Who's Your Daddy? "Little Evil"

Little Evil (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Adam Scott, Evangeline Lilly, Owen Atlas, Sally Field, Clancy Brown,

Written and Directed by Eli Craig

The Story:

Gary (Scott) has married the woman (Lilly) of his dreams. However she comes with a little bit of baggage in the form of her son, Lucas (Atlas). Gary's trying to warm up to the kid, but he seems a little cold and indifferent to Gary. That may because his real dad is...you know... Satan.

This horror comedy from Netflix starts off with a great scene, and then has to backtrack to get to that scene again.

The problem is, it takes almost too long to get back to it.

The movie waffles on whether it wants to be horror or if it should be comedy.

The two genres wrestle with one another for screen time instead of being a product of natural storytelling.

Adam Scott suffered a similar fate with last year's Krampus where the story couldn't quite figure out what it wanted to be either.

It's a fine line to balance, but this is brought to us by the man who gave us Tucker & Dale vs. Evil which is possibly the greatest horror comedy of all time.

The movie does pick back up in the last act and makes a satisfying end to the film.

It's still worth your time, especially this time of  year, but I hoped for a bit more with this one, and it just didn't quite click like I would have hoped.

Final Grade: C+

Seize The Day..."Hello, My Name Is Doris"

Hello, My Name Is Doris (2015)

Rated R

Starring Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Tyne Daly, Stephen Root, Peter Gallagher,

Directed by Michael Showalter

The Story:

Doris (Field) attends a self-help seminar where Willy Williams (Gallagher) instills in her a confidence that she's never had before. Doris begins to make some changes in her life, all in an effort to possibly woo a new co-worker (Greenfield)  who is half..maybe...her age.

So far, it seems to be quirky romance week here at Review Central.

Following up on yesterday's Mr. Right, comes a triumphant tour de force for Sally Field as Doris, the best role she's had in ages.

It's funny, sad, heartwarming and heartbreaking, but it's never dull.

These are characters that may very well exist in the real world, yet have been given a tweak here and there to up their quirkiness.

Believable, but never overblown, Doris will suck you up right into her world, and you'll find yourself excited for her one moment, and cringing with (or for) her the next.

Never once do you expect the relationship to work, yet deep down, you're totally pulling for her to make it work.

It's a terrific cast and a genuinely heartfelt dramedy.

Final Grade: Solid B

Does Whatever A Spider Can... "Amazing Spider-Man 2"

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Rated PG-13

Starring Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Sally Field

Directed by Marc Webb

The Story:

Peter Parker (Garfield) returns to graduate from high school and move on to college.  After the events from the first movie, he feels that it is time to say farewell to Gwen Stacey (Stone) before something bad happens to her.  Ah, but fate is fickle, and with the changing of the guard at Oscorp, and a tragic incident involving Max Dillon (Foxx), Peter wishes he was only facing the Lizard this go round.

I don't get all the hate directed towards this installment, or this reboot.

I stand by my assessment that Marc Webb has created a much more coherent universe for Spidey to swing around in.

Garfield and Stone are head and shoulders more invested into their characters than Maguire and Dunst ever managed in their trilogy.

I've heard complaints that there were too many villains and the plot was too convoluted to follow, and again I must shake my head and wonder if I was watching a different movie.

Now, was it perfect?

No.  Marvel Studios had superhero perfection locked down this year with Cap 2 and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Even the X-Men franchise got collectively better this summer.

A minor quibble, I've never cared for the Electro redesign or what they did with his powers.  I like the yellow and green costume, but that didn't totally derail the film.

So what went wrong with Spidey 2?

Here's my guess, and spoilers for those that haven't gotten around to seeing the movie yet, or have zero knowledge of what happened in the comics back in the 60s...

Gwen died.

It was haunting and poetic the way they worked it into the movie, and in the end it was indeed very well done.

However...

When you own the characters and are already able to diverge from the comic continuity to tell a great story...

Webb and the writers could have EASILY not killed Gwen, at least in this installment.  After all, it was nearly a decade in real time before Gwen died at the hands of Norman Osborne.

So as you see: 1) There was no rush to kill Gwen.  2) Norman's death immediately changed history so that Gwen did not have to get bumped off so soon, if ever.

This death would have been better served when it was time for Stone (and Garfield) to move on from the franchise.

This franchise had "date movie" potential for a superhero movie and by the 2nd of a planned trilogy, the rug is pulled out from under that idea.

That's just my opinion.  What's done is done.

Either way, I'll be back for the next installment.  I'm still digging this reboot way more than I ever did with Raimi's installments.

Final Grade: I'm still sticking with a B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'll pick it up one of these days.

Quest for Oscar... "Lincoln"

A movie so inaccurately named, it's not even funny.

The Story:

President Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) has just been re-elected.  The Civil War is still raging, and Lincoln is on a mission.  He needs to pass the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, once and for all.  He fears that while the Emancipation Proclamation was a great idea, it was issued during a time of war, and once war ends, which seemed to be imminent, slavery would simply return.  He had to convince Congress to get behind the measure and push it through...by any means necessary.

Seriously, this movie should have been called... "Amendment" or... really, anything other than Lincoln.

The truth of the matter, the movie really deals with the political mechanics of getting the Amendment pushed through Congress.

I cannot vouch for the validity of the claims, but it seemed like Lincoln's goal was to make sure the Amendment went through before any chance of peace with the South was broached.  He knew the war was coming to an end, and wanted to ensure slavery was abolished legally forever.

By far, the interest and intrigue comes in the movie by Lincoln's dealing with Congress and his cabinet.  And Congress dealing with each other and Lincoln.

Tommy Lee Jones once again takes center stage and you lean to him to see the real story unfold.

In fact, the weakest part of the story, or at least for me, the part I really could care less about was Lincoln and his family.  When the focus shifts to Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) or worse still, Robert Lincoln (Joseph Gordon-Levett)... for me the movie shifted into snooze control for a few moments.

But when it shifts back into the debates, the movie fires on almost all cylinders.

The other issue with the movie: Spielberg didn't know when to say "cut".

He had the perfect ending for the film... but because he slapped the name "Lincoln" on it, he felt the need to follow through with the assassination.

Mistake.

It wasn't needed, nor was it executed (no pun intended) very well.  There was nothing added by any scene after Lincoln walked down the hallway when the movie SHOULD have ended.

I'm giving the movie a final grade of B-, and I'm being generous because there were easily enough things that didn't click to drop this to " C level ".

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Zero interest in needing to see this again.