Female Film Critics 24/375
This Minions is more GRUvy than GRUsome. It’s full of our favorite tunes and take offs of fondly remembered TV shows and movies of the psychedelic times. Fast paced and funny like an old Looney Tunes cartoon for the kids, and full of nostalgia and plays on words for the bigger humans.
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Elvis is a sensational spectacle meant for the big screen. Even with a runtime of 2 1/2 hours, Luhrmann flashes Presley’s life before our eyes. He keeps things moving as fast as Elvis’ pelvis. Elvis Aaron Presley was unique and irreplaceable and this film shows us why, warts and all. It’s not always good to be The King.
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Set in 1978 Denver, an abducted teenager uses an unplugged wall phone in a sound proof basement crypt to communicate with a sadistic killer’s previous victims in hopes of saving his own life. The Black Phone is a perplexing puzzle that won’t leave you hanging…up. It won’t necessarily have you on the edge of your seat either, but that’s only because The Black Phone is more creepy than it is frightening. It’s more like watching a crime drama with jump scares.
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Lightyear: Come with a Buzz and you’ll leave with a smile. Lightyear is a prequel, of sorts, to Toy Story. Think of it as the movie Andy watched that made Buzz Lightyear his hero and inspired hia favorite doll. This is NOT a Toy Story movie. Even though they are animated, the characters in the film aren’t toys, but Space Rangers trying to get back to their planet after a mission mishap that took them to infinity and beyond.
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Think of it as The Office with the Monty Python cast of characters inhabiting the cubicles. It’s a super silly Young Frankenstein. Brian, a lonely inventor living in the Welsh countryside, decides to build himself a robot out of the trash he found in the neighborhood rubbish cans. Calling him Charles, he’s no Abby Normal, but an artificially intelligent hunk of scrap metal with a mannequin head and a washing machine body.
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Dinosaurs are chasing Bryce Dallas Howard again and this time she’s wearing flats. The good: double the dinosaurs, plenty of action, nostalgia, more snarky Jeff Goldblum, and strong and smart female characters that are the equal of men. The not so good: multiple meh storylines, cheesy acting, and not enough people get eaten. You know that’s what the public really wants.
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Adam Sandler is trying to pull one over on us in Hustle. The 5’9” out of shape funny man is playing a former basketball player at Temple — #22, the Double Deuce, who’s career ended after an unfortunate accident stopped him from hooping and left him to forge a rather lengthy career as a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, Hustle is fast paced, predictable and crowd pleasing. The Waterboy finally grew up to be the coach. He turns up the witty charm despite having no chemistry with Latifah, who plays his wife.
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You’d think Hollywood would be entering the danger zone by bringing us a sequel so many years later, but goodness gracious great balls of fire, fans will NOT be losing that loving feeling. “Top Gun: Maverick” gives groupies everything they want and more, even though Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer are the only returning stars. With Kilmer suffering from throat cancer in real life, it’s amazing he was able to make the film and he looks great. Even our hero, Tom, finally showing he’s not totally ageless, proves no mission is impossible doing his own flying and, as a producer, making sure the action was real and didn’t rely on CGI. If you have a need for speed, Top Gun: Maverick is your thrill ride of the summer.
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In Downton Abbey: The New Era. the Crawleys of Grantham have invited us back into their stately manor to catch us up on what the Earl, his family, and all of the spunky servants have been up to of late. This is the sequel to the 2019 movie spinoff of the globally popular six-season TV series that lasted from 2010 to 2015. Fans of the Downton Abbey franchise will find The New Era scathingly delicious and sentimentally sweet. But, if you’ve never visited the Granthams before, you’ll probably have more fun watching your favorite DVD.
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The whole time you are watching this movie you have the feeling you’ve seen it before. Escape the Field is light on scares and thin on character development while being heavy on mediocre dialogue and choppy editing, but the mostly unknown cast is somewhat likable and at only 88 minutes, it’s an interesting enough brain teaser,
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