Movie Review: ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ | Blockbuster Movie Review

Mile-a-minute jokes aside, the sequel to the 2014 blockbuster seems a bit confused about its message, as two siblings disagree over how to play with Legos.

Director: Mike MitchellWith: Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett

Rated PG 1 hour 47 minutes

Official Site: http://www.thelegomovie.com/

Looking back over the past decade, I can think of just two films that have done justice to the idea of play — the special way that creativity and imagination combine in the human brain to entertain us. The first was a lighthearted art film called “Faces Places” from forever-young director Agnès Varda in which she and graffiti artist JR stage ephemeral installations throughout the French countryside. The other was “The Lego Movie,” a high-concept animated blockbuster that used the massively popular toy brand to explore — and celebrate — how people of all ages amuse themselves differently with the versatile construction sets.

Fighting with My Family review: This uplifting wrestling comedy isn't just for WWE fans|Blockbuster Movie Review

One of Dwayne Johnson's earliest forays into the family-friendly market was 2010's Tooth Fairy, a largely forgettable affair that has now at least led to one good thing.

It was on that movie that Johnson met Stephen Merchant, and a couple of years later when Johnson was watching a Channel 4 documentary in his hotel room, he was inspired to reach out to the co-creator of The Office to make a feature movie on that documentary.

The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family told the true story of WWE superstar Paige, AKA Saraya Bevis, and her family, all of whom are professional wrestlers. Their ups and downs have now been dramatised as Fighting with My Family. You might think that it's only for wrestling fans – but you'd be mistaken.

Stepping into the ring as the two-time Divas champion Paige is Florence Pugh, showcasing a new side to her that confirms her as one of the brightest talents around.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" Review: Fearless Lives Forever | Blockbuster Movie Review

‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ the movie has had exactly the same reception as the band Queen - that is one of smug aloofness from the middle-class broadsheet critics. Predictably Malek’s performance is praised whilst the film is mocked as ‘boring’ ‘predictable’ even ‘like Spinal Tap’. These reviews are lazy and you can happily ignore them. The film is utterly engaging, odd, very ambitious and multi-layered - exactly like the band’s music. It tells a fascinating story of another time and the poignant story of a man struggling - with determination - to find where he belongs. Relationships are handled a little too lightly at times but you always get the right flavour of what’s going on. All of the actors do a great job at creating convincing likeable characters who are both rock stars and ordinary blokes. A little more of Queen’s extremely high quality musicianship would have been nice - but there’s enough. The glaring omission for me was the lack of the humour which Freddie Mercury was well known and loved for. But in the end these are just quibbles. The music comes to life fantastically especially the segue from the slightly comical scene of May explaining ‘We Will Rock You’ to its existence as a live phenomenon. The sense of what these recording and performing experiences were like for the band is captured beautifully - a simple intimacy is achieved. In the end the most poignant and Queen-like theme at the heart of the film is the creation and meaning of the title song which is wonderfully teased at almost from the film’s beginning to its end. 5/5 A magnificent and fitting cinematic experience.

"Green Book" Review: The Movie That Got The Oscar 2019 | Blockbuster Movie Review

Sweet. Affirming. Heart-warming, even. Green Book is the story of a road trip, but a road trip with a difference. Because Green Book is based on real life events.

It is the tale of how, in 1962, acclaimed pianist and friend of the Kennedy's, Dr Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) decides to embark on a tour of the United States. No problem. Except this is 1962.

Across large parts of the South, racial segregation and deep-seated anti-black prejudice is still in full swing. Selma, the voting rights marches and Martin Luther King are still some way in the future.

And Shirley intends to head south.

So he hires driver-cum-troubleshooter Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) and they are off. The film's focus now alternates between the increasingly hostile, ridiculous, racist attitudes of the authorities as they head for the Deep South, and the slowly emerging mutual respect between Dr Don and Tony.

It exposes, with bitter irony, the inconsistencies, the hypocrisies of a privileged white elite that will happily sit and listen to Shirley playing a public concert hall, but will not allow him to share a loo or eat in a restaurant with them.

At the same time, it addresses the visceral racism of Tony, a no-nonsense worldly-wise bouncer from an Italian-American family living in the Bronx. There are cringe moments, when Tony descends unwittingly into old attitudes. This, though, is artfully juxtaposed with Dr Don's own insecurities. For he is a famous black man atop a society that is institutionally programmed not to acknowledge black success.

Movie Review: "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)" | Blockbuster Movie Review

Featuring the voice talents of Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Kit Harington, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Justin Rupple, Kristen Wiig and F. Murray Abraham.

SYNOPSIS:

When Hiccup discovers Toothless isn’t the only Night Fury, he must seek “The Hidden World”, a secret Dragon Utopia before a hired tyrant named Grimmel finds it first.

By the end of the 2000s, DreamWorks had exhausted the pop-culture pit of puns and gags. Madagascar, Shark Tale, and their enduring golden goose the Shrek franchise saw them as one-note. The company needed a change. Kung-Fu Panda looked to be offering something of its ilk, but clearly, something more needed to be done. A risk. 2010s first How to Train Your Dragon appeared, and it critics and audiences alike that DreamWorks could produce something more. Celebrity voices weren’t used because Mum and Dad would recognise the talent, but because it fitted the character.

‘Glass’ Movie Review: Mind Blowing As Expected | Blockbuster Movie Review

There’s a new trailer for the next “Spider-Man” movie knockin’ ‘round the Internet that features Marvel’s tried-and-true formula: focus group-approved humor, likable characters, lifeless special effects, CGI things fighting other CGI things.

It’s doesn’t look bad. It looks like the same old thing. Like another widget on the Marvel assembly line.

It’s a deflating reminder that pop culture is caught in its dull loop, doomed to repeat the same movies (with minor variations) over and over again for the indefinite future. It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of the superhero movie.

And yet here comes M. Night Shyamalan’s unabashedly bonkers “Glass,” the best and most different superhero film I’ve seen since “Logan.”

Where other superhero movies play it safe, “Glass” goes out on a limb. Where other superhero movies undercut their ridiculousness with jokes, “Glass” doubles down on its absurdity. This is a movie that believes in itself.

“Glass” is the final film in the trilogy that started with “Unbreakable” and “Split.” The latter film ended with the Shyamalanian twist that its serial-killer superhuman with multiple personalities (James McAvoy) exists in the same Philadelphia as Bruce Willis’ stoic strongman and Samuel L. Jackson’s evil mastermind.

Alita: Battle Angel | Blockbuster Movie Review

Set several centuries in the future, the abandoned Alita is found in the scrapyard of Iron City by Ido, a compassionate cyber-doctor who takes the unconscious cyborg Alita to his clinic. When Alita awakens, she has no memory of who she is, nor does she have any recognition of the world she finds herself in. As Alita learns to navigate her new life and the treacherous streets of Iron City, Ido tries to shield her from her mysterious past.

Initial release: February 14, 2019 (USA)

Adapted from: Battle Angel Alita Trending

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Budget: 200 million USD

Production companies: 20th Century Fox, Lightstorm Entertainment, Troublemaker Studios, TSG Entertainment

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