Unsolicited Movie Reviews - Summer 2016

Unsolicited Movie Reviews – Summer Edition

The wife and kiddos are taking their annual trip to the lake. I am forced to stay behind with the dogs and hold down the fort. Ok, forced may be a bit of an exaggeration.

Luckily I get to pick all the movies I go see regardless if they are kid friendly.  In truth as my kids keep getting older that list of movies that they can’t see keeps shrinking.  I’m taking advantage of the free time regardless.

Nobody's opinion of Finding Dory, Avengers Civil War, Star Trek and the Secret Life of Pets is going to keep them from making obscene amounts of money and they should. They are solid entertainment.  For my money the best one of the bunch this summer was X-Men Apocolypse, but that is beside the point.

I picked two movies that are still in the theaters and two I watched at home.  A true crime story,  a buddy flick/ period piece, a sci-fi action thriller and the most recent installment of an iconic franchise made the list. Each has a good to great story with compelling characters and A-List actors across the board. 

Jason Bourne – Did you love the first three Jason Bourne movies?  Well you’ll love this one. That doesn’t mean it’s a canned remake of past success. It is a true continuation of the story but it could stand on its own. Some sequels are wholly reliant on the previous films. This movie is so good and complete that if you’ve never seen the first films this movie will make you want to go back and watch the others.

Phenomenal action sequences that are actually action sequences and not some whored-out, cgi, BS cartoon of an action sequence.  The chase through the Athen’s riots will be studied by film students for years. Fast paced, succinct dialogue, rich backstory and awesome action, throw in Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones and the finest film actress of her generation Joan Allen and it is hard not to just love this movie.

To be clear I liked it…….a lot.

The Infiltrator – After a career-altering role like Walter White many actors would coast away. A role like that has a tendency to permanently typecast an actor. Let’s face it most everything after that could be a letdown. Think Dennis Franz and Andy Scipowitz. Bryan Cranston is refusing to take that path.  

The Infiltrator is a true story based on a novel written by a US Customs agent. He worked undercover in Miami during the height of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine empire. This story follows the efforts to go after Pablo by going after his money and international network of businesses that enabled the cartels to operate with impunity by washing their billions.

To be fair we have seen this story before, Donnie Brasco, Prince of New York and most recently American Hustle to name a few.  That could be a bad thing but luckily this genre lends itself to drama, thrills and apparently a never ending supply of engaging stories to tell. The pacing is a little slow at times but the performances are strong and regardless of familiarity to the subject it is a compelling chapter in history. It is also the story of a patriots and heroes sacrificing and placing themselves in harm’s way and that is never a small thing.

Nice Guys – Funniest movie and the most fun movie I’ve seen this year.  It is a buddy movie where both buddies are really down on their luck and more than a little, ethically challenged.  Los Angeles in the 70’s looks awesome and thankfully they don’t make it look like the costume party so many period pieces like this seem to become. 

The best way I can describe it is China Town goes disco with a lot more jokes and without all the incest.

Admittedly, the mystery our heroes are hired to solve is rather typical including an unsolved murder, a lost girl and ties to the seedy underground of LA. That is OK . This movie works because the two leads work, period.

Ryan Gosling is quickly becoming one of the most reliable quantities in Hollywood.  Gosling proves the comedic chops he showed in The Big Short were not a fluke.

Russel Crowe is not aging gracefully and it’s a beautiful thing.  Out of shape and looking like he ate all the animals from the ill-conceived Ark he plays a great down on his luck enforcer. When Crowe played The Gladiator he was the man all men wanted to be and all women wanted to be with.  Now he’s playing the overweight , recovering alcoholic that men realize they could be and women are afraid they’ll have to settle for.  Now that’s range.

The chemistry works and ironically its Crowe playing Bud Abbot to Gosling's handsome Lou Costello. It is not family friendly but simply put it made me laugh.

Criminal - his isn’t Citizen Kane. This is a 90 minute popcorn eater of a film with great actors and great action. It’s sci-fi in the vain of Face-Off but lacking the same cheese over-acting and self-indulgent direction.

It is a common tale.  Spy has information that will save the world. Spy has uber-hot wife.  Spy get’s killed. CIA uses experimental treatment to transfer the dead spy’s memories to the mind of a homicidal sociopath.  Hilarity ensues!

Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones and Gal Gadot! 
Stellar cast for a really entertaining movie. The film is definitely violent but not sadistic.


There they are.  Four movies without any superheroes with great actors and great action!  Enjoy