Doctor Sleep Manages To Be More Than Just 2 The 2 Shining

Every brand with even a modicum of fame is getting exploited for sequels, reboots, TV shows and everything in between in the modern era of pop culture, so it was inevitable that somebody would eventually come along with a sequel to The Shining, especially since Stephen King already penned a sequel to his original Shining book in the form of Doctor Sleep. The feature film sequel to The Shining decides to adapt that Doctor Sleep text while also trying to wed that story to Kubrick's original film. Considering how wildly detached King's books were from Kubrick's movies, the notion of trying to fuse the two together sounds like a massive task for writer/director Mike Flanagan at best and a potential recipe for disaster at worst.

The Kid Who Would Be King Is A Fantastical Delight

Leaping lizards, somebody finally made a modern-day fantasy movie that isn't a realistic reimagining or oppressively gloomy! Hooray for The Kid Who Would Be King for just doing a straightforward fantasy movie and never feeling insecure about its fantasy trappings. In this movie, people fight undead skeletons, use magic and wield swords without feeling the need to constantly wink at the camera. Instead, the newest effort from writer/director Joe Cornish (frequent Edgar Wright collaborator and the guy behind Attack the Block) is just concentrated on telling a good story in a fun manner. Consider me more than onboard for that!

The Mysteries of the Cosmos End Up Being Pretty Boring in Men in Black: International

Good luck trying to remember Men in Black: International the moment it’s over, this is one of the most disposable blockbusters I've seen in a good long while. Despite starring two talented actors in a story about aliens living on Earth, Men in Black: International is a movie shockingly lacking in energy or fun. There isn't even a memorably bad movie to be found here, just a massively forgettable one likely to leave even the most undemanding moviegoer yawning. If you thought the day would come where we'd all be nostalgic for two-headed Johnny Knoxville from Men in Black II, well, keep waiting, that day hasn't arrived yet, but Men in Black: International still isn't very good.

The Spectacle Is Pushed Into Overdrive In The Exceptionally Exciting Mission: Impossible - Fallout

22 years after the first Mission: Impossible came out, you'd think this series would have run out of creative reasons for Tom Cruise to run really fast, but not only is this franchise still going on, its last two entries have been its strongest. Christopher McQuarrie's Rogue Nation and especially Brad Bird's Ghost Protocol were the two strongest installments in the Mission: Impossible saga yet with both carrying all kinds of inventive action sequences that put one at the very edge of their seat. The newest Mission: Impossible entry, Fallout, see's McQuarrie back in the director's chair and while the results aren't quite as good as Rogue Nation and Ghost Protocol, Fallout still finds this series in superb form and delivering the kind of thrills so many blockbusters can only dream about.

It's Thematically Messy But The Greatest Showman Does Come Through On Providing Fun Musical Numbers

It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights, it's time to meet The Greatest Showman at the circus show tonight! Who is The Greatest Showman you ask? Why, it's P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman), a real life figure who is thought of having a complicated legacy at best (a good example of this is how he was a staunch critic of slavery but also heavily utilized blackface in his entertainment programs) and has now been recontextualized for the American musical The Greatest Showman as being a staunch advocate for the downtrodden and the oppressed. How does he advocate for such individuals? By creating a haven for them that he calls...the circus.

The Snowman Is A Frosty Murder Mystery Misfire

Do you want to build a snowman? C'mon, your snowman can't turn out any worse than Tomas Alfredson's new thriller The Snowman, a film that clearly was meant to be a snowy Silence Of The Lambs but ends up being more incoherent than anything else. The premise of The Snowman, alas, does not revolve around a crime-solving snowman, but rather Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender, and yes, multiple characters solemnly intone that name throughout the film) taking time away from his favorite past time of drinking booze and passing out on playground equipment so that he can concentrate on a local missing person case, with the individual that's missing being a mother who's having marriage troubles.

Get Trapped With Overly Familiar But Sometimes Chilling Thrills In Life

Jake Gyllenhaal has been on quite the roll lately. His exemplary lead turn in Nightcrawler was one of the peak moments of his entire career and even in something more middling like Southpaw Gyllenhaal managed to craft a solid performance out of a subpar script. Last years Nocturnal Animals continued his recent career choices of doing bold and daring projects by offering Gyllenhaal a chance to inhabit a tortured persona to fascinating results. So, of course, after all these challenging dramas, it's no shocker that the next big movie Jake Gyllenhaal is headlining is Life, a science-fiction horror film chock full of blood and mayhem, just like Nocturnal Animals. What I'm trying to say is that Life is the exact same movie as Nocturnal Animals.

Find A Better Cinematic Passenger Than The Girl On The Train

There's a sense of confusion throughout The Girl On The Train, and I'm not just referring to how the protagonist of this story has a massive dependency on alcohol makes it difficult to remember crucial memories. No, there's a pretty clear sense of dubiety that's occurring in the script too, one that seems like the screenwriter of The Girl On The Train, in an effort to adapt the 2015 book (that I have not read, just for context), was struggling to figure out what kind of tone to go for here. Was this a trashy fun thriller? Was this a thoughtful exploration of alcoholism and regret? Was this both? What is this movie?

Florence Foster Jenkins Just Can't Quite Carry A Tune Or Its Story

It's pretty clear that Florence Foster Jenkins wants to be the new watermark for inspirational cinema, the kind of film that's a feel-good adventure that inspires individuals to embrace their own talents and not let the obstacles of the world get in their way. A noble artistic goal, but one that's distinctly at odds with the true-ish story it's presenting that concerns a woman named Florence Foster Jenkins (Meryl Streep) who has dreams of singing in super public places, despite her vocal talent not being the best around.