Sinners

There’s an old saying: a point in every direction is no point at all. I heard that saying echoing in my mind as I watched this film. I’m not really sure what this movie wants to be. A horror show? A study of race relations? An ode to music? A period piece? Crime drama? Yes, it’s all those things, but trying to do too much can make a muddle. So we have here, to a minor extent, though to be fair the story at its core never loses coherence; you don’t get lost in this narrative. There is one other problem: the gimmick of having Michael B. Jordan play dual roles means that it can be difficult to tell if you’re watching the character Smoke or Stack in crucial moments. Having said all that, there’s much to admire here, too. The performances are splendid all around, and the cinematography is absolutely gorgeous throughout. And most of the music is wonderful, too, though occasionally the attempts at genre cross-pollination detract rather than add to the tableau. So certainly, this is a fine movie and worthy of praise—I just wish people would let it rest at that, rather than go overboard and declare it to be the greatest thing that ever happened in the history of movies, if not humanity. When we commit that sin, it really does make one want to sing the blues. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

They’re back on familiar ground in this one—maybe too familiar. The temptation to walk across previously trodden territory proved too much to resist for this flick's cast and crew; a lot of the running time is dedicated to retracing steps from earlier entries, and not always successfully. That decision seems to have discouraged everyone from breaking off in fresh, new directions, as we saw in this film’s immediate predecessor, and that probably contributed to many of the jokes in this latest outing falling flat. That’s not to say there are no laughs to be had here, just that they are fewer and further between, and more gentle chuckles than laugh-out-loud moments. Indeed, this movie actually plays a bit better if you take its story a bit more seriously, as a supernatural action adventure pic rather than the straight-up comedy the ancestral movie was. The real star here and source of the movie’s heart and soul, as she was in the previous film, is McKenna Grace; her precocious  Phoebe Spengler carries much of the story’s weight while the grownups around her are mostly goofing around. I guess I may be grading on a curve here, when this flick's antecedents achieved genius status, but while this latest in the series is not quite what it could have been, it still delivers more than enough entertainment to make it worth a look. You just have to get in the spirit, as it were, to get the most out of your viewing experience.

Ghostbusters (2016)

If. That is the essence of everything with this movie: if. If this were an original idea; if there were not a classic movie that preceded and inspired this version; if this movie did not employ the gender-shift gimmick...If not for any of those aspects, then perhaps it could have earned more respect upon release. Judged on its own merits, the film certainly is worthy of respect; it's funny, engaging, and about as clever as one could expect given how high the bar was previously set. And the "controversial" casting is really not an issue; the ladies do a fine job, though only Kate McKinnon actually takes her role and runs with it, create something wholly fresh in this context. All in all, this is a good time at the movies, and--given the not so subtle hint of a sequel--worthy of attention now and in the presumed future.