4/5 Stars
Star Wars: The Last Jedi: This holiday season's most controversial movie left me in a state of relative indifference. In its attempts to distance itself from the "IT'S A RETREAD OF THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY" complaints that surrounded The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi ends up feeling like a soulless product of Disney focus groups. Cringeworthy, out-of-place Marvel-esque humor, "cute" creatures that seem like they're only there for merchandising purposes (the kids of the world need a plush toy to snuggle with after all) and a collection of shoddily-constructed story arcs that purposely go out of their way to disregard a vast majority of the events of The Force Awakens make the proceedings of this film feel almost comically inorganic. The Last Jedi's savior from reaching Phantom Menace/Rogue One-levels of tedium comes in the form of its terrific action sequences and the performances of Daisy Ridley as Rey (aka the only protagonist that remains interesting this time around), Adam Driver as the moody, conflicted Kylo Ren and Mark Hamill as an emotionally-and-physically drained Luke Skywalker. With writer/director Rian Johnson not being involved with the next chapter of this saga, it'll be up to sci-fi guru J.J. Abrams, who helmed The Force Awakens, to decide the legacy of this suddenly divisive trilogy.
3/5 Stars
Bright: After spending much of the last two years building an original film library centered around quirky indie fare and Adam Sandler comedies, Netflix has successfully dove into the world of blockbusters with the deliriously entertaining Bright. David Ayer's latest project turns his signature gritty LA-based cop movies on its head with an injection of fantasy mythology. Adding orcs, elves and magic into a movie about a pair of constantly-clashing police officers (Will Smith and Joel Edgerton, who have one hell of a rapport) could've easily turned this into a jumbled mess, but the mythology is so interesting and well-realized that it seamlessly fits into and bolsters the police procedural part of the story. Hopefully the success of Bright will help Netflix emerge as an oasis for filmmakers to make experimental, unsanitized blockbusters without having to deal with the burden of profit-conscious studio heads meddling with the final product.
4/5 Stars
I, Tonya: Making an unbiased biopic about a controversial figure like Tonya Harding is no easy task, but director Craig Gillespie and writer Steven Rodgers pulled it off beautifully with the sensational I, Tonya. Gillespie, Rodgers and their actors led by Margot Robbie in a career-best performance treat Harding as the human being that the 24-hour news cycle never bothered to. While I, Tonya certainly doesn't bury the former figure skating champion's slew of character flaws, the film does an excellent job of detailing who Harding truly was underneath all of the negative media attention as well the extent of her involvement with the Nancy Kerrigan knee-clubbing incident that derailed her career. This boldly objective point of view combined with a sharp, clever script that delicately weaves bursts of dark comedy into Harding's largely tragic backstory and awards-caliber work from all four of its primary actors (Robbie, Allison Janney, Sebastian Stan, newcomer Paul Walter Hauser) makes I, Tonya a tour-de-force of fact-based filmmaking.
4.5/5 Stars
Pitch Perfect 3: Was Pitch Perfect 3 a necessary sequel? Probably not. Did that fact prevent me from having a good time with it? Not at all. The immense likability of its ensemble cast, another round of rousing musical numbers and a surprisingly heartwarming climax is enough for the final installment of this unlikely smash hit franchise to overcome its smaller volume of laughs and a bizarre, completely off-brand subplot involving Fat Amy's criminal father (John Lithgow, rocking a weak-ass Australian accent).
3.5/5 Stars
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