June movie reviews

In theaters:

KARATE KID: LEGENDS

This movie is a little bit of a bait and switch. It's marketed as being a merging of new and old KK movies, with Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio teaming up to help teach a kid to fight. But it only becomes that late in the film. The rest of the movie is unceasingly formulaic but charming enough. Made me very hungry for pizza, too. 

BALLERINA

Do we need a John Wick spinoff? Not really. But do we need Ana de Armas in everything? Oh yes!

This movie is more of the same from this franchise, so it's more elaborate action scenes with lots of gun-fu. More assassin underworld world building. And like the 1st Wick, it's a straight-up revenge story. I would say that the freshness isn't there, but the action delivers big time, including a glorious finale involving flamethrowers. And de Armas is a fucking star. I don't know how that could be disputed. I'm not quite sure this did well enough to keep it going, but I need more of her in action movies.

28 YEARS LATER

One of my most anticipated summer movies, this threequel brings back Danny Boyle and Alex Garland, for a film that kind of retcons the ending of 28 Weeks Later, and restricts the action to England again. It takes place in a future where the rage virus is just a way of life in a country that has been completely shut off from the rest of the world. There's this little island of villagers who get by, and occasionally travel to the mainland for hunting mostly.

This is not the film I expected. It has its share of zombie and action and gore (and way too much zombie schlong), but it is largely a drama centered on a kid (the superb Alfie Williams) coming of age, and dealing with a mysteriously ill mother (fantastic Jodie Comer). The best part of the film is when a brillaint Ralph Fiennes shows up as a mysterious doctor who lives on the mainland.

The drama works. It's an unexpected tearjerker. But the way this meshes with the genre stuff is rocky. There are some evolutions with the infected that don't really gel with the established rules.

The film is supposed to kick off a new trilogy (part 2 is in the can and out next year). I'm interested in seeing where it goes, but I might temper expectations. 

F1

A lavish, expensive racing movie from the director of Top Gun: Maverick, and existing almost as the same story just in a different setting. Brad Pitt exudes all the movie star charisma he's got as an aging racer clashing with an upstart (Damson Idris, who I was unfamiliar with but really liked). You can bet this follows the formula of the sports movie to the letter. I don't tend to mind that, but this movie really has no surprises. What it does have are impeccably shot racing sequences, probably as good as they can be done. Thing is, there's a LOT of them and once you've seen them a few times they have a diminishing effect. I think you really have to be into F1 racing to begin with, cause a lot of this movie is about the intricacies of how the sport works. Not sure I was swept up in the drama of can this guy strategically block this car so this other racer can score a point. 

M3GAN 2.0

This sequel wisely dispenses with any pretense of being a horror movie. It leans into the campy tone that made the original stand out, and is basically just a sci-fi comedy. It's not great, but pretty enjoyable. I actually got a few pretty big laughs out of this. Ivanna Sahkno gives good sexy villain. For a low budget, the action is pretty solid. 

Everything else:

THE KARATE KID (2010)

I had no interest in this when it came out (2010 is 15 years ago good lord HOW?), but this turned out to be pretty good. Jackie Chan is really enjoyable in this, and surprisingly, so was Jaden Smith. It follows the formula of the original too closely, but the China setting helps differentiate it. 

SUPERHERO MOVIE 

Never bothered to see this spoof back in the day. It was actually released just weeks before the first Iron Man. It's mostly just a riff on Spiderman. I got a few chuckles. It's not at that bottom level of spoof movie, but it sure as hell ain't near the top either. 

JAWS 2

JAWS 3

Figured the 50th anniversary of Jaws was a good time to watch the sequels. I HAVE seen the 4th one, cause it was on cable a lot as a kid. Never saw 2 or 3. 2 is a retread, and decent enough for what it is, but it really misses the personality that Richard Dreyfus and Robert Shaw gave the original. 3 is just putrid, though, and the fx that was done to fit with 3d is flat out embarrassing. 

MILLER'S GIRL

A salacious movie where Jenna Ortega has a questionable relationship with her teacher (Martin Freeman). Ortega knows what she's doing here, but this film either needed to be a lot smarter or a lot trashier. 

STRAW

Tyler Perry should give his entire paycheck for this to Taraji Henson, who single handedly carries this melodrama into watchable territory. Henson is having the worst day anyone has ever had, and that's before she is mistaken for a bank robber and surrounded by police. The first half hour is like poverty porn, but once she gets in the bank, it becomes a serviceable drama. As Perry films go, this is not bad.