The Beekeeper

It seems, at first glance, like this flick is going to end after about 15 minutes. After all, the instigating plot point happens almost before there’s been ten lines of dialogue, and the title character enacts his revenge shortly thereafter—so what’s left to dwell on? Turns out, there’s a whole infestation that needs to be rooted out, and Jason Statham's beekeeper-cum-killing machine is more than ready to serve as the exterminator, for another 90 minutes or so. This is another one of those movies where some person with insanely intensive training goes around doing away with designated scum, all while being able to take apparently limitless abuse without dropping dead. So you’ve seen this all before; the only questions are, how’s the execution (of the film, not the onscreen killings), and, are you already tired of this stuff? The answer to the former: pretty good—not a classic, but competently done, even if some of the movie’s...um...intellectual foundation is a bit fuzzy. As for the second question, well, that really depends on your own personal perspective on these kinds of movies. If you’re looking for your next great watch, this isn’t it. But if you just want to kill a couple of throwaway hours with some on-brand mayhem, you probably won’t mind this one. That’s about as much buzz as I can generate for this product of the action flick hive mind.

Tarzan (1999)

Original review: A shrug-of-the-shoulders movie. Not bad, but nothing special. It keeps you interested, and I suppose that's enough. And Phil Collins--despite being everyone's favorite musical whipping boy--actually did a pretty good job on the songs.
Re-view review: Weirdly, it’s the most Disney stuff in this film that gets in the way of this movie. The story works far better when the focus is on the Tarzan-Jane interaction, or even just Tarzan's relationship with his gorilla family. What is less successful is the comedic characters and their antics, which create jarring shifts in tone every time the sillier stuff starts up. Thus, this film tries to walk the fine line that The Lion King did before it, but doesn’t quite succeed. What does succeed, in a big way, is the animation, which is excellent throughout and occasionally, in some sequences, downright spectacular. It’s some of the best artwork in the whole canon, at least to this point and arguably right up to today’s works. The songs mostly work, too, though more so, again, where they support the main story and not the humorous antics. Mix it all together and you get a flick that largely works, if you forgive its more noticeable faults.

Grosse Pointe Blank

A hit man goes home--what could be funnier? A lot of things, actually, but this flick still finds plenty of laughs. Nice work by the consistently underrated John Cusack.