Crisp Criticism - "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie", "The Emoji Movie", "Victoria and Abdul", "Kingsman: The Golden Circle", "The LEGO Ninjago Movie"

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Julien Faddoul

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie **

Two mischievous kids hypnotize their mean elementary school principal and turn him into their comic book creation, the kind-hearted and elastic-banded Captain Underpants.

A fascinating, and mostly successful attempt by DreamWorks to reverse-engineer their initiative due to the corporate restructure by remitting a bauble, with stylised animation done on a fraction of the usual budget. The story is sweet, the jokes are droll, the pace is quick and the animation is typical high-calibre DreamWorks.

d – David Soren

w – Nicholas Stoller   (Based on the Comic Book by Dav Pilkey)

pd – Nate Wragg

m – Theodore Shapiro

ed – Matthew Landon

p – Mireille Soria, Mark Swift

Cast: Kevin Hart, Ed Helms, Nick Kroll, Thomas Middleditch, Kristen Schaal, Jordan Peele

Crisp Criticism - "Mother!", "It", "Patti Cake$"

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Julien Faddoul

Mother! *

A couple’s relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence.

Roman Polanski + Luis Bunuel ÷ The Bible. Aronofsky’s allegories and metaphors (which I won’t spoil) are of constant interest, but the metaphor and the surface clamour never really gel, with too much nonsensical behaviour and too many references to other artists’ work. Therefore, all one is left with is his audaciousness at going for broke (typical) with coercive symbolism, which, for me, is not enough.

wd – Darren Aronofsky

ph – Matthew Libatique

pd – Philip Messina

ed – Andrew Weisblum

cos – Danny Glicker

p – Scott Franklin, Ari Handel

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Harris, Domhnall Gleeson

Crisp Criticism - "American Made", "The Hitman's Bodyguard", "Girls Trip"

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Julien Faddoul

American Made *

The true story of pilot Barry Seal, who transported contraband for the CIA and the Medellin cartel in the 1980s.

A film with a lot of interesting stuff going on that unfortunately is presented in a manner so commonplace as to prove destitute. The Scorsesesque erratic conation of all things “American Dream” that has become ever so fashionable obligates toward lengthy exposition and awkward moralizing, and it remains a mystery why so many modern crime dramas based on true stories don this approach. At least this one’s funny.

d – Doug Liman

w – Gary Spinelli

ph – Cesar Charlone

pd – Dan Weil

m – Christophe Beck

ed – Dylan Tichenor

cos – Jenny Gering

p – Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Brian Oliver, Tyler Thompson, Doug Davison, Kim Roth

Cast: Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright, Jayma Mays, Lola Kirke, Jesse Plemons, Caleb Landry Jones