The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)
DIRECTOR: John Madden
CAST: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel, Ronald Pickup, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Diana Hardcastle, Tina Desai, Lillete Dubey, Richard Gere, David Strathairn
REVIEW:
2012’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was a pleasant, unchallenging little morsel, but nothing about its modest charms cried out for a sequel, yet here we are. Unsurprisingly, like many an unnecessary sequel, the follow-up wears out the original’s limited welcome and, despite writer-director John Madden returning, hackneyed try-hard attempts at stirring up contrived plot complications and overly frantic wannabe comedy replaces the first movie’s gentle simple charms. It’s not worth checking back into the hotel to watch the somewhat sad sight of a cast of distinguished elder British thespians gamely going through the motions of material that’s beneath them.
Continue readingJupiter Ascending (2015)
DIRECTOR: Andy Wachowski, Lana Wachowski
CAST: Mila Kunis, Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, Tuppence Middleton
REVIEW:
While they’ve struggled to equal their 1999 sci-fi hit The Matrix (including with two inferior sequels), the Wachowski siblings have always had a strong sense of style, even when they have repeatedly had difficulty wedding that to an equally strong narrative. Their latest would-be epic, Jupiter Ascending, does not buck this pattern, but it’s visually sumptuous and never boring, and worth a look for eye candy alone. Continue reading
Taken 3 (2015)
DIRECTOR: Olivier Megaton
CAST: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Dougray Scott, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, Sam Spruell
REVIEW:
WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN “SPOILERS”
Taken 3 is what might be expected from an unnecessary sequel in a mediocre action franchise that arguably never needed sequels to begin with. 2009’s Taken was the best of these movies—and even then, it wasn’t that great—with each follow-up offering diminishing returns on the modest premise, and now #3 (directed like its 2012 immediate predecessor by original helmer Luc Besson’s protege Olivier Megaton, while Besson remains credited as a co-writer and producer) is the least of the three. Devotees of this series, or those simply looking for a fleeting diversion, might find it distracting enough to hold their cursory attention for a couple hours, but it’s a generic and forgettable action flick that offers nothing memorable.
Continue reading