Eternals

Childish fancies plus relentless, fairly cynical mandatory diversity equals a silly, mostly absurd movie. More interesting storylines immediately suggest themselves to the viewer in the first five minutes; none are realized. Instead, we get a mostly tepid end-of-the-world scenario that relies on cliches for resolution. The main issue here is the attempt to be all things to literally all people, resulting in a story the comes across as less an artistic vision and more as the notes from a committee meeting. As many boxes are checked as possible, lest someone should feel left out and accordingly take to social media with profit-killing vengeance. A sequel is clearly set up, but I can’t imagine anyone actually wanting to watch it--certainly not anyone wanting to pay for it. You might just wind up eternally grateful if you skip this one.

Sausage Party

Is this a case of the munchies gone out of control? It sure seems like it. With Seth Rogan’s meaty, stoned fingers all over this movie, one would be forgiven for assuming that’s the case. The film does, in fact, display a certain amount of impaired judgement; everything that the filmmakers assumed would be riotously funny only hits that mark on rare occasions. There are a number of good, laugh-out-loud moments, but probably not as much as these folks were expecting. While I’m not one to shy away from crude humor, this movie overdoes it. A bit of well-placed smuttiness can work wonders for a comedy, but in the volume displayed here it becomes overwhelming, almost numbing to the funny bone. Finally, this movie shows the downside of the now ubiquitous product placements in films; the generic nature of the food products that star in this show--a once standard industry practice--now comes across as weirdly artificial and distracting. You pretty much expect to see brand names on all the featured foods, and it actually hurts the film that they’re not there. (Contrast with the Toy Story movies, where the familiar toy brands and models provide shortcuts to the audience recognizing the characters and their natures.) Overall, there’s laughs here, but not enough, and too many places where things just go wrong. Making a truly adult animated comedy was worth a shot, but this one ultimately misses the mark.

After The Sunset

Implausibility in the opening sequence: bad sign. Salma Hayak's tits: good sign. I guess it's all about what you're looking for. What you see here is a scenario we've witnessed many times (cool, suave criminals as heroes of the story). The charm of the actors (Pierce Brosnan and the aforementioned Hayak) helps immensely, as does the funny, well-written script. And the Caribbean scenery looks great on screen. Not a bad way to go, overall.