Wonder Woman 1984 was a disappointment, especially when compared with the first film and while I had plenty of issues with some of the story elements, I can’t say it’s bad and probably worthy of a rental or outright purchase to add to ones superhero collection.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a well done conclusion to the nearly decade-long franchise featuring a well told, if not basic, story to go along with some beautiful animation and nice voice work by the ensemble cast.
mother! might’ve had some things going for it and there’s no doubt Aronofsky doesn’t fit into a box like other directors, but this allegorical movie was a complete misfire, particularly in the second half.
Despicable Me 3 is a perfectly ‘fine’ CGI animated movie, though there’s nothing here that particularly stands out, but thanks to the Minions storyline and the scenes with Balthazar Bratt, I did manage to chuckle a few times.
Masterminds is a poorly made comedy-caper that has a respectable cast in Galifianakis, Wilson, Wiig and, in a limited role, Sudeikis but both director Jared Hess and the trio of writers can’t make use of any of them with the majority of the jokes failing miserably.
Ghostbusters (2016) isn’t the hot mess the trailers showed it could’ve been (this year’s Alice Through the Looking Glass was far worse) and yet for all of the potential with a talented cast, the screenplay which was co-scripted by Paul Feig, was pretty bad, with the jokes falling utterly flat.
The Martian: Extended Edition is a well made sci-fi thriller but admittedly, I think the theatrical version is tighter though there are a couple nice additions to the Extended Cut while other scenes weren’t necessary. As for this Blu-ray release, which should’ve been the initial release anyway, it offers up amazing video/audio transfers and some extensive bonus material.
Zoolander No. 2 might’ve had good intentions behind the camera for Ben Stiller and its cast, but the jokes rarely landed leaving us with the stupidity of the original without any of comedy. I can’t say I had a displeasured experience while watching, merely indifference and counting down the time until it would finally end.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a film with so much potential squandered for the sake of a buck using blatant in-movie advertising but instead of furthering the story, they only served to take one out of the film despite some good performances, particularly Ben Stiller and Kristen Wiig, with honorable mention for Adam Scott for playing one of the biggest/best cinematic douchebag.
Anchorman 2: The Legend of Ron Burgundy has a few amusing moments and biting satire on 24-hours news networks, but although the cast seems to work well with one another, I found the movie itself to drag on especially towards the end. As someone who wasn’t a huge fan of the original, I came into this with little expectations and it pretty well met them.