After I ripped Dog Days last week, people are going to start accusing me of not liking dogs.

I am a cat person.  Still, that does not affect my reviews at all.

Alpha is set 20,000 years ago and shows the domestication of the wolf into the dog, which happens over a few months (Sarcasm, if you cannot tell).

Keda (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is the son of the chief (Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson) of a tribe and the tribe is preparing to head out to hunt the Beast (aka buffalo) before the winter snow arrives.  During this hunt, Keda ends up being thrown from off a cliff and left for dead by the tribe.  However, the plucky lad survives his fall and meets up with a wolf pack.  He is able to stab the alpha wolf in defense causing the others to run away.  Instead of putting this wolf out of its misery, Keda decides to nurse it back to health, all the while training the wolf that he was the boss.  The wolf slowly understands the lessons and bonds with the boy and they start off in an attempt to return to Keda’s people before the onset of winter.

Let me mention the positives first because there are some.  There are some wonderfully shot images of the world that this is taking place in.  The cinematography is beautiful and some of the shots appear to be picturesque in execution.  Secondly, a lot of the actual relationship stuff between Keda and the wolf, which he names Alpha, work.  Sure it is somewhat formulaic, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.  The whole a boy and his dog vibe works in several spots in the film.  Finally, I did appreciate that they had a language that was not English and the film had subtitles to read.  Had Keda been speaking English, it would have made it even more ridiculous than it already was.

The biggest problem I had was that Keda must have been some kind of mutant healer because he went through so much trauma to his body that I did not believe for one minute that he was not already dead.  Just in the trailers (which I hated by the way) alone, you see him fall off the cliff, reset a broken leg between a splint, and fall through the ice and go completely under water.  There were even more things that happened to him that were not included in the trailers that I won’t spoil.  I’m thinking to myself that this kid needed a hospital, but he kept shaking off these potentially crippling and debilitating injuries only to be running from the wolf pack in the next scene.

And he spent way too much time under that ice.  I kept thinking about Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” the whole time wondering how he intended not to freeze to death.  And he did not even cut open that wolf to sleep inside it a la Leonardo DiCaprio in the Revenant

Thank goodness that Wolverine/Deadpool healing factor kicked in.

Or maybe there is some kind of special healing gusto in eating grubs.  They seemed to help both man and wolf after eating them.  Yum?

There were several parts of the film that ended up being, basically, a lot of walking.  Sure, it was beautifully shot majestic walking, but that doesn’t mean that just walking is good enough.  It made that 90 + minute film feel considerably longer.

The film kept taking close up shots of Alpha and, in my own smart-ass way, I kept giving an internal monologue for the wolf which was usually something like “I’m gonna rip his throat out” or “I wonder what this kid tastes like?”  Alpha would lend itself to a RiffTrax show.

And I was rolling my eyes so much at the end of this movie with the ridiculousness of the conclusion.  The final ten minutes were just terrible even while they were sweet.

I hate these trailers, but I had seen the Rotten Tomato score was in the 80s% so I had hope that I would like this more than the trailers.  I did like it more than the trailers, but that is not saying much.  It was a well shot film with a nice boy-wolf relationship at the core, but the rest of the film degraded those positives.

When Alpha was howling in pain, I could relate.

2.65 stars

I went into this first thinking it was one of those Disneynature films that come out like once a year.  I was confused about it though since I thought that the next one of those coming was about penguins.  I dismissed that idea, but when the movie started, it was listed as being from Warner Brothers, which caught me off guard.

Truthfully, I liked this way more than those Disneynature films for a couple of reasons.  One, it was fairly short (40 minutes) and two, it was not making up a silly story with a voice over person giving names to random animals in the wilderness and pretending that they were human.

This was an educational documentary about the attempt to release pandas raised in captivity into the wild by using the process of a man who does the same thing with black bears.

The entire film was well done and the way these researchers went about preparing these bears for the return to the wilderness was eminently fascinating.  Watching the one researcher bond with the panda cub (which had grown significantly) through a style of play that could be considered roughhouse was amazing.

The film also added its share of drama as we follow this cute panda named Qian Qian on the quest to release her in the wild.

The film was spectacularly shot and the beauty of the cinematography was worth the price of admission alone.  You just cannot help but be engaged in what these remarkably cute creatures are doing.

Kristen Bell does provide a voice over, but there is nothing but reality being presented here.  Wonderfully shot and short, Pandas had a solid 3D effect in IMAX theaters as well.  A good time for the whole family.

3.7 stars

Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg have teamed up for several really strong films including Lone Survivor, Patriots Day and Deepwater Horizon.  Unfortunately, that streak does not continue with the flawed Mile 22.

Mark Wahlberg played James Silva, a terribly damaged individual who worked as an operative in a group for the CIA.  Silva’s group was instructed to pick up a “package” in the form of a rogue police officer named Li Noor (Iko Uwais) and escort him to a plane to the United States.   The local forces tried to prevent him from leaving.  Everyone wanted Li Noor because he had a piece of information that could prevent a terrorist strike.

The movie’s premise is straightforward and simple, but the film through too much garbage at it, trying to make it into more than it should have been.  There was a good action movie to be had with just this idea, but this was not it.

The biggest problem with the film is that the action scenes, in particular the fight scenes, were so poorly shot with shaky cam that half the time I was not sure about what was happening, and that was an even bigger shame since Iko Uwais, who was involved in many of them, was the star of The Raid and is a top notch film fight coordinator and he should have been able to give us something truly awesome.  Instead the action scenes are impossible to follow or to enjoy since the camera is bouncing all over the place.

I also did not like the characters, specifically Mark Wahlberg’s character.  Silva was just about the most unlikable hero you are ever going to see.  He rambled on about insanity multiple times through the film and was just basically a jerk.  I was so tired of hearing him that I was more interested by Li Noor.  Lauren Cohan (Maggie from the Walking Dead) was also here and her character had some development.  She at least had a daughter that she wanted to see.  However, both of them had desperate anger issues that was going to mess their lives up.

Ronda Rousey was part of Silva’s crew and, though her part was small, she was actually better than she had been before.  Admittedly that is a low bar to set, but I was actually impressed with her efforts here.  Maybe those promo lessons in the WWE are paying off.

There were some exciting moments of action, but they were few and hard to see.  In the end, which has an extremely unsatisfying result meant to set up a sequel (which we will never see), the film was not anywhere near what it could have been and pales even more when compared to the list of films at the beginning of this review.

Mile 22 is far too far to go.

1.9 stars

A brutal and emotional performance from Joaquin Phoenix highlights this odd and nonconformist revenge flick.  You Were Never Really Here was released earlier this year in a limited nature and has found its way onto iTunes for streaming.

Lynne Ramsay wrote and directed this movie that finds itself trying very hard to keep its main hero Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) in a dreamlike stance.  Joe was a traumatized war vet who was now a hired gun, was hired by a New York senator to bring back his daughter who had been kidnapped, but Joe was slowly descending into his own damaged psyche.

To be honest, I had a hard time following this and I was dozing off in several sections, not a good sign for a revenge movie.

Joaquin Phoenix was tremendous in this role, bringing a certain gravitas to the part.  You believed how Joe was slipping away and was on the verge of suicide the entire film.  And the fact that you are never quite sure whether or not something was real.

The imagery here seems to overpower the story and, while that can be okay, I found it a bit too artsy for my taste.

An award caliber performance from a wonderful actor does not do enough to surpass the material for me.  While I appreciate the originality, I needed more.

2.5 stars

Spike Lee’s latest film tells a crazy true story from 1979 that has major relevance for the world of 2018… and he does not shy away from making his point.

This is one of those movies that is really powerful and sticks with you for awhile and it is very challenging to formulate your thoughts on it without a proper time of reflection.  Good for Spike Lee for creating something that makes people think.

Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) was the first African-American police officer on the all-white Colorado Springs Police Department and he was going to face some challenges.  However, the color of his skin quickly opened some doors for him as they needed him to go undercover at a speech by former Black Panther Kwame Ture (Corey Hawkins).  After the speech, the local branch of the Klu Klux Klan felt the need to recruit new members and put an ad in the paper.  Ron saw the ad and called the number.  He was able to set up a meeting with the KKK members.

Problem is… Ron is black and the KKK was not blind.  With support of his Chief (Robert John Burke), Ron recruited fellow police officer Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to go undercover and play a white Ron Stallworth and meet with the KKK.

So while Flip was meeting with the KKK, Ron was talking with them on the phone.  In fact, Ron is able to make contact on the phone with the KKK’s Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace).  Duke enjoyed the conversations he had with Ron, not knowing that he had been talking to a black man.

Some parts of the movie worked better than others.  My least favorite parts were the romantic relationship the film tried to build between Ron and Patrice (Laura Harrier), the college’s Black Power president.  It felt like something added in that just did not work for me.

However, everything with Ron and Flip and the KKK was outstanding.  I loved everything with Ron and his fellow police officers in the CSPD.  I thought both John David Washington and Adam Driver were exceptional.  Driver was playing a man who was Jewish, but was not very Jewish so he was being faced with the anti semantic hatred for the first time.  This was opening his eyes along the way.  There was great chemistry between them and they certainly are a key component to the film working as well as it did.

I also liked how Spike Lee did not completely demonize the KKK side of the film either.  Sure there were a couple of the members were played as evil, but there were many of them who just were guys who wanted to drink beer and who had a disgusting point of view.

Though the topic is extremely serious, the film itself has a lot of great moments of humor.  Some of the phone conversations with Duke and Ron were just hilarious and many of the situations were so unbelievable that you have to laugh.  The timing of the humor was perfectly executed.

Lee does not miss a chance to be political in here.  He took a couple of subtler shots at the Trump Administration in the film, using some of the wording of Trump’s own rhetoric for dialogue for the KKK.  However, the end of the film left no doubt about the intention of the message of the film.

The ending of this film is a very dramatic and gutsy moment about which I am unsure how I feel.  The scenes were absolutely powerful and emotionally compelling for sure, and I understand why he included them.  I just worry that it might send people who have a certain idealism and who may have been swayed by the film running away from it.  It absolutely stunned the theater I was watching it in as I could hear several people sobbing while these scenes were being shown.

Another message that Lee seems to be sending is that, while there are racist police officers in the world, there are also good solid men and women who take the badge seriously.  While there are too many who rush to judgment, there is still hope that the cops can be a force of good.

Topher Grace was fantastic as David Duke, bringing a side to the KKK leader that you might not expect.

There are a ton of great performances and some really biting social commentary wrapped up into a film that has great humor and a thrilling story.  This is one of Spike Lee’s best films in years and maybe his best wide release film ever.

4.25 stars

To be perfectly honest, Slender Man lost me within the first ten minutes.  I found it pretty dull and boring at the beginning and it did not pick up much after that.

The latest horror film is based on the urban legend of Slender Man, which was another issue I had with the film.  There was a real case of young girls injuring another girl because of their belief in Slender Man so it is tough to create this fictionalized version of the film.  That does not mean that there couldn’t have been a version of this that would have worked.  Maybe if it dealt closer to the psychological aspects instead of mystical it would have been stronger.

The acting in the film was, at best, competent.  It felt like all the three to four girls were doing in the movie were checking their phones or screeching.  There was not much in way of subtlety here.

There were also way too many jump scares in the film, falling back on the old trope really hard.  The music would get loud as something was about to happen and that is a technique that really needs to be handled with more of a light touch these days when you are getting top notch quality horror movies that use only a limited amount of jump scares.

The story was needlessly confusing and difficult to follow.  The characters were underdeveloped in almost every aspect.  There was really no lead protagonist throughout the film -kind of bouncing that around.  The final act had too many unintended laughs in it to be effective.

I do like how they used the Slender Man through most of the movie, keeping him in the shadows and hiding the appearance of the creature.  That was tossed out the window in that third act though and not for the better.

These days you have to elevate your game if you want to do a horror film and Slender Man did not accomplish it.  Go watch the documentary on the real life story if you are having an interest in the Slender Man because it is a better portrayal.

1.4 stars

Whether you enjoy this movie or not I believe depends on your mindset when going in to see it.  I had very low expectations going in to see the new giant sharp movie, The Meg starring Jason Statham and I came out feeling that I had seen an entertaining B-movie with some ridiculous scenes that were plenty of fun.

If someone went into The Meg hoping to see Jaws (or heck, even The Shallows), you were going to be disappointed.

The Meg is a big and stupid movie with a lot of action and a giant shark trying to eat people.  I was surprised to find that I thought that was enough.

When a group of scientists get stuck down 11,000 feet below the water and are stranded, they had to call for the help of Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) to rescue them.  Jonas had been in this situation before and he encountered something mysteriously gigantic that led to him leaving some of the people he was there to rescue behind.  Since then he was drinking a lot and out of the water.  Since his ex-wife (Jessica McNamee) was among those trapped, Jonas decided to get back in the game.

After the rescue, the scientists realized that they unwittingly released the monstrous Megalodon, the world’s largest shark that was supposed to be extinct.  And I guess it was hungry.

I enjoyed Jason Statham here.  He was unapologetically playing that 80/90s action hero who is jumping head first into danger.  There was one point where I thought that this could have been a role Bruce Willis would have played in his hey day.

After Jonas Taylor, there were very few characters sufficiently developed.  There was the love interest (Bingbing Li) who was not just a damsel in distress.  She was okay.  So was her cute daughter (Shuya Sophia Cai).  After that, all the other character were there for comedic lines or to be eaten.  I was surprised to see Masi Oka (Hiro from the TV show Heroes) in the movie.  I actually said out loud “Hiro” when he showed up.

Is this a great movie?  Absolutely not.  It is one where you have to approach it with a grain of salt (and maybe a tub of popcorn).  I went in expecting this to be bad and I came out entertained.  It is a B-level monster movie with all the silliness that goes along with it.

3 stars

This one is quite a dog of a movie.

It is a mutt.

I did not like this one much at all.

Dog Days is a romantic comedy with a bunch of couples who all have dogs or are somehow connected with dogs. Or a comedy/Lifetime movie with dogs.  There are several different stories going on with a group of actors all centered around their relationships and their canines.

The dogs themselves are fun and cute as can be.  The cast of actors are not terrible either.

The problem with this movie is that the dialogue is absolutely atrocious.  Real people simply do not act or talk like this.  There were times that I felt like the film had been written by a sixth grader, and not a particularly talented one.  People do not sound like this.  I was trying not to laugh at the way these characters were being portrayed.  It was unbelievable how poorly this film was written.

Because of the silliness of the dialogue and the poorly developed characters, I had very little interest in any of the characters of the film.  The only storyline that I was even remotely interested in was with Finn Wolfhard as the young pizza delivery boy and Ron Cephas Jones as the old man who lost the pug that reminded him of his late wife.  I liked the relationship between these two characters, but it was sadly obvious how the arc of the old man was going to come out, especially when it was intertwined with the story of Eva Longoria and Rob Corddry.

There were a couple of times where the film tried to manipulate the emotions of the crowd with the dogs, but, to me, it came off as forcing a sad scene to try to have some emotional connection to these one-note characters.

It was also just way too long, and it felt like it.  I had a young boy in my row at the theater who couldn’t have been more bored through most of this film.  He wiggled and moved and flipped around.  The film lost him, and I wasn’t much better.

This was at its best when the camera came in to close ups of the adorable dogs.  The film could have used more dogs and less humans.

1.6 stars