Action Point Review

Action Point is a fun comedy with likable characters. This movie is about a daredevil who runs a dangerous theme park known as Action Point. Johnny Knoxville gives a great performance. His character is always fun to watch and his relationship with his daughter, played by Eleanor Worthington-Cox, felt real. Chris Pontius gives a hilarious performance as Knoxville’s best friend. Their back and forth is easily a highlight. This movie is filled with real stunt comedy and it’s hilarious. The actors should be commended for the stuff they put themselves through to get a laugh. The script, written by Dave Krinsky and John Altschuler, does a great job balancing stupid comedy with heart. Tim Kirby does a good, albeit unspectacular, job directing. At 85 minutes the pace moves along with enough laughs that I was always entertained. Overall Action Point is a fun summer comedy that I recommend.

7/10

Life of the Party Review

Life of the Party was an entertaining college comedy. This movie is about a mom who goes back to the same college as her daughter after her husband asks for a divorce. Melissa McCarthy gives a good performance making her character likable enough to root for. Maya Rudolph gave a hilarious performance as McCarthy’s best friend. Any scene with her and her husband are easily highlights. Molly Gordon and Matt Walsh both give decent performances as McCarthy’s daughter and husband, respectively. The script written by McCarthy and Ben Falcone hits 65% of the time with a couple big laugh moments. Ben Falcone’s direction is competent but unspectacular. This movie is not without its share of cringe worthy moments. However, it is so innocent and fun to watch it remains enjoyable throughout. Overall, Life of the Party is a serviceable college comedy with a few standout moments.

7/10

Solo: A Star Wars Story Review

Solo: A Star Wars Story was a surprisingly great addition to the Star Wars universe. This movie is about Han Solo’s first job in the criminal underworld and how he became the character we know today. Alden Ehrenreich did an incredible job playing the title character. He is fully believable as a young Han Solo. Donald Glover gives a fantastic performance as a young Lando Calrissian. Emilia Clarke gave a good performance as Han’s childhood love. Woody Harrelson gives a great performance as Han’s mentor. Paul Bettany did a really good job playing the main antagonist of the movie. Phoebe Waller-Bridge did a decent job voicing L3 but her character was occasionally annoying. The direction by Ron Howard is strong especially during a thrilling train sequence. The script by Jonathan and Lawrence Kasdan was great minus a few forced moments of fan service. The visual effects are fantastic throughout. At 135 minutes this movie moves along at a good pace though it could lose 10 minutes. Overall Solo: A Star Wars Story was a surprisingly great movie I highly recommend.

8.5/10

Deadpool 2 Review

Deadpool 2 is a hilarious action packed sequel that’s as good as the first one. This movie is about Deadpool who must protect a young mutant from the time traveling cyborg known as Cable. Ryan Reynolds was born to play Deadpool. He is perfect in the role and is a joy to watch. Josh Brolin gave a fantastic performance as Cable. He did a fantastic job in the action scenes while making his character surprisingly sympathetic. Julian Dennison gave a good performance as the young mutant Deadpool is protecting. His character could get slightly annoying at times, but I liked him overall. Morena Baccarin, Zazie Beetz and Stefan Kapicic all give great performances in supporting roles.  David Leitch does a fantastic job directing the action sequences making them genuinely exciting. The script by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick and Ryan Reynolds was hilarious from start to finish while still having compelling characters. At 119 minutes this movie flies by. Overall Deadpool 2 is a blast from start to finish.

P.S. Make Sure to Stay for the Two Credit Scenes

9.5/10

Avengers: Infinity War Review

Avengers: Infinity War is another fantastic addition to the MCU but will confuse newcomers. This movie is about the Avengers who must face their greatest threat yet, Thanos as he seeks to wipe out half the universe. As expected all of the Avengers give fantastic performances. The standouts being Robert Downey Jr., Zoe Saldana and Chris Hemsworth. However this movie is really about Thanos’s story and Josh Brolin absolutely owns the role. He gives a fantastic performance creating a villain that is equally scary and sympathetic. The Russo Brothers directing is perfect executing the numerous action sequences to perfection. The script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely is incredible balancing action, story and humor in a way not often seen these days. The visual effects are mostly fantastic though there are a few poor moments that are extremely noticeable. Alan Silvestri returns to score the picture with his classic Avengers theme booming at all the right moments. At 149 minutes the pace moves fast never slowing down for too long. As a fulfillment of 10 years of build up, this movie delivered everything I wanted. Newcomers, however, will be extremely lost. Overall I adored Avengers: Infinity War and highly recommend it to all MCU fans.

9.5/10

Super Troopers 2 Review

Super Troopers 2 is a serviceable comedy sequel, but is a big step down from the first film. In this movie the super troopers are tasked with establishing a highway patrol when a border dispute between America and Canada arises. Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Brian Cox all give hilarious performances. Erik Stolhanske and Jay Chandrasekhar give good performances, but their characters occasionally got annoying. Kevin Heffernan definitely has his moments but his character is more annoying than funny. Jay Chandrasekhar did a perfectly competent job directing. The script is written by all the actors mentioned above definitely has funny moments, but a lot of the jokes miss and were painfully unfunny. At 99 minutes this movie moves fast when it’s funny and very slow when it doesn’t. Overall despite all that, thanks to a likable cast and a few laugh out loud moments, I’d give this movie a light recommendation to fans of the first film.

6/10

Rampage Review

Rampage is a fun action packed monster movie.  This movie is about a primatologist named Davis Okoye who has a friendship with an ape named George. When a mysterious substance causes George to double in size and become aggressive, Davis must team up with a scientist to save his friend.  Dwayne Johnson is the only reason this movie works as well as it does. He gives an extremely charismatic performance and his friendship with George feels real. Naomie Harris gives a good performance and she has good chemistry with Johnson. Jeffery Dean Morgan is having a blast hamming it up as a Texas government agent. Malin Akerman and Jake Lacy give fine performances as the corporate villains but they are written horribly. The writing in this movie is perfectly serviceable with a few standout moments. Brad Peyton did a fantastic job directing the action sequences. The visual effects are also fantastic. I never thought about the fact I wasn’t watching real animals. As for flaws, whenever Dwayne Johnson isn’t on screen, this movie can really drag on. Overall Rampage is a fun action blockbuster especially for monster movie fans.

7.5/10