Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare
Cinematic Sommelier
7.2
Much better than expected! A fun, tight hour and a half comedy that kept me either giggling or flat out laughing to myself.
The boys are back for another wacky adventure that see Gru get his ass in a bind that the 3 stooges much make worse, then get him out of.
Despite the predictable story, there’s a lot of charm and genuine entertainment here, in addition to a rocking soundtrack!
Bonus – there was no roving gang of suit clad chads in my showing! Win-win!
8.1
Taika Waititi kills it again with a romantic comedy of all things! Who woulda thunk it?
The director who does comedy best also injects a surprising amount of heart into the god of thunder. The cast absolutely nails the characters and their respective arks, especially Christian Bale as the best villain this side of Thanos and Loki. We get the return of Jane! And an army of children who don’t go down like the punks in Star Wars… which might be because Thor is a better mentor than Anakin.
Sit back, crank the Guns N’ Roses, and enjoy this refreshing installment post-infinity saga, that actually feels like Marvel has its bearings for two hours.
… and a goat. Two goats to be exact.
6.4
Unfortunately fell flat for me…a cross between “Stranger Things,” “Matilda,” and “Carrie.” It had some well-done scenes but failed to build consistent momentum and ultimately left me underwhelmed.
The one bright spot in this hot mess, aside from the brilliant score by John Carpenter, was the performance of the main lead Ryan Kiera Armstrong. She stole the focus in almost every scene and held down the fort while Efron overacted the likes of Jim Carrey.
Throughout the runtime, this film felt like a cheap attempt to play on tropes. Though brilliant in its own right, even the score was essentially the “Halloween” score in a different scale.
6.5
True to the title, it’s just 90 minutes of the life and times of a dairy cow.
WARNING – It may not be suitable for children. It includes the beginning and end of the life of a dairy cow, if you catch my drift. It was a much more visceral experience than I expected.
8.4
Your move, Dr. Strange. The bar has been set for multiverse movies.
I’m still not precisely positive about how to explain this A24 home run, other than to say you will cycle through all the feels by the time the credits roll. A wonderful tale of family, the meaning of life, and our relationship with others is a wonderfully whimsical adventure across the dimensions to drive the points home. A lot of this runtime will be spent with your jaw on the ground. They take a lot of risks, and they all pay off in the end. Keep up the great work, A24!
Side note – The song you can’t quite place that serves as the film’s title theme is “Absolutely” by Nine Days. Makes about as much sense as everything else. It is, after all… a story of a girl…
Brett Garten, Movie Extraordinare 