Good Boys Is A Good Raunchy Comedy

Max (Jacob Tremblay), Lucas (Keith L. Williams) and Thor (Brady Noon) are the best of friends. This trio of sixth-graders, the self-proclaimed Beanbag Boys, do everything together and that includes a super-important party where Max will have a chance to kiss his crush. Problem is, he and his two buddies have no idea how to kiss. Their attempts to learn how to kiss soon involve using a drone that Max's Dad owns to spy on Max's neighbor. From there, a whole series of predicaments unfold for these best buddies involving drugs, crossing a Highway and serious injuries that put them way out of their depth.

The Predator Is A Staggeringly And Tragically Inept Feature

The Predator is a movie that feels like it's been put through a meat grinder and then put through numerous cycles in a blender. Good luck keeping track of where characters are or why crucial plot points are even happening amidst the ramshackle editing that renders the whole movie choppy & frequently incoherent. The disastrous editing isn't all that goes wrong here though in this motion picture whose extremely low level of quality is tragic to see. You'd think pairing up Shane Black, the mind behind Iron Man 3 and The Nice Guys, with a new Predator movie (Black had previously appeared in the first Predator film in a support role) would be the easiest recipe ever for surefire entertainment, but The Predator is instead a total waste of potential that rarely feels like a Shane Black movie, and I'm not just saying that because it doesn't take place at Christmastime!

No Wonder Audiences Have Connected With Wonder, It's A Real Heartfelt Treat

Live-action family movies that don't star CGI chipmunks or aren't remakes of classic animated Disney fare have become a rarity in theatrically released American cinema to the point that Pure Flix (the studio behind God's Not Dead and other pieces of cinema of similar top-caliber quality) is the only studio in America these days regularly producing such films. That makes Wonder a rarity for sure as well as a reminder of how good these movies can be when produced right. Live-action family movies don't just have to be vehicles for CGI versions of 1960's cartoon characters to make pop culture references, they can instead be actually entertaining movies with heart.

The Book Of Henry Has Lots Of Strange Plot Turns But What's The Point Of It All?

SPOILERS FOR THE BOOK OF HENRY WITHIN

While the film geek community was aware that director Collin Trevorrow had a movie called The Book of Henry on the docket for release in 2017, the feature didn't gain all that much in the way of attention until it's bonkers first trailer was released, revealing the movies bonkers-looking plotline and immediately rocketing itself onto many people's radars. I'll freely admit to being one such person whose interest got piqued by the absolutely tonally all-over-the-map trailer which combined super-inventive kid movie tropes with Naomi Watts as a sniper action. The biggest question remaining for me and many others after watching that trailer was whether or not the actual movie itself would be this crazy....

Shut In Traps Audiences In Inescapable Boredom

For a thriller, Shut In is sorely lacking in actual thrills. Actually, it's more likely to instill a sense of tedium in prospective audiences rather than dread or unease. It doesn't even manage to be a uniquely bad movie, it's just endlessly dull even with a couple of nonsensical plot twists stashed away in its bare-bones story. Poor Naomi Watts and Jacob Tremblay, they deserve so much better than this chilly idiocy to star in. At least Tremblay will have a failed movie project he can joke about with interviewers once the next Academy Awards ceremony rolls around.

Room Review

Note: Normally, my reviews are as spoiler-free as possible. However, for this review, I will be discussing plot points from later portions of the film that could be described as spoilers in the conventional sense, though the plot turns are revealed in the trailer for the film. Don't worry, I don't go into excruciating detail on such elements of the story, but this is one film where going into it cold might be the best option. Just know that I found Room to be great if you don't want to read my super mildly spoilery review.

Room proves to be a far more harrowing experience than the majority of modern day horror films, simply by having its entire premise hinge on a situation that all too tragically occurs in reality. The fact that its entire concept stems from a more pragmatic source already adds a disturbing undercurrent to its diegesis. Such a connotation would likely bend and crack underneath the weight of poorly developed characters, but luckily, Room goes through great and commendable strides to ensure that its two lead characters are the most engrossing parts of the entire production.