Crisp Criticism - "Transformers: The Last Knight", "Despicable Me 3", "Okja", "The House"

by

Julien Faddoul

Transformers: The Last Knight

In the absence of Optimus Prime, a battle for survival has commenced between the human race and the Transformers.

A bad movie for all the reasons exhibited in the previous installments. Totally incomprehensible.

d – Michael Bay

w – Akiva Goldsman, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Ken Nolan

ph – Jonathan Sela

pd – Jeffrey Beecroft

m – Steve Jablonsky

ed – Roger Barton, Adam Gerstel, Debra Neil-Fisher, John Refoua, Mark Sanger, Calvin Wimmer

cos – Lisa Lovaas

p – Ian Bryce, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy, Tom De Santo

Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, Gemma Chan, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, John DiMaggio, Jess Harnell, Laura Haddock, Jerrod Carmichael, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, Stanley Tucci, Santiago Cabrera

Despicable Me 3

Gru and his wife Lucy must stop former 80s child star Balthazar Bratt from achieving world domination.

Another weak piece of frenzied animated mayhem in this sitcomy Illumination franchise with all the substantiality of a city-street pamphlet.

d – Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin

co-d – Eric Guillon

w – Cinco Paul, Ken Daurio

pd – Eric Guillon

m – Heitor Pereira, Pharrell Williams

ed – Claire Dodgson

p – Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

Cast: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Jenny Slate, Steve Coogan, Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, Andy Nyman, Nev Scharrel, Trey Parker, Pierre Coffin, Michael Beattie, Julie Andrews

Okja **

A young Korean girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend – a massive swine-like animal named Okja.

An audacious and mostly thrilling piece of discombobulation with high highs and low lows. It works best when Bong is exhibiting his remarkable capacity to control spacial chaos mingling with CGI, and works less when focusing on its didactic environmentalism.

d – Bong Joon-ho

w – Bong Joon-ho, Jon Ronson

ph – Darius Khondji

pd – Lee Ha-jun, Kevin Thompson

ed – Yang Jin-mo

cos – Choi Se-yeon, Catherine George

p – Bong Joon-ho, Choi Dooho, Dede Gardner, Lewis Taewan Kim, Jeremy Kleiner, Ted Sarandos, Seo Woo-sik

Cast: Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ahn Seo-hyun, Byun Hee-bong, Steven Yeun, Lily Collins, Yoon Je-moon, Shirley Henderson, Daniel Henshall, Devon Bostick, Choi Woo-shik, Giancarlo Esposito, Phillip Garcia

The House

A dad convinces his friends to start an illegal casino in his basement after he and his wife spend their daughter’s college fund.

A putrid waste of time for all involved, with not a single funny joke or believable situation. At least it’s short.

d – Andrew Jay Cohen

w – Brendan O'Brien, Andrew Jay Cohen

ph – Jas Shelton

pd – Clayton Hartley

m – Andrew Feltenstein, John Nau

ed – Evan Hanke, Michael L. Sale

cos – Christopher Oroza

p – Brendan O'Brien, Andrew Jay Cohen, Joseph Drake, Will Ferrell, Nathan Kahane, Adam McKay

Cast: Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, Jason Mantzoukas, Mariah Carey, Nick Kroll