“Gemini Man” (Action/Science Fiction: 1 hour, 57 minutes)

Starring: Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen and Benedict Wong

Director: Ang Lee

Rated: PG-13 (Violence and action throughout, and profanity)

 

Movie Review: Director Ang Lee has several notable screenplays to his résumé. The notables are “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) and “Life of Pi” (2013). 

“Gemini Man,” which production companies developed over a span of years, is not up to par for Lee. The science-fiction screenplay is a messy story not worth the time spent under development.

Henry Brogan (Smith) is a 51-year-old elite assassin. After his 72nd clandestine venture, Brogan decides to retire. The United States’ government decides he is too valued of a target to just let retire. 

Brogan becomes the target of rogue operative Clay Varris (Owen), head of a black-ops unit codenamed Gemini. Varris sends an assassin to kill Brogan. The assassin is a clone, a younger and faster version of Brogan. 

Will plays himself as a 51-year-old man and himself about 30 years younger. While Smith is a congenial actor, he is usually not convincing in these action roles. 

He is passable here, but his comical flair is always in the back of one’s mind. One keeps waiting for him to tell a joke, but the moment never comes.

Smith is not the problem. He and the action-oriented, fast-energy scenes are not boring. They are entertaining. The script written by three writers is the problem. The writers’ subpar attempt at an action science-fiction thriller is muddled in trite storytelling.

Grade: C (Futility Man)

“Jexi” (Comedy: 1 hour, 24 minutes)

Starring: Adam DeVine, Alexandra Shipp and Rose Byrne

Directors: Jon Lucas and Scott Moore

Rated: R (Profanity, sexuality, drug use, nudity and brief violence)

 

Movie Review: Modern technology can complicate or simplify a plot in movies. Modern movies have made technology a part of the story. In “Jexi,” the equipment, a smartphone, is a central character. The comedy is risqué, where the story is interesting yet an unconvincing, over-the-top comedy. 

Phil (an overly expressive DeVine) is a bit of a loner who is addicted to his cellular phone. His life changes when he buys a new phone with a virtual assistant called Jexi (voice of Rose Byrne). Phil soon learns Jexi is an artificial intelligence, not just a virtual assistant. 

Jexi begins coaching Phil and interfering with his life. After Jexi helps Phil gain confidence and find a relationship with Cate Finnegan (Shipp), Jexi becomes jealous, wanting Phil all to herself. Phil’s life with Jexi becomes a technological terror.

Multiple movies have debuted with technological devices as a central character as noted earlier. “Electric Dreams” (Director Steve Barron,1984) was about a guy and his computer. The brilliant “Her” (Director Spike Jonze, 2013) which starred Joaquin Phoenix, was about a guy who falls in love with his cellular phone.

“Jexi” is a comical version of “Her,” which was a drama. In that sense, it is hardly original. “Jexi” is an adult comedy. The problem is it takes humorous moments and makes them repetitively juvenile.

Grade: C (Smartphone has low battery power.)

“The Addams Family” (Animated/Comedy: 1 hour, 27 minutes)

Starring: Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Bette Midler and Allison Janney

Directors: Conrad Vernon and Greg Tiernan

Rated: PG (Violence and crude humor)

 

Movie Review: This animated comedy is another adaptation of “The Addams Family” television series (1964-66) that is based on characters by Charles Addams. The story tries to create a backstory for the Addams Family. However, lousy comedy and a weak story do not prevail.

Gomez (Isaac), Morticia (Theron), Pugsley (Wolfhard), Wednesday (Moretz), Uncle Fester (Nick Kroll) and Grandmama (Midler) are the mysterious and spooky Addams Family. As they prepare for other ooky family members to arrive to celebrate Pugsley’s ceremonial entry into manhood, television personality Margaux Needler (Janey) determines the Addams and their hilltop mansion are a threat to Needler’s cookie-cutter neighborhood venture.

Their house is a museum, but many people are not coming to see them. The Addams Family is not a scream this outing. The story is disjointed. The narrative creates a story where it tries to create an important sub-story for each character. Meanwhile, the main plot of the movie appears to be a last-minute concept to lengthen a weak photoplay.

Despite major vocal talents, audiences get a movie similar to four television episodes strung together with a weak thread. “The Addams Family” (Director Barry Sonnenfeld,1991) remains the pivotal movie for this fictional family.

Grade: C- (Two snaps out of four.)

“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (Adventure/Fantasy: 1 hour, 58 minutes)

Starring: Angelina Jolie, Michelle Pfeiffer, Elle Fanning and Harris Dickinson

Director: Joachim Ronning

Rated: PG (sequences of fantasy action and violence, including frightening images)

 

Movie Review: “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” is the sequel to “Maleficent” (Director Robert Stromberg, 2014). Like its prequel, “Mistress of Evil” is visually stunning. It is more adventurous, although multiple storylines clutter the plot. Still, the story shines enough as a closure to the tale about “Sleeping Beauty.”

Prince Philip (Dickinson) asks Aurora (Fanning) to marry him. His proposal does not sit well with Maleficent (Jolie), Aurora’ godmother. Prince Philip’s mother, Queen Ingrith (Pfeiffer), takes advantage of the situation by accusing Maleficent of bewitching King John (Robert Lindsay) who has fallen into a coma. Soon, Maleficent and beings like her are at war with humans.

The fault of this movie is its attempt to justify story concepts with complicated historical backdrops. The characters have histories developed enough that their motives need no overcomplicated insertions. For example, Pfeiffer’s Queen Ingrith did not need history to make this movie work. Her son is marrying a woman whose guardian is a dark sorceress. That is enough to justify her ill will toward monsters, fairies and other sentient nonhumans. 

Otherwise, this continuation of “Sleeping Beauty” is more than adequate entertainment. Joachim Rønning (“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” 2017) directs this fantasy. He, the cast and production crew supply an excellent escape.

“Mistress of Evil” Jolie is enchanting. Pfeiffer is deliciously cunning as the antagonist. Their scenes are some of the best moments. Grand visuals and action sequences accompany them. Together these entities provide a good cinematic diversion.

Grade: B- (It is the opposite of maleficence.)

“Zombieland: Double Tap” (Comedy/1Horror: 1 hour, 39 minutes)

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Rated: R (Violence, profanity, gore, drug use, and sexual content)

 

Movie Review: In 2009, Ruben Fleischer directed “Zombieland,” and it has since garnered a cult following. He returns to direct this comedy about a makeshift family surviving a zombie apocalypse. 

The movie takes on a video game appeal. It returns with similar antics but the creativity is lacking this outing. Instead the movie resides on fancy graphics and superfluous gun-downs of zombies.

Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin) are living in the White House in Washington, D.C. Their lives are peaceful for the moment. Little Rock desires to be with someone her own age. She leaves and begins traveling to Memphis with a pacifist musician and hippie, Berkeley (Avan Jogia).

Outraged, Tallahassee leads his entourage to find her. Their trek will be dangerous as the zombies are evolving, and a new faster and stronger breed exists that poses a threat to all of humanity. 

Like its prequel, ““Zombieland: Double Tap” is fun and silly simultaneously. It is comical, not because the jokes are hilarious, but the very animated characters and their actions are goofy. The problem is their actions and the humor they inspire become repetitive.

Grade: C+ (Engaging interactions double tap on the same.)

 

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar lives and works in Valdosta.