August movie reviews

In theaters:

BULLET TRAIN

I thought this really delivered, one of the better action comedies in a long time. Brad Pitt does good goofy. A fun, colorful supporting cast is highlighted by Brian Tyree Henry, a never better Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and a couple of dynamite extended cameos. Fun setting, and clever fight scenes. I laughed a lot. Like, hard laughing. 

DC LEAGUE OF SUPER PETS

I saw this hoping for some fun comic book jokes. I got a few, but not enough. This was mostly just a bland, by-the-numbers animated movie with animals.

FALL

A very simple premise, where two women climbers decide to climb an old TV tower, and then shit goes wrong (because there would be no movie otherwise). I wouldn't say I have a fear of heights, but this gave me some. Yeah, it's obviously a lot of camera trickery, but it's effective. You feel like you're trapped up there. Other than some needless personal drama, and the movie ripping off the twist from Adrift, this is a very lean, gripping movie. 

EMILY THE CRIMINAL

Aubrey Plaza goes much more serious in this movie, where she plays a struggling woman who turns to credit card fraud. The movie never really sells the desperation, and with the exception of one scene that quickly flips she never feels in much danger. But it's a good story and Plaza is eminently watchable.

ELVIS

Finally saw the Elvis movie, and boy is it a mixed bag. Sometimes it is dazzling filmmaking, others it is insufferable. Baz Luhrmann freshens the biopic formula a little, even largely skipping certain stock scenes (we never see Elvis crafting any of his hits, for example), but also skipping stuff that might have been good (his film career is an afterthought). Austin Butler is quite good as Elvis. You believe it is him quite easily. But his manager/promoter/controller played by Tom Hanks is given priority screen time, and narrates. Hanks is really not that good here, with a distracting accent, and plays the guy as such an obvious sleazeball that it makes Elvis looks moronic for ever getting roped in by him. As Elvis is trapped in his Vegas residency late in the film, I couldn't help but see the Britney parallels. 

BREAKING 

This is sort of John Q with a focus on the treatment of veterans rather than health care. John Boyega is the vet, who enters a bank and threatens to blow it up if he doesn't get the money he was owed. This is based on a real story, but as a film it never quite sizzles after a very strong first act, and has a whimper of a finish. It compels though due to an excellent Boyega, the welcome appearance of Nicole Beharie, and a great performance (one of his final ones) by Michael K. Williams. 

Everything else:

PREY

The Predator franchise is not a sacred text to me, so I didn't come to this with much baggage. It's a pretty excellent entry though, making terrific use of its setting, and making an instant badass star out of lead Amber Midthunder. And it pissed off a bunch of man babies, which is always good.

FATHERHOOD

Kevin Hart can actually be a pretty effective actor when he tones down the histrionics. Never more so than in this movie where his wife dies after childbirth, leaving him to raise his daughter alone. Once in a while I just like seeing a nice sweet dramedy and this fits the bill. 

VAL

A documentary about Val Kilmer made up largely of home movie footage he shot throughout the years. It didn't quite hold my interest all the way but there is some great material sprinkled throughout. 

SAMARITAN

Sylvester Stallone is a former superhero in this one, which I thought was pretty satisfying. It has some of that grounded grittiness that something like the first TMNT had. I felt like the world it created was scary and real. Stallone is credible enough in the action, and gives an engaged performance. I thought the kid was pretty good too. The villain was forgettable. 

 

7500

Joseph Gordon Levitt is a pilot whose plane is taken over by terrorists. Basically for the entire movie we never leave the cockpit. There are 1 or 2 twists that are kind of annoying, but mostly the film stays tense and compelling, and JGL is excellent. 

THE VOYEURS 

Sydney Sweeney from Euphoria becomes weirdly obsessed with the couple in the apartment building across from her. This is a solid enough thriller most of the way, but the final act layers ludicrous plot twist upon ludicrous plot twist and pretty much implodes the entire proceedings.