The Equalizer 2

★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

The majority of R-rated action films with notable leads have lately been great successes. John Wick with Keanu Reeves, Ryan Gosling with Drive, & Denzel Washington with The Equalizer are all perfect examples of that statement.

I loved The Equalizer, so I was a bit skittish about The Equalizer 2, since most sequels aren't as great as the first. And although it was a bit flawed, it was still a very good sequel. The film follows Robert McCall (played by Denzel Washington), who now works as a Lyft driver while still doing his vigilante work. Also, with help from his former FBI colleagues, Susan (played by Melissa Leo) & Brian (played by Bill Pullman) Plummer, he helps the less fortunate out. Also, McCall has taken somewhat of a mentorship to Miles Whittaker (played by Ashton Sanders), a young man with a passion for art but has a troubled life.

One day, Susan & McCall's former colleague, DIA operative Dave York (played by Pedro Pascal), go to Brussels to investigate a supposed murder suicide. After completing the investigation, Susan goes to her hotel room. She is followed in by two assailants who attack her. Although she fights back, she is killed by them.

When McCall hears word of this, he will stop at nothing to discover what happened to his old friend. But he may not like what he finds about what happened to her.

The cast is excellent. Denzel Washington shows again that he is a force to be reckoned with, & shows his commanding presence once again. Ashton Sanders also does a great job, showing more of the promise he showed in Moonlight.

Antoine Fuqua's direction is amazing. Fuqua shows a lot of great command over the spectacular action sequences, & is able to keep a strong hold on the tone of the film.

Richard Wenk's screenplay is good. Although the plot is formulaic, the strong characters & sharp dialogue help build up the screenplay.

And Oliver Wood's cinematography is superb. Wood perfectly captures the hectic atmosphere of the film with strong camerawork, including some great wide-angle shots.

This is a very good action sequel. Although it doesn't match the first, it still has enough to make it better than most action sequels in recent memory.

The Equalizer 2 was seen by me at the MJR Universal Grand Cinema 16 in Warren, MI on Saturday, July 21, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 121 minutes, & it is rated R for brutal violence throughout, language, & some drug content.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Let's just get this out of the way: I love ABBA & I loved Mamma Mia!

So it's fair to say that I was pretty excited for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. And it did not disappoint. It's one of the few sequels that improves on the original. Set in both 1979 & in the present, the film follows Sophie Sheridan (played by Amanda Seyfried), who is preparing for the grand reopening of her mother Donna's (played by Meryl Streep) hotel on the fictional Greek island of Kalokairi. However, Donna passed away a year earlier. Also, two of her three surrogate fathers, Harry Bright (played by Colin Firth) & Bill Anderson (played by Stellan Skarsgård), are unable to make the reopening ceremony. And to add further insult to injury, her husband, Sky (played by Dominic Cooper), is stuck in New York, & they are growing further apart. However, one of her surrogate fathers (& stepfather), Sam Carmichael (played by Pierce Brosnan), who is still grief-stricken over Donna's death, is able to make it.

Donna's old friends, Rosie Mulligan (played by Julie Walters), who has split up with Bill & cries even at the mention of Donna, & Tanya Chesham-Leigh (played by Christine Baranski), who is still her usual man-hungry cougar self, arrive on Kalokairi for the grand reopening. When they arrive, they regale with her about how Donna had Sophie all on her own.

Back in 1979, a young Donna Sheridan (played by Lily James) has just graduated from Oxford along with young Rosie Mulligan (played by Alexa Davies) & young Tanya Chesham-Leigh (played by Jessica Keenan Wynn). Donna is eager to travel the world. She first stops off in Paris, where she meets young Harry Bright (played by Hugh Skinner). After that, she then travels to Kalokairi on the boat of young Bill Anderson (played by Josh Dylan). However, Harry has followed her to Kalokairi, but he arrives too late. On Kalokairi, after a rainstorm, she meets young Sam Carmichael (played by Jeremy Irvine), who helps Donna after a horse was spooked in the basement of a farmhouse.

Back in the present, a storm hits, causing all of Sophie's plans for the ceremony to go awry. But eventually, things are made right. But things get a little complicated when Sophie's estranged grandmother, Ruby (played by Cher), flies in on a helicopter for the ceremony & focuses her eye on the hotel manager, Fernando Cienfuegos (played by Andy Garcia).

The cast is fantastic. Amanda Seyfried & Lily James show that they can be great leads when given the opportunity. Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Colin Firth & Stellan Skarsgård give great supporting performances. Cher is iconic. And everyone (yes, including Pierce Brosnan, although he doesn't do it a lot) does at least a good job at singing.

Ol Parker's direction is excellent. Parker does an excellent job at keeping everything light, lively, vivacious & warm-hearted.

The screenplay by Ol Parker, Richard Curtis & Catherine Johnson is amazing. The plot is intriguing, the characters are well-conceived, & the dialogue is humorous & heart-warming.

Robert Yeoman's cinematography is superb. Yeoman's camerawork is flashy & lively, & the color palette is bright & lively.

And the soundtrack is spectacular. Filled with so many great songs from ABBA, the soundtrack helps build the story & adds to the light tone of the film.

This is one of the best films of the year so far. It's light-hearted, humorous, & one of the rare sequels that improves on the original.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was seen by me at the MJR Chesterfield Crossing Digital Cinema 16 in Chesterfield Township, MI on Friday, July 20, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 114 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some suggestive material.

Eighth Grade

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

8th grade is hard for everyone. It's one of the worst years of your life. If you say that it wasn't at least somewhat bad, you're either lying or you peaked really, really early.

Eighth Grade, on the other hand, is not bad. It's fantastic. It's one of the best coming-of-age films of all time. The film follows Kayla Day (played by Elsie Fisher), a 13-year-old girl entering the last week of her 8th grade year. She posts vlogs on YouTube about how to make it through middle school & other related advice. However, the videos are barely viewed, if at all. Also, she is very shy, as she was voted "Most Quiet" by her classmates. Mark (played by Josh Hamilton), her single father, tries to connect with her as best & as much as he can, but he can't seem to fully succeed in his efforts.

Kennedy (played by Catherine Oliviere), a popular classmate of Kayla's, invites her to her pool party, or to be more correct, is forced to invite her by her mother. While there, Kayla has an anxiety attack, but eventually overcomes it, & meets Kennedy's very unpopular cousin, Gabe (played by Jake Ryan).

Kayla doesn't really have friends at school. But when she goes to the high school for a shadowing event & meets Olivia (played by Emily Robinson), Kayla finally finds someone who understands what she's going through & understands her.

The cast is fantastic. Elsie Fisher gives the best & most relatable performance of the year. She embodies every single 8th grader I knew in 8th grade, & she embodies how I was in 8th grade. The anxiety, the fear, the loneliness, everything about it, she just completely embodies those feelings. It is a tender & compassionate performance of the highest caliber. Josh Hamilton also gives an amazing performance. He is the dad we all know. He is the dad who tries to connect to his child but can't completely do it, although he tries his hardest out of love.

Bo Burnham's direction is phenomenal. Burnham, well-known for his standup comedy (& is one of the best standup comedians of his generation), performs one of the best directorial debuts of all time. He is able to get such great performances out of his (mostly unknown) cast, & is able to handle the material with the care of a seasoned veteran.

Bo Burnham's screenplay is brilliant. The plot feels so fresh & lively. The characters feel so real. And the dialogue is very human, &, in Burnham's trademark style, hilarious & cringey in a great way.

Andrew Wehde's cinematography is amazing. The camerawork & color palette are both luminous, & there's a one-take sequence that is the best one-take pool sequence since Boogie Nights.

Jennifer Lilly's editing is excellent. It's very well-paced, & very well-cut. It's cut in a dream-like way, like reminiscing on your 8th grade memories.

And Anna Meredith's score is superb. The score has a very electronic & synth feel to it, & it perfectly compliments the style of the film.

This is the best film of the year so far, & one of my 10 favorite films of all time. I don't think anything can top this for the rest of the year. It's a truly perfect coming-of-age film.

Eighth Grade was seen by me in an advance screening at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Thursday, July 19, 2018. It will start showing at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI & the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI on the night of Thursday, July 26, 2018 & start showing fully on Friday, July 27, 2018; it will expand further on Friday, August 3, 2018. Its runtime is 93 minutes, & it is rated R for language & some sexual material (but should've been rated PG-13 for thematic elements including brief strong language & some sexual content).

Three Identical Strangers

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

There's an old adage that goes "truth is stranger than fiction."

And that adage has never been more true than it is in Three Identical Strangers, the best documentary of the year so far. The film follows Bobby Shafran, who is about to go to a community college in the fall of 1980. But something interesting occurs when he arrives on campus. People start asking him how his summer was, what's going on, & some girls even kiss him. But the weirdest thing is that people are calling him "Eddy."

Michael Domnitz, who was there the previous year & knew Eddy Galland, saw Bobby, & knowing that Eddy wasn't returning to the community college that year, stops Bobby, asks him some questions, & tells him that he may have a twin brother. Michael calls Eddy, & has Bobby talk to him. Bobby asks him when he was born. July 12, 1961. He asks him if he was adopted. Yes. He asks him what adoption agency he was adopted from. Louise Wise Services. It's official: they're twin brothers that were separated after 6 months.

Bobby & Michael drive as fast as possible down from the community college to Eddy's house in Long Island, & when they meet, it is right out of the movies: they moved the same way, they looked the same, & they were, both biologically & personality-wise, the same. The news makes it to all the newspapers & TV stations, & everyone is elated.

But this is when the story goes from amazing to out-of-this-world. David Kellman, who was also adopted, reads about the story in the New York Post. He notices that Bobby & Eddy look exactly like him. He then calls about the story & then says that he's the third brother. The twins have just become triplets.

From that point on, they were the talk of the town. They partied all the time at Studio 54. They were on so many talk shows. They were even cameos in Madonna's breakout film, Desperately Seeking Susan. And they were all alike besides their appearance. They smoked the same type of cigarettes, they were all wrestlers in high school, they liked the same types of women, etc. For a while, they were all on cloud nine.

But during their time on cloud nine, their adoptive parents had questions. Why were they separated? Eventually, the triplets began to ask this question. But the truth they find is dark, despicable, & is something that screws up their lives for a long time.

Tim Wardle's direction is phenomenal. Wardle plays the film as an inspiring, charming & heartwarming true story for the first half, but in the second half, completely turns the film on its head, making it into a dark, shocking tale of nature vs. nurture.

This is the best documentary of the year so far, & certainly one of the most jaw-dropping documentaries in a long time. It's a shocking tale of three triplets being reunited & the reason why they were separated in the first place.

Three Identical Strangers was seen by me at The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI on Monday, July 16, 2018. It is currently in 4 theaters in the Detroit area: the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights, MI; The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI; the Phoenix Theatres - Laurel Park Place in Livonia, MI; & the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 96 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material.

Bowling for Columbine

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

215,000 students. 221 schools. Those are how many students & schools that have been impacted by a school shooting since Columbine. 428 of those students have either been killed or were injured. And to this day, not one single law has been passed to stop more of these events from occurring.

I've seen Bowling for Columbine several times since I first saw it at the age of 13, but I haven't had the opportunity to see it in theaters until a very good friend of mine posted on Instagram that the local chapter of her pro-gun control group, Students Demand Action, was teaming up with Moms Demand Action, former Genesee County Prosecutor Arthur Busch & 2 local Congressional candidates for the Democratic Party (Martin Brook & Suneel Gupta), was holding a screening of the film not far from me. And seeing it in theaters adds so much to the film. It's the best documentary of all time. The film follows writer, director, humorist, & political activist Michael Moore as he tries to figure out what makes our country so enthusiastic when it comes to guns.

Moore starts off in a Michigan bank, where after opening up an account, he is given a free hunting rifle. Afterwards, he meets with James Nichols, the brother of Terry Nichols, the co-conspirator of the Oklahoma City bombing, who believes that the government is tyrannical & says that he has a gun always under his pillow.

But why are we so trigger-happy? Moore looks into the culture of fear & looks at what causes gun violence. Moore notes the news media's infatuation with the "if it bleeds, it leads" mentality. Moore knows that many of the common causes happen in other countries as well, yet they have much lower rates of gun deaths. However, others believe it all started with one man: Marilyn Manson. In an interview, Moore asks why he was considered to be so influential to the young men who committed the mass shooting. Manson notes that President Clinton ordered more bombings on Kosovo on April 20, 1999 (the day of the Columbine shooting) than any other day during that war. Moore also looks into the poverty rate as a possible cause for gun violence, centering in on a story that hits too close to home for people in Southeast Michigan. But at the end of the day, it all traces back to Columbine.

Michael Moore's direction is phenomenal. Through his trademark mix of sharp, biting humor with shocking facts, Moore is able to strike a nerve with the audience.

This is not only the best documentary of all time, but sadly, over 16 years since its release in 2002, painfully relevant. It's a shame that it remains relevant, because too many people have died from gun violence in the almost 20 years since Columbine. We must heed the call. We must send people who will fight for common sense gun reform to office. We must protest. We must write & call our Congressional representatives. We must take action. The time is NOW.

This review is dedicated to the thousands of people who have been killed due to gun violence, the countless others who have been injured by gun violence, & their families & friends.

Bowling for Columbine was seen by me at The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI on Sunday, July 15, 2018. It is available on Blu-ray & DVD from The Criterion Collection. Its runtime is 120 minutes, & it is rated R for some violent images & language (although I would recommend this film for people above the age of 15).

Leave No Trace

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Our past is what drives us. It drives us to be better, to do what needs to be done, to keep moving forward. But it may end up being what holds us back. And if so, what does that mean for the people around us?

Leave No Trace explores that idea in the most intimate way I've ever seen, & is one of the most beautiful & touching films of the year. Based on the 2009 book My Abandonment by Peter Rock, the film follows Will (played by Ben Foster), a former veteran of an unknown war (presumably Iraq or Afghanistan) living in a park in Portland with his 13-year-old daughter, Tom (played by Thomasin McKenzie). Their existence is very isolated, & Will has taught Tom more advanced stuff when it comes to academics, along with many survival skills. Most nights, Will suffers from nightmares as a result of his PTSD from the war.

One day, Tom accidentally draws attention to a jogger, who alerts the authorities. They arrive soon after, placing Will & Tom into social services. After some tests are done, they are placed into a home in rural Oregon, & Will gets a job cutting Christmas trees. They attempt to adapt to this lifestyle, as Tom begins to start school & learn social skills. But the process of adapting to their new environment proves to be much harder than they imagined.

The cast is amazing. Ben Foster shows once again that he is a force to be reckoned with & has been for a long time. His performance is very nuanced & compassionate, & is easily his best performance. And Thomasin McKenzie gives the best breakout performance of the year so far. At 17, she is wise beyond her years, & has the talents of an actress with much more experience than her. Her performance is one of a more adult power, as her character had to grow up very fast, & had to take on more of an adult role in the family. I have no doubt that she will go very far in the years to come.

Debra Granik's direction is excellent. Granik, notable for her 2010 film Winter's Bone, takes a very low-key & nuanced approach here. She handles the film with such gentle care & affection, making the film into a quiet, immersive experience.

The screenplay by Debra Granik & Anne Rosselini is fantastic. The film stays very true to the book, & the characters & dialogue feel so incredibly realistic. But the greatest thing about the screenplay are its themes of living in isolation. You could compare this film to 2016's Captain Fantastic, which also dealt with people living in isolation. However, although I did like Captain Fantastic, it was flawed, mainly in its reasoning for the people living in isolation. In Captain Fantastic, the characters lived in isolation because they were anarchists who hated modern society, & they felt so shallow at times, & it felt pretty unrealistic at times. However, the reasoning for the characters living in isolation in here felt more realistic & the characters feel more compassionate. As Ben Foster's character couldn't adapt to society after the war, he decided to live in isolation, as it was the only thing that gave him comfort. And his daughter adapted to it as well. This reasoning felt more realistic than Captain Fantastic's reasoning.

Michael McDonough's cinematography is astonishing. The color palette is gorgeous, & the camerawork is very intimate.

Jane Rizzo's editing is terrific. It's very seamless in its style, as the film is very well-assembled, & the pacing is very well-done.

And Dickon Hinchcliffe's score is superb. The score is very quiet & intimate, buoyed by violins & acoustic guitars.

This is one of the best films of the year. It's a quiet, touching & altogether masterful film powered by its two lead performances.

Leave No Trace was seen by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Friday, July 13, 2018. It is currently in 4 theaters in the Detroit area: the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI; the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI; the Birmingham Theatre in Birmingham, MI; & the Emagine Novi in Novi, MI. Its runtime is 109 minutes, & it is rated PG for thematic material throughout.

Sorry to Bother You

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"If they take my stapler, then I'll set the building on fire." - Stephen Root, Office Space, 1999

"Work sucks, I know." - Mark Hoppus, Blink-182, All the Small Things, 1999

Work. Everyone of us who has a job hates it, even if just a little bit. The atmosphere, the people, the customers, the workload, the boss, & the pay. All the slaving around you do without much fanfare, all for the sake of a capitalistic society that doesn't appreciate the workers enough.

Sorry to Bother You is a "screw you" to capitalism, a thumbs up to unions, & a bitingly funny & outrageously bizarre satire of the American devotion to big business. Set in an alternate present-day version of Oakland, where the biggest game show is called I Got the $#*@ Kicked out of Me, & a new form of slavery called WorryFree, led by Steve Lift (played by Armie Hammer), is an enticing option, the film follows Cassius Green (played by Lakeith Stanfield), a 20-something living with his girlfriend, Detroit (played by Tessa Thompson), in the garage of his uncle, Sergio (played by Terry Crews). He is very nihilistic & believes that nothing he will do will make a difference in society.

Cassius then gets a job as a telemarketer for Regalview, a sales company. His friend, Salvador (played by Jermaine Fowler), also works there. The mantra of sticking to the script is heavily preached to the telemarketers. At first, Cassius struggles to make many sales. But an older colleague, Langston (played by Danny Glover), suggests that Cassius use his white voice; not a Will Smith white voice (as Langston states), but a full-on white voice. Cassius takes this advice, & starts using his white voice (voiced by David Cross) to great success.

Squeeze (played by Steven Yeun), a colleague of Cassius, creates a union to lobby for a raise in pay, & recruits Cassius for it. But despite being in the union, Cassius is promoted to the position of "Power Caller", where Mr. ______ [pronounced blank] (played by Omari Hardwick & voiced by Patton Oswalt) tells him to use his white voice at all times. Finally, Cassius is making a difference in society. But this may cost him what's really important in the long run.

The cast is superb. Lakeith Stanfield is showing that he can do wonders in a lead role. Armie Hammer is dynamite. Tessa Thompson is fantastic. And Terry Crews, as always, is hilarious.

Boots Riley's direction is spectacular. In his directorial debut, Riley is able to handle so many plotlines & ideas & themes like a seasoned veteran, & that's something rare in this day & age.

And Boots Riley's screenplay is brilliant. The plot is so weird, yet so intriguing. The characters are so idiosyncratic. The dialogue is hilariously offbeat. And the ideas & themes explored in this film add a lot of sociopolitical weight to the film.

This is one of the 3 best films of the year so far. It's a hilarious satire of the crazy, mixed-up world we live in, & certainly one of the weirdest films ever made.

Sorry to Bother You was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Thursday, July 12, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 105 minutes, & it is rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexual content, graphic nudity, & drug use.

Whitney

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

No words, phrases, sentences, or poems can accurately describe the sheer power of Whitney Houston. Her presence, her voice, her personality, her beauty; nothing can describe it. Although she passed on well too soon, Whitney left us with a vast library of amazing songs with pulsating vocals, & a status as one of the greatest artists of all time.

Whitney takes an in-depth look at her life from birth to death through interviews with friends & family, & it's a shocking documentary that is one of the best in years. The film follows Whitney Houston, born in 1963 in Newark to gospel icon Cissy Houston & former Army serviceman John Houston. She had one brother, Michael, & one half-brother, Gary Garland. Her first cousins were singers Dionne Warwick & Dee Dee Warwick. After the 1967 Newark riots (one of the two most notorious riots from that summer), the Houstons moved to the higher-class city of East Orange, New Jersey.

At the age of 11, she started singing in her local gospel choir, & eventually became a model with aspirations of becoming a full-time singer by 1980. In 1983, Clive Davis of Arista Records signed her to a record contract, & eventually released her self-titled debut album in 1985.

From that moment on, she cemented herself as an icon in the music industry, with 7 straight #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100: Saving All My Love for You; How Will I Know, Greatest Love of All (from 1985's Whitney Houston); I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me); Didn't We Almost Have It All; So Emotional; & Where Do Broken Hearts Go (from 1987's Whitney), a record that is still unbroken to this day.

She would only become more successful from there. In 1991, she sang The Star-Spangled Banner at Super Bowl XXV, which is considered to be the greatest rendition of the national anthem of all time. Also in 1991, she released her third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, with 2 #1 singles, 2 others in the top 20, & 2 more on the R&B top 20. But she reached her peak in 1992 with the release of the romantic thriller The Bodyguard. The film was her first film appearance, & co-starred Kevin Costner. Although it received mixed reviews, it was a vast commercial success, & the soundtrack became the highest-selling film soundtrack of all time, with 2 songs (I Have Nothing & Run to You) being nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song. But the most notable song from that album was her cover of Dolly Parton's I Will Always Love You, which became her signature song & the 5th best-selling single of all time.

At this point, she was at the top. She couldn't go anywhere but down. But it wasn't expected that she would fall hard, with her marriage to Bobby Brown being very abusive & her drug addiction enveloping her for the rest of her life.

Kevin Macdonald's direction is superb. He shows Whitney for who she was, but never depicts her as despicable or deplorable as a result of her actions. He lets us know she was a good person with a torued soul. Also, through the very personal interviews, he uncovers some truly shocking events about her life.

This is the best documentary of the year so far. It's a beautiful testament to the life of one of the greatest artists of all time, who will be sorely missed for generations to come.

Whitney was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Sunday, July 8, 2018. It is currently playing in 1 theater in the Detroit area: the AMC Star Fairlane 21 in Dearborn, MI. Its runtime is 120 minutes, & it is rated R for language & drug content.

Ant-Man & the Wasp

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

In 2015, Ant-Man was a nice & welcome diversion for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although it wasn't perfect, it had smaller stakes than the rest of the films in the MCU, & it had more charm & humor to diversify itself from most of the films in the MCU.

Ant-Man & the Wasp is more of the same, but better than the first. The film follows Scott Lang, AKA Ant-Man (played by Paul Rudd), who is eagerly awaiting the end of his house arrest sentence after the Germany incident (portrayed in Captain America: Civil War). As a result of this, Dr. Hank Pym (played by Michael Douglas) & his daughter, Hope van Dyne, AKA Wasp (played by Evangeline Lilly), have cut ties with Scott & gone into hiding. Lang tries to make the most of his house arrest by spending time with his daughter, Cassie (played by Abby Ryder Fortson), & working with his friend, Luis (played by Michael Peña) for a security team.

One night, Scott has a dream involving Dr. Pym's wife & Hope's mother, Janet van Dyne (played by Michelle Pfeiffer), who has been presumed dead after being stuck in the Quantum Realm since 1987. Janet sends Scott a message in the dream, & he was able to receive it because Dr. Pym & Hope opened a tunnel to the Quantum Realm. Scott contacts Pym, & is then kidnapped by Hope, who leaves a decoy in order to not arouse suspicion from the FBI. Believing that the message means she is alive, the three decide to find a part for the tunnel that is critical for retrieving Janet. Hope goes to see black market dealer Sonny Burch (played by Walton Goggins) to purchase the part, but the plan is thwarted due to Sonny's greed. Scott & Hope try & fight off Sonny & his crew, but a woman named Ava Starr, AKA Ghost (played by Hannah John-Kamen), who can go through walls due to her unbalanced atomic state, attacks Hope & escapes with Dr. Pym's portable lab, & therefore, the tunnel to the Quantum Realm.

In order to get it back, Scott, Hope & Dr. Pym talk to a former disgruntled colleague of Dr. Pym's, Dr. Bill Foster (played by Laurence Fishburne). But the road to getting the lab back & saving Janet is much bumpier than they may believe.

The cast is superb. Paul Rudd is effortlessly hilarious & charming at every turn. Evangeline Lilly builds off of the promise she showed with her character in the first film. And Michael Peña steals the show once again.

Peyton Reed's direction is excellent. Reed does a better job of controlling the tone & flow here than he did on the first film, & it marks a big leap forward in his career.

The screenplay by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari is amazing. The plot & characters are interesting, & the dialogue is very humorous.

And the visual effects are stunning. The shrinking effects are better than the first film, but the scenes in the Quantum Realm are where the effects really shine.

This is definitely in the top-tier of the MCU. It's an improvement over the first film, & definitely gives us more of an idea about what will happen in Avengers 4 next year.

Ant-Man & the Wasp was seen by me at the MJR Partridge Creek Digital Cinema 14 in Clinton Township, MI on Thursday, July 5, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 118 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some sci-fi action violence.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado

★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Let's face it: many sequels are garbage. However, most of those garbage sequels are to films that were ok, at best, in the first place.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado is probably the biggest drop in quality from original to sequel I've ever seen. It takes almost everything we enjoyed about the first film & destroys it. The film continues the stories of CIA Agent Matt Graver (played by Josh Brolin) & black operative Alejandro Gillick (played by Benicio del Toro). After a suicide bombing by Islamic terrorists kills 15 people in a Kansas City supermarket, the CIA adds Mexican drug cartels to the list of terrorist groups, as they are the ones who have transported the terrorists across the border. Graver, along with fellow CIA agents Steve Forsing (played by Jeffrey Donovan) & Cynthia Foards (played by Catherine Keener), along with Secretary of Defense James Riley (played by Matthew Modine), agree that the best plan of action is to pit the cartels against each other. Graver recruits Gillick for this, & starts with a false flag operation: kidnapping Isabela Reyes (played by Isabela Moner), the daughter of a major drug kingpin.

After Isabela is kidnapped, they head to Texas & stage a rescue with the DEA, & blame the kidnapping on one of the major drug cartels. However, on the way to Texas, they are ambushed by their Mexican police escort. In order to escape, they kill many of the policemen. During this, Isabela escapes, & Gillick chases after her.

In order to stop the tension between the U.S. & Mexico from getting worse, the CIA is ordered to abandon the mission & erase all proof of U.S. involvement, including executing Isabela. However, Gillick refuses to kill her. Graver must locate Gillick & Isabela, while Gillick must evade the CIA.

The cast is a mixed bag. Brolin & del Toro give good performances, & are the only good things in the film. Donovan, Keener & Modine are wasted. And Moner is absolutely terrible here.

Stefano Sollima's direction is awful. Sollima can't even perform 1% as good of a job as Denis Villeneuve did with Sicario. His execution of the story (or lack thereof) is mediocre at best, & a dumpster fire at worst, & is also incredibly bland. With Villeneuve directing the first film, it felt like an incredibly tense crime thriller that was only violent when it needed to be. With Sollima directing this, it's violent throughout, & just feels like violence for the sake of violence.

Taylor Sheridan's screenplay is a trainwreck. The plot is completely unnecessary. The dialogue is nowhere near where we all know it could be with Sheridan writing the script. And the characters are horrifically bad. Benicio del Toro's character is completely bastardized in this film. In Sicario, he was a fearsome black operative who was not afraid to massacre an entire family. Here, all of that is completely gone, as now he must save Isabela Moner's character "because she reminds him of his daughter," which is a tired trope if I ever saw one. And we haven't even mentioned the unabashed racism in this film. Almost every Mexican character in this film is incredibly stereotyped (violent, gang-affiliated, overly-tattooed, drug lords, etc.), every Muslim character is incredibly stereotyped (suicide bombers, extremists, etc), & the very few female characters are portrayed as cold & shallow. So with all these stereotypes, it's not hard to imagine that a white male wrote this. In Sheridan's eyes, only Mexicans can be drug lords, & only Muslims can be suicide-bombing extremist terrorists. I know that these stereotypes are not true, but it's an offensive portrayal to be demonstrating at this time in the world.

And Matthew Newman's editing is mediocre. It's a shame that the editing isn't good, as Newman's editing on the 2011 masterpiece Drive was terrific. Here, the pacing is terrible, as the film drags & drags. And the transitions & cuts feel incredibly bland.

This is a huge disappointment. It has some good performances, nothing else about this film works. But the most damning thing about this film is its unapologetic racism, playing on the white conservative/MAGA crowd's fears of people that don't look like them. I'm surprised Donald Trump & his cronies haven't seen this & praised it & started using it as propaganda for more travel bans for Muslim countries (& now Venezuela). By & far, this film is DEPLORABLE beyond belief.

Sicario: Day of the Soldado was seen by me at the MJR Marketplace Digital Cinema 20 in Sterling Heights, MI on Tuesday, July 3, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 122 minutes, & it is rated R for strong violence, bloody images, & language.

Hearts Beat Loud

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

In these dark times that we suffer through today, we really need some feel-good, light-hearted films to pick us up.

Hearts Beat Loud is just that. It's a lovely, endearing & amazing dramedy. The film follows Frank Fisher (played by Nick Offerman), a middle-aged record store owner & former singer in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook. His wife, who also sang with him, died in 2006 from being hit by a car while on her bike. His daughter, Sam (played by Kiersey Clemons), is on her way to UCLA to study medicine, & is in love with Rose (played by Sasha Lane). His mother, Marianne (played by Blythe Danner), is becoming more senile. And even though his landlord & friend, Leslie (played by Toni Collette), tries to keep the rent low, Frank finds it harder to keep the record shop going in its current shape in an era where people would rather be lazy & buy their songs digitally than buy them on vinyl & listen to music in the best quality. He gets by with frequent visits to the bar owned by his friend, Dave (played by Ted Danson), & the occasional jam session with Sam.

And the jam session is what annoys Sam one night when Frank suggests it. Reluctant at first because of her schoolwork, Sam agrees to take part in it. Sam does the vocals & keyboards, while Frank takes hold of the guitar. They play a song entitled Hearts Beat Loud & Frank records it, eventually putting it on Spotify under the artist name We're Not a Band.

The next morning, in line for coffee, Frank hears the song being played in the coffee shop through Spotify. Needless to say, he is overjoyed. Eventually, after he tells Sam, they start jamming more often. But Sam is about to go to UCLA, & Frank doesn't want to let go of her yet.

The cast is superb. Nick Offerman shows that he does have some dramatic acting power in him, & his performance here is as great as his performance as the handsome & patriotic man with the most gorgeous mustache ever, Ron Swanson on the sitcom Parks & Recreation. Kiersey Clemons shows such immense promise & delivers on it, proving that she will go far. And it's always great to see Ted Danson in anything these days.

Brett Haley's direction is excellent. Haley has a very steady hand on the material, & makes sure the film doesn't deviate from a very endearing & heartwarming tone.

The screenplay by Brett Haley & Marc Basch is amazing. The characters feel real & you actually care about them. And the dialogue feels incredibly human.

And the music is wonderful. Keegan DeWitt's ambient & synth-driven score gives a quirky & relaxed feeling to the film. And the songs sung by Kiersey Clemons & Nick Offerman are just so incredibly joyful to listen to.

This is one of the best films of the year. It's an incredibly sweet & heartwarming film, which is definitely what we need right now.

Hearts Beat Loud was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, June 29, 2018. It is currently in 2 theaters in the Detroit area: The Patriot Theater in Grosse Pointe Farms, MI; & the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 97 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some drug references & brief language.

American Animals

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

"Based on a true story." Those 5 words, together, are some of the most used words in film history. So many films have been based on true stories, & so many more to come will be based on true stories.

Except American Animals isn't based on a true story. It is a true story. It's flawed, but it's a very interesting true crime film. Set from 2003-2004, & interspersed with the real actual people, the film follows Spencer Reinhard (played by Barry Keoghan), an art student at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Very nihilistic in nature, Spencer believes that something exciting needs to happen to him to make his life have meaning. His friend, Warren Lipka (played by Evan Peters), is also at Transylvania University on an athletic scholarship, but is blowing it off.

Spencer takes a tour through the school library, & sees the collection of rare books. Seeing this as an opportunity for something exciting to happen to him, Spencer decides to rob the book collection with Warren. Bewildered at first, Warren agrees to join him in the heist. During the planning, Warren flies to Amsterdam to meet with some Dutch buyers, led by Mr. Van Der Hoek (played by Udo Kier).

Realizing that the heist cannot be done with two people, Spencer & Warren recruit two other people for the heist: childhood friends Chas Allen (played by Blake Jenner) & Eric Borsuk (played by Jared Abrahamson). They discover that the only person keeping watch on the books is the special librarian, Betty Jean Gooch (played by Ann Dowd).

As the heist gets closer, they are very anxious & highly anticipating it. But this could be the very thing that tears all of them apart.

The cast is excellent. Keoghan is proving himself to be one of the best young actors working in film today. Peters builds off of the promise he showed on American Horror Story. And Jenner & Abrahamson do great work.

Bart Layton's direction is great. Although he does have some issues at times keeping everything on an even keel, for the most part, he does a great job, & shows a lot of potential. Also, I commend his decision to mix the real people with the actors.

And Bart Layton's screenplay is very good. Although the plot starts to falter in the less darkly comedic & less high-octane third act, the dialogue & characterization are both of high caliber.

This is a solid crime film. Although it is flawed, it is buoyed by a great cast & an interesting mix of real life & docufiction.

American Animals was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, June 22, 2018. It is currently in 1 theater in the Detroit area: the Quality 16 in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 116 minutes, & it is rated R for language throughout, some drug use & brief crude/sexual material.

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

★★★★★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

For 33 years, Fred Rogers was an inspiration to children worldwide. Through his show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Rogers was able to touch the lives & hearts of children with his kind & humble personality.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? takes an in-depth look at the life, legacy & philosophy of Fred Rogers, & what comes of that is the best documentary of the year. The film follows Fred Rogers, a young man from Pittsburgh with so much ahead of him. Rogers was very devoted to his Christian faith, & joined the seminary, eventually becoming ordained.

However, Rogers was still disillusioned by one major piece of influence on the people of America: television. He despised it because it wasn't used to nurture & teach, ideals that Rogers felt were imperative ideals to be taught.

Using this frustration, Rogers left the seminary & went into television. Looking to avoid the reliance on advertising & merchandising that television had, he created Mister Rogers' Neighborhood at WQED in Pittsburgh in 1968. Rogers based his show on being his true self, treating kids the way they should be treated, understanding their fears, & teaching kids to love themselves & others.

He started & ended the show the same way: starting by changing into his trademark cardigan sweater & sneakers while singing Won't You Be My Neighbor?; & ending by singing It's Such a Good Feeling. During the show, he would talk earnestly & calmly about childhood interests & issues. Eventually, over the course of time, Rogers would cement himself as a cultural icon & a guiding voice for children worldwide.

Morgan Neville's direction is spellbinding. Through interviews with Fred Rogers' family, friends, & colleagues, along with simple animated segments & archival footage, Neville is able to stir many emotions in us, & bring us deeper into who Fred Rogers was & what he did for so many children.

This is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen. It's an emotional, heartfelt, & overall amazing tribute to an amazing man, one like whom we had never seen before, & one like whom we may never see again for as long as humanity exists. Fred Rogers will be sorely missed. But he touched many lives, & inspired us to be more kind to everyone around us. And that will be his greatest achievement.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? was seen by me at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak, MI on Friday, June 22, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 94 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some thematic elements & language.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

The Jurassic Park franchise has become progressively worse with every film that is released. The only good film in the franchise is Jurassic Park, which is a masterpiece. However, The Lost World: Jurassic Park (don't understand why it was titled like that) was mediocre; Jurassic Park III was bad; & Jurassic World was awful. It just feels like this franchise is now nothing more than a dumb cash grab.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, while not absolute cinematic torture, is very close to it. The fifth film in the franchise, & set three years after the events of Jurassic World, the film once again follows Owen Grady (played by Chris Pratt), the former Velociraptor trainer at Jurassic World. He has been asked by the former operations manager at Jurassic World, Claire Dearing (played by Bryce Dallas Howard), to help relocate the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar to a new island sanctuary, due to an imminent volcanic eruption on Isla Nublar. This plan has been set in motion by Dr. John Hammond's former partner, Benjamin Lockwood (played by James Cromwell), & his assistant, Eli Mills (played by Rafe Spall). However, this plan has been met with controversy, as Dr. Ian Malcolm (played by Jeff Goldblum) believes that the dinosaurs should be allowed to become extinct again in order to correct the mistake of cloning them in the first place.

Owen & Claire fly to Isla Nublar along with IT tech Franklin Webb (played by Justice Smith), former Marine Zia Rodriguez (played by Daniella Pineda), & a mercenary team led by Ken Wheatley (played by Ted Levine). Back in California, behind Lockwood's back, Mills & auctioneer Gunnar Eversol (played by Toby Jones) plan something diabolical with the dinosaurs. It's up to Owen & Claire to save the dinosaurs from extinction & Mills & Eversol's diabolical plans.

The cast is a mixed bag. Pratt & Howard do relatively solid work. Goldblum, Jones, & Cromwell are almost completely wasted. But Smith gives a terrible performance, & Spall isn't that much better.

J.A. Bayona's direction is terrible. It's a shame becuase Bayona has proven himself to be a great director. But Bayona can't keep a solid hand when it comes to the tone or what the characters are supposed to do. And there's no sense of wonder to the film at all. Then again, none of these films have had any sort of wonder since the first film.

The screenplay by Colin Trevorrow & Derek Connolly is a disaster. My complete disdain for Trevorrow has been widely noted. And this film shows that he, in any position for a film, whether it be directing, writing, or producing, should never be allowed anywhere near a film set for the rest of his life. And Connolly has only co-wrote one good film, & that's it. They have devised a screenplay where the plot is tedious, the characters are nothing more than one-dimensional stereotypes, & the dialogue is half-baked. Furthermore, there is a plot twist in the film that is one of the worst I've seen, counting 2 films in a row that Colin Trevorrow has been involved in (the other being 2017's The Book of Henry) where there has been an absolutely terrible plot twist.

Bernat Vilaplana's editing is awful. The editing is plagued by the same problem that plagues the editing of so many recent action films: TOO MANY CUTS. Would it hurt to actually have a shot last for more than 1 second? This can be done right (see any film by Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino or Paul Thomas Anderson), but those are done in moderation, not for the entire film. Also, the pacing is dreadful, & makes this even more of a barbaric film experience.

Michael Giacchino's score is one of only a couple things I liked about this film at all. His brash orchestral style is at full play here, & it plays wonderfully, even if the score did deserve a better film.

And the visual effects are nothing short of horrifically bad. How is it that the visual effects from Jurassic Park, which came out 25 YEARS AGO, look better than the visual effects here? They should have improved, not regressed. The CGI is awful, & looks like it was merely a bad pasting from Adobe Photoshop.

This is a very bad film. Although there were a couple moderately good things about the film that kept me from giving it a ½★, nothing else about this film was good. This is a huge disappointment, considering the people that are involved, but it's not a big surprise, either.

Also, the park is gone.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was seen by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Thursday, June 21, 2018. It is in theaters everywhere. Its runtime is 128 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of science-fiction violence & peril.

Gotti

½★ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Some films have nothing of value to them. These films may have bad performances, bland or uncontrolled direction, a cliched or overwritten screenplay, & no visual style whatsoever.

Gotti fits all of those qualities to a T, & is certainly the worst film of the year so far. The film follows John Gotti (played by John Travolta), the infamous boss of the Gambino crime family in New York from 1986-2002. Gotti quickly became a rising star in the family, & was taken under the wing of Neil Dellacroce (played by Stacy Keach). After his hit on boss Paul Castellano (played by Donald John Volpenhein) in 1986, Gotti became the new boss.

On the personal side of things, Gotti was married to Victoria (played by Kelly Preston), & had 5 kids: Victoria (played by Ashley Drew Fisher); John Jr. (played by Spencer Rocco Lofranco); Frank (played by Nico Bustamante); Peter (played by Carter Anderson); & Angel (played by Jordan Trovillion). John Jr. eventually became a member of the Gambino crime family, even though Victoria wanted him to not be part of that life.

After Gotti became boss, he became known as "The Teflon Don," as any of the charges brought against him failed to stick (due to witness & jury intimidation, along with tampering of evidence). But charges brought against him in 1992, along with his eventual diagnosis of cancer, brought the man down, taking the Mafia with him.

The cast is horrific. John Travolta gives no other expression during the movie except the expression one makes while on the toilet, & he upstages the other actors way too much. Spencer Rocco Lofranco can't act even to save his own life, as evidenced by his whiny presence. And Kelly Preston, John Travolta's real-life wife, has no chemistry with Travolta in the film, & comes off as a stereotypical mob wife that you'd see on VH1. She should not be allowed to act ever again because of this terrible performance in a career full of terrible performances.

Kevin Connolly's direction is terrible. Yes, E from Entourage directed this movie. And if that doesn't give you multiple red flags, then I don't know what will. He has no control of the film whatsoever, as his direction feels incredibly bland & plays off of too many mob film tropes.

The screenplay by Lem Dobbs & Leo Rossi is awful. The plot is way too cliched, the characters are thinly written, & the dialogue is just horrendous.

Michael Barrett's cinematography is mediocre. The color palette is way too gray & ugly, & the camerawork feels like it belongs in a Lifetime movie.

Jim Flynn's editing is very uneven. The pacing is unbearably slow, & at many times during the film, it feels like entire scenes that are very important to the plot have been taken out, leaving several plotholes.

The makeup & hairstyling is poorly made. For the earlier moments in Gotti's life, John Travolta's makeup looks very distracting & almost pasted on. And for the later moments in Gotti's life, John Travolta's makeup is also very distracting & makes him look like a discount Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War.

And the soundtrack is garbage. Pitbull (yes, PITBULL) & Jorge Gómez did the score for the film, & it's way too overdramatic. Pitbull also wrote some songs for the film that are not good at all. And the rest of the soundtrack suffers from what I call "The Suicide Squad Problem": the songs may be good or better by themselves, but in the context of the film, they don't fit.

There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the film since its release. For a while after the film came out, there was a large discrepancy between the critics score (0%) & the audience score (at one time, 80%) on Rotten Tomatoes. The Gotti marketing team attacked the critics, calling them "trolls behind keyboards." Further controversy followed when the high audience score on Rotten Tomatoes was calculated from over 7,000 audience ratings, which is very fishy when you consider that Incredibles 2 (which came out the same weekend) had made 150 times as much money as Gotti did in the same weekend, but had almost the same number of audience ratings. It was even more fishy when it was discovered that many of the accounts that highly rated the film were created on or just before the weekend of Gotti's release, & the majority of those have only given a rating to Gotti (the majority of accounts that gave more than one review gave only two reviews, the other film being American Animals, which was co-distributed by MoviePass Ventures, who also co-distributed Gotti). The marketing team still vehemently denies the allegations.

This is not just the worst film of the year, but one of the worst films ever made. Nothing about this film is redeeming or well-done. Just stick to watching either The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, Goodfellas, Casino, or The Departed for the 50th time, or rewatching all episodes of The Sopranos again. Those options are much better than watching this. As Johnny Depp said in Donnie Brasco, you can fuhgeddaboutit.

Gotti was seen by me at the MJR Troy Grand Digital Cinema 16 in Troy, MI on Thursday, June 21, 2018. It is currently in 1 theater in the Detroit area: the AMC Forum 30 in Sterling Heights, MI. Its runtime is 112 minutes, & it is rated R for strong violence & pervasive language.

The Seagull

★★★½ - A Review by Cameron Kanachki

Anton Chekhov's 1895 play The Seagull has long been considered to be one of the greatest achievements in modern theater.

The Seagull, the most recent film adaptation of the play, isn't one of the greatest achievements in modern cinema, but it's a solid adaptation. Based on the 1895 play The Seagull by Anton Chekhov, & set in early 20th-century Russia, the film follows Irina Arkadina (played by Annette Bening), a well-renowned theater actress. For the summers, she travels to the estate of her brother, Pjotr Sorin (played by Brian Dennehy), also bringing along her son, Konstantin (played by Billy Howle). This time, she also brings her lover, novelist Boris Tregorin (played by Corey Stoll). Also at the estate are Dr. Dorn (played by Jon Tenney); schoolteacher Mikhail (played by Michael Zegen); property manager Shamrayev (played by Glenn Fleshler); his wife, Polina (played by Mare Winningham); & their daughter, Masha (played by Elisabeth Moss).

Nina Zarechnaya (played by Saoirse Ronan), a young actress from a nearby estate, is in a relationship with Konstantin, but turns her attention to Boris, who is with Irina, who once dated Dr. Dorn, who receives attraction from Polina, who is married to Shamrayev, who is the father of Masha, who receives attraction from Mikhail, but is attracted to Konstantin. Eventually, this web of attraction will be sorted out, but not without much consternation.

The cast is fantastic. Every performance is great, but the standouts are Bening, Ronan & Moss. Bening gives one of her best performances, as she ages like fine wine in both life & in her work. She continues to get better & better as she gets older, & her sheer tenacity is on full display here. Ronan is the best actress of her generation, & she further cements that status here. And Moss, even with not as much screen time as the aforementioned actresses, manages to cast an indelible mark with her performance.

Michael Mayer's direction is great. Although there are a few rough tonal shifts, Mayer overcomes these flaws with a steady hand, always sure to have the film be compelling.

Stephen Karam's screenplay is very good. Although a few parts feel a bit rushed together due to the removal of some aspects from the play due to the runtime, the characters & dialogue are always very intriguing.

Matthew J. Lloyd's cinematography is amazing. With a mix of wide shots & intimate close-ups, Lloyd manages to fully capture the emotions of the characters through the visuals.

Ann Roth's costume design is phenomenal. The costumes are very period-accurate, elegant, & perfectly reflect the social standing of the characters.

And Jane Musky's production design is excellent. The sets are so visually stimulating, elegant, & period-accurate.

This is a solid adaptation of Chekhov's play. Although there are a few moderate flaws, the performances & period elements are enough to back the film up & keep it going strong.

The Seagull was seen by me at The Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township, MI on Wednesday, June 20, 2018. It is currently in 1 theater in the Detroit area: the State Theatre in Ann Arbor, MI. Its runtime is 98 minutes, & it is rated PG-13 for some mature thematic elements, a scene of violence, drug use, & partial nudity.