basically call Brolin a villain who cares. The new character Domino is really cool here. She's played by Zazie Beets, who you'll recognize if you watch the show "Atlanta".

And Julian Dennison; I like this kid. He's got attitude well suited for comedy.

And really that's what this is. I thought when the movie brought in "John Wick" and "Atomic Blonde" director David Leitch it would up the ante on the violence but it definitely stays within being a comedy with action in it.

There's a lot of physical slapstick here, stuff he handles really well.

This is a funny movie that the people behind it are really working their asses off on.

It's also a funny movie that seems to be trying just a bit too hard to top what came before and in that you can see the seams straining at times.

But action, comedy, Ryan Reynolds, the rest of this cast, it's a good time and so 3 out of 4 stars is what i'm going with guys.

If you liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more.

The Week Of (2018)

Worst "week" ever

[3/10 · 1 May 2018]

It's hard to imagine any Adam Sandler movie being worse than "Jack and Jill" in any way but "The Week of" bests it in one specific area- why the hell does this movie have a Ronnie the Limo Driver cameo?

But while "Week Of" isn't the worst, it also ain't good. Sandler is the father of the bride trying to plan a wedding on a budget while trying to keep his obnoxious family happy.

This was all sold as a Sandler- Chris Rock movie but they're barely ever on screen together and when Rock's father of the groom shows up, he's usually bitching about his regret over being an absentee dad.

The people who seem to get way too much screen time are the gossipy yentas, drug addicts, morons, and caricatures who make up the Sandler character's family.

By the time these people come up with a plan to release bats in City Hall for some godawful reason, I was long since passed the point of giving a crap about any of them.

This is also a chance for Sandler to see how often he can abuse a legless old man, which I swear to God is most of the "comedy" in this movie.

He's in full SNL sketch mode here, even playing an average joe as if just the mere concept of being an average joe is funny.

Oddly, the last 20 minutes sort of reach the tender loving comedy we were hoping for but it's far too late for this depressing comedy that will make you want to walk of of your own house. 1.5 out of 4 guys.

If you liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)

Fight, Explode, Repeat

[5/10 · 25 April 2018]

"Pacific Rim: Uprising" is proof that Hollywood will always find a way to destroy large amounts of property..even when it doesn't really have to.

Jake Pentacost is the reluctant son of the Idris Elba character from the first film, assigned to train young recruits until remote control jaegers start going rogue.

From there much of this feels ripped off from a Transformers movie than any of the nuanced work Guillermo del Toro did before.

Steven DeKnight takes over directing. He starts out with a fun chase but by the time we get to the hour long final action sequence, I felt more than pummeled.

John Boyega does a decent job, this is more life i've seen out of him since "Attack the Block". Compared to Elba though, it's clear inspiring skips a generation.

Scott Eastwood and the rest of the cast fair much worse, they're so non-existant you forget they're in the movie when not on screen.

Except Charlie Day of course whose always a fun watch and gets the best line in the movie; "Giant robots again, real original guys."

Overall "Uprising" is a movie that starts kinda fun but quickly starts to feel like an overlong "Power Ranger" episode. That's why 2 out of 4 guys.

If you liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

You Were Never Really Here (2017)

Taxi Driver...sort of

[6/10 · 24 April 2018]

Lynne Ramsay's movie "You were Never Really Here" is being compared to "Taxi Driver" and yeah, when you have a scene where a vigilante lays waste to a prostitution den of underage girls you're going to get that comparison. Otherwise the movie is more subdued.

Joaquin Phoenix is Joe, an Iraqi war veteran who often needs to put a plastic bag over his head just to escape the major anxiety he feels. This is a violent man but he tries to make up for it by caring for his old mother and being an avenging angel.

He's called upon to save an underage girl and what follows is gritty, violent, and intense, with a few devastating surprises thrown in. But there is also a slowness here, that may be off-putting to some, deliberately there so we consider the film's significance.

Unfortunately that point-that violence begets more violence to a suffocating degree- feels like it's been done far too many times to really call it a study.

So this won't be a movie for everybody but if you like brooding performances, you'll love Phoenix's introspective turn. With only flashbacks for character development and few words spoken, he brings out Joe's turmoil nicely.

If you liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more

A Quiet Place (2018)

Silent Screams

[8/10 · 6 April 2018]

Think of how you react every time the Jehovah's Witnesses ring your doorbell; then imagine having to act that way 24/7, and then you'll know partly how the character's feel in John Krasinski's "A Quiet Place".

No shoes, no talking, no games, no loud noises. That's how the family at the center of this movie survive the blind monsters who hunt according to sound.

These monsters are fast and they are lethal but it's their design and very similarity to the end of "10 Cloverfield Lane" that will have people wondering if all this has something to do with the Cloverfield Universe.

You have to admire the adherence to the premise- everything from the way these characters cook their food to their reliance on sign language to their ability to hold in a cry to how and where they walk feels as if it's been honed through hours and hours of practice.

Accidents happen though and when they do each one feels like a shot to your heart. There may not be a lot to this plot but it's a taut exercise in genre filmmaking that makes it all the more hard to breathe as we realize just how difficult living in this new world can be.

You end up feeling for and loving these characters too which is all the more impressive since they hardly ever talk. There's beautiful chemistry between Krasinski and his wife, here played by his actual wife Emily Blunt, who deal with everything from the insurmountable task of putting the protection of the family on their backs to dealing with their own personal loss.

The kid actors they got for this also do a hell of a nice job, especially Millicent Simmonds, whose character is put at an even greater disadvantage than the others and is seen as maybe not strong enough because of it.

I see a lot of people giving this movie crap cause it was directed by the guy from "The Office", cause it's not like that other bum (Steve Carell) ever did anything more with his career. Basically you don't know. Dwight could be in a Chris Nolan movie next. You don't know. All that's known for sure is Jim does a damn fine job with an atmospheric, suspenseful, perfectly acted debut.

If You Liked this, check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more.

Electric Dreams: Impossible Planet (2017) Season 1, Episode 2

Romanticized

[8/10 · 21 January 2018]

Not sure how it goes in the short story but felt that this episode was a clear stand-out so far in that it's just beautifully told- that there will always be mystery and discovery when it comes to the human heart even when the brain has reached its limit. It may not be Earth, but the feeling you get when finding a soul mate is none greater.

Thank You for Your Service (I) (2017)

Well made, angering, and Teller again is fantastic

[8/10 · 28 October 2017]

"Thank You for Your Service" is written and directed by the guy who wrote "American Sniper", which was a divisive war film.

Some people thought it captured PTSD really well and some others thought it was just a lot of missions that glorified war and Chris Kyle, who was a totally different person than the movie portrayed.

"Service" is a much better movie than "Sniper." Yeah, it portrays these guys as heroes but it also gets it's hands dirty as far as the issues facing these guys and America's actual readiness in helping them.

Miles Teller plays the main guy, who is coming home from Iraq for good this time except a big piece of him is still there mainly because of an ambush he led his men into.

Director Jason Hall shows us the ambush in question but for the most part the most horrific stuff is of the mind- a man that couldn't be saved, the taste of something you never, ever want to taste.

And you hear stories of these big, tough soldiers not wanting to talk about what they experienced but this movie basically makes that an oversimplification.

They do want to talk about it, it's just that they really don't think anyone can grasp it other than the other guys who have been through it.

Even then, it's hard for some to comprehend how your best friend could go from drinking and laughing with you in one moment and then doing something totally rash the next until their actually in that situation.

What's pretty inexcusable though is that even the commanding officers don't even really seem to understand the strain either. There are 2 encounters here where you admire the Teller character and another dude for not flashing a double bird- that's patriotism.

Actually scratch that, you wonder why every soldier who goes to the VA doesn't tell them to "kiss my ass", at this point they really should have permission to do so.

But anyway, Miles Teller- the guy keeps looking for those challenging dramatic roles and here you feel for him. Not only does he have a big cross to bare but he's also feels like a stranger in his own home and he shows how much it all sucks.

I also give a hand to Haley Bennett and a Samoan actor named Beulah Cole. Bennett plays Teller's wife, Cole is a soldier dealing with head trauma. Both I think are star making turns here.

Also interesting here is Amy Schumer. She's in the movie for two scenes but she looks like she's been run through a car wash a couple of times to get every ounce of make-up off her. It's about as scrubbed down a performance as it gets, but also pivotal.

So I go 8 out of 10 guys. If you liked this, please check out Craig James Review on Youtube for more reviews.

The Foreigner (I) (2017)

Even a little bit of Chan is better than no Chan at all

[7/10 · 13 October 2017]

"The Foreigner"- it's Jackie Chan guys, and not just him doing a lot of slapstick like he's been doing for the past more than a decade. This is a real dramatic thriller.

Which may be bothersome to some because we were probably all expecting another martial arts flick here, but this movie still proves that an older Jackie is better than none at all.

He plays Quan, a man who loses his daughter during a sudden bombing in London. And we see him, he looks haggard and lost, a man whose rough history can be seen right on his face.

This is probably the best acting we've seen from him ever, conveying great sadness with very few words.

The bombing was perpetrated by a group calling itself the authentic IRA, a group that may or may not be affiliated with the old IRA which has been dormant for 19 years due to a peace treaty.

Pierce Brosnan plays Liam Hennessy, the Irish Deputy Minister in London. Before this post he also had ties to the IRA, ties which he is now trying to correct.

Quan believes that Hennessy knows the identity of the bombers and so be begins a full-on assault in order to get the names.

What's surprising about "The Foreigner" is just how much political intrigue the movie has. It unfolds with the twists and turns of a solid novel, which I guess shouldn't be a surprise considering how it is based on a 1992 novel.

Nearly every character has a rough or tragic past, even though there is a 19 year peace treaty, that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't still huge grudges, and the connections between people only get more complicated as it goes along.

But I say it's surprising because you just don't consider this much plotting when concerning a Jackie Chan movie. In fact for long stretches, it almost feels more like a Pierce Brosnan political thriller more than a revenge flick.

And if you were to name the film's biggest problem, it's that it sometimes feels like it's at odds with itself.

Brosnan couldn't be better here though and when Jackie is on screen, the performance is not only good but even though older, he's still spry and that is definitely something to admire in a 63 year old man.

So I go with a good 7 out of 10 guys. If you liked this, check out Craig James Capsule Reviews on Youtube for more.

The Mountain Between Us (2017)

Nice cinematography, but cold romance.

[5/10 · 6 October 2017]

Your plane crashes down in the wilderness and your only hope for survival is the passenger sitting next to you. Will you survive? Chances are if "The Mountain Between Us" was your in-flight movie, you're already off to a rocky start.

Idris Elba is a surgeon and Kate Winslet is a woman desperate to make her wedding. When their flight is canceled they both charter a private plane only to be marooned in the Utah Wilderness after admittedly what is a heart-stopping plane crash.

With very little food and Winslet's leg injured, there's numerous things that could plague both these people and without question the first thirty minutes are the strongest, especially when considering wildlife hunting for food.

Winslet going all Liam Neeson in "The Grey" is interesting on its own.

The breathtaking view of the snowy mountain wilderness surrounding them on all sides is something to behold as well and the cinematography couldn't be any better.

Just at one point these two will have to start moving if they want to survive and while both are great actors, watching them walk in the snow for more than an hour feels like we're the ones trapped and in need of rescue.

He's dubbed as the logical one, she is the one wiling to put it all on the line for survival. Funny how the one dimensional characterizations their given are just enough to tell us that one probably won't survive without the other.

Otherwise their basically in a movie based solely on the worst of romance novel clichés. You can see her mentally undressing him with her eyes even as she appears to be freezing to death. Later there's a cheeseball sex scene in front of a roaring fire.

And if that's not enough, the last act seems to be more interested in whether these two will fall in love than whether or not they survive, which I guess would placate the romance novel fans if by this point the movie had bothered to forge any kind of connection between the two characters other than sob stories and minor sob backstory.

Plus the last time a survival story involving ice, cheesy romance, and Kate Winslet came into play, it did not turn out well for her signicant other so I started to worry for Elba's safety just a bit. Whispers "she likes to hog things".

So I go 5 out of 10. If you guys liked this, check out Craig James Capsule Reviews on Youtube for more.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

A replicant of the first one

[6/10 · 6 October 2017]

It's been hard not to think of how this one was going to go if you were a film fan this week. Yeah, I know the reviews have been glowing and it's based on something that is so visually iconic. But it's also so perfectly imperfect.

Yes, the 35 year old film has that China Town setting and the Deckard apartment is such an architectural marvel and the film at it's core speaks to the cruelty of giving a consciousness to something that will never be seen as having anything to do with humanity.

Just there is something to that uttered expression most people give after seeing it for the first time, which is "that was slow". And it does lack urgency, the performances, even from human characters, seem robotic, and while there is stuff for the brain and the eye to take in, the heart just seems missing.

In fact while there are many similarities visually and story-wise to A.I., I would say A.I. just grabs me more because it just hits you right here (heart).

And you've probably heard this before but i'll say it again- if you loved the first then you'll love this. If you didn't like it, well the nearly 3 hour run time here won't help. Why? Because it's basically the same movie.

Ryan Gosling is now the Blade Runner, basically a cop charged with taking down older version androids in future Los Angeles. In 2049, there are all types of different tech including holograms, new slave androids, and apparently even one android who managed to get herself pregnant.

That later thing is what starts the Gosling character off on a mission to find Harrison Ford's old Blade Runner Rick Deckard. His travels take us through dreary off world territory used for farms, trash dumps, and child labor camps.

The visual artistry here can't be denied, from the neon signs adorning most of Los Angeles, the vast orange and blue colored wastelands surrounding it, or just how cold the city has become, cinematographer Roger Deakins has never made L.A. look more un-inviting.

Just as we go on this investigation it becomes pretty clear that a Blade Runner sequel, while not exactly boring, is not exactly necessary and also that director Denis Villeneuve was given way too much leeway as far as the run-time is concerned.

And i'm not just saying this because it feels like it takes forever for it to finally have some urgency, it's also following a lot of similar stuff from the first movie.

A main character with a mystery surrounding what exactly he is, another character who has some type of disease that leaves them isolated and creating a life of her own through technology, thematically we're still asking the same question of what is real, what feels real, and why giving consciousness to anything only to take away free will is a dick move.

In this approach I mean i guess you could say the cast does OK, although I thought everybody from Gosling, Ford, and Jared Leto playing the barely seen head of the new company creating replicants, were all a bit one note.

So I mean this is a tough one for me to score since I like the first one well enough but at the end of the day I just don't feel there was enough new here to really warrant a recommendation.

So I go 6 out of 10. If you guys liked this, check out Craig James Capsule Reviews on Youtube for more.

Marshall (2017)

Crowd-pleasing bio-pic

[7/10 · 5 October 2017]

Whether it's the Godfather of Soul, the first black baseball player, or the first black superhero, it's fair to say Chadwick Boseman is becoming one of the best actors of his generation.

So there was high hopes for this bio-pic about NAACP Civil Rights lawyer and first black supreme court justice Thurgood Marshall.

The film looks at one of the first cases of his career; a black chauffeur accused of rape by his white employer in Connecticut. Josh Gad is also in the film as a Jewish lawyer roped into being lead on the case when a judge decrees Marshall can only assist. This is important as the Gadd character has never tried a criminal case before.

You keep expecting Boseman to get that nomination sooner or later, "Get on Up" should have been his ticket, but "Marshall" while pretty good in most areas, just doesn't feel like it has enough weight to it.

I wish they did go with a bigger case of his, or just go all out and go with the one he's known most for- Brown v. Board of Education.

The movie becomes another case of a black man being railroaded by a biased and corrupt system built on fabrications. For some that may be enough to hold them; the court room scenes that take up most of the movie are often rousing if not predictable.

This is all pretty easy-going though- by the second half it's pretty much a comedy the lengths most of the white people in this movie will go to to hide their prejudices.

At times it almost feels like their trying to start a Thurgood Marshall movie Universe here- like this one may not be that good but we'll tease you with some of the better stuff to come if you want it.

But even so, Boseman brings life to this character, whether it's Marshall's perceptiveness or his gift of gab, he's cool because he knows he's the smartest guy in the room at any given time.

Josh Gad has his moments but he still can't seem to fully get out of the goofy sidekick role. We'll have to see how he does in "Murder on the Orient Express".

Oddly enough this is a bio-pic that comes across more as a crowd-pleasing good time than something that's going to be remembered at the end of the year, which is fine.

I laughed, I was invested in the court trial mostly, the performances, including from Sterling K. Brown as the chauffeur are very good. Yet you just feel like it should have done more.

So the score is 7 out of 10. If you guys liked this, check out Craig James Capsule Reviews on Youtube for more.

Brad's Status (2017)

So relatable it hurts

[8/10 · 27 September 2017]

"Brad's Status" is a comedy-drama from the co-writer of "The Emoji Movie". Notice that the marketing for this hasn't led with that.

But Mike White has done his penance here; this belongs up there with some of his best work like "School of Rock" and Jennifer Aniston's "The Good Girl".

The hero is Ben Stiller though, who plays the title character, whose reached a point in life where he can't help but find his life lacking when compared to others, particularly his friends.

And we've heard about movies that shine an uncomfortable light on us all; I know i've heard people say "mother!" does this, although many of us still have no idea what it's shining a light on.

But here it's actually very clear and very brilliant the way this film looks at things like achievement and idealism in America and how the striving for success and to put that bumper sticker on the car shouting it out can have an adverse affect.

Much of this film is Brad going through an inner-monologue with himself so be prepared for a lot of narration, but the fears he has are never ones you can't relate to and his hopes always something we feel the American dream should be, even when they're ridiculously selfish.

The best part about the film is that Stiller always feels like a character who has lived in the real world and who has had a natural progression from the way he thought in his youth to the way he feels now.

There are a number of profound moments here- one scene between Stiller and a young college student one of the best of the year. It's a slow moving movie but always compelling.

So I go 8 out of 10 guys. If you liked this, check out Craig James Capsule Reviews on Youtube.