In an attempt to bring you the best of what’s out there I give you my “High Spots” of the week, three noteworthy things you need to check out:
Unsane – Steven Soderbergh is really bad at this whole retirement thing. Returning last year with his “Ocean’s 7/11” style film Logan Lucky, he is back again just six to eight months later with this psychological thriller starring The Crown’s Claire Foy as a woman who gets checked into a mental hospital against her will after she looks for help for some PTSD she has from being stalked years earlier. The great selling point on this is that Soderbergh went low-pro and filmed this on a iPhone, exactly like The Florida Project director Sean Baker did in his debut, Tangerine. What we get is a master filmmaker making a big film that feels so very real and so very close to the action.
Pacific Rim: Uprising – I know. Everyone is writing me off right now for giving some praise to a film that currently rates at 45% on Rotten Tomatoes but hear me out. Did you like the first movie? Do you like giant robots? Giant monsters? Do you want to see them fight? If you gave a hesitant yes to any of those questions, then Uprising has what you crave, minus the style and heart that Guillermo Del Toro gave the original film. I also play the game that Charlie Day is his same character from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, just changing his name to Dr. Newt Geizler. If you think about it, you wouldn’t put this past Charlie Kelly one bit.
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle – After the massive haul this reboot/sequel took in at the box office, I doubt there is anyone who hasn’t seen this new vehicle for The Rock and Kevin Hart and I call it that because you know we will see a follow-up and a franchise birthed out of this earner of almost a billion dollars. I feel that maybe in my initial review I was a little harsh on the movie, calling it a bit disposable and forgettable, because the audience definitely proved me wrong. Now the movie is on demand and on Blu-ray so we can all go back and give it a watch. I unabashedly love The Rock so it’s an easy sell for me.
Steve Stebbing 