Author: tiki god

Roman J. Israel, Esq.: Directed by Dan Gilroy. With Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Lynda Gravatt. Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action. I’ve recently become somewhat addicted to tiktok and one of the more interesting things they have is random highlight clips of movies and television shows and I flipped onto one featuring Denzel Washington acting as a belligerent lawyer who gets a $5k fine from a judge who was unhappy with all the talking back that...

The Night Listener: Directed by Patrick Stettner. With Toni Collette, Robin Williams, Joe Morton, Bobby Cannavale. In the midst of his crumbling relationship, a radio show host begins speaking to his biggest fan, a young boy, via the telephone. But when questions about the boy’s identity come up, the host’s life is thrown into chaos. There’s a solid story that could be made from this premise that’s based on the idea of a true story that maybe really happened, but this version of it isn’t as appealing as it could have been. I have no complaints about Robin Williams or...

Smashed: Directed by James Ponsoldt. With Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Aaron Paul, Nick Offerman, Megan Mullally. A married couple whose bond is built on a mutual love of alcohol gets their relationship put to the test when the wife decides to get sober. I was not expecting to see both Nick Offerman and Megan Mullaly in the same film and while they don’t have much on screen time together, they both really fleshed out the rather simple premise which turns into an emotionally roller-coaster of a movie. If you’ve seen this, do you think gave him one more game? Buy On...

They Cloned Tyrone: Directed by Juel Taylor. With John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, Kiefer Sutherland. A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper. There’s a good story here shoved under a Tarantino level of racial vulgarities and stereotypes, both of which can be easily dismissed as the creative team using them to make a point, and if you’re able to do that than you’ll enjoy a perfectly fine film. There’s some pretty interesting story elements at play here, none of which are unique but are...

The Martian: Directed by Ridley Scott. With Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels. An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue. I watched something that referenced Mars or had a scene on Mars and for the life of me I cannot remember what series it was, but it gave me the push to rewatch one of the most optimistic Mars movies ever filmed. It’s still a great experience and...

Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken: Directed by Kirk DeMicco, Faryn Pearl. With Jane Fonda, Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Colman Domingo. A shy adolescent learns that she comes from a fabled royal family of legendary sea krakens and that her destiny lies in the depths of the waters, which is bigger than she could have ever imagined. I’m pretty sure I’m not remotely in the target audience for this coming of age adventure, but I still felt like this was a fun movie. My wife felt there was a couple things that completely took her out of the film, the primary one...

Lego Marvel Avengers: Code Red: Directed by Ken Cunningham. With Laura Bailey, Haley Joel Osment, Will Friedle, James Mathis III. The Avengers meet a dangerous new foe quite unlike anything they’ve ever encountered before. A lower quality animation than I was expecting for a Marvel LEGO movie, but about what I would expect for a direct to dvd adventure that would have limited to no advertising. There’s some really funny jokes here (a nice MC Hammer / Mjoirnir joke is my favorite) and the entire “code red” thing ends up being pretty silly but fun. Buy On Amazon!