New Movies – Tarzan, Batman v Superman, Trouble With The Curve

The Legend of Tarzan (2016) – Hollywood keeps trying to revive this franchise and keeps coming up short.  Despite some interesting performances by Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan, Margot Robbie as Jane and Christoph Waitz in another creepy bad guy role, the movie never quite manages to be interesting on its own.  Samuel L. Jackson appears in a role that really looks like it was added just so they could put his name in the cast.  The script never manages to find anything interesting for them to do.

The CGI of the great apes is astoundingly poor.  The pacing of the movie is leaden.  Finally, there’s actually very little story here.  The whole project just limps along.

There is still room for a “grown up”, modern look at Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic character.  Sadly this wasn’t it.

Rating – **1/2 Almost Worth A Look


Batman v Superman – Dawn of Justice (2016) – Again, some interesting acting (especially Cavill, Eisenberg, Affleck), several interesting concepts but a true mess of a movie. The battle scenes and CGI can’t cover or overcome a complete lack of plot.  This movie has as many holes in what little story it offers as any in recent memory.  Batman becomes even more mentally ill than most recent iterations, while Superman is conflicted over his place in human society, but not enough to actually do much about it.

Really appalling.  No wonder it’s second weekend numbers dropped by historic levels.

Rating – ** Not Impressed


Trouble With The Curve (2012) – An aging baseball scout tries for one last big signing as he and his adult daughter try to overcome years of dysfunction.  Amy Adams, Clint Eastwood and Justin Timberlake bring some charming performances to a pretty predictable and lackluster script.  The two younger actors bring the most heart, Clint is reduced to a character role.

Rating – *** Worth A Look