Nope

This movie takes its good sweet time getting into the meat of its story. That’s actually something of a throwback, since horror flicks in olden days didn’t put their monsters, chaos and gore out front and center until well into the running time. They generally worked the slow build, unlike much of today’s more hyperkinetic fare. So that’s not an inherent problem with this one; what causes some viewer consternation here at the start, more than anything else, is Keke Palmer's high-volume, grating presence in the otherwise quiet and ominous stage-setting early scenes. You almost want to walk away just to keep her from getting too much on your nerves. Thankfully, the plot and action soon rev up and begin to deliver the kinds of jolts that make her boisterousness relatively muted in comparison. A lot about the middle of the movie is appreciable, with some nasty surprises giving the narrative some high-energy moments. But then, the denouement leaves a bit more to be desired: the monster weirdly transforms, without necessarily becoming anything more particularly scary or alien in character, the characters go off into behaviors that don’t seem particularly rational, and the beastie meets its destiny in a way that does not make much sense. So there are good scenes in the middle, the direction and cinematography present rich visuals—a notable achievement considering the dry-as-dust desert setting of the story—and a lot of the film works ... but there’s also a tepid opening and a not especially compelling ending. You get just enough here to turn a "nope" into a "yes," but just barely—and you are hardly inspired to shout out that affirmative.

Toy Story 4

I guess there’s a reason why they usually stop movie series at three entries. It becomes impossible to not experience, when watching a fourth installment of a franchise, a sense that you’ve seen all this stuff before—that you are looking at a paper or a picture that has been copied a few times too many, or copied from a copy of a copy. That’s the sense I got watching this film. The familiar characters are there, a somewhat familiar storyline is there—this series has done both new character introductions and finding a long-lost friend in prior sequels—but at this point they just don’t have the same impact as they originally did. Not surprising, really; it requires a ton of fresh creative input to keep old characters and scenarios feeling even relatively fresh, and there just isn’t a lot of vibe that the studio was up to that challenge here. Thus, it was not a surprise that my attention started to wander long before this flick reached its climax, let alone the potentially series-altering denouement. I know they’re planning yet another sequel for this series—perhaps without Hanks, though that issue probably wouldn’t be insurmountable—but I suspect the only thing that will come of the attempt will be further proof of Disney’s current creative bankruptcy. Oh, I suppose I should note that the uncritical among us—like children, the target audience here—will absorb this outing with the same level of pleasure the first three provided. But for the rest of us, I think we should expect a bit more for our time and attention. It just might be time to put away these childish things.

Get Out

Yeah, OK, but … There seems to be a tactical error here, specifically in how contrived the story's situation comes across as. The point--if in fact there is one--could have been made in a much sharper way had the setting been more realistic. As it is, this "set piece" version of interracial relations is too easy to dismiss because of that lack of grounding in reality. The movie still earns solid marks for the skill of the presentation; it's well put together, the acting is fine, nobody particularly throws up on himself here. But that contrived nature, plus some philosophical missteps that seem to undermine the narrative's credibility, just left me wondering. There's been a lot of love for this movie, and it's not bad, but I'm willing to express the, uh, minority opinion that this flick could have been a lot more--and better--than it actually is.

Keanu

A funny movie. Problem is, given the principals involved (Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele) and the premise (dweebs play gangstas, all in the service of recovering a kitten) it should have been a lot funnier. It’s always unfair to judge based on expectations, rather than what is actually delivered, but it’s next to impossible to avoid that trap so here. After all, it’s goddamn Key and goddamn Peele! Still, this film is at least as funny--and thus, successful--as most of the comedies that come and go these days, so it earns a positive rating, even if it does ultimately come across as a lost opportunity.