Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org
Last week, three big titles came to Blu-Ray: Independence Day: Resurgence, Alice Through the Looking Glass and Café Society. I’m here today to give mini-reviews and suggest whether you should buy, rent or skip the particular films.
“Independence Day:
Resurgence”
After twenty years, the sequel to the iconic blockbuster has arrived with the return of stars Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman, as well as director Roland Emmerich.
You know what that means? More aliens, more explosions and more stupidity. If you want to watch a fun popcorn flick, I have to say this isn’t it. Resurgence tries way too hard to blend seriousness with cheese and it fails. Sure, I had fun with some sequences, but to me, Jeff Goldblum saved the film from being a complete failure. If you’re a fan of the original, I’d say watch this when it comes to one of the streaming services (i.e. Netflix, HBO GO).
RENT.
“Alice Through the
Looking Glass”
Six years after the commercially-successful Tim Burton-directed film, nearly all the original actors return to reprise their roles, including Johnny Depp who received a Golden Globe nomination as the wacky Mad Hatter.
In this film, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to Wonderland after finding out the Mad Hatter is going through personal struggles, which leads Alice traveling through time.
The Muppets director James Bobin takes the helm from Burton and this is one of the worst films of the year. I hated this film because it dragged due to its flat, overbloated direction. The performances were weak, the writing was stupid and the editing was poor. It has a nice message about family and how women can be heroes, but it’s not well-done in my opinion. This is the true definition of a sequel no one ever asked for.
SKIP.
“Café Society”
Woody Allen has been writing and directing for the better part of about 50 years. His latest project is set in the Golden Age of Hollywood in the 1930s with our lead, Bobby (Jesse Eisenberg), a young New Yorker who moves to Los Angeles working for his uncle Phil (Steve Carell), who happens to be a big-scaled agent. Bobby then falls in love with Phil’s assistant Vonnie (Kristen Stewart), and that’s all I’m going to say without revealing more.
This film is quite a ride and I loved it. I’m not a hater of Allen’s work, but I’m not a lover of it either. This is a strong example of an Allen film that anyone can enjoy watching. It’s funny, engaging and somewhat heartbreaking. I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a fan of strong dialogue and stellar performances.
BUY.
