I am going I am going to do my best to avoid comparing the new musical biopic, Rocketman, to last year’s monster hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, despite there being a ton of comparisons that could be made.

For example, the director of Rocketman was Dexter Fletcher, who was the director who came onto Bohemian Rhapsody to help finish the movie up as an uncredited director after Bryan Singer’s public problems forced him off the project.

Secondly, both biopics focus on British rock stars around the same era that dealt with similar issues, such as substance abuse and sexual orientation.

Third, both films feature transcendent lead performances from their actors, Taron Egerton as Elton John and Oscar winner Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury.

Both films freely use their subjects’ music to improve the movie and…

Oh, I guess I did not succeed in not comparing Rocketman to Bohemian Rhapsody.  Fact is that, despite some similarities, Rocketman is actually very different than other music biopics.

This movie is truly a musical, not just a performance film.  You have Elton John songs used to further the story and other characters participating in the songs and the intricate dance routines.  I did not expect that as it did not seem that this was portrayed that way by any of the promotional materials.  I wondered how I was going to feel about that but I got past it quickly.

The movie also had scenes that were not the literal translation of what happened but we’re meant to show more of a fantasy, dream-like state.  Rocketman was much more of a musical fantasy than any other musical biopic that I can ever remember seeing.

Taron Egerton was spectacular as the often flamboyant but deeply troubled Reggie Dwight, who would change his name to Elton John.  The film does not shy away from the troubling aspects of Elton John’s life and deals with the topics in an original and engaging manner, and Egerton provides a stellar performance throughout the film, even going as far as recording the Elton John songs himself.  He never feels as if he were doing an imitation of Elton and, instead, feels as if he had just become the singer.

Jamie Bell has a remarkable supporting performance as Elton’s long time song writing partner, Bernie Taupin.  Fate brought them together as Bernie would write the lyrics and Elton would provide the music and the tunes.

Bryce Dallas Howard has an amazing role too as Elton’s birth mother Sheila.  Elton’s childhood is handled with some powerful scenes as we see how the lack of love from his parents shaped the man that he would become.  Howard loses herself in the role and I did not even realize that it was her until the credits at the movie’s end.

While some of the story beats are similar to other music biopics, the manner in which the story is presented is as clever and original as it could be.  Just when you think you are heading into tropes of the genre, Rocketman turns them upside down.

Rocketman is very different than Bohemian Rhapsody, so do not go to it expecting the same type of tone or film making experience.  However, the music is great and the performances are above the line.  If you are an Elton John fan, you will love Rocketman, but I do not think it is a requirement to enjoy this musical fantasy.

4.85 stars

The latest horror/thriller from Blumhouse came out this weekend and it features Octavia Spencer in a role unlike any role you have ever seen her in.  Ma is the title and Octavia Spencer really embraced the crazed elements of this character.

Sadly, there are just too many issues that the film has for Ma to really grasp the ring and be the truly shocking, frightening and disturbing film that it could have been.

Starting with Octavia Spencer, she was absolutely tremendous.  Her performance was creepy and vile despite the fact that you, as the audience, could almost relate to her traumas.

Spencer plays Sue Ann, a veterinarian assistant who is lonely and winds up buying alcohol for a group of under aged kids.  Then, Sue Ann invites the kids over to her house to party in the basement.  It does not take long for the kids to realize that, despite Ma’s house becoming the in place for high school partying, there was something more going on than they expected.

Sue Ann turns into a psycho stalker and does some dastardly things.  As the film progresses, we discover the reason why Sue Ann is as damaged as she was.  A certain high school incident traumatized her and forever altered her life path.  I was just not sure what triggered Sue Ann to start on this path of vengeance.  There really was no trigger and it seemed as if Sue Ann had spent many years living in this little town in the south with many of the same individuals as she went to school with, but she never went crazy until now.  The whole backstory was something that I just did not buy and that hurt the movie for me.

There were also too many moments when all that needed to happen was for one of the characters to call the police and the whole movie would have been over.  When there are too many times like this, it feels like lazy writing.  There were even times when Sue Ann had sent something via social media or email that showed Sue Ann in a dangerous light.  I mean it was … you know, evidence.

Ma dropped some hints through the film that there were some really messed up things going on but the movie never goes for it.  I totally thought we were going to get some reveal showing how messed up Sue Ann was, but they did not do it.  Sue Ann has a daughter and this character was one that was never developed despite feeling like the movie had some idea of what was happening to her.

The young actors do a decent job with what they are given.  I liked Diane Silvers, who played Maggie, the main character of the high school students.  Juliette Lewis was Maggie’s mother.  Their relationship seemed to change each time the plot needed it to.  The inconsistency was a problem here.

Luke Evans appears too in a small but important role as one of Sue Ann’s classmates in high school who had grown up and had a son, Andy (Corey Fogelmanis), who was dating Maggie.

Things go really nuts in the third act, which is fairly fun, especially because of  Octavia Spencer.  There are several over-the-top moments that work thanks to this talented actress.  I have to say that I wanted some more wrap up at the end of the movie than what I got.

In the end, Ma has its moments and is not a terrible movie.  It just had the potential to be a thrilling and dark story with unbelievably disturbing twists, but does not reach the level.  Octavia Spencer is awesome though and is the main reason to see this.

2.8 stars

I have been a Godzilla fan since I was but a wee-little geek watching the rubber suited Godzilla in films such as Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, or Godzilla vs. Mothra or Godzilla vs. Megalon at the movie theater matinees on Sunday afternoons in the summer.  Ah, the good old days.

of course, none of those movies are any good by today’s standards, but Godzilla has survived and has returned to the forefront of the new movie series from Warner Brothers, a direct sequel to 2014’s divisive Godzilla reboot.

When I first saw the 2014 movie, I loved it.  I think I even gave it a five star review.  Interestingly enough, the second time I saw it, I found it a little dull.  I still enjoyed it, but it felt as if my initial enthusiasm may have led me to over rate the film.

Despite this, I was looking forward to Godzilla: King of the Monsters just because of how much I love Godzilla.  I understood most of the criticisms from the last film, especially about how there was not enough Godzilla action ( which did not bother me much) and that the human characters were not engaging enough (agreed).

Godzilla: King of the Monsters certainly had more monster action (although Godzilla still is not used as much as many would like) and, unfortunately, many of the human characters are still fairly dull.

That is a shame because the cast is top notch.  Vera Farmiga is never bad, and she has a decent character arc and I always enjoy Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Farmiga’s daughter.  Kyle Chandler plays Brown’s father and Farmiga’s ex-husband.  They are fine but the story and dialogue they are handed is underwhelming.  They deserve more and they should be commended for reaching for the next level.

Early in the film, there is a storyline that is surprising and I did like that, but it really does not go anywhere.  The human are once again the weakest part of the movie, but to be fair, the human characters and story are miles ahead of the previous movie.

We get cool redesigns of all of the great Titans from the Godzilla mythos, as we continue to build toward something big.  The hints dropped about Skull Island and Kong are clearly leading us toward the upcoming Godzilla vs. King Kong film.  That should be epic, but, for now, we are filling up the rogues gallery with King Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and several other CGI creatures.

This movie really hits its stride when we get the giant monsters fighting scenes, even though a few times they are a little darker than I would have liked.  Godzilla facing off with these creatures, mainly King Ghidorah, makes for a rousing good time at the theater.  It feels as if the producers do not trust that a film with a lot of monster fights is strong enough to carry the story on its own.  So they throw talented actors to fill time between the tussles.

Or maybe they just have not yet taken the time to develop the human characters to the level that we care about them as much as we do the monsters.  I thought the Vera Farmiga character started off well, but it slipped back into the same basic thing we have seen before.

Some people claim that you should not expect great characters in a monster movie but I disagree with that.  If you tighten up the writing, it helps out everything about the movie.

I did like this movie, even though I can see its flaws.  I am not giving this a five star review as I did last time because my head is not in the sand as it was before.  Godzilla:King of the Monsters is a good time that could have been a great time and hopefully, when Godzilla goes one-on-one with the great ape, that greatest will get a chance to shine through.

4 stars

Booksmart is a new coming-of-age comedy filled with a lot of laughs and a wonderful young cast that all have bright futures ahead of them.  I have heard great hyperbole from some on this movie so I went in with high expectations.  While the film may not have reached the heights I expected, it was a ton of fun and certainly a nice addition to the genre.

Booksmart focused on the friendship between Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Beanie Feldstein), lifelong friends who had spent their high school years studying and working hard in order to get into a good college, only to find out, to their horror, that the high school students who spent their time partying were also getting into good colleges.

Finding the situation unfair, the girls decided that they would go out partying the night before graduation to make up for lost time.

I came into this movie with the thought that this might be similar to last year’s great movie, Eighth Grade, but with more humor.  However, that was not the vibe that I got from Booksmart.  It was much more like Superbad.

I have mentioned this before, but I have a bias toward movies that portray school or school staff in an unrealistic manner.  Being a teacher myself, when a film has moments that make me think that something would never happen in any school, it pulls me out of the film, and, unfortunately, there are several moments like that in this movie.

Sure, there are situations that can be exaggerated for humor effect, but some things just would never happen and those hurt the film for me.

There is absolutely no denying, though, that this young cast is wonderful and many of them have bright careers ahead of them.  Then, the characters shown here initially seem to be the one note, stereotypical type characters you see in high school comedies like this but they all have more unexpected depth that shines through as the film progresses.

In particular, a shout out to Skyler Gisondo (from Santa Clarita Diet) whose character is much more than he appears.  Billie Lourd, who plays Gigi, is one of the best running gags in the film.  Several of the young actors receive important scenes that show what it can be like in the high school world.

There are some great laughs, but I have to say there was never any time that I was laughing too hard.  There were some solid humor, but not laugh until my stomach hurt type of humor.

The most important part of the film is the relationship between Amy and Molly and you never fail to believe that they are as close as they can be.  The connection with them is clear and apparent.   Some of the relationships between the girls and their classmates do not work as well, but services the film fine.  There are some funny cameos from Lisa Kudrow, Will Forte and Jason Sudeikis.

Booksmart marks the directorial debut of Olivia Wilde and she does a fantastic job.  The film looks tremendous and each shot tells a story.  The cast is talented and the characters are much more than they seem.  Booksmart is a funny, poignant film that gives us a different look at the teenage experience.

3.85 stars

It is a simple premise.  What if Superman had turned evil when he was a child (shouldn’t use the term “What If” here).

DC Comics has investigated this type of Elseworlds type tale with the well received Red Son story, where baby Kal-El landed in Russia instead of Kansas, so this is not completely original of an idea.  However, there are some differences to Brightburn.

First off, this is not, technically, Superman.  Sure the mythos and origin are VERY similar, but the character’s name is not Clark Kent and he is not found by Jonathan and Martha Kent.  These are DC characters and are not owned by Sony, one of the distributors of this movie.  In fact, according to IMDB, the film is based more on a Marvel Comics series from the early 2000s called Supreme Power, a take-off of en evil Justice League.

In Brightburn, Tori (Elizabeth Banks) and Kyle (David Denman) Breyer were a happily married couple desperate to conceive their own child after a series of failures.  One night, a spaceship crashed outside their farmhouse in Brightburn, Kansas and their prayers had been answered.  Inside the spaceship was a healthy baby boy.  They adopt the baby and raise him as their own.

Things seem to be going fine for the little family until their son, Brandon (Jackson A. Dunn), begins being pulled by voices to the barn where the spaceship has been hidden.  The message being transmitted to Brandon is anything but positive and it changes the boy into a dangerous psychopath.

The film is fascinating in many ways though I wish it would have spent more time on character then it did.  The concept of how were these two parents, who had been so desperate to have their own child, would react when they realized that their son was not who/what they thought he was.  I think the film both touched on this, but did not go deep enough to make it worthwhile.

Still, the film becomes a tight thriller/horror film as Brandon gets more violent.  There are some scenes that are so graphic and gory that I had to turn away from the screen.  The gore was not overused though and it fit the moment each time it was used.  It is absolutely what would happen if someone like Superman attacked you.

Produced by James Gunn, you can feel the type of vibe from Brightburn that other non-MCU produced/directed/written films by Gunn have.  Brightburn is directed by David Yarovesky and written by Brian and Mark Gunn.  The promotional materials certainly lead you to believe that this is a Superman-like story but with a twist, and that is exactly what it is: a dark and violent take on the Superman story.

The performances of our three main actors, Elizabeth Banks, David Denman and Jackson A. Dunn, are all great and elevate the material to another level.  I especially enjoyed some of the subtle moments from young Jackson A. Dunn, who played several different emotions extremely well.  Elizabeth Banks is the standout as the mother who knows what is happening, but simply cannot accept it.  I do not think this is a case of a mother too dumb to see what is happening as much as it is a mother too desperate to admit what is right before her eyes.  That slight difference makes the character considerably more understandable.

There was one scene that I really disliked that involved Brandon and his father and a hunting trip near the third act that seemed to me came out of nowhere.  There were some other moments that I felt could have used some more development.  The film was only 91 minutes and might have benefited from another 20 minutes or so.

While I wanted some deeper scenes, what I got was thrilling and disturbing, full of gore and dramatic tension.  I found this a compelling Elseworlds entry and a return to form for James Gunn.

3.8 stars

I wanted to hate this movie so much.

Disney’s original animated movie from 1992 is, most likely, my favorite animated movie of those days of the Disney renaissance, and the main reason was because of the love I had for Robin Williams.  Robin Williams absolutely destroyed the role of the Genie, creating one of the most iconic and brilliant animated characters in movie history.  Just the thought of someone else trying to play the role of the Genie was not a positive thought for me.

Then, I did not hate the announcement that Will Smith was cast in the role, because I enjoy him enough, but the images we got from promotional materials of Smith in his blue makeup look so bad that it felt as if this were a train wreck waiting to happen.

Robin Williams is one of my favorite people in movies and TV history.  I went way back to Mork & Mindy with him (heck, even before when Mork was on Happy Days).  Williams made the Genie role special with his unbelievable brand of improvisation and chaotic energy.  The film was literally changed to fit in some of the stuff Robin was coming up with off the top of his head.  I remember where I was when the news of Robin Williams’ suicide broke and that was a punch in the gut for me.

So there was already lots of negative feelings working against the new live-action version of Aladdin for me.  As I said, I was ready to hate this.

I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

Let’s start with the blue elephant in the room: Will Smith as Genie.  I started out not liking what I saw right away.  I did not like this version of “Friend Like Me” and I was worried that was going to be what we got the remainder of the movie. However, it picked up dramatically after this and the version of “Prince Ali”, which had been panned on the internet after the scene was released early, I thought was great (I had not watched it early, so the film was the first time I saw the song).

As the film progressed, Will Smith’s Genie felt like it became more and more its own character to the point where I stopped thinking about this being Will Smith’s Genie and just started thinking about it as the Genie.  In fact, Will Smith was one of the best parts of the second half of the movie.

I also really enjoyed Naomi Scott and Mena Massoud as Princess Jasmine and Aladdin.  They had great chemistry with each other and they both fit the roles well.  And Naomi Scott could sing.  Her song “Speechless” was amazingly powerful and beautifully rendered.  Now, I am not sure it fit in the film where they placed it, but the song is gorgeous without a doubt.

In the trailers, I was not a fan of Marwan Kenzari as Jafar, because of the voice.  However, in the movie, Kenzari worked extremely well for me.  I thought this version of Jafar was very solid and was, actually, quite sinister.  Unfortunately, I did not think that the film’s version of Iago the parrot (voiced in the original by Gilbert Gottfried and here by Alan Tudyk) worked at all.  Iago is a major character int he animated movie and seems like an after thought here.  I am not even sure they ever actually call him Iago in the movie.

The first act of the movie felt very rushed as the film jumped right into the story, brushing past several defining character moments.  Perhaps the film believed that everyone knew the story already and could breeze past it, but it did take the movie some time to recover the momentum after this.  Once it did though, Aladdin was a good time.

The dance numbers here were all good to great.  Most of the songs were well done, once again with anything that was sung by Naomi Scott being standouts.  Magic Carpet was done flawlessly.  Some of the CGI was not great, including the blue Genie.  It always felt better when the Genie was not blue and just looked like Will Smith.

The live action film may have been a touch too long, as it clocked in at around 2 hours and 8 minutes.  It could have benefited from shaving maybe 10 minutes from the run time.

In the end, I was ready to hate this version of Aladdin, but I liked it.  There are things that I did not think worked as well as other parts, but none of it made me angry or disappointed.  I think Robin Williams would have appreciated the work of Will Smith.

3.75 stars 

The first John Wick was such a pleasant surprise.  Keanu Reeves’ career had slipped into a rut as the actor was starring in films that were not very good.  The arrival of John Wick brought him back to doing movies that were well received and entertaining.

John Wick Ch. 2 was good, but did not reach those heights.

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum falls somewhere between those two.

In Chapter 3, John Wick is on the run, trying to avoid all of the assassins in New York after he killed a member of the shadowy assassin guild named the High Table, John Wick was declared excommunicado and a huge bounty was placed on his head.

The bounty forced Wick to take drastic steps to attempt to get back into the good graces of the High Table.

Now, the story here is about as basic as you are going to get.  There are a bunch of assassins and hitmen chasing after John Wick and John has to kill them all in exceedingly dramatic and inconceivable ways in order to survive.  That’s about it.  Despite the film’s attempt at world building with its mysterious High Table or its rules and regulations that the assassins must follow, there really isn’t much more to the movie than that.

However, the action in this movie is so great you do not focus on the film’s narrative shortcomings.  Some of the action scenes are ridiculous, but they know they are and audience members can embrace that fact.  I found myself laughing several times at the results of the viciousness and I was shocked at what they showed me.  The action scenes are filmed with a ton of style and the violence level is way up there.  It is brutal and the choreography of these fights are astounding.  It makes for some serious thrills.

Unfortunately, there were some parts near the end that I found a bit boring, almost tedious.  There are only so many action sequences that I can see before I need something more, and Parabellum was approaching that limit.  Thankfully, most of the action is done so well and is so original that the stretches where I found the film dull were short and did not take away from the overall enjoyment of the movie.

Keanu Reeves plays John Wick perfectly.  There may not be a better character for Reeves to play.  He hits the action beautifully while delivering the humor well too.

Ian McShane returns as Winston, manager of the Continental, and brings his normal gravitas.  Halle Berry’s role was short but impactful.  She definitely had some back story that I would not have minded learning about as the film progressed and she made a nice companion for John Wick.  Two LOST alums were here with Lance Redding resuming his role of Charon, the concierge of the Continental, and Saïd Taghmaoui as the Elder of the High Table.  The character I enjoyed most outside of John Wick was the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) who returned from previous installments and had Fishburne chewing up scenery all around him.  Seeing Fishburne and Reeves together once again was a cool treat.

The Adjudicator (Asia Kate Dillon)  was an emissary of the High Table who arrived on the scene to dole out punishments for the last movie’s rule breakers.  She was not very engaging of a villain and seemed to exist merely as a plot point between Wick and Winston.  Zero (Mark Dacascos) made for a much more compelling villain, almost a John Wick opposite and the conflict between Wick and Zero was entertaining.

I would have liked more story than what I got, but the action made up for that with some amazing choreography and thrilling, violent imagery.  John Wick clearly is being set up to continue the franchise so hopefully they can find that nice balance between action and story.  Until then, let’s blow some heads off.

3.9 stars