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Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) blacks out from a serious car crash in the middle of Louisiana, only to wake up locked away in an underground room. She was "saved" by doomsday prepper Howard (John Goodman), who keeps her and fellow injured person Emmett (John Gallagher Jr.) in his lavishly thought out underground bunker under lock and key due to an unexplained "attack" on America. The two try to enjoy the hospitality and luxurious entertainment post-armageddon but the unchecked psychological issues of their host keeps them fearing for their lives. 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE is technically the next step of J.J. Abrams' so-called "Cloververse", a Twilight Zone-like franchise that really doesn't need to exist. Not only does this have no connecting thread to the 2008 found footage horror film save for the title, it also isn't really all that good. This disappointing effort by first-time director Dan Trachtenberg is overall fine thanks to its play-like structure and the fine performances of the central three actors, with Goodman easily taking the cake thanks to his visual acting tics and slow somber tone that masks the real horror of the picture. Unfortunately, the problem starts when the establishing conflict is fairly quickly resolved, causing the players to relax and take it easy in this psychological thriller. The makers seem to then realize they need a second act so they slapdash another dissension into the mix to make everybody against one another again. The average viewer can not only sense this bumbling storytelling but they can see it when Howard's distaste of Emmett's cocky demeanor gets turned off then back on like a light switch. Once we reach the final act, we are treated to a real head slapper that deflates the entire experience and drastically transforms its genre for the worst. As much as I enjoyed the lingering tension, the brief encounters of violent behavior, and the sheer coolness of people watching a cannibal horror movie on VHS after armageddon started, I can't completely forgive the film's gear-shifting approach to its plot or its unsatisfactory undertaking. Worthy for a glance but not able to remain in your senses as the cinematic year continues to unfold.
FINAL REVIEW: 3 / 5
Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy), an even more unlikable version of Suze Orman, loses her entire financial empire after being napped for insider trading. After 5 months of pitifully easy jail time, the white collar parolee lays low at the small Chicago apartment of her former assistant (Kristen Bell) until being motivated to create her own version of the Girl Scouts in order to roll around in green again. THE BOSS is a flummoxing comedy due to the inability of McCarthy and her directing/co-writing husband Ben Falcone to craft stable and substantial material from even its own flat story. Any viewer can connect the dots with how the movie will go but the married couple make it more frustrating with scenes that jump ahead in time, alter from serious to completely cartoonish, and feature little to no visual gags despite having a budget of $30 million. Going into this, do you think this redemption story would end with with a heist plan that would then morph into a katana fight, instead of say Darnell using her business expertise and verbal violence to save the day? Speaking of Darnell, though I severely have an issue with the main story, Darnell herself is the real glowing problem with the picture. McCarthy polishes some of sharper edges of the character with her performance but Darnell still remains to be a mostly insufferable bossy boots from beginning to end. Her sole weakness of a crippling fear of being in a family, due to her personal problems as an orphan kid in the pathetic prologue, is wrapped up with barbed wire, meaning poorly thought out by the script. The only times where you can actually like her, and able to laugh for a change, come when she delivers some smackdown on her former rich "friends", stuffy moms, and the archaic ideals of the girl scouts breeding non-progressive womanhood. Additional smiles and guffaws come from the charming turns of Kristen Schaal, Tyler Labine, and a very committed Peter Dinklage. That much needed humor in this so-called comedy save the film from the scrapheap but just barely.
FINAL REVIEW: 2 / 5
It's been a very, very, very long time since I last did one of these, so let's stop pussyfooting around and get straight to it.
We start off with what has to be one of the absolute worst movie posters of all time: a flat, non-threatening image posted on Instagram. How do you do, fellow kids!
It's an average animated film poster but I put this in the spotlight due to the sheer fact that the voice actors of the titled characters are fifth and sixth behind four actors kids will have no interest in hearing (save for former Disney star Bella Thorne).
Look everyone, somebody's trying to replace the teal and orange color scheme! And that woman's push-up bra is being pushed out!
Boom! Striking image, barely overcoming a possible copyright claim. Fantastic tagline. Informs us of the star, writer and director. Thank you.
It's very sad that this Wondercon exclusive poster for the upcoming Turtles sequel is a complete lie. The Turtles don't look this cool at all.
Oh no... somebody ruined my light switch... was it ghosts? Seriously, this teaser is awful.
By "Last to Die", you mean when this movie is the lowest earning new release come August, right? It looks like a third-rate Nathan Drake cosplayer was badly photoshopped in another pointless remake.
Legendary comedian Garry Shandling has died suddenly. He was 66 years old.
Shandling will forever be known for his two groundbreaking television shows: It's Garry Shandling's Show, a sitcom that routinely played on the artifice of the format and enjoyed breaking the fourth wall, and most notably The Larry Sanders Show, where he mocked the popularity of late shows by standing in as a Johnny Carson-like figure who was often besieged by backstage problems.
He sadly had a very hard time translating his stature in the film world, most infamously with the bomb What Planet Are You From?, but he eventually found his place with the recurring role of Senator Stern in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His utterance of "Hail Hydra" proved to be one of the most popular quotes in recent time.
He will be missed.
Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor has died from complications from diabetes. He was 45 years old.
One of the lead mcs of the legendary group A Tribe Called Quest, Phife's simple but impressive wordplay and easy-to-relate demeanor made him one of the most lovable rappers in the golden age of hip-hop. "The Five Footer", who kicked the mad style so you better step off the frankfurter, helped make albums like The Low End Theory utter masterpieces and made songs like "Can I Kick It?" and "Check The Rhime" pure gold. In my daily life, especially when testing audio, I routinely love to shout out his famous intro to the song "Buggin' Out": "Yo! Microphone check, 1, 2, what is this?!"
His life was best chronicled in the documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, which sadly showcased his struggles with diabetes and his refusal to give up sugar.
He will be missed.
Larry Drake has died. He was 67 years old.
For the majority of people, Drake was best known as Benny Stulwicz, the developmentally disabled office messenger on the popular legal drama L.A. Law, which earned him two consecutive Emmy awards for Best Supporting Actor. But for those with a love of cult horror, the actor was one of the most memorable yet underused heavies. His most popular villainous role was as Robert Durant in Darkman, the sadistic mob boss with a penchant for big cigars and cutting off people's thumbs with his razor-sharp cigar cutter. He was so effective that his character magically survived a helicopter explosion to return in the sequel, Darkman II: The Return of Durant. Another quietly evil role came with Dr. Giggles, where Drake cracked crony medical jokes with a straight face as he murdered a slew of teenagers. And those with a rich knowledge of horror will recall his early breakout role in the television movie Dark Night of the Scarecrow.
He will be missed.
