The Parenting (2025)

At a weekend get-together meeting the parents for the first time, a couple on the verge of engagement inadvertently awakens an ancient deity and things go off the rails quick. What starts as an unassuming Meet the Parents scenario turns into Evil Dead II by the end. It's goofy, but had me laughing throughout.

3 Wi-Fi passwords out of 5

Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

Dad's high strung. Mom is stressed out. The son's a nihilist. Grandpa is thorny. The uncle's depressed. The daughter is obsessed with making it to the beauty pageant in time. This is a perfect family road trip comedy in my eyes. No notes.

5 broken horns out of 5

FIST FIGHT [2017]

Batman versus Superman.  Godzilla versus Mothra.  Mega Shark versus Crocosaurus.  Joe versus a volcano.  And now, Ice Cube versus Charlie Day.
Director Richie Keen's mean-spirited comedy Fist Fight pits the two guys against each other as high school teachers that find they have nothing to lose amidst the chaos that surrounds them.
With the folks involved, the movie should have been funnier even if the script fell a little flat in all it's stupidity.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be much a script and it feels more like they just cobbled together a bunch of Best Of improvisations which isn't all that great to begin with.  There's a few chuckle worthy moments and the actual fight itself is well worth the time wasted on the rest of film.  In the end, it's not a comedy worth recommending unless you really, really think it'd be a blast watching Cube & Charlie trading blows.

2 horses on meth out of 5

REMEMBER [2015]

After a long string of universally panned films, Canadian director Atom Egoyan redeems himself a bit with the mystery drama Remember.
An elderly Auschwitz concentration camp survivor, suffering from dementia, travels across the Canada & the U.S. to hunt down and kill the blockfuhrer responsible for the death of his family.
Christopher Plummer brings a heartbreaking dignity and powerful subtly to his role, that is well worth the price of admission and more.  However it's the jumbled script, filled with way too many far-fetched coincidences to believe in the what should be a more humbling story.  Get past the silliness of it all and you have yourself a well-acted revenge drama that has it's fair share of intense moments of drama and heartbreak.

3 glocks out of 5

The Lawnmower Man (1992)

Kick a dog enough times and it’ll eventually turn and bite you in the ass and you’ll deserve it. Jobe is like that dog. Born with learning difficulties, he’s a simple man who enjoys simple pleasures. Science can change what nature gave him. Commerce can shaft him in every other way.
TLM is sci-fi that’s very much a product of its time, despite stealing a large portion of its premise from an older Daniel Keyes story. As such, even though the CGI is dated it’s not a problem within the context. What's more problematic is how the sympathy cultivated in the first half isn't maintained well enough in the second half, so by the end it’s difficult to care if anyone survives the threat. It's flawed but I enjoy it regardless.

2½ cold calls out of 5

THE FROZEN GROUND [2013]

After over a decade of terrible films, Nicolas Cage returns to fine form in Scott Walker's serial killer thriller The Frozen Ground.
Based upon the Alaskan serial killer, Robert Hansen, the film oozes with moodiness and a dreary atmosphere that immediately sends chills down your spine.  John Cusack is impressively creepy, and like The Paperboy, he finally steps away from playing the emo-bastard he's been doing for the past 30 years and is driven by something entirely different and more disturbing.  However it's Vanessa Hudgens, who's wiped away her Disney tween star persona with a bit more grace than her peers, that steals the show with a solid performance that oozes with emotional damage.  Wonderful performances aside, the film is a bit of a generic bore that never quite has the impact it should have.

2½ plane rides out of 5