Crazy Rich Asians is a romantic comedy/drama directed by Jon M. Chu from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and is based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Kevin Kwan. It is the first film by a major Hollywood studio to feature an all-Asian cast since “The Joy Luck Club” in 1993. I’ve seen Joy Luck Club and thought Crazy Rich Asians couldn’t possibly live up to the Brilliance of Joy Luck Club — well, I’m known to make a mistake or 2. Crazy Rich Asians was fabulous!
After dating for over a year, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an economics professor at New York University (NYU), is invited to Singapore by her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding), a history professor, also at NYU. Nick is the best man at the wedding of Araminta (Sonoya Mizuno) and Colin (Chris Pang). Also, the…
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The Meg is a science fiction thriller, directed by Jon Turteltaub. The screenplay is by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber. The Meg is loosely based on the 1997 book named Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten. The movie follows a group of scientists who encounter a 75-foot-long (23 m) megalodon shark while on a rescue mission at the floor of the Pacific Ocean. I was so afraid The Meg was going to be another Jaws, which I have never seen. Low and behold, it was not.
BlacKKKlansman is a biographical crime film co-written and directed by Spike Lee, based on the memoir, Black Klansman (2014) by Ron Stallworth. The film is produced by Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Shaun Redick, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, and Jordan Peele. I didn’t know quite what to expect from this movie — I went to see it without much information going in. To my surprise, based on a true story, BlacKKKlansman has turned out to be Spike Lee’s best, complete with a “scientific explanation” of white racial superiority by Dr. Kennebrew Beaureguard (Alec Baldwin), and my personal favorite.
Mission: Impossible – Fallout is an action spy film written, produced and directed by Christopher McQuarrie. It is the sixth installment in the Mission: Impossible film series, and the second film to be directed by McQuarrie, after Rogue Nation (2015), making him the first person to direct more than one film in the franchise. Since there have been 5 Mission: Impossible films, I couldn’t wait to see if the 6th sequel could possibly be any good. Surprise, surprise, many critics hailed it as the best installment in the series, with some considering it one of the greatest action films of all time.
“The Equalizer 2” (aka, The Equalizer II or EQ2) is a vigilante thriller, directed by Antoine Fuqua. It is a sequel to the 2014 film, The Equalizer, that was based on the TV series of the same name. This is the fourth collaboration between Washington and Fuqua, following the “The Equalizer”, “Training Day” (2001), and “The Magnificent Seven” (2016). I loved “The Equalizer” and was anxious to see “The Equalizer 2”. I didn’t think the sequel wouldn’t live up to the original. Perhaps Denzel should have lived by his principal not to make sequels of his own films. Read on to see what changed.
Skyscraper is an action film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. The story follows a former FBI agent who must rescue his family from a newly built skyscraper–the tallest in the world–after it is taken over by criminals and set on fire. The first non-comedy of Thurber’s career, it also marks his second collaboration with Johnson, following Central Intelligence released in 2016.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is categorized as a superhero film based on the Marvel Comics characters Scott Lang / Ant-Man and Hope van Dyne / Wasp. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sequel to 2015’s Ant-Man, and the twentieth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film is directed by Peyton Reed and written by the writing teams of Chris McKenna & Erik Sommers, and Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari. Ant-Man and the Wasp focuses on retrieving Janet van Dyne from the quantum realm. I truly liked the original film, Ant-Man, so I was psyched about seeing the Wasp officially added to the series. I only have good things to say about Ant-Man and the Wasp — it was fun!
Life of the Party is a comedy directed by Ben Falcone and written by Falcone and Melissa McCarthy. It is the third film directed by Falcone and co-written by the pair, following Tammy (2014) and The Boss (2016). While I love Melissa McCarthy, I don’t think her last couple of movies were that great — hence, I was reluctant to see this one. However, not one to abandon a great talent like Melissa, I ventured out and invested my time and money to see Life of the Party. At the end of this review, I will tell you if I made a wise decision or not.
Rampage is a science fiction movie directed by Brad Peyton, and is loosely based on the video game series of the same name by Midway Games. It is the third collaboration between Peyton and Johnson, following Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) and San Andreas (2015). I really didn’t expect much from this film — the trailers looked like a children’s movie as well as the same old thing we’ve come to ignore. I have much to say about Rampage and it isn’t all good. Basically, Rampage is about a primatologist who must team up with an albino gorilla to stop two other animals from destroying Chicago.
Maze Runner: The Death Cure is a dystopian science fiction action film directed by Wes Ball and written by T.S. Nowlin, based on the novel, The Death Cure written by James Dashner. It is the sequel to the 2015 film Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials and the third and final installment in the Maze Runner film series. In my opinion this final sequel was the best of the trilogy and was easiest to follow. I was sort of tired of trilogies but after seeing Maze Runner: The Death Cure, I am newly motivated.
