Female Film Critics 24/375
Writer/director Benny Safdie deconstructs the sports/action biopic as we know it and turns UFC champ Mark Kerr’s life into the Wide Wide World of Sports. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat is showcased in Safdie’s docudrama, The Smashing Machine. Safdie doesn’t sugarcoat anything. Every vein of Kerr’s story is popping with reality making viewers feel like flies on the ropes of the boxing ring.
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Moana 2 has arrived, expanding the adventurous Moana’s horizons but casting her story on choppier seas. The animation is lush and textured, and the characters overall are lively, but some characters and threads feel underdeveloped, as if they’re placeholders for future events. Moana 2 opens three years after she returned the heart of the mother island Te Fiti, stopping darkness throughout the world that threatened her community’s survival. Comfortable on land and at sea, Moana (Auli’i Cravalho, Mean Girls) is now their official leader and often sails away for days, looking for signs of other people living in Oceania. The film’s ending expands Moana’s world even further, so we’re bound to see her embark on another journey. For now, youngsters will be satisfied with Moana 2, but those young-at-heart might consider some parts more meh than Moana deserves.
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The eagerly awaited return of Disney Animation’s much loved heroic leader MOANA happens on November 27, the day before Thanksgiving, when MOANA 2 arrives on big screens in theaters across the nation. Stars Auli‘i Cravalho and Dwayne Johnson reunite to voice their characters on a seagoing adventure after Moana receives an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors and must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters where she faces spectacular challenges. Holiday thrills for the whole family!
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It’s mindless, meaningless mayhem but, if you want CG-action, it’s non-stop! And – if you’ve remained stoic through the perfunctory two hours+ – stay for the ‘revealing’ credits, featuring a cameo by a much beloved DC hero, setting up a future franchise confrontation.
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According to legend, when his home planet of Krypton was about to explode, baby Kal-El’s parents placed him in a space capsule headed for Earth. But what no one realized until now is that, just before blast-off, Kal-El’s beloved puppy, Krypto, jumped into the capsule too. Written by director Jared Stern (LEGO animated films) with John Whittington, this animated comic-book feature is loosely based on DC’s “Legion of Super-Pets,” which first appeared in 1962’s “Adventure Comics #293.” It’s loaded with laughs, imaginative jokes and a heartfelt life lesson about the value of friendship – and it sets up a sequel.
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Billed as a globe-trotting, comedic action/adventure, Red Notice is a total waste of time and talent. There’s a mystery surrounding three exquisite bejeweled eggs given to Cleopatra by Mark Antony on their wedding day. Problem is: clumsy screenwriter/director Rawson Marshall Thurber hasn’t a clue how to delineate characters, write dialogue, and propel the incoherent mystery/action plot in order to set up this future franchise.
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Whoever pitched Disney’s new feature Jungle Cruise must have been a master of hyperbole. “It’s The Mummy meets Pirates of the Caribbean meets African Queen, but imagine Katherine Hepburn as a younger, smokin’ yet independent English hottie, and add the highest paid actor in the world.” If there were ever a final argument for ‘there’s nothing new under the sun’, Jungle Cruise would be it.
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Erase all thoughts of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in African Queen from your mind. Delete scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Pretend you’re back at Disneyland on the Jungle Cruise because it lasts eight minutes compared to the film’s 127. The film version equals a theme park ride in fake-itude. Jungle Cruise, loud and long, is about as solid as the floating vegetation on the Amazon River.
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Encouraged by the success of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Disney launches this fantasy/adventure, based on the theme park attraction. It begins in 1916 London, where intrepid botanist/explorer Lily Houghton sneaks into a snobbish science society to steal an arrowhead thought to be the key to finding the Tears of the Moon, a sacred tree hidden in the Amazon jungle whose petals have miraculous healing powers.
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Despite promising signs of improved representation, the movie business clearly has plenty of work to do on behalf of Asians, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. With the exception of blockbusters starring Dwayne Johnson, a new study found that Hollywood’s most popular movies have rarely featured Asians or Pacific Islanders in leading roles.
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