Christopher Robin

Made me cry. 💗

*** Must See

Rated PG (for some thematic moments) 

Crazy Rich Asians

Rachel Chu accompanies her boyfriend, Nick, to his best friends wedding, in Singapore. Once there she discovers that Nicks' family is grotesquely wealthy and that he is considered the nations' most eligible bachelor. Thrust into the spotlight and out of her comfort zone Rachel must prove herself to his objecting family.

Very much a simple Cinderella story with a cultural twist. Cute and funny but has several plot holes that are hard to overlook.

** 1/2 Rentable
Rated PG-13 (for sexual innuendo and language)

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

Arms dealer known as John Lark and a group of terrorists deemed the Apostles plan to use three plutonium cores for simultaneous nuclear attacks throughout the world. Ethan Hunt and IMF team join forces with CIA assassin August Walker and find themselves in a race against time to prevent nuclear fallout.

Lots of fun - and loads of amazing eye candy! Admittedly the original Mission: Impossible (1996) is still my favorite, but I would say out of the five sequels this one takes the number two spot easily. The movie is well paced and doesn't feel slow which is surprising considering its 147 minute running time. Exciting, adrenaline filled, Henry Cavill, action packed with self-effacing comedy - what more could you want?

*** Must See for the IMF fans

Rated PG-13 (for violence and language) 

Hearts Beat Loud

A father and his daughter spend her last summer before college writing songs and jamming while dealing with the reality that their lives are changing for good.

This was a slow, quiet and sappy sweet film. It has a stellar cast and the performances are great, however there is something missing that makes it difficult to get behind this coming of age movie that ultimately felt like a long music video and a platform to showcase the music written by Keegan DeWitt, Kiersey Clemons and Nick Offerman.

**1/2 Rentable

Rated PG-13 (for sexual content, drug reference and language) 

Ant-Man and The Wasp

Scott Lang is finishing up his two year sentence of being on house arrest, with just days to go; he is once again approached by Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym with hopes he will be able help them on an urgent mission.

Extremely amusing, very clever and in spite of itself, laugh out loud funny. Excellent summer entertainment.

As with all Marvel flicks stay until all credits are finished.

*** Must See

Rated PG-13 (for language, some crude humor and violence) 

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

A documentary that presents the philosophy and drive behind Fred Rogers and his childrens' program Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.

For those that grew up watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, this is very poignant and nostalgic view of the man behind the puppets.

Charming and often sad as it takes viewers on a journey displaying how much the world has changed and how often Rogers and his work was criticized and misunderstood.

Bittersweet and enchanting you will leave the theatre singing songs from your childhood and in awe of the man that welcomed you into his world both real and make-believe.

**** Oscar Worthy

Rated PG-13 (for thematic elements and language)

TAG

Five friends have competed in a game of tag during the month of May for 30 plus years. This year the game coincides with the wedding of the only player to have never been "it" before, heightening the states and upping the competition like never before. Game on...

I was delightfully shocked as to how much I enjoyed this movie. It was funny, actually had a storyline, and even with all the shenanigans was tolerably believable.

Nothing to run out and see but a fun afternoon at the movies.

**1/2 Rentable

Rated R (for crude humor and language)

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Technically the fifth in the Jurassic series, albeit the second of the revamped World editions... here we go.

Indulge me whilst I recap...

The year 1993 gave us the movie Jurassic Park, now while many people didn't think it was amazing, I thought it was a very clever adaptation of the book, which was fabulous in its own right. That being said, the advancement in CGI that was brought about by the crew at Industrial Light and Magic was absolutely spectacular - it revolutionized the movie industry and changed so much about how we view special effects today.  Loved this movie.

1997: The Lost World: Jurassic Park, also adapted from the book.  A book that I absolutely LOVED. It was so much fun to read! It was so frightening and so exciting - I remember thinking there is so much amazing material here, when they make this movie it is going to be stupendous... yeah not even close.  This is personally my biggest disappointment in movie history, nothing else has been this big of a let down... maybe the Star Wars Prequels (but I will give those a slight pass as they weren't based on books that had previously told me the story that then imploded on screen. They botched those on their own, the only preconceived story was that of my imagination.) The book The Lost World was so well written, SO well written - the story was there all they had to do was adapt it to the screen, but no. And as such it is my go-to all time comparison of being let down by a movie - particularly a sequel. "Was it bad?" "Yes, but not Lost World bad" are common references in Dibbdom movie banter. Despised this movie.

2001: Jurassic Park III - only saw this once and if memory serves it was not amazing but compared to its immediate predecessor it was a fun time at the theatre that made far more sense. Forgettable but it didn't offend me.

2015: Jurassic World - It was a remake of the first movie, plain and simple. Two children visit a relative that is in charge of the Dinosaur theme park. Due to the greed and inept folks at InGen, the park suffers a break down and the dinosaurs wreak havoc on the park visitors...sounds familiar right? So I said it before and I will say it again, (believe me I get the irony) it is the best of all the sequels even if it is a shiny remake. It pays just enough homage to the original film that you can almost overlook that there are actual scene by scene reproductions - again just slightly more technically enhanced. Bigger, scarier and more teeth. It wasn't the original but it was good summer fun.

Which brings us to 2018: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Well kids it was aptly named. This movie has fallen so far from the theme of the original books...it was horrid. So shameful. There are so many plot holes let alone the lack of logic. So many things just didn't make sense - dinosaurs in basements, risking lives for make shift blood transfusions, the human race residing to live in a "jurassic world" etc, etc.  ... its just so dumb, so disappointing and so bad...

But not Lost World bad.

*5/8 (maybe **) Rentable

Rated PG-13 (for gore, violence and language) 

Incredibles 2

The Incredibles are back - but the world isn't ready for superheroes again, in fact they are illegal. In order to booster up some public support Elastigirl is selected as the new poster child for supers. This leaves Mr. Incredible to be Mr. Mom.

What can I say?  It's Pixar and it's cute, predictable but cute.  It's not as creative as the original but it is fun.

*** Must See

Rated PG (for mild language and violence) 

Ocean's 8

Debbie Ocean has been plotting a grandiose heist for five years, eight months, and twelve days. Now all she needs are the players.

This was actually a really fun reboot of the Oceans' movies. It's not quite on par with Steven Soderberghs' 2001 version of Ocean's Eleven, it is pretty close however and far superior to any of the sequels it spawned.

Very clever and not just a simple remake, it actually has its' own plot. That being said, be prepared that it's not quite as funny as Soderberghs' Ocean's Eleven and that has to do with the fact that the female characters in 8 are sadly not as well developed as the guys are in Eleven, nor does it have the edgy pacing.  Nevertheless, it does have a lot of fabulous fashion, spectacular jewelry and is overall very well done and well worth the watch.

*** Must See

Rated PG-13 (for language, drug use, and some suggestive material)