Zoe Saldana

The Adam Project

/ / Home Video
  • Title: The Adam Project
  • IMDb: link

Ryan Reynolds stars in this convoluted story of a time-traveler looking for a disruption in the timeline who travels back from 2050 to 2022 and is forced to work with his preteen self (Walker Scobell) to avoid other time travelers following him. The premise allows for an older and younger version of the same character on-screen, a very Disney Channel kind of tale, although the lengths the story goes to to explain and support this get unnecessarily complicated for the kind of film The Adam Project is in its willingness to both change time in very important ways and at the same time avoid other changes that its writers just decide shouldn’t be messed with.

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Missing Link

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Missing Link
  • IMDb: link

Missing Link DVD reviewMissing Link is one of two animated films focused on returning a mythical creature home this year. While it lacks the heart of Abominable, the latest movie from LAIKA is a fun romp.

The story centers around self-absorbed adventurer Sir Lionel Frost (Hugh Jackman) who discovers a Sasquatch (Zach Galifianakis) in the Pacific Northwest and agrees to see it to the Himalays, dressed-up as Frost’s assistant, where its distant cousins live. The villains of the peace are the members of and exclusive club that has barred Frost from entry for his ridiculous beliefs (which he hasn’t been able to prove… until now). Along for the ride is Frost’s ex-girlfriend (Zoe Saldana).

Available on Blu-ray and DVD, extras include commentary by writer/director Chris Butler, the film’s trailer, a photo gallery, and various short featurettes on the making of the film. You can certainly do better than Missing Link but there’s fun to be had on Frost’s adventure across the world.

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Avengers: Infinity War

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Avengers: Infinity War
  • IMDb: link

Avengers: Infinity War movie review2012’s The Avengers brought together all the elements from the planned Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was a payoff movie, and one that was executed brilliantly by Joss Whedon. It also gave us the first on-screen appearance of Thanos (now played by Josh Brolin) whose foreshadowed war on the universe would be put on hold for several years. Until now. Since The Avengers, too many of the Marvel movies have been forced into world building while telling their story. For the first time in years, there is no horizon which frees sreenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely and directors the Russo Brothers to simply tie the elements together as Whedon did six years ago and tell one hell of a story. And you know what? They do a damn good job.

With some notable exceptions (Natalie Portman, Jeremy Renner, Paul Rudd, and Marvel is still completely ignoring their television properties) everyone is on hand to deal with the threat of Thanos who finally gets around to collecting the Infinity Stones which will allow him to complete his life-long quest of killing off half the lives across the universe with the snap of his fingers.

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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
  • IMDb: link

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales movie reviewHow does a movie based off an amusement park ride end up with four sequels? Taking a page out of the book of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the latest entry into the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise goes back to the beginning to try and recapture the magic of its best film. Although it delivers not much more than a pale imitation of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, borrowing heavily from every major plot point, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is easily the least shitty sequel in a franchise that knows something about shitty sequels.

See if any of this sounds familiar: A man (Brenton Thwaites) with a pirate father and a woman (Kaya Scodelario) too independent for her time befriend the crazy pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) while being pursued by a ship of undead cursed souls seeking a treasure that can save them and led by a captain (Javier Bardem) who hates Jack.

While all a bit too familiar, the choice to allow Jack to be more part of an ensemble rather than the central character certainly helps the film. Although even with less screentime the character grows tiresome at times.

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