‘Movie Corner’ Archives
“Kidnap” & “Detroit”
Kidnap “Kidnap”(2017) * out of 5 starts Thriller, Di Bonaventure Pictures It is true a child goes missing every 40 seconds in the United States. However, it is also true “ Kidnap” is a bad movie. (It had been sitting on the shelf since 2014: usually a bad sign.) Even though I sympathize with Halle Berry”'s character Karla Dyson who has her young son Frankie (Sage Correa) snatched from her in an amusement park just slightly out of eyeshot. What ensues is a hyper- octane car chase after the kidnappers Terry (Lewis Temple) and Margo (Chris McGinn) Vicky up and down Louisiana highways causing numerous car wrecks (you wouldn”'t want to be on any of these freeways), including a police officer on a motorcycle demanding her to pull over upended. “Kidnap” is one huge mess: clumsy script, lousy monologues and a painfully predictable atrocity. She”'s driving a 1980s Mustang and her antagonists are driving a Chrysler minivan. The two [...]
“Baby Driver” & “The Big Sick”
(l to r) Buddy (Jon Hamm), Darling (Eiza Gonzalez), Baby (Ansel Elgort) and Bats (JAMIE FOXX) discuss the next heist in TriStar Pictures' BABY DRIVER. By Howard McQuitter II “Baby Driver”(2017) **** out of five Action/Comedy/Drama/Music Rated R Director Edgar Wright”'s (I met him back when he directed “Shaun of the Dead”) “Baby Driver” is worth the ticket while lounging in a comfortable chair in a theater (or at home) on a summer day. The beauty of “Baby Driver” is the movie feels fresh, electrifying and humorous. For lack of a better word, the cast is cool. Baby is the title character played by Ansel Elgort, a twenty-something, white guy who walks around with earphones listening to pop music, such as from “Queen”. Back-ground music from old school R&B tunes Martha Reeves & The Vandellas “Nowhere to Hide” and Brenda Holloway”'s “Every Little Bit Hurts” fill the air instead [...]
“I, Daniel Blake”
By Howard McQuitter II “I, Daniel Blake” ***** “I, Daniel Blake” winner of the Palme d”'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016, is another example of director Ken Loach”'s (“Cathy Come Home” ), “Kes “, “Ladybird, Ladybird” [1994) body of work as a master at giving the working-class their due on screen. Daniel Blake (Dave Johns), 59, a widower and carpenter, from Newcastle, England (in northern England) has recently had a heart attack and told by his doctor he should take some time off. Things begin to get much worse when he makes his way to the harsh bureaucratic system. He goes to Jobcentre Plus and finds the people there cannot or will not help in his plight. While waiting there, he meets Katie (Hayley Squires), with two small children, who is getting the shaft too. Security personnel force Katie (and the two children) and Daniel too, out of the office when he stands up for her. Daniel does an act of mercy [...]
