Special: Kimi, The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild, Uncharted Mini-Reviews

Kimi

Synopsis: An agoraphobic tech worker discovers recorded evidence of a violent crime but is met with resistance when she tries to report it. Seeking justice, she must now do the thing she fears the most: she must leave her apartment.

My thoughts: Ten years ago Steven Soderbergh would've been on a very shortlist of my favourite directors but he just hasn't delivered recently. Kimi is no exception to that unfortunately. The saving grace that Kimi has is it's short run time, but on the negative side. Only 20 of the 85 minutes gets interesting and it's the last 20 minutes. The moments leading up to it is very predictable but hey if you're looking for a free look at Zoe Kravitz's boobs then Kimi is the film for you. Talking on Zoe as the whole she plays a broken woman very well but when she's not doing that it's hard to believe that same broken woman would react as she does.

Final verdict: 3 electronic assistants out of 5.

The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild

Synopsis: "The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild" continues the hilarious escapades of the sub-zero heroes as they create more prehistoric pandemonium. Eager for a little independence, the thrill-seeking possum brothers Crash and Eddie set out to find a place of their own but soon find themselves trapped beneath the ice in a massive cave inhabited by dinosaurs. They are rescued by the one-eyed, adventure-loving weasel Buck Wild, and together, with the help of some new friends, embark on a mission to save the Lost World from dinosaur domination.

My thoughts: The Ice Age franchise has been rough for years. Similar to Hotel Transylvania the movies have gotten progressively worse and that remains the same here. I'm not sure I'll say this is a new low for the franchise but that's mostly because the previous films have been low quality as well. I think at this point Ice Age should fall into forgotten TV land.

Final verdict: 3 prehistoric adventures out of 5.

Uncharted

Synopsis: Street-smart thief Nathan Drake (Tom Holland) is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Mark Wahlberg) to recover a fortune lost by Ferdinand Magellan 500 years ago. What starts as a heist job for the duo becomes a globe-trotting, white-knuckle race to reach the prize before the ruthless Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who believes he and his family are the rightful heirs. If Nate and Sully can decipher the clues and solve one of the world's oldest mysteries, they stand to find $5 billion in treasure and perhaps even Nate's long-lost brother...but only if they can learn to work together.

My thoughts: A fun enough action adventure romp that keeps you interested the whole way through. There was lots of silly parts that made little to no sense but if you suspend disbelief you'll absolutely adore this film.

Final verdict: 4 lost treasures out of 5.

Special: Trolls: World Tour, Spenser Confidential, The Hunt Mini-Reviews

Trolls: World Tour:

Synopsis: In an adventure that will take them well beyond what they've known before, Poppy (Kendrick) and Branch (Timberlake) discover that they are but one of six different Troll tribes scattered over six different lands and devoted to six different kinds of music: Funk, Country, Techno, Classical, Pop and Rock. Their world is about to get a lot bigger and a whole lot louder. A member of hard-rock royalty, Queen Barb (Rachel Bloom), aided by her father King Thrash (Ozzy Osbourne), wants to destroy all other kinds of music to let rock reign supreme. With the fate of the world at stake, Poppy and Branch, along with their friends set out to visit all the other lands to unify the Trolls in harmony against Barb, who's looking to upstage them all.

My thoughts: This was certainly a step back from the original which I did not see coming given the addition of rock music. It was not a bad movie by any stretch it just was a disappointment given the opportunity it had to improve on the originals 3.5 rating.

Final verdict: 3 musical strings out of 5.

Spenser Confidential:

Synopsis: Spenser (Mark Wahlberg) -- an ex-cop better known for making trouble than solving it -- just got out of prison and is leaving Boston for good. But first he gets roped into helping his old boxing coach and mentor, Henry (Alan Arkin), with a promising amateur. That's Hawk (Winston Duke), a brash, no-nonsense MMA fighter convinced he'll be a tougher opponent than Spenser ever was. When two of Spenser's former colleagues turn up murdered, he recruits Hawk and his foul-mouthed ex-girlfriend, Cissy (Iliza Shlesinger), to help him investigate and bring the culprits to justice.

My thoughts: This is the 5th straight movie in which director Peter Berg has made starring Mark Wahlberg. I haven't gotten around to most of those since Battleship soured me on him but Winston Duke was enough to get me interested and it was... Fine. Nothing spectacular but it's the best thing Netflix has done since Point Blank.

Final verdict: 3.5 Post Malone acting credits out of 5.

The Hunt:

Synopsis: Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are, or how they got there. They don't know they've been chosen... for a very specific purpose... The Hunt. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, a group of globalist elites gathers for the very first time at a remote Manor House to hunt humans for sport. But the elites' master plan is about to be derailed because one of the hunted, Crystal (Betty Gilpin), knows The Hunters' game better than they do. She turns the tables on the killers, picking them off, one by one, as she makes her way toward the mysterious woman at the center of it all.

My thoughts: Half action, half thriller. The Hunt was entertaining enough although it could've still been improved. It didn't seem to know what it wanted to say, was it anti-rich? anti-south? Hollywood-adjacent? I think clarifying the tone would go a big way towards pushing this rating up but hey, bonus points for making Trump hate it.

Final verdict: 3.5 dressed pigs out of 5.

Special: Inside Out/Ted 2/Spy Mini-Reviews

Inside Out:

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions - Joy (Amy Poehler), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Sadness (Phyllis Smith). The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley's mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

My thoughts? The exploration of the human mind of a 12 year old girl lead by her eccentric and colourful emotions was a lot more fun than I expected it to be. I was fortunate enough to know about the "sadness" this movie entailed, and no I don't mean Riley's somber emotion, I mean the emotional punch of the movie, so when it happened it was expected and it hot me less than Up, Toy Story 3 or How To Train Your Dragon 2. Overall it was one of Pixar's better films in my eyes as the animation and voice-acting was top notch to go along with an original, albeit difficult, story to tell. Inside Out is a complex piece of art that will appeal to both children and adults alike, in other words it's typical Pixar.

Final verdict: 4 out of 5 emotions.

Ted 2:

Newlywed couple Ted and Tami-Lynn want to have a baby, but in order to qualify to be a parent, Ted will have to prove he's a person in a court of law.

My thoughts? Like it's predecessor Ted 2 is absurd and hilarious most of the time. There are points when it reaches too far and crosses a line it shouldn't but in the end we forgive it. What it lacked that it's predecessor nailed was it's ability to take this bonkers scenario and have the audience want to invest emotionally into the characters. When it does eventually try to flip the switch in the third act it's not a smooth transition and it leaves us feeling disconnected and worst of all we are no longer laughing. Luckily they throw in a thunder buddy reference for the first time in the film and all is forgiven. I'd be amiss to say that Ted was a great movie but I'd be lying if I said I never laughed during it's nearly 2 hour runtime.

Final verdict: Barely 4 out of 5 bongs.

Spy:

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is an unassuming, deskbound CIA analyst, and the unsung hero behind the Agency's most dangerous missions. But when her partner (Jude Law) falls off the grid and another top agent (Jason Statham) is compromised, she volunteers to go deep undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer, and prevent a global disaster.

My thoughts? I'm not really a McCarthy fan, outside of her brilliant role in Hangover III I'd have to say my favourite film has been The Heat, a movie I'd probably grade a 3. But I'm happy to say Spy won me over, sure she's still playing essentially the same role but this time she brings style and a slew of on-point co-stars to the party. Statham hasn't done anything to write home about recently but this role reminds me of the old Ritchie flicks that made me like him in the first place. Law is as charming as ever and Byrne plays the bad guy role so well, surprising since we never get to see her do that. The script is paced well and the director never misses a shot.

Final verdict: 4 out of 5 intelligence agencies.