"A Cure for Wellness" Review: A Visual Work of Art That Lacks Any Real Substance

It's a rare thing when a major film studio hands over gobs of cash to an established filmmaker and lets them do whatever they want. Usually only heavy weights such as Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan or Robert Zemeckis can lay claim to such majestic treatment. But director Gore Verbinski can now be added to that esteemed list of auteur's as his latest film A Cure for Wellness can only be seen as a project that was made solely for the benefit of the filmmaker himself as it really carries little significance beyond being a canvas for the man to explore a different side of creative self that was clearly never meant to turn much of a profit nor gain much of a following outside those who love film for the craft itself. Read the full review after the break.

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"Get Out" Review: A Surprisingly Insightful & Sadistically Satiric Statement on Race Relations in America

There are a lot of different comparisons that can be made between first time director Jordan Peele's Get Out and other films such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Meet the Parents and Stepford Wives but doing so would only distract from the major accomplishment here. There are a lot of films out there that deal with the racial conflicts that sadly still exist in our world but none of them come within a mile of the social commentary explored in this biting satire cleverly disguised as a horror film. While many might not agree with the statement being made here it is near impossible to dismiss the near flawless execution by its creator. Read the full review after the break.

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"Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" Review: We Can Only Hope That This is Indeed the Final Chapter

It has become increasingly difficult to keep track of what is happening in this franchise let alone differentiating them from one another. The first two films (in hindsight mind you) stand out as the most cohesive from a story perspective but as soon as we get to the third film (Extinction) things start to get muddled real fast. The confusion is only compounded by revelations made in the next two entries (Afterlife and Retribution) where it is readily apparent that events from each previous installment are either rewritten or otherwise forgotten about all together. Now we have what is labeled as "The Final Chapter" which by all horror movie accounts means absolutely nothing but we can at least hope this is the one promise this series has made that it will actually make good on. Read the full review after the break.

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"The LEGO Batman Movie" Review: It's One Joke is Stretched a Bit Thin But it's Charm is Undeniable

The surprise success of The LEGO Movie caught everyone off guard which is why there wasn't even a sequel already in the works as is often the case in this day and age of the film world. So in a last second scramble to create a follow up the studio took the safest bet they could by making more of a spin-off than an actual sequel and they were wise to pick the one character universally loved in that film, Batman. But does it live up to the film that spawned its creation or is this just a quick cash in? Read the full review after the break.

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"Fifty Shades Darker" Review: This Sequel is Fifty Shades Better Than You Have Been Led to Believe

It's difficult to say anything positive about the Fifty Shades franchise without sounding as if you are coming to its defense. Not since the Twilight series has there been a film franchise so wildly hated by the masses as this...and it doesn't even star Kristen Stewart! But truth be told (something I like to do every now and then) Fifty Shades Darker isn't a horrible film. Is it kind of silly? Is it sort of trashy? Is it a female wish fulfillment fantasy? Yes on all of those accounts but by no means does that make it bad. It just makes it something you like or don't like which is fine but there needs to be some perspective here people. Well, I guess I am sort of coming to its defense after all...sigh. Read the full review after the break.

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"Split" Review: Split's Many Hidden Layers Evolves Into Something Unexpectedly Remarkable

M. Night Shyamalan has been a running joke in film circles for over a decade now. It's been so long since the famed filmmaker has made anything anyone has cared about that most seem to forget just how brilliant his breakout film The Sixth Sense actually was. Slowly though he has been forging a comeback as evidenced by the little horror gem The Visit from 2015 which was one of the best horror films released that year. But it wasn't big enough for many to notice (even those who liked it) that it was in fact a Shyamalan directed film (not one that he simply wrote like Devil). With Split however, the first film in a long time that hasn't shied away from the fact that it is a Shyamalan film, many critics and naysayers might find themselves a little shell shocked when they discover that it is actually pretty darn good. Read the full review after the break.

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"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" Review: Beasts Aren't The Only Fantastic Things Found Here

Movie franchises are the bread and butter of the film industry. While they dabble in experimental projects from time to time more often than not the big film industries rely on the steady paychecks that big franchises bring in and one of the biggest of all time is the Harry Potter series. Ever since the adventures of Harry Potter came to a close over 4 years ago it was a pretty sure bet that Warner Bros. wasn't just going to let such a lucrative property just linger which left the only question being how would they continue the Harry Potter series without Harry Potter? Go back to the source material of course! Read the full review after the break.

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"Allied" Review: A Half-Hearted Performance From Star Brad Pitt Sinks This Spy Hunt

Robert Zemeckis has crafted a filmography that while not exactly perfect is still filled to the brim with films that have left and everlasting impact on pop culture and the film industry as a whole. Things like Marty and Doc taking a ride into the future with a Dolorean from Back to the Future, Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner setting out on a grand adventure in Romancing the Stone, Tom Hanks learning to love a volleyball in Cast Away or explaining the many metaphors from a box of chocolates in Forrest Gump. So it is always sad when a filmmaker of this caliber stumbles even a little bit as we have come to expect such great things from them and that is what makes Zemeckis' latest feature the World War 2 romance epic Allied such a major disappointment despite having a number positive elements. Read the full review after the break.

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"Doctor Strange" Review: The Sorcerer Supreme Delivers A Supremely Entertaining New Chapter In The MCU

By this point you are either a Marvel fan (which means you know how the MCU works) or you are a casual fan (which means you could care less how the MCU works). Of course there is always the people who just don't like Marvel or superhero movies in general which means you have already stopped reading by this point. Either way you slice it there is little to no reason to go into detail about how each new film from Marvel works as we have all been down this road plenty of times now. However, the strange thing here (pardon the pun) is just how much Doctor Strange goes against the grain to establish a new more vibrant world filled with infinite dimensions and infinite possibilities for the MCU going forward while also providing the tried and true superhero origin story. Read the full review after the break.

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"Arrival" Review: Thought Provoking Science Fiction That Challenges The Mind And Stirs The Soul

Science Fiction is often used in film as a way of escapist fantasy and usually associated with spaceships, light/warp speeds, teleporting, laser beams and almost always some form of alien life that is either hostile or benign with little middle ground. While those are always fun to partake in it is when a film takes the genre and uses it as a way of reflecting itself upon us the viewers, making us...no, inviting us to take a journey into a different way of thinking and/or a different way of perceiving the universe the way we know it. The new film Arrival from director Denis Villeneuve is not only thought provoking but also delivers a film going experience that is beyond anything you can imagine. Read the full review after the break.

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"Deepwater Horizon" Review: Real World Tragedy and Hollywood Collide In This Biopic Based On True Events

It takes a skilled filmmaker to interpret a real life event that destroyed lives as well as our natural environment and turn it into what can be viewed as mostly escapist entertainment. At the most we hope that it depicts the events that transpired in a respectful manner and refrain from over indulgent tendencies such as unnecessary pyrotechnics and/or turning the characters into melodramatic stereotypes. Director Peter Berg has navigated those treacherous waters with surprisingly little trouble in his new film Deepwater Horizon, a retelling of those fateful last moments that the oil drilling rig had off the coast of Louisiana in 2010. Read the full review after the break.

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"The Accountant" Review: Not Very Original But It Certainly Has Its Charms

Ever since Ben Affleck sat down in that director's chair with the criminally underrated Gone Baby Gone the notoriously lambasted actor has been on the upswing and can theoretically do no wrong (he is widely considered the best Batman to date!). But there is always an exception to every rule and the one that seems to bite him right in the keester more than anything is when he is part of a project solely as an actor. As long as he has some sort of creative involvement in the project it generally turns out good (although his role in David Fincher's Gone Girl stands in stark contrast to that statement) but more often than not if he is just a hired gun for a name on the marquee chances are that it will be more miss than hit. Thankfully his latest venture as an actor with the new thriller The Accountant proves to be one of the better films Affleck has lent his decidedly one note acting charms to that is honestly quite better than it has any right to be. Read the full review after the break.

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"The Magnificent Seven" Review: A Fun Loving Cast Helps Elevate This Mostly Pedestrian Remake

Despite the 1960 western The Magnificent Seven being a remake of the classic Kurisowa film Seven Samurai, the idea of it being a remake never really factored into how anyone felt about it. So it is sort of funny when others come out and defend the "original" Magnificent Seven and decry the newer one for being unnecessary or not as good as that other one. To squabble over such petty things is to lose focus on what really matters, is the movie any good? Well that is certainly in the eye of the beholder for this one but for my money it is one of the more outright fun and entertaining movies released this year. Read the full review after the break.

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"Sausage Party" Review: A Deliciously Depraved Feast With Some Surprising Social Commentary

There has been a common misconception for quite some time that animated films are for kids and/or families. While that is often true for the most part it isn't exactly the train of thought that the creators of the new animated film Sausage Party subscribe to. Mixing elements found in Pixar's Toy Story with that of Pineapple Express or This is the End, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have crafted a hybrid movie going experience that is unlike anything we have ever seen come out of Hollywood. Not since the release of the South Park movie over 20 years ago has a film gone so far out of its way to be this insulting to as many people as possible while simultaneously making them look inward at their own insecurities. Read the full review after the break.

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"Suicide Squad" Review: It Looks Good And Is Fun To Watch But Something Is Still Amiss...

We have become a jaded bunch when it comes to our superhero movies. Thanks to Marvel we have such an over abundance of mostly quality movies dedicated to the genre that we no longer appreciate the fact that we have them at all. Many seem to forget that just over a decade ago all we had were films like Daredevil (2003), Catwoman (2004) and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003) just to name a few. Sure we had a few glimmers of goodness with Spider-man 2 (2004) and Hellboy (2004) but they were more the exception than the rule. The point is, fans and critics alike have become spoiled and like anyone who gets too much of a good thing it is all too easy to take it all for granted. Case in point is the latest entry into the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) Suicide Squad, a superhero film sans said superheroes and what may be one of the most divisive films of the year. Read the full review after the break.

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"Nerve" Review: A Mostly Believable Premise Gives Way To A Contrived Finale

The same way movies of the late 70's all the way up to the late 80's would villainize computers, so too is how social media is being used as the gateway to all evil in the 2010's. While films like Scream 4 integrated social media into how the killer would stalk their victims (even more so with the TV series) we got our first glimpse at this new era with last years Unfriended which used things like Skype to kill people. That film in particular failed to live up to its (at the time) unique premise but as is often the case the films that would follow in its footsteps learned from its many (many) mistakes and find new ways to use social media as the conduit of our own demise. Case in point is the new teen thriller Nerve which may surprise some as it is one of the best examples of this idea that social media kills we have gotten to date which is unfortunately let down by a completely unnecessary twist ending. Read the full review after the break.

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"Jason Bourne" Review: You May Know His Name But You'll Wish You Forgot It

This revival of the Bourne franchise is a real head scratcher and more importantly is the return of Matt Damon. The first three films which starred Matt Damon had a consistent character arc following Jason Bourne on his journey of discovery and was resolved for the most part by the third chapter. Then in an attempt to keep the franchise alive we got the Bourne Legacy with a new character played by Jeremy Renner that introduced a whole lot of new (albeit contradictory) mythology along it. Despite making a decent amount of money the powers that be decided to not follow up on that film and instead have delivered unto us Jason Bourne, a film that took nearly 9 years to happen but strangely feels like it only took one day to write. Read the full review after the break.

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"Lights Out" Review: Restraint Is The Greatest Strength Of This Clever Horror Offering

Almost nobody expects to get invested in horror movie characters. They are usually painfully one dimensional and more often than not written in a way where you actually want them to get killed. Few films in the genre treat their antagonist as a real villain and instead make them more into a tool to dispose of generally unlikeable characters. The new horror flick Lights Out is crafted from a different mold, where it places a stable of mostly likeable characters in the path of a rather unsettling figure whose purpose is both sinister and kind of tragic which makes it one of the more intriguing horror entries in a long time. Read the full review after the break.

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"Ghostbusters (2016)" Review: I Ain't Afraid of No Reboot

Here's all you need to know...it's good! It isn't going to make you change your religion or believe aliens exist and it certainly pales in comparison to the original 1984 film (for the most part), but it isn't the bucket of vomit all those internet trolls (most of whom haven't even seen it!) would have you believe. Go see it and make your own judgment then come back and read what I have to say. Seriously, it's not that bad. Go...now. OK, you back? Then let's get to it. Read the fully review after the break.

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"The Purge: Election Year" Review: Somehow This Franchise Seems To Be Getting Better With Each Itteration

The Purge franchise is something of an enigma compared to its peers. The Saw and Paranormal Activity franchises respectively were also part of this sort of annual sequel structure but where as they both received declining interest with each subsequent sequel The Purge films have held on strong. There are many reasons one can site for this such as The Purge releasing a sequel every other year as opposed to annually and the premise lends itself to new points of view to be explored each time out, but in practice the real reason the franchise has seemingly outlasted its expiration date may be the fact that each film appears to learn from the mistakes of its predecessors and actually improves with each iteration. Read the full review after the break.

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