Baywatch: Movie Review

A fun and entertaining ride into the ridiculousness.

When Mitch (Dwayne Johnson) describes their lifeguard job as saving lives, chasing down criminals, uncovering intricate crime rings and doing everything that the police should be doing, Zac Efron’s character Matt Brody responds “that sounds like an entertaining but really far-fetched TV show.” Considering that’s what Baywatch is, it’s only fitting that that’s also what this movie remake is as well. For the most part, entertaining, but also utterly ridiculous and they play that up big time.		2017 Directed by: Seth Gordon Screenplay by: Mark Swift, Damian Shannon Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron

Everything, Everything: Movie Review

Romance carries the movie everything else sinks it.

Everything, Everything wants to be both everything and nothing at the same time, and that doesn’t work. On one hand it looks like it wants to be an edgy, surreal, quirky film - at that it fails. At other times, all it's trying to be is a straight-forward teen romantic drama and it definitely succeeds at that. The story is straight out of The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, source material that is more fantasy than reality, and this adaptation from a young-adult novel isn't any more convincing.		2017 Directed by: Stella Meghie Screenplay by: J. Mills Goodloe Based on the book by Nicola Yoon Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Nick Robinson

Snatched: Movie Review

Implausibility rules raunchy adventure comedy with mother-daughter relationship.

As demonstrated in Trainwreck, Amy Schumer is really good at playing an extreme version of a regular woman – being relatable and funny at the same time. In Snatched, Schumer’s Emily is more incompetent than the average woman, and is really funny when she quits her job right after she’s fired or breaking up with her boyfriend right after he dumps her (speaking of which, Randall Park was great as said boyfriend).		2017 Directed by: Jonathan Levine Screenplay by: Katie Dippold Starring: Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn

The Lost City of Z: Movie Review

A beautifully imagined film leads the audience through the jungle.

The Lost City of Z is a curiously good movie. As the movie begins it looks a lot like an average historical period drama. Taking awhile to get interesting, it tells a methodical story of British Army Col. Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) who is tasked by the Royal Geographical Society to survey the border between Brazil and Venezuela in the Amazon jungle. But with each scene and employing everything at their disposal, the filmmakers build it into a mesmerizing picture of survival and mystery.		2016 Directed by: James Gray Screenplay by: James Gray Based on the book by David Grann Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller

The Dinner: Movie Review

A long, slow build to a moral dilemma.

The Dinner is described as a moral dilemma thriller. While "thriller" can seem like a misnomer, when paired with "moral dilemma" it should become clear that the suspense is off-key. The suspense comes in the form of wondering if these characters are ever going to say what they are talking about. The film really is a dinner. Husband and wife, Paul and Claire (Steve Coogan and Laura Linney) are meeting Paul's brother Stan (Richard Gere) and his wife Katelyn (Rebecca Hall) for dinner.		2017 Directed by: Owen Moverman Screenplay by: Owen Moverman Based on the novel by Howard Koch Starring: Steve Coogan, Laura Linney, Richard Gere and Rebecca Hall