2016

Posted on July 1, 2016 by bofca

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN

“THE LEGEND OF TARZAN fails to inspire or even engage.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

“What we get is something cobbled together by a committee—earnest and admirable but flaccid in execution.” – Sam Cohen, Substream Magazine

“…a bland and unoriginal adaptation.” – John Hanlon, John Hanlon Reviews

“It’s a movie so painfully bloated, misguided and built upon empty money, that you may as well run it for the GOP ticket and call it the presumptive nominee.” – Greg Vellante, Edge Boston

“Think of Brewer and Cozad’s screenplay as a chore list instead of a blueprint for visual storytelling. That’s the viewing experience of THE LEGEND OF TARZAN in a nutshell.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“…was this really a movie worth making at our particular moment?” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“It’s all rather flat and predictable, a story we’ve seen many times before even if you’ve never seen a TARZAN movie.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

THE BFG

“Thankfully Disney and Steven Spielberg decided to tackle the giant story, and the results are magical.” – Deirdre Crimmins, Cinematic Essential

“…the film marks a reunion of Spielberg and Mathison, the team behind E.T. Their new collaboration is an emotionally powerful one — a classic tale of childhood, fantasy, innocence and adventure.” – Greg Vellante, Edge Boston

“Every single moment of THE BFG is characterized by contrasts of scale (like a giant wearing a circus tent as a shirt) and contrasts of appearance (like a digital monster trading fart jokes over tea with a flesh-and-blood Queen).” – Jake Mulligan, Dig Boston

“Many of Dahl’s darker edges have been sanded off by Mathison and Spielberg, who’s working with Disney for the first time. But if you loved the fart jokes in Dahl’s book, well, Spielberg apparently did too!” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian

“THE BFG will undoubtedly find an audience, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us have to pretend this giant is less big and friendly than boring and flat.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR

“THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR does hint at a sequel, and given what’s going on in the real world, sadly, there should be plenty of inspiration for it.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 06/17/2016

Posted on June 17, 2016 by bofca

FINDING DORY

“FINDING DORY is a solid effort and a nice comeback from last year’s THE GOOD DINOSAUR, but make no mistake––unlike last year’s brilliant “Inside Out,” this is not the best American animated feature we’ve seen this year.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“The best parts of the film are the too few occasions when it pauses for long enough to let us drink in the majesty of what we’re being shown.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“FINDING DORY is a weird entry for Pixar in that it feels like it should actually be a lot darker than it is.” – Bob Chipman, MovieBob

“Overall, there is a good movie for kids here that more than likely will not disappoint.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE

“Thanks in no small part to these two lead performances, the movie has a heart as big as its Johnson.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

“Hart and Johnson both have a real gift for effortlessly grooving with other performers, so giving them a stage to groove on naturally lends itself to easy viewing.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“In the end, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE works mainly because it knows what it is, but it still manages to try a few new things.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

“CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE is a buddy comedy done right. For a change, there was some intelligence on both sides of the camera.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

DE PALMA

“One of the best movies ever made about making movies, DE PALMA s not a film for those who wish to retain romantic notions about an artist’s process.” – Sean Burns, The ARTery

“De Palma is a great artist, but the greatest pleasure of DE PALMA is that he never speaks like one.” – Jake Mulligan, Dig Boston

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 06/10/2016

Posted on June 10, 2016 by bofca

WARCRAFT

“Too compelling in its misbegotten grandeur to be dismissed, too grim and determined of its own importance to be called a farce; the only fair description of WARCRAFT is a tragedy.” – Bob Chipman, MovieBob

“By the time the credit roll, you feel as though you’ve just watched half a season of some sort of bargain basement fantasy-action cable series.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

THE CONJURING 2

“…for those seeking some summer thrills and chills without rivers of blood and gore, THE CONJURING 2 is a solid successor to the original.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“The film is a blast as a funhouse-style genre exercise, but there’s very little holding it all together.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“In spite of the clear issues, James Wan and the gang ultimately succeed by being able to conjure up some entertainment by allowing this sequel to do what sequels are known to do.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

NOW YOU SEE ME 2

“No one will confuse NOW YOU SEE ME 2 for an art film. It is, however, damn good entertainment.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“Who’d have thunk they could have pulled a terrific sequel out of the surprise hit that was the original?” – Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices

“It’s all harmless enough, I guess. Also pointless and more than a little bit strained.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 06/03/2016

Posted on June 3, 2016 by bofca

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS

“While this isn’t an excellent picture, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: OUT OF THE SHADOWS does manage to make noticeable improvements over its most immediate predecessor.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

“The resulting dissonance feels like somebody dubbed a vocal track from BANANAS IN PAJAMAS over a particularly Ramsay-heavy episode of GAME OF THRONES.” – Bob Chipman, Movie Bob

POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING

“…a delightfully silly breath of fresh air to remind us that Hollywood is capable periodically removing its own head from its ass.” – Deirdre Crimmins, Cinematic Essential

“…the film is constantly teetering the lines between brilliantly stupid and just dumb.” – Greg Vellante, Edge Boston

“THIS IS SPINAL TAP this is not, but there are so many hints at greatness here that you may not care.” – Sam Cohen, Under the Gun Review

ME BEFORE YOU

“Yet thanks to its two leads, it is a film that should score with its intended audience even if it doesn’t get much respect.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

MAGGIE’S PLAN

“…one can’t help but wonder what Gerwig and FRANCES HA co-writer and director Noah Baumbach—her creative and romantic partner—might have accomplished with MAGGIE’S PLAN’s premise. ” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian

THE WAILING

“In THE WAILING, it doesn’t matter whether you believe in evil or not. Evil believes in you.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

BOFCA REVIEW ROUND-UP: 05/27/2016

Posted on May 27, 2016 by bofca

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

“When it comes to X-MEN movies, it’s safe to say that the high hopes that I had for the future are officially a thing of the past.” – Jaskee Hickman, Cinematic Essential

“As a popcorn movie/timewaster, it’s a sufficient diversion, but it’s becoming clear that this franchise is at the end of the line.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“Maybe we can tie a bow on the X-Men and find a whole new box of toys someplace else.” – Kilian Melloy, Edge Boston

“By far the silliest, most comic book-y of the X-MEN movies, APOCALYPSE is overstuffed with inferior callbacks to Singer’s earlier efforts.” – Brett Michel, The Improper Bostonian

“These movies are never particularly good but this one isn’t half-bad.” – Sean Burns, Spliced Personality

ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

“It has very little to do with the novel by Lewis Carroll. Indeed, other than some of the characters, it’s so bizarre and different that you may feel you’ve gone through the looking glass yourself.” – Daniel M. Kimmel, North Shore Movies

“The film may not be a failure, but it is a waste.” – Deirdre Crimmins, Cinematic Essential

“…satisfies all of the basic requirements that satisfy the definition of “movie,” and yet as a movie it is leagues from actually being satisfying.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

CHEVALIER

“…[Athina Rachel Tsangari] is a gifted, empathetic filmmaker, and she takes CHEVALIER, her characters and her audience to both expected and surprising places.” – Andy Crump, Paste Magazine

“The more these fragile men of “Chevalier” seek to aggrandize themselves the more diminished they look in our eyes, with the film’s clinical gaze laying bare the fundamental silliness of the competitions that consume them.” – Sean Burns, The ARTery

Boston Online Film Critics Association

The Boston Online Film Critics Association was established in May of 2012 to foster a community of web-based film critics.

Tag Archives: Review Round-Up

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