Sunday, August 2, 2015

Film Reviews: July 26th and August 2, 2015

Here is a recap of the reviews from the last two weeks:

The Human Centipede is more interesting as a trilogy and as a concept than it is for the actual content of its installments. Human Centipede 3 is deliberately unpleasant and it succeeds at that but the movie falls well short of its aspiration to be a violent satire in the vein of Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom, American Psycho, or even South Park.

Paper Towns has interesting themes that it presents earnestly but the storytelling is erratic and unbelievable. The movie delivers a coming of age tale that its intended audience of teenagers will eat up but Paper Towns has too many implausibilities to be taken seriously.

Stand By Me remains one of the best films of director Rob Reiner and one of the best features adapted from the works of Stephen King. This film has some extraordinary performances and an understated profundity that maintains its resonance nearly thirty years after the movie’s original release.

Trainwreck is a fine comedy. It does not reinvent the romantic comedy but Amy Schumer and Judd Apatow do it very well and Trainwreck injects the genre with a contemporary sensibility while delivering laughs at a steady clip. 

Ant-Man is a fun superhero movie. Although it works through a lot of the familiar storytelling beats of comic book origin stories it does so with a lot of humor and it is a very entertaining addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a fun movie and an effective example of a family adventure film that is entertaining for both kids and parents. 


You can find full text of every review in the Sounds of Cinema Review Archive.

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