MEDIOCREMOVIE.CLUB
  • Reviews
  • Side Pieces
  • Shane of Thrones
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Archives
  • Game of Thrones Fantasy

Creed 2

6/26/2019

0 Comments

 

B

Directed by Steven Caple Jr.

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, and Sylvester Stallone
​
Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

Ryan Coogler’s Creed was the rare seventh entry in a franchise that could make an play for being the peak of the series.  Replicating Creed’s contemporary relevance, cinematic power, and the series’ best acting would be a difficult task for Creed 2, the eighth film featuring the characters created by Sylvester Stallone 42 years ago.  Not only has Coogler stepped aside, but the film takes its antagonist from Rocky’s corniest fight, in which the stakes were no less than the persistence of the Soviet Union.  In his takeover as director, Steven Caple Jr builds on what Coogler reinvigorated, namely relying on lead Michael B. Jordan’s wounded intensity and getting surprisingly strong performances out of franchise characters.  The franchise can digest a little corn when the bones are this strong.

Read More
0 Comments

Widows

6/18/2019

0 Comments

 

A-

Directed by Steve McQueen

Starring Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, and Elizabeth Debicki

​Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

​After five years, Steve McQueen returns to cinema, not with another bracing historical drama or psychological gauntlet, but by trying his hand at genre filmmaking, specifically the tried-and-true heist.  Unsurprisingly, based on the bravura work on display in films like Hunger and 12 Years a Slave, McQueen brings the same headiness and depth to Widows.  There’s presumably no genre that the English director can’t excel at, especially when he’s gained the clout to assemble a cast that includes rising stars like Carrie Coon and established icons like Robert Duvall, both of which hang out around the double digits on the call sheet.  Led by Viola Davis and written by Gillian Flynn, Widows’ pedigree considerably elevates it before the first shots, and McQueen wrings every last drop of potential from the premise and the assembled talent.

Read More
0 Comments

Three Identical Strangers

6/16/2019

0 Comments

 

B

Directed by Tim Wardle

Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

Some stories are so gripping and dramatic that a newly-graduated film student could capably shape them into a watchable documentary.  Three Identical Strangers is one of these stories. Directed by Tim Wardle, this retelling of an 80’s afternoon talk show staple is fascinating enough on its surface.  The joy and charisma of the subjects further elevates it, and where the story ultimately goes elevates it further still. Wardle gets the maximum amount of access, but he doesn’t fully trust the story, spiking it with needle drops and unnecessary flashbacks to scenes that occurred shortly before, as if any of this was forgettable.  ​

Read More
0 Comments

Krisha

6/11/2019

0 Comments

 

B+

Directed by Trey Edward Shults

Starring Krista Fairchild
​
Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

Trey Edward Shults’ micro-budget debut Krisha initially seems like it’s going to be some slasher horror flick, what with the sharp strings that accompany a nude unblinking woman coming into frame.  Instead, this is only a representation of the woman’s worst impulses, fated to emerge at a Thanksgiving dinner.  Filmed at his parents’ home and cast with several family members who happen to be professional actors, Krisha could still be categorized as horror but of the psychological, melodramatic variety.  It doesn’t get any less uncomfortable or stressful just because there isn’t a knife-wielding maniac stalking the family.  

Read More
0 Comments

Beautiful Boy

6/11/2019

0 Comments

 

C+

Directed by Felix van Groeningen

Starring Steve Carell, Timothee Chalamet, and Maura Tierney

​Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

​What makes Felix van Groeningen’s addiction drama Beautiful Boy stand out is how it differs from other films like it.  Stories about relapse and recovery and rock bottom have built in tension and act transitions, and they often choose to end happily with some breakthrough, giving the viewer the impression that the events of the film only depict a phase in a character’s life and not a continuous struggle.  Beautiful Boy, adapted from David and Nic Sheff’s memoirs, discards that triteness, rightfully so.  If addiction is a chronic disease, then preventing relapse is a lifelong and daily process, and for Groeningen, who made the similarly unflinching Broken Circle Breakdown, this struggle must be shown in its maddening truth.  That kind of admirable honesty, where every victory is temporary and choosing to do nothing can be the best choice, perversely makes the film itself into a slog, an earned one but a slog nonetheless.  

Read More
0 Comments

Booksmart

6/9/2019

0 Comments

 

D+

Directed by Olivia Wilde

Starring Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever

Review by Drew Landry
Picture

Ever wonder what the Superbad sequel would be?  If so, Booksmart is it, except it was unfunny.  Directed by Olivia Wilde, Booksmart took the last day of high school through the perspective of two highly motivated, ambitious, intelligent, and involved senior girls – Amy and Molly – who believed in the mantra “hard work pays off.”  When Molly (Beanie Feldstein) learned those whom she looked down up academically also had ambitious post – high school plans, she was stunned.  A few scenes later, Molly convinced her best friend Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) to tag along with her on a carefree night out.

Read More
0 Comments

Journey's End

6/4/2019

0 Comments

 

A-

Directed by Saul Dibb

Starring Sam Claflin, Asa Butterfield, and Paul Bettany
​
​Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

​​Coinciding with the centennial of the end of WWI, the latest adaptation of the British play Journey’s End manages to remain potent and devastating, no matter how many casts and directors take a crack at it.  So few films are set during this, the crucial event of the 20th century, that there may be some scarcity-induced grade elevation.  It’s so important for audiences to consider a war that didn’t have simple good and evil dichotomies, but the material is so bleak and dreadful that it’s also understandable for studios to shy away from depictions of grinding trench warfare.  Journey’s End might situate the viewer on the side of the eventual victors, but the film communicates the minimal comfort that status conveys.

Read More
0 Comments

Ocean's 8

6/3/2019

0 Comments

 

C-

Directed by Gary Ross

Starring Sandra Bullock

​Review by Jon Kissel
Picture

​Capitalizing on two Hollywood trends at once, Ocean’s 8 both reboots a familiar property and gender-swaps its cast.  With the former trend being a further capitalistic repackaging of art as commerce and the latter a progressive pitch to hopefully obscure the aforementioned grubbiness, Ocean’s 8 is slightly better than a previous attempt to thread this exact needle (Ghostbusters) but not anywhere good enough to justify the considerable talents of the actors involved.  Director Gary Ross apes the directorial style of Steven Soderbergh’s male-led Oceans trilogy, film that I like just fine, but there’s something lost in translation from a director with vision to one doing an imitation.  Too often, when it’s not a commercial or a promotional video, an imitation is what Ocean’s 8 feels like.

Read More
0 Comments

    Side Pieces

    Random projects from the MMC Universe. 

    Categories

    All
    Action
    Adventure
    Author - Bryan
    Author - Drew
    Author - Jon
    Author - Phil
    Author - Sean
    Best Of 2016
    Best Of 2017
    Best Of 2018
    Best Of 2019
    Best Of 2020
    Best Of 2021
    Best Of 2022
    Best Of The Decade
    Classics
    Comedy
    Crime
    Documentary
    Drama
    Ebertfest
    Game Of Thrones
    Historical
    Horror
    Musical
    Romance
    Sci Fi
    Thriller
    TV
    Western

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015

    RSS Feed