Century 16 South Point and XD
Movie Theater In Las Vegas

Movie Guru's Current Movie Briefs

• Red One
  

  When everyone thinks one team is going to win a game, it is almost always the other team that wins (at least against the spread).  And when everyone watches a movie preview and group thinks, this is going to be great, watch out below.  I have been talking this movie up for weeks.  The previews are great.  Then I came to my senses.  The previews show all funny scenes.  Number one – that takes the fun out of seeing those scenes at the actual movie.  Number two – I am getting the chills thinking about how many times I am going to have to take the grandkids to the concession stand during a 2 hour and 3 minute possible dud.  I feel like if I take all five kids, then maybe 2.5 of them will like it.  Maybe that will make the investment worthy of the movie visit.
• Real Pain
  

  A buddy, road flick written, directed and starring Jesse Eisenberg.  I am worried about this movie.  What seems to be a comedy may actually reveal a tearjerker.  Well, sometimes that works with the right audience.  I will go into this movie wanting to like it but ready to squirm if it becomes too precious.
• Weekend in Taipei
  

  Classic B action movie written and produced by Luc Besson and starring Fast and Furious graduates Luke Evans and Sung Yang.  Filmed in Taipei this opens up all kinds of new backdrops for one hour and forty one minutes of action and romance.  It seems Luke Evans is returning to Taiwan to reignite a long ago romance with unforeseen consequences.  Look up Luc Besson’s filmography.  You will know right away how badly you will want to see this movie.
• Anora
  

  Pay attention.  This movie about a Las Vegas stripper and the son of a Russian oligarch will explode upon your consciousness during Oscar season.  Being able to see it now is a gift.  I only know the preview and its winning the best picture and best actress at the Canne Film Festival. And though I know director Sean Baker from his previous well received work, I know nothing about Miss Mikey Madison previous of a long running streaming series.  
• The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
  

  These faith based movies are always well written and well played and do not bang you over the head with religion.  This is the perfect subject for all ages to appreciate.  Bringing faith back to Christmas is a tall order.  This family movie looks like the best Christmas movie ever.  I am not certain why it is being dropped into theaters so early.
• Heretic
  

  Hugh Grant in what looks like a horror thriller that involves a lot more than meets the eye.  Hugh Grant is the perfect performer to pull off this ambiguous character, able to sweet talk two young girls into his home and able to put them through some intellectual terrorizing.  Usually I would have no interest, but Hugh Grant is drawing me in to what could be a different kind of movie horror trip.
• Here
  

  On first watching the preview I became sick.   Tom Hanks and Robin Wright de-aged like processed cheese and served up in what is headlined as the return of the Forrest Trump team, director Robert Zemeckis, writer Eric Roth, actors Hanks and Wright.  OK.  Let me think about that.  Hmmm.  I notice their film about the beginning of time through the present is one hour and 44 minutes long.  Unusual in this time of every major movie talking 2+ hours at a minimum.  Maybe I’m wrong.  I look up Forrest Gump’s running time.  Two hours and 22 minutes.  Aha.  This movie must have been cut to ribbons in the editing room.  That is not a good sign.
• Absolution
  

  Liam Neeson as a veteran gangster working through memory issues. This is another throwaway Neesom film that reminds me that Bruce Willis was placed in front of cameras for years and like Biden pulled fast ones on the public. I recently caught the end of Red 2, a money grab with genuine co-stars. While Hopkins and Mirren and Malkovich are talking up a storm, Willis stands there listening and listening, and listening, a few times interspersed with a “Yes, No, and a kiss of his romantic partner. Enough is enough though I watch everything with “performances” by either Neeson or Willis or Biden. Maybe not Biden.
• Venom: The Last Dance
  

  The first was very funny with a snake taking over human bodies until he found his favorite inside superior actor Tom Hardy. Venom 2 was a money grab lacking humor and the innocence of the first. I look forward to this one because the third is always better than the second which might be enough to equal the fun of the first.
• We Live in Time
  

  The title sounds a little like The Title It Ends With Us which makes me think this could be about a couple in love.  In fact the story that was hard to miss is that the stars Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh filmed a love scene so hot that the director turned his back and forgot to yell cut.  In nine months we will find out how hot the scene really was.  
• Smile 2
  

  I am not smiling.  Ha ha.  In 1968 George Romero wrote and directed the black and white horror film Night of the Living Dead with a Pittsburgh crew and locals playing the zombies.  Scary as hell in theaters full of screaming customers.  Midnight shows still playing years later.  An ending that sums up the randomness of life.  Now our children and grandchildren go to garbage like Terrifier and Blink Twice and See No Evil and Smile 1 and 2 and more to come.  Sad.
• Saturday Night Live
  

  Oh boy. Time to break out the smoke. Actually, in my day, every TV show and movie was time to break out the smoke. We are about to see a backstage representation of the fear and loathing of the iconic live, late night show’s first week ever, I am afraid it will be filled with more fact than fun. I would prefer a film showing the party going on at my good friend’s Mitch’s house while we watched the first episode ever. We were hooked after the first inhale. And no – Bill Clinton was not invited
• Joker Folie a Deux
  

  Maybe it is just me, but I am totally creeped out by the “love” affair between Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in this big budget, mainstream, tentpole that is supposed to carry movie exhibitors into a money making holiday season. I feel like I will be revolted by this movie, but I am wrong 50% of the time.
• Megalopolis
  

  The Francis Ford Coppola who created masterworks of film, now in the final years of his life, has made a muddled and indulgent film that only cineastes could love. However it is wrong to attack what is obviously a bad choice, and in fact his failure is no worse than Orson Welles’ Other Side of the Wind, Muhammed Ali’s final fights, Willie Mays’ misplays in centerfield for the Mets, Johnny Unitas barely able to throw a decent pass for The San Diego Chargers, ad infinitum. For all he has meant to the history of film, I tip my cap to Francis Ford Coppola.
• Blink Twice
  

  No wonder people of faith the world over despise Hollywood. Zoe Kravitz, an excellent actress, wrote and directed this moral failure starring her significant other Channing Tatum. Hopefully this short and spoiler filled plot summary will protect you from considering this movie in theaters or via streaming. A rich guy brings a group of single young ladies to join his friends on his secluded luxury island. Each night they rape and sodomize and slice open the necks of various of the female guests after spraying them with a forget everything perfume that erases their memories of the previous night’s debaucheries. Then the remaining two heroines turn the tables and Django Chained- like violently massacre all the males except Channing Tatum who the bigger star of the two survivors marries.There was absolutely no excuse for a distributor financing this script and distributing the finished film worldwide. And the agents involved should take some of the blame as well.
• Deadpool and Wolverine
  

  Written by second summer intern Jake Gaughan. Deadpool and Wolverine was fan service and nostalgia bait at its finest but more than anything it was a lot of fun! Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are playing the roles they were born to in this movie and they are at their best here. It’s the first Marvel movie to release in a long time that I have wanted to watch again. I watched it in XD and it was well worth the extra few bucks!
• Deadpool and Wolverine
  

  Warning. If you are old and prone to fall asleep in front of screens, please be aware that the bottom two rows of seats nearest the screen in the XD theaters recline all the way. They are the only two rows that function that way. At the first showtime of Deadpool and Wolverine, the theater was filled. I was forced to sit in the second row. I reclined all the way. I made it through the many previews and commercials. I watched the creative opening and an exciting and bloody and fun 20 minutes. Next I knew I woke up having missed a bunch of what I assume was great stuff. Thank goodness a summer intern is watching the movie tonight. I look forward to reading his brief.
• Godzilla Minus One
  

  This is a brand new English dubbed Japanese rethinking and tribute to the English dubbed (except for Raymond Burr) 1950s original. Bring the kids.

  Wrong! This is a terrific, subtitled flick; a great movie with incredible sound design and award worthy effects, with excellent screenwriting, and an unbelievable final battle that dissolves into an unexpected denouement. The premium XD theater presentation for this one is worth every extra penny.