Despite The Presence of Danny Boyle and Lily James, Yesterday Is Let Down By A Lackluster Script

You know Summer 2019 is coming up short on quality cinema when even Danny Boyle is delivering average fare. Whereas fusing Danny Boyle’s direction with the writing of Aaron Sorkin turned out to be a match made in heaven in 2015s Steve Jobs, merging his directorial skills with the writing of Richard Curtis (of Love, Actually fame) in the new feature Yesterday turns out to be a match made in…certainly not Hell, but somewhere in between (Milwaukee, maybe?) Though Yesterday has one of the more unique premises for a mainstream movie in a blue moon, the execution of that premise leaves much to be desired.

The Best Aspects of Ferdinand Stand In Sharp Contrast To Its More Derivative Elements

Blue Sky Studios has been producing animated movies for sixteen years now and they're currently occupying what one might call an awkward phase in their history. The studio's big cash cow, the Ice Age movies, has finally run out of gas and their second attempt to create a big franchise in Rio never really took off after puttering out after two movies. Meanwhile, they're still producing only one movie a year, far less than even PIXAR who've been able to do two movies a year twice now, and their recent films that aren't The Peanuts Movie have failed to really take hold of the general public. They also seem to be struggling creatively with recent films like Rio and Epic that aspire to be bold and unique but end up succumbing to some of the more conventional traits of modern-day American animated fare.

Rough Night Has Major Story Problems But Don't Worry, It's Got A Good Number Of Laughs To Its Name

Someone pointed out to me the other day how the new comedy Rough Night marks Scarlett Johansson's first foray into straight-up full-on comedies and to my surprise, it kind of actually is. Granted, she's gone into romantic comedies multiple times in her career as well as a Woody Allen dramedy (I'm shocked I didn't know a Hugh Jackman/Scarlett Johansson comedy from Woody Allen movie even existed prior to a couple months ago) and providing voicework for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and Sing but in terms of headlining a top-to-bottom live-action comedy, this new Lucia Aniello feature does mark new terrain for the celebrated actor.

Office Christmas Party Is A Big Waste In Every Respect

Simply by the virtue of having so many strong comedic actors in one place at one time, you'd think Office Christmas Party would have to at least be mildly amusing right? You've got some strong Saturday Night Live cast members (Kate McKinnon and the underrated Vanessa Bayer), up-and-coming actors (Jamie Chung, Sam Richardson and Karan Soni) and some established veterans of the comedy world (Jason Bateman and T.J. Miller) all trying to pull off a raunchy Yuletide-themed party. Shouldn't that be enough to generate an at least agreeable comedy?

The Angry Birds Movie Is A Dream Come True For Marketers And Tedious For Everyone Else

One day, we'll get a good video game movie. Hell, we've gotten multiple high-quality movies using video game iconography like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and Wreck-It Ralph. But as for direct film adaptations of video games? We're still not there yet. The Angry Birds Movie does nothing to reverse this trend, though its flaws aren't so much related to the failings of other video game movies as they are about this movie clearly trying to imitate conventional tropes of major American computer-animated family movies without understanding how to make these storytelling staples work in a remotely successful manner.

Ghostbusters Review

After a summer full of so many big budget clunkers, the incredibly entertaining Ghostbusters arrives like a bucket of cool water to a man stranded in the Sahara for months on end. Seriously, where was this level of fun, sincerity and care been in the likes of Independence Day: Resurgence and X-Men: Apocalypse? Leave it to Paul Feig and co. to follow up the directors exceptional Spy from last summer with a remake that's not relentlessly beholden to what's come before. There's a vibrant sensation of the new pulsating through Ghostbusters and it's a vibe that's impossible to resist.

The Trailer For Paul Feig's Ghostbusters Is Here!!

Out of all of this years crop of summer blockbusters, few carry as many question marks as this years Ghostbusters reboot. Can Paul Feig graduate to the realm of summer blockbusters with all the success of Christopher Nolan, the perfunctoryness of Collin Trevorrow or the failure of Marc Webb? Will the new group of Busters (Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones) work well as a team? Will whiny Mens Rights Activists ever shut up about the film "ruining" their childhoods? A trailer for the project has arrived today to answer give us a glimpse into the film that may answerr those questions and more.

Melissa McCarthy Is The Lead In Ghostbusters 3

After many years and many many failed scripts, and even more numerous pushes from Dan Aykroyd, it looks like Ghostbusters 3 is finally taking form. Paul Feig signed on a while back to write and direct the movie, which would have a female group of Ghostbusters. It looks like that group is finally getting casted, according to The Hollywood Reporter.