I hate to do another catch-up post but sadly sometimes there just isn’t time for long full reviews of everything I’m seeing. Make sure you are following me on youtube and instagram as I post all of my out of theater reactions on both sites.

So here goes:

Things Like This is a cute enough queer rom-com, but I wish the characters were more likable and the dialogue snappier. The Phoenician Scheme is more of the same from Wes Anderson although this is more coherent than his last few projects. If you’re still on the Wes train you’ll love it if not give it a pass.

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life isn’t the subversive rom-com I hoped for and even more disappointing is how little insight it has on Jane Austen or romance in general. A real letdown. Raising the Bar is too schmaltzy even for me and I’m a huge softee when it comes to underdog sports movies.

Fans of the John Wick franchise seem to be loving the Ballerina spinoff. It’s ok if you’re just looking for action but even that I found to be largely dark and cloudy with little innovation to the individual action set-pieces. The same night I saw Ballerina I saw the indie film Tornado which surprisingly has a very similar story to Ballerina and yet is a much more compelling film. Tornado will be too much of a slow burn for some but it’s very well made with compelling characters. Worthy of your time.

I had the chance to see Wicked again so I could watch the Wicked: For Good trailer debut with a crowd. That was probably the best time I’ve had in a theater this year. So much fun to see such a quality blockbuster again and have the enthusiasm of a trailer debut with a crowd.

The How to Train Your Dragon remake will test your desire to see a live action remake of the animated film. If that is something you want it is fine. If you are hoping for something even slightly creatively challenging than you’ll be sorely disappointed. It’s ok for what it is, but I would never watch it over the animated film. I just don’t get the appeal of these live action remakes that don’t try anything new.

I appreciate the swing The Life of Chuck takes and that it gives theater-goers a lot to talk about but I still can’t recommend the sappy, heavy-handed metaphor of a film. I’ve seen it twice now just to give it a fair shake and I was left unmoved by the experience both times.  It’s honestly not any more insightful than those Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff memes. It’s like they took the most cheesy self-help book you could imagine and threw in a little mystery and it’s supposed to be life-changing. The middle section is particularly lame. We get it. Dance to the beat of your own drum (I’m not being facetious. They literally have dancing and a drummer.) How profound…

The Good Night, and Good Luck live stream was a historic moment for Broadway with the first time I Broadway show has been live streamed directly to network television. I enjoyed this play and think George Clooney is quite compelling as Edward R Murrow. They are very smart to include a little side romance and other supplementary plots which help keep the play from feeling preachy and one note. It was better and more entertaining than I expected.

Materialists by Celine Song was one of my most anticipated films of the year. I was so hopeful from interviews she’d given and the trailers it would be a fun, if indie, romantic comedy. Sadly that is not the case. Instead we get another treatise on the woes of modern dating and how cynical singles are in New York City. This is the kind of story we used to get from Woody Allen except without the humor or witty banter. Literally a major plot point of this movie revolves around a single woman getting sexually assaulted. It does have a nice style to it but even that feels derivative and uninspired. Chris Evans is pretty charming but the other leads fell completely flat for me and nobody has any chemistry. Just a big old disappointment.

So there you have it. My update on the latest new releases. What have you seen? What do you think is worth watching? Let me know!

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