Ricki and the Flash

Story: Ricki (Streep) left her home, family and a life of luxury a long time ago in order to pursue her dream of becoming a rock star. She gets a call one day from her ex-husband Pete (Kline) who informs her that their daughter is depressed after a breakup. When Ricki arrives home, she realizes she has a lot of ground to cover in terms of catching up with her family.

Cast: Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer, Audra McDonald
Direction: Jonathan Demme
Genre: Drama
Duration: 1 hour 41 minutes

Review: Even when off the stage and not singing cover versions with her band in a tiny pub to a small but appreciative audience, Ricki (her real name's Linda) remains in black leather. She slurs and sways in Keith Richards-like rocker fashion and looks totally out of place in Pete's sprawling, tastefully-furnished home. Pete however, has long since moved on with a new wife, Maureen (McDonald), who treats Pete and Ricki's children as if they were her own.

Regardless of her rockstar accoutrements, Ricki's maternal instincts kick in as she spends time with her daughter Julie (Gummer). Julie went into a tailspin after her husband left her. She's also pretty pissed off with Linda for not being around and flatly tells Linda that her rocker chic makes her look like a cheap hooker.

In time, the mother and daughter do bond, thanks to a lot of TLC from Linda, who also didn't know that one of her sons is gay and that the other son will soon marry.

Linda knows however, that while Ricki is her stage name, it's more than just a persona; it is her life and soul. Streep's presence in Ricki elevates what could have been a fairly ordinary family drama into something that is refreshingly different.

The performances are mostly solid. Real-life rocker Springfield plays Ricki's bandmate and lover. And Gummer's screen presence is credible and good. Some of the film's best scenes involve her. But by the end of the film, you might find yourself wondering if Streep (she plays and sings for real here) really is in a rock n' roll band on the side. Yes, she's that convincing.

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Drama ,

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Fantastic Four

Story: This origin-tale tells the story of four individuals, each of whom acquires a unique and specific super-ability after teleporting themselves to an alien planet. Soon, they'll have to join forces to save the planet from destruction.

Cast: Miles Teller, Michael B Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, Toby Kebbell, Reg Cathey
Direction: Josh Trank
Genre: Action
Duration: 1 hour 39 minutes

Review: The Fantastic Four have been deserving of a reboot for a while now, in full contemporary style. This film however, feels like an extended, somewhat boring preamble to the kind of action and excitement audiences deserve to see, presumably in the next film in this series.

Miles Teller is Reed Richards. More flexible than a rubber band and silly putty combined, he is also the brainiest of the lot. Michael Jordan is the volatile Johnny Storm, a giant blowtorch who has the ability to chuck fireballs at adversaries. Kate Mara essays the role of The Invisible Woman. Apart from being the female counterfoil for all the raging testosterone in the otherwise all-male gang, she rivals Mr Fantastic (Yes, that title does sound cheesy, no matter how many times repeated.) in terms of being level-headed and intelligent. Oh, and she generates force fields too in the form of giant, super-strong bubbles. Jamie Bell is The Thing, a creature who looks like he was fashioned out of a gigantic clump of parched earth. The closest superhero in terms of comparability is the Hulk. However, Thing cannot even hold a candle to the latter in terms of sheer brute force. The villain's role - that of Dr Doom - is in the film essayed by Toby Kebbell. They acquire the said superpowers after using a Quantum Gate (read: fancy teleportation device) to explore Planet Zero, which is in another dimension. Kebbell is left behind, tragically, but will ultimately confront the other four.

The script is dull, littered with cliched catchphrases (eg, "We can't change the past, but we can change the future!") and humorless. There are barely any action scenes in the film, save the film's climax, which looks rushed. Only the visual effects and Teller's performance is worthy of note. Superhero film fans can only hope that the next one will be interesting to watch.

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Action ,

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Vacation

Story: Rusty (Helms), an aircraft pilot for a domestic carrier comes upon the idea to take his wife Debbie (Applegate) along with two sons James (Gisondo) and Kevin (Stebbins) on a road trip to an amusement park called Walley World. Their road trip however, is nothing short of disastrous, as they are beset at almost every turn during the journey, by various difficulties.

Cast: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Skyler Gisondo, Steele Stebbins, Chris Hemsworth, Leslie Mann, Chevy Chase
Direction: John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 1 hour 35 minutes
Review: While the film is supposed to derive loose inspiration from National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), there are actually just a few similarities. For example, this version spares nothing when it comes to bawdiness and potty humour that can either hugely tickle your funny bone, or put you off, if naughty jokes don't float your boat.

Rusty is a perfectly loving dad and husband. He loves his two boys and sees himself more as a friend to them, rather than a patriarchal figure. Debbie knows he is extremely well-meaning but she craves for him to be a bit more rough-and-tough, apart from wishing he was a bit more dominating with her in the boudoir. She misses the point that he's a genuinely rare 'nice guy' and that bed-breaking sex is not the be-all of a relationship. For the blissfully unaware Rusty however, the road trip is the ultimate tool in his bag of tricks to not only bring the spark back into his marriage, but help him bond with his sons too.

The movie has plenty of genuinely funny moments. Their vehicle for starters, looks ready to fall apart at any time, with the voice of the GPS navigation system sounding like a hysterically angry samurai warrior. There's also the part when they spend the night at Rusty's sister Audrey's (Leslie Mann) country home. Hemsworth has a full-on hamming-it-to-the-hilt role as a wealthy Southern gent who has a bourbon glass seemingly glued to his hand all day, is impossibly well-endowed and is a bull stud when in bed with Audrey. Apart from his cameo, you'll also want to look out for a portly Chevy Chase's turn here. Fancy a bunch of laughs? Go see it then.

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Comedy ,

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Shaun the Sheep

Story: Bored with the farm's daily routine, Shaun (Fletcher) decides to take a day off. However, his plans go awry when a trailer that the soundly asleep Farmer (Sparkes) is placed in, rolls away to the city. The Farmer also loses his memory when he bumps his head. It's now up to Shaun, his fellow sheep and a few mates to rescue the Farmer, restore his memory and bring life to normal at Mossy Bottom Farm.
 

Cast: [Voices] Justin Fletcher, John Sparkes, Omid Djalili, Kate Harbour, Tim Hands, Simon Greenall
Direction: Richard Starzak, Mark Burton
Genre: Animation
Duration: 1 hour 25 minutes

Review: For those of you who are new to these characters (the film is a feature-length excursion based on the children's TV series, of the same name), it is important to know that there are no dialogues in the movie save the odd grunt or vocalization from a character or three meant to convey basic emotions. Additionally, stop-motion studio Aardman Animations (Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, Arthur Christmas and more) have kept things pretty simple and sweet - looks-wise - in the film. And that visual tenderness is matched by the simplicity of the story line itself. This is quite essential, given the lack of verbal content.
Shaun is certainly the most independent and smartest out of all the animals in the farm and when one day a bus rolls by bearing an advertisement for a vacation, Shaun makes up his mind to take that coveted day off. But just when things are going according to plan, Shaun's potential day off turns into a missing-person hunt for the Farmer. Shaun also gets by with a little help from his (sheep) friends, Bitzer and a stray named Slip (Hands). And all the while, they have to avoid being locked up by an obsessed animal-control worker.

There are a few clever messages slipped into the story. Such as the subtle impart that (in Shaun's case) with freedom comes responsibility. There are other poignant moments, like a scene where stray animals are put up for adoption, and we see via their actions just how keen they are to be welcomed into a new home. All in all, fun viewing for kids.

 

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Animation ,

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Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation

Story: CIA chief Hunley (Baldwin) convinces a Senate committee to disband the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), of which Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is a key member. Hunley argues that the IMF is too reckless. Now on his own, Hunt goes after a shadowy and deadly rogue organization called the Syndicate.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin
Direction: Christopher McQuarrie
Genre: Action
Duration: 2 hours 13 minutes

Review: We get an idea of the kind of limits Tom Cruise will go to, in order to entertain his fans, almost as soon as the movie begins. He clings to the outside of a cargo plane (the shot reportedly took eight takes) while in flight, as he desperately maneuvers to get inside the airplane and jettison a load of chemical warheads. The CGI/stunt double route could have been taken, but Cruise did it for real. Because he's Tom Cruise.Cruise's Hunt is a little older, wiser, but no less aggressive. Hunt is captured and almost killed by a Syndicate member, but is saved by another rogue agent, Ilsa Faust (Ferguson) from Britain's MI6, in the nick of time. 'When he learns that the Syndicate plans on assassinating a head of state, Hunt brings in his old friend Benji (Pegg) to help with matters and their mission is now to thwart the Syndicate's plans.' What follows is classic MI fare with stunts galore, thrilling chase sequences, tech wizardry and more.
 

McQuarrie doesn't stray too far from formula here, but there's more humour in here than previously seen in the series. McQuarrie (who has worked with Cruise in Edge of Tomorrow and Jack Reacher) coaxes a kickass show from Cruise. Ferguson's Faust is alluring. She finds that sweet spot in between being eye candy and deadly vixen. On screen, Hunt and she complement each other perfectly.

The sequence at the Vienna State Opera (with the Chancellor of Austria in attendance, watching Puccini's Turandot), involving activity happening offstage between Hunt and a bunch of bad guys even as the blissfully unaware audience watches the stage show, is almost poetic in terms of timing and synchronization.

A winsome mix of old school and new, Rogue Nation will thrill you throughout.

 

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Action ,

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Pixels

A message is beamed out from Earth in the past to try and connect with extraterrestrial life. Among other pop culture elements, the message contains some old videogames. In the present day, aliens unleash those videogames on Earth in real life, in a destructive way. Only a few gamers can save the earth from annihilation.

Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Monaghan, Josh Gad, Brian Cox, Dan Aykroyd, Daryl Hall, John Oates, Serena Williams
Direction: Chris Columbus
Genre: Sci-Fi
Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes

 
Review: What do you get when you take a dollop of Adam Sandler-style goofball humor and supplement it with nostalgia-laden videogame visuals from the 1980s? Pixels presents a barrage of this and more that can at times, hammer on the senses.
Brenner (Sandler) and Cooper (James) were excellent at videogames as kids. The only person, who could top Brenner, was Eddie Plant (Dinklage, the movie's hilarious highlight) who defeated Brenner in Donkey Kong. Brenner and Cooper are also buddies with Ludlow (Gad), who lives and breathes gaming. This was in the early 80s.

Cut to the present day and Brenner works in the electronics industry. While it pays the bills, it certainly isn't what he hoped he'd be doing. Especially when compared to his childhood buddy Cooper, who is now - wait for it - the President of the United States!

The games begin when Cooper tells Brenner that Earth is under alien attack and only their knowledge of the vintage videogames can save them. The aliens beam their messages using manipulated TV footage of Hall and Oates, Fantasy Island characters and so on, conveying that they have three rounds to play. If the humans lose, Earth is kaput.

Pixels is heavy on 80s iconography, with games like Pac Man, Centipede, Donkey Kong and even characters like Max Headroom being represented. While an older generation may get these references, the same might be lost on younger audiences. Sandler unfortunately brings nothing new to the table; his expressions remain the same as you'd have seen in The Wedding Singer. It is Dinklage rather, whose presence lifts every scene he's in, with his faux-suave routine as a ladies' man. So, if you watch this, it'll only be for his and Gad's movie-saving performances.

 

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Sci-Fi ,

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