Hail, Caesar!

LANDON **
I wouldn't consider myself a Coen brothers fan, but I sure enjoyed "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" quite a bit.  It was odd, but I laughed a lot watching it.  Judging from the trailers, I was really hoping "Hail, Caesar!" would be the same kind of movie.  Man, was I disappointed.  While it still contains the typically peculiar comedy style of the Coen brothers, it's only very occasionally funny.  There are three or four scenes that'll have you laughing, but that's about it.  The obvious strong point of the movie is the performances.  Josh Brolin, Alden Ehrenreich, and George Clooney steal the show here, and are often the most funny and unique characters.  It's technically well made too.  There are some great set pieces and some especially great cinematography here.  But it's really hard to admire all that when the plot is completely incoherent.  This thing is filled to the brim with scenes that have zero business being there, filled with equally pointless characters.  I sat in my seat for the majority of the movie wondering what in the world was going on and what the Coen brothers were thinking.  It's baffling really.  I was vastly disappointed with this movie.  Not worth your time or money.

CHASE **
My best guess about the direction of this movie is that they're trying to make it a love-letter to post World War II Hollywood.  While I think they got the look of the film right, it doesn't really excuse the really weak screenplay.  The number one thing that it lacks is focus and because of that (along with most of the humor being non-present), it felt like a drag half of the time.  Some may like the movie just for the aesthetics on display (which were impressive), some like me need a little bit more substance than what we got.

LOGAN **1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: **

The Finest Hours

LANDON ***
Finally, a good movie this year!  This is an incredible story about the rescue of the crew of the SS Pendleton during a horrific storm.  The atmosphere is immersive.  It does a great job of making you feel like you're a part of this rescue, thanks to great visual effects, sound and a pounding score.  Everyone does a fine job of acting too, especially Chris Pine and Casey Affleck.  The screenplay unfortunately gets a little detached from it's characters at times and it's a little too crowded with different perspectives, but it is undoubtedly a well-crafted, atmospheric movie that could be very well worth your time.

LOGAN **1/2

BANGERANG SCORE: **1/2

Kung Fu Panda 3

LANDON **
I liked the first and second movies quite a bit, so you can imagine my disappointment to discover this third installment to be underwhelming.  There's still good stuff in here.  The animation looks great, Han Zimmer's score still impresses, and there's a solid story idea here too.  The execution is a different story.  It's filled to the brim with unfunny references to the first film, and the moral is essentially the same as the other two movies.  It doesn't resonate in the slightest.  It's not necessarily a bad film, but it is clearly the worst of the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise.

CHASE ***
I really think you're being too harsh on this movie.  I thought the majority of the jokes were really funny and there are some story elements that were done well.  And let's not forget that the action sequences are still well choreographed.  It may not be as good as the first two, but I still enjoyed it just about the same.

LOGAN ***

BANGERANG SCORE: ***