This reboot/remake of the 2001 version starring Angelina Jolie, now has Alicia Virkander as Lara. She working as a bike messenger but tempted by the potential fortune of an inheritance from her missing father. Trouble is, she doesn't believe he's dead.
Following a series of clues, she head to Hong Kong and then charters a boat to Japan where she finds herself stranded on a island searching for the mystical powers residing there.
It's a mashup of Hunger Games and Raiders of the Lost Arc. Hence the Tomb Raider name.
* * * of 5
Game Night
Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams stars as Max and Annie, married without kids. They have a regular game night with a group of friends. When Max's brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) comes, he invents a new realistic murder mystery game. But things get too real, and the group has to find Brooks who has been kidnapped by thugs.
This theme of One Crazy Night has been done many times (The Hangover, Horrible Bosses, Rough Night) along with the usual "Do not call the police!" and "we've got to find him before something bad happens". It devolves into a Weekend at Bernie's farce. An old B movie also came to mind - Avenging Angel - also a One Crazy Night take.
* * of 5. Not awful, but light popcorn fare for when you have nothing better to do. Like me this afternoon.
This theme of One Crazy Night has been done many times (The Hangover, Horrible Bosses, Rough Night) along with the usual "Do not call the police!" and "we've got to find him before something bad happens". It devolves into a Weekend at Bernie's farce. An old B movie also came to mind - Avenging Angel - also a One Crazy Night take.
* * of 5. Not awful, but light popcorn fare for when you have nothing better to do. Like me this afternoon.
A Wrinkle in Time
Disney and Ava Duvernay as director team up to create this Avatar meets Willy Wonka children's story based on the Madeline L'Engle book. So it's a Disney story (missing father, children go on a time travel adventure alone, fun cartoonish characters help them along the way) with a diverse-ish cast (Storm Reid as the pre-pubescent Meg, Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon as the good witches).
When Meg's father Dr Murry (Chris Pine) disappears in a time travel accident, Meg and her brother Charles Wallace conjure up a time travel of their own to "Tesser" their way to find their father. The witches help them along the way.
* * * of 5. Big budget, Industrial Light and Magic effects, visually interesting, but the storyline is a bit dull for adult tastes.
When Meg's father Dr Murry (Chris Pine) disappears in a time travel accident, Meg and her brother Charles Wallace conjure up a time travel of their own to "Tesser" their way to find their father. The witches help them along the way.
* * * of 5. Big budget, Industrial Light and Magic effects, visually interesting, but the storyline is a bit dull for adult tastes.
SXSW * Mumblecore * 2018
I liked this summary from Peter Travers about the particular genre of SXSW, Mumblecore:
Of course, you don't necessarily come to SXSW to see the sort of stuff you'll be seeing at your local multiplex a month or so from now – though these things do stir up a fervor among this particular festival's attendees, sometimes to the point of inside-the-bubble dizziness. But what this annual Austin get-together, now 25 years strong and 10 years into Pierson's tenure as film-programming director, is best known for is a particular kind of microbudgeted American independent film, often intimate and always ragged, jagged, rough in an artisanal, homemade way.
See my SXSW review from 2015
and the full article from Peter Travers
Go to SXSW when you have the chance - and do it sooner rather than later, because prices are going up faster than the Austin skyline.
Of course, you don't necessarily come to SXSW to see the sort of stuff you'll be seeing at your local multiplex a month or so from now – though these things do stir up a fervor among this particular festival's attendees, sometimes to the point of inside-the-bubble dizziness. But what this annual Austin get-together, now 25 years strong and 10 years into Pierson's tenure as film-programming director, is best known for is a particular kind of microbudgeted American independent film, often intimate and always ragged, jagged, rough in an artisanal, homemade way.
See my SXSW review from 2015
and the full article from Peter Travers
Go to SXSW when you have the chance - and do it sooner rather than later, because prices are going up faster than the Austin skyline.
Annihilation
Starring Natalie Portman, it's a thinking person's sci-fi by the director Alex Garland who did another thinking person's sci-fi, Ex Machina.
Lena (Portman) is married to Kane (Oscar Issac), both military. Kane returns from a dangerous mission to "The Shimmer" a changed man. He is unable to remember how he was the only one to come back. Lena is kidnapped and taken to Area X and pressured to join an all-woman team headed by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to back to the Shimmer to find out what happened.
The all woman team (Aliens) in the dangerous jungle (Hunger Games) makes for a pretty interesting, if somewhat slow to develop movie. But the ending is worth the wait. Like Richard said, it will a movie you'll want to discuss afterwards.
* * * * of 5
Lena (Portman) is married to Kane (Oscar Issac), both military. Kane returns from a dangerous mission to "The Shimmer" a changed man. He is unable to remember how he was the only one to come back. Lena is kidnapped and taken to Area X and pressured to join an all-woman team headed by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to back to the Shimmer to find out what happened.
The all woman team (Aliens) in the dangerous jungle (Hunger Games) makes for a pretty interesting, if somewhat slow to develop movie. But the ending is worth the wait. Like Richard said, it will a movie you'll want to discuss afterwards.
* * * * of 5
Scott Pilgrim v. the World (2010)
I discovered this gem while on vacation recently. Starring Michael Cera, one of my favorites, it's a Canadian story about Scott a nerdy 22 year old, living in a dingy apartment with no furniture. No money and no future. But he has a woman, actuallly 2, Knives Chau and Ramona.
Scott falls for Ramona but he has to defeat her Seven Evil Exes, and so the hero's journey begins. Directed by Edgar Wright, it reminded me of his other works, The World's End and Baby Driver.
Also the video game level reminded me of Inception. Good comparisons.
Good dialogue. Funny. I enjoyed the graphic novel aspect of it as well.
* * * * of 5
Scott falls for Ramona but he has to defeat her Seven Evil Exes, and so the hero's journey begins. Directed by Edgar Wright, it reminded me of his other works, The World's End and Baby Driver.
Also the video game level reminded me of Inception. Good comparisons.
Good dialogue. Funny. I enjoyed the graphic novel aspect of it as well.
* * * * of 5
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