Terminus (2015)

Starring: Jai Koutrae, Kendra Appleton, & Todd Lasance

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

In the world of science fiction, a ridiculous plot is a bold and risky move. Audiences will generally see it in one of two ways, either as unique and innovative or ridiculous and stupid. While I general advise deciding for yourself, in the case of Terminus, I think the answer is pretty clear. David Chamberlain (Jai Koutrae) is a depressed alcoholic who lives with his daughter. One night he's driving home drunk and is involved in a wreck that should have killed him, except for the fact that he encounters a rock from outer space, that not only heals him, but starts giving him visions. Chamberlain starts seeing visions of the end of the world and sets out on a mission to build something remarkable, in the back of a stolen cement truck. The whole premise here is kind of stupid, however if the casting was better this actually could have worked. The main character here is a guy in his late forties, a factory worker with no skills, no education and general someone everyone already thinks is crazy. In my opinion he just doesn't fit what the story calls for. This would have been a much better film if the main character was a late teen or twenty something guy, who saw the incident as his life being spared for a higher purpose. Instead, Terminus is just really one big mess of sub-par acting, plot holes, and badly developed characters you really don't care about. If you don't care about the characters and what happens to them, and if you can't follow the story too well, then really, what's the point?

Logan (2017)

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, & Dafne Keen

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

Many people have asked why the name Wolverine isn't in the title of the latest X-Men movie. The reason is that this film is not for children. Logan is violent, vulgar, and disturbing, this film will give your kids nightmares. Logan is supposedly the last time Hugh Jackman will play Wolverine, it might also very well end the current X-Men film franchise, that has produced nine feature films and brought in billions of dollars. That being said, I expected an epic conclusion, the likes of which Marvel had never done before, and what I got was somewhat of a disappointment. It takes place in the future and yes, Logan is older, but he's still the Wolverine, so I was expecting a fair bit of fighting and chases, but it seems that was pretty much all this film has to offer. A deteriorating Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) claims that even though a new mutant hasn't been born in decades, he is speaking to one that needs help, and as it turns out he was right. Logan and Prof. X go to rescue the child and bring her to safety, while the government tries to stop that from happening. I get that this is the future and there isn't time to fill us in on everything, but there are some major plot holes with the story that are never explained. This may be a Wolverine movie, but it is also the conclusion of the X-Men, so what happened to everyone and everything else? The stories narrow focus is on these three and getting to their destination, with chase after chase and fight after fight. The film certainly has it's moments and more than it's fair share of F bombs, but where was the whole conclusion element to it? The epic end to one of the biggest franchises in the history of film just isn't there. The big draw seems to be that they finally went for the R rating and showed Logan's true personality and yes, they made the film much more realistic than any other X-Men film, but I didn't have that satisfied feeling when it was all said and done. As for Hugh Jackman, this was easily his best performance as Wolverine. You see his real personality and all that comes with it, and if this wasn't the type of film that it was, released when it was, I truly believe people would be talking about an Academy Award, he was really that good. The harsh reality is that X-Men as we know it, with the cast that we know is probably over, but the way they ended it leaves us with too many unanswered questions and a feeling of unfulfilled promise.

Chicago P.D.

Starring: Jason Beghe, Sophia Bush, Patrick Flueger, LaRoyce Hawkins, Jon Seda, Elias Koteas, Jesse Lee Soffer, Marina Squerciati, Amy Morton, Brian Geraghty, & Archie Kao

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Law & Order creator Dick Wolf, made his Chicago series because he wanted to give viewers a separate look at the heroes who make a city run, but beyond that, he wanted to make it as realistic as possible. These shows feel a lot like one of my favorite all-time TV shows, Third Watch, but in that case they were all together in one show. Chicago P.D. focuses on major crimes detectives and shows that unlike Law & Order, the police aren't above reproach and always in control.

The unit is run by Hank Voight (Jason Beghe), who while having a soft spot for victims, also runs on pure emotion. If Voight can't get the bad guy legally, he'll get them another way. He's also not the most honest cop around and has a checkered past filled with abuses of power, as seen in his debut on Chicago Fire. 

Voight's unit includes his best friend and uncover specialist Alvin Olinsky (Elias Koteas), who is more honest than Voight, but always has his back. Olinsky is a master of disguise, and is in charge of training a rookie and possibly his eventual replacement played by Patrick Flueger. Also joining Voight is Erin Lindsey (Sophia Bush) a runaway that Voight rescued and raised as his own, who is partnered with another hot head, who while reminding her of Voight, also has romantic feelings for her.  Finally rounding out the squad is Antonio Dawson (Jon Seda), the brother of a paramedic on Chicago Fire and the man who originally tried to put Voight in jail. He's one of Voight's best detectives, but can he be trusted? 

As you can see from the character descriptions, threes a lot going on here, not to mention a uniform patrol division we see on a semi-regular basis. The show isn't narrowly focused on particular types of crimes and frequently has crossover with both the other Chicago shows and Law & Order SVU. 

The Bottom Line, Chicago P.D. hits the bulls eye as the most realistic cop drama since Southland. They dive deeply into the characters background, families, and personalities, it's a lot of fun to watch. The way they go about doing their job is unlike any other cop show on TV and the whole Third Watch feel to the way it's filmed has me in cop heaven. I can not wait for this show to stream so I can binge away!

Interstellar (2014)

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, & Anne Hathaway

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

Christopher Nolan is the smartest writer/director in Hollywood, so smart that a lot of people claim his films are over their heads. The master of twists and deception made Batman real, showed us how dreams work in Inception, and brought us inside the dangerous world of magic in the Presitige. In his latest film, Interstellar, Nolan tackles the concept of time and how different it is from what we perceive. This film does have a great twist in the end and some terrific special effects, but beyond that it is one of the longest and slowest moving films I've seen in years. Once again, Humans have finally destroyed Earth and have gone looking for a new home, but outside our solar system, things are much different than they appear. Time and gravity are different concepts in different regions of space, and the effects on the crew, who had hoped to one day see their families again, diminish with each passing day. Matthew McConaughey stars and as is the case with most of his films, he's terrific. Based on some of the poor choices he made in his younger years, he has a bad rep among critics, but the fact is that he's always fun to watch, and is one of the most intense actors out there today. As for the rest of the film, it's usually Nolan's genius that makes the film unique and special, but in this instance he was too smart for his own good. The story moves very slowly and at times is more than somewhat confusing, not to mention at nearly three hours long, it's a challenge to sit through to even reach his famous twist at the end. Nolan films are something I always look forward to, as they are different and both entertain me and make me think, but in this case, I was just beyond bored and fed up with the whole thing. I guess sometimes even genius takes a holiday.

Iron Man 3

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, & Don Cheadle

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I know, I'm a bit behind on my Marvel films, but to be honest, after Iron Man 2, I really wasn't looking forward to seeing another one. There's no doubt that Marvel films have gone from simple stories about superheroes to epic adventures with the best writers and actors in Hollywood, but the fact is Iron Man 2 was your typical disappointing sequel. In the third installment of the Iron Man adventure though, the franchise bounces back in a huge way, as we get a story that not only rivals the original, but in my opinion knocks it on it's ass! Iron Man 3 finally answers the question does the suit make the man or does the man make the suit, as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces his toughest enemy yet, the one with the greatest reach, that no one sees coming. With his team and gear in ruins, Stark is left to lamb it in the middle of nowhere, and in a sense start over and find himself all over again. After playing Tony Stark for so long and appearing in just about every film Marvel has made in the last decade, Robert Downey Jr. knows everything there is to know about the character, and it has never been more apparently than it is here. Writers utilize cannon from various comics, graphic novels, previous movies, and really delve deeply into the character like never before. I also like the fact that it wasn't just another film with Stark in his lab full of toys. This time he's stranded in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by new people, having to start from scratch, it gave the whole thing a much more realistic feel to it, and finally there's the villain. While I loved every second of the Avengers, the truth is that the bad guys are aliens and aren't all that realistic. The Mandarin is a really bad guy and he's as real as the rest of us, needless to say I loved it. If you're not the huge fan I am and you only decide to see one of the Iron Man films, I'd choose this one. Rarely do I ever suggest seeing anything but the original, where it all started, but in this case, the effects are better, Downey's knowledge of the character is better, the writing is much better, and it's not the same old tagline you tend to get with introductory films.

Cold In July

Starring: Michael C. Hall, Sam Shepard, & Don Johnson

Rating: 2 1/2 out of 5 stars

For lack of better terminology, these dark, southern, noirish, dramas have become all the rage in Hollywood. Films like Winter's Bone, Joe, and Mud have been highly critically acclaimed and have come to define the 2010 decade in film, but where there is success, there are bound to be copycats, enter Cold In July. Whoever thought that Don Johnson would have any kind of chemistry with Dexter what so ever, must have been out of there mind, as right from the beginning, this film was doomed. A simple man kills a home invader and is stalked by the father of the man he killed. Obsessed with taking a life and wanting to know more about what led to this man become the person he's become, Dane (Michael C. Hall) and his team of misfits, stalk the family right back and uncover an even bigger mystery. While this story had potential, the writers thought it was too dark and decided to have some fun with it. Isn't that nice of them, to combine misplaced comic relief with actors who have no chemistry at all? Cold In July doesn't only lack chemistry but it also lacks focus. At times this film is as dark and serious as it gets, then just as quickly everyone is drunk and paling around, it just doesn't fit and it doesn't work. The whole genre of these films is dark, disparaging, and sometime disturbing. If their is any humor or positivity to be had, it typically occurs at the very end. Michael C. Hall pretty much has the same dry personality as Dexter, except with a family and a conscious, while Don Johnson is the psychopath who wants to hurt people and thinks it's funny. The bottom line is this film is just a mess of actors who don't belong with each other, characters who should never have gotten along, jumping between scenes that are the complete polar opposites of one another. I liked the story and there are a few interesting moments, but it's just isn't enough to carry the film. 

The Mortician

Starring: Method Man, E.J. Bonilla, & Judy Marte

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The Mortician (Method Man) is a lonely man with a scarred past, the kind of guy who keeps his mind occupied by throwing everything he is into his work. That all changes one night on the way home from work, when he witnesses a crime eerily similar to the one that made him the way he is. The Mortician is content to try to ignore what he saw, until he comes to realize it directly involves the young man he is mentoring and that inaction could destroy another family. This film was a bit of a surprise to me, in that it wasn't the horror film I was expecting. The preview made this film seem like it was horror, as do the title and cover art, not to mention it's on Lionsgate, which has become synonymous with B-movie horror in recent years. Perhaps the even bigger surprise was the star of the film, Method Man. Every single time I have seen him in a film, he's playing some thug or gang banger, so I figured that he was just another one of these rappers that Hollywood uses when they need to fill that type of role, but I was wrong. Despite the ridiculousness of a man who is nearly fifty years old still calling himself, Method Man, he can legitimately act. In fact, this film is quite dark and slow moving, even boring at times, but Method Man and the unique traits of his character, were the most interesting aspect of this film. Maybe I'm rating the film a bit higher than I should be, then again, my expectations were extremely low. The Mortician isn't a horror film and it doesn't move at a quick enough pace to even be labeled a thriller. The story is a decent one, albeit one that takes forever to get going, and the acting is much better than I would have expect from this cast. The Mortician wouldn't be my first choice by any means, but if you have the opportunity, I wouldn't skip it either.