“Candyman” (Horror/Thriller: 1 hour, 31 minutes)

Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris and Colman Domingo

Director: Nia DaCosta

Rated: R (Bloody violence, gore, profanity and sexual references)

Movie Review: A sequel to the horror film “Candyman” (Director Bernard Rose, 1992), this current movie in the series, which includes two movies from the 1990s, is not a reboot with the horror of the original. 

Jordan Peele’s reboot of the definitive 1992 movie is a social commentary about the criminal justice system, racism and gentrification. The more the plot reveals about the origin of the Candyman, the more its frights lessen.

In 1977, Chicago’s Cabrini Green is a lower-income bracket neighborhood of a mostly minority population. By 2019, Cabrini Green is a gentrified neighborhood. This is a neighborhood where the tale of Candyman began. 

He was a man with a hook arm who gave candy to children in the neighborhood. After that man’s tragic death by police, people die if they say Candyman five times while looking in the mirror. Artist Anthony McCoy (Abdul-Mateen) has an installation piece at an art gallery that causes Candyman to remerge.

The cast fits their setting. They are down-to-earth people with ordinary lives. Their lives change, but they do not appear to recognize the changes.

An example of this is a guy’s right hand appears to rot, yet his girlfriend never mentions it despite its visual unpleasantness, and the character does not go to the hospital about his arm until the condition expands to other parts of his body.

Character motives also change. One character doesn’t want her boyfriend to say Candyman five times for fear the chant will jinx her new apartment, yet she appears to want to say it to prove the legend is false later, even after finding coworkers brutally murdered.

Do not blame the cast. The actors do their job. This is especially true of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. He is the lead in this movie. He plays an artist looking for inspiration. He finds it, this script does not.

“Candyman” is a social justice movie. 

It is movie with overtones from the recent police shootings. It even has people in the movie echoing “Say His Name” throughout. The connections to today’s happenings are not bad but producers appear more adamant about its social justice themes than a campaign to scare their audiences as “Candyman’s” prequels did.

If anything, Director Nia DaCosta (“Little Woods,” 2018) and cowriters Jordan Peele (“Get Out,” 2017; “Us,” 2019) and Win Rosenfeld, the President of Monkeypaw, just retail Bernard Rose’s 1992 movie and Clive Barker’s “Books of Blood.” So, think of this movie as repetition and social commentary parading as a horror movie.

Grade: C (Interesting but his treats are not as sweet.)

Playing at Valdosta Stadium Cinemas.

“Reminiscence” (Mystery/Science Fiction: 1 hour, 55 minutes)

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca Ferguson and Thandiwe Newton

Director: Lisa Joy

Rated: PG-13 (Violence, profanity, sexual content and drug abuse)

Movie Review: “Westworld” co-creator Lisa Joy creates a noir science fiction thriller set in a dystopian Miami and New Orleans. “Reminiscence” plays like noir science fiction similar to the private eye movies of the 1940s-1960s. 

It is a mystery crime movie with an environmental background of severe climate change. It moves slowly at first but quickly accelerates to an engaging screenplay.

Nick Bannister (Jackman) and his assistant, Emily “Watts” Sanders (Newton), are private investigators of the mind. They help people recollect memories via mind technology. 

Bannister’s life changes when he meets nightclub singer Mae (Ferguson). Bannister and Mae become lovers but that ends when Mae disappears without a trace. Bannister begins an investigation that leads to a dangerous unground world of crime, drugs and money. 

“Reminiscence” is Joy’s directorial debut for a feature film. It has similarities to the television series “Westworld.”

The background setting for this movie is interesting as what is happening with the main story. As this movie shows a flooded eastern coastal city of the United States, one must speculate about everyday life on the planet when people want to escape it for nostalgic moments of their past.

Yet, Hugh Jackman’s Bannister keeps one’s attention also. His obsession to find a missing woman is nostalgic, too. The only thing missing is someone such as Humphrey Bogart narrating. Instead, we get Hugh Jackman narrating. He is appealing as always. And his scenes with Rebecca Ferguson and Thandie Newton are good moments. Each actress adds insight into Bannister.

The problem is that Bannister is the only person audiences get to know. Others appear transparent.

The movie has a classical feel but its futuristic technology causes some unexplained moments. Additionally, the movie introduces concepts that it resolves too easily during the conclusion. Otherwise, “Reminiscence” is engaging and visually inviting mystery thriller.

Grade: B- (Just interesting enough to make it worth reminiscing.)

“PAW Patrol: The Movie” (Animation/Action/Comedy: 1 hour, 26 minutes)

Starring: Iain Armitage, Will Brisbin, Marsai Martin and Ron Pardo

Director: Cal Brunker

Rated: G (Violence and moments of peril)

Movie Review: The television series “PAW Patrol” is the basis for this enjoyable energetic movie. It follows Ryder (Brisban) and his pups. They are the PAW Patrol. They save lives, mostly those of humans. A dog named Liberty (Martin) calls the canine team to Adventure City. There, they must stop Mayor Humdinger (Pardo) from ruing the metropolis with his hair-brained schemes.

“Young Sheldon’s” Iain Armitage plays the lead. His voice is good as Chase, a German Shepard pup. Marsai Martin (“Little,” 2019) steals scenes voicing sassy Liberty, similar to her sassy role on ABC’s “Blackish.” Will Brisbin joins the team as their leader, Ryder. 

They and other voices are appealing. Several well-known actors and celebrities voice a slew of other characters. The notables are Tyler Perry, Jimmy Kimmel and Kim Kardashian.

Cal Brunker brings the same energetic adventure he did in earlier movies directed by him: “Escape from Planet Earth” (2012) and “The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature” (2017). An artist and writer, Brunker and his team make this a fun movie for parents and their small fries.

This family production is light because of the speed at which it moves. It is also a short movie. That should make parents happy who do not like animated movies.

Enough comedy, vivid visualizations and action sequences exist to keep this movie entertaining for the entire family. “PAW Patrol: The Movie” skirts by on its cuteness factor; it is puppies galore. It is also a fun family outing.

Grade: B- (It resides on puppy power.)

“The Protégé” (Action/Mystery/Crime: 1 hour, 49 minutes)

Starring: Maggie Q, Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson

Director: Martin Campbell

Rated: R (Strong and bloody violence, profanity, sexual references and nudity )

Movie Review: “The Protégé” contains action and three major action stars. The movie has a mystery to solve. Once that mystery presents itself, the wait is fruitless.

Anna (Maggie Q) and her mentor since childhood, Moody (Jackson), are assassins for hire. They kill bad people: crime lords, drug kingpins, dictators, etc. After some people kill Moody, Anna travels the world to avenge her mentor.

Maggie Q is a very serious action star. She has a certain regal presence as an action star. She conquers her enemies without the obligatory humor or arrogance associated with such movie characters. She has mission and any digressions are unwarranted.

Samuel L. Jackson’s characters, especially his action ones, are just the opposite. In his roles, he often opines and preaches to his enemies before he annihilates them. Granted his style is more pleasing as entertainment, his characters feel forever familiar and occasionally unrealistic too.

When Maggie Q and Jackson’s chemistry misses in a few scenes, Michael Keaton enters playing Rembrandt. His character is like a mix of Maggie Q and Jackson’s onscreen personas. Keaton is amusing yet thought-provoking. His character is some type of psychoanalyst hitman. He wants to understand his prey before erasing them. He steals scenes as Rembrandt.

So, the cast is a pleasing group, but the story has more going than seven clowns in a Volkswagen Beetle. Multiple subplots appear incomplete.

The mystery presented  – who killed Moody? – is better than the characters’ interactions with each other and their past. The players are intriguing as individual people. Together, they appear to be in separate movies at times.

Martin Campbell has directed better movies such as “Casino Royale” (2006) and “The Mask of Zorro” (1998). “The Protégé” entertains with plenty of action and humor, but fails when compared to some of Campbell’s other treats.

Grade: C+ (Intriguing, but not the aptest apprentice.)

“The Night House” (Horror/Thriller: 1 hour, 47 minutes)

Starring: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg and Vondie Curtis-Hall

Director: David Bruckner

Rated: R (Violence/disturbing images, and profanity including some sexual references)

Movie Review: Something brilliant exists within this screenplay before it resorts to typical horror tropes. Too bad, the audience is not privy to what this movie could have become. 

“The Night House” could be a better psychological thriller than a horror but it applies commonplace horror genre concepts with the fine acting of its lead, Rebecca Hall. Her performance is what makes this movie tolerable.

Beth (Hall) is a widow, still dealing with her husband Owen’s recent death. As she goes through his belongings, Beth begins to uncover her husband’s disturbing secrets.

Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski’s screenplay has keen concepts intermixed with the formulaic horror bits. This is disheartening considering the movie has fine concepts that are engaging.

A big haunted house exists, strange occurrences ignored by the lead character Beth, and yet the lead, a Caucasian woman, does not find any of these occurrences strange. These are the typical horror themes seen far too often.

Hall’s performance is good. She is enjoyable to watch. More important, she does a good job at letting her onscreen persona become psychologically entrapped. As Beth solves mysteries surrounding her husband’s sudden death, she becomes the role. Director David Bruckner (“The Ritual,” 2017) and his team should have stayed with this aspect of “The Night House.”

Grade: C+ (Leaves one in the dark, but Hall’s acting is house-worthy.)

Adann-Kennn Alexxandar has reviewed movies for more than 20 years for The Valdosta Daily Times.