Insanely busy weeks as we shift gears into Summer the Squabblers have not been able to assemble because…well, life. But, fear not, Sara Michelle Fetters and Adam Gehrke have you covered with regards to what’s out in time for the July 4th weekend. Check out this lightning round!
- Transformers: The Last Knight – If there are any more entries like The Last Knight than the end for this series can’t come quick enough, and maybe it would be for the best if Optimus Prime and his Autobots gave up on the human race and left us to destroy ourselves in relative peace and quiet. (http://moviefreak.com/transformers-the-last-knight-2017-movie-review/) (http://www.adamgehrke.com/?p=3319)
- The Hero – Quiet, personal and refreshingly introspective, The Hero is an old fashioned drama filled with heart and emotional nuance that also happens to offer the great Sam Elliott one of the best opportunities of his 48-year career. (http://moviefreak.com/hero-2017-movie-review)(http://www.adamgehrke.com/?p=3322)
- Baby Driver – Wright’s latest high-octane motion picture, Baby Driver, is a foul-mouthed, ultra-violent spin on the heist thriller, the whole thing playing like some sort of whimsical hybrid of Walter Hill’s The Driver, Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly’s Singin’ in the Rain and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. It’s a bizarre little lark filled with fast cars, angry thugs, narrow escapes, romantic innocence and sincere self-sacrifice, all of it bouncing along to a one-of-a-kind musical cadence that’s glorious. (http://moviefreak.com/baby-driver-2017-movie-review) (http://www.adamgehrke.com/?p=3330)
- Band Aid – A beautiful meditation on romance, marriage and family, this captivating gem is one of the year’s most joyfully electric and cathartically alive achievements, and for Lister-Jones it shows a level of narrative maturation that caught me by surprise. (http://www.adamgehrke.com/?p=3480)
- Despicable Me 3 – As convoluted as Despicable Me 3 might initially appear to be, it’s clear that the creators of this internationally popular set of animated films are starting to run short of fresh ideas. The whole last third feels like it’s cribbed, almost beat-for-beat, from the finale of 2015’s Minions, while other sections repeat ideas from the other two entries in the series close to verbatim.
- The Big Sick – The Big Sick is a refreshing, absorbent spin on the romantic comedy, delivering laughs, tears, frowns and smiles with an ebulliently authentic ease that’s remarkable.
- The Beguiled – Sofia Coppola’s decidedly feminist spin on The Beguiled is as unsettling as it is amusing, as comical as it is terrifying, the gothic terror sitting at the center of the tale one more born of male chauvinistic indifference than it is anything else. (http://www.adamgehrke.com/?p=3483)
- Reset – As gonzo Hong Kong high-octane sci-fi time travel thrillers go, Reset is an absolute blast, smartly grounded in real world emotions and actions, thus allowing its central premise of a mother going above and beyond the limits of space and time to fight for the survival of her child to resonate in a deliciously personal manner that’s frankly glorious.
- I, Daniel Blake – An eloquent heartbreak, 59 year old Daniel Blake is a carpenter in England faced with staring down the government while fighting for worker’s comp while also helping a young single mother. A brilliant and touching film totally worth catching up with. (http://www.adamgehrke.com/?p=3477)