It’s Maddy Whittier’s (Amandla Stenburg) 18th birthday, but she won’t be celebrating the occasion at a party or restaurant. In fact, she won’t be leaving the house or even having friends over anytime soon. That’s because she has SCID, a rare genetic disorder that basically makes her allergic to everything. Consequently, she’s been stuck inside a hermetically-sealed house since being diagnosed with the disease at the age of 3, shortly after her father and brother’s untimely deaths in a terrible car crash. Lucky for Maddy, her mom, Pauline (Anika Noni Rose), is a physician who could afford to raise her…
Author: Kam Williams
According to Murphy’s Law, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” And Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul provides cinematic support for that pessimistic principle. For, this kitchen sink comedy relies on the domino effect to exacerbate the ever-mounting misfortunes visited upon the beleaguered Heffley family over the course of one disastrous, summer road trip. The film is the fourth in the series based on Jeff Kinney’s illustrated children’s novels. It was directed by David Bowers who also made Wimpy Kid 2 and 3. It’s understandable that the youngsters from the original might have aged out of…
Emily Middleton (Amy Schumer) is just having one of those days. First, she’s fired from her sales job in a boutique for irresponsibly ignoring customers in order to try on outfits for herself. Second, her boyfriend (Randall Park) callously dumps her on the eve of their planned romantic getaway to Ecuador, stating, “You don’t have any direction in life.” Then, she cries on the shoulder of her mother (Goldie Hawn) who only proceeds to rub salt in her wounds with, “Michael was the best you’ll ever do.” Nevertheless, against her better judgment, Emily invites her on the trip because the…
When it was released back in 2002 , xXx grossed over a quarter-billion dollars worldwide in theaters alone. The visually-captivating espionage adventure starring Vin Diesel was reminiscent of James Bond, except it featured a hunkier hero and more spectacular stunts and special effects. The high-octane thriller so overshadowed the relatively-mundane Die Another Day that year that Pierce Brosnan would soon be replaced by Daniel Craig as 007. Ironically, Vin Diesel was also replaced by Ice Cube in xXx 2, a drismal sequel that bombed at the box office, leaving a once-promising franchise on life support. It’s taken a decade and…
Alien: Covenant is the 9th episode in the enduring, sci-fi franchise launched back in 1979, provided you count the trio of Alien vs. Predator spinoffs. This installment is a sequel to Prometheus (2012) which devoted fans know was a prequel to the original. Covenant was directed by the legendary Ridley Scott who also made the first and the previous picture in the series. As the futuristic tale unfolds, we find the spaceship Covenant hurtling through the ether on a mission to colonize a distant star with its cargo of 2,000 cryogenic humans and 1,140 frozen embryos. The crew, under the…
Will (Martin Bradford) is the proprietor of Kupcakes, a hair salon located in Algiers, the only New Orleans parish on the west side of the Mississippi River. What makes him unique is that he’s also a grassroots activist who periodically stands on the proverbial soap box, preaching to anybody who’ll listen about Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He only has one employee, Nola (Jessica Morali), a gorgeous shampoo girl. They are secretly lovers, too, only because she has a very overprotective brother, Denzel (Reginal Varice), who is driven beserk just by the thought of her sleeping with…
Renee (Noomi Rapace) was leading an unremarkable existence in suburban Kansas City the day she was abducted by five strangers after her car broke down. Until then, she was just an average divorcee’ doing her best to shield a young son (Percy Hynes White) from an embittered ex-husband’s (Paul Popowich) vicious barbs. Otherwise, her routine was so drab, between work and helping Evan with his homework, that she decided to add a little spice to her life via skydiving. Then, hours before she got a chance to jump out of a plane as planned, she’s kidnapped by the aforementioned quintet…
In 1928, Dr. Jan Zabinski (Johan Heldenbergh) became the director of the Warsaw Zoo. Over the next decade, he ran it with the help of his wife, Antonina (Jessica Chastain), who was something of a wildlife whisperer. The institution flourished under their control until the outbreak of the Second World War in September of ’39 when Hitler invaded Poland. The zoo was closed to the public after being repeatedly bombed by the Luftwaffe during the siege of the city. However, the Zabinskis continued to live on the grounds with their young son (Timothy Radford) and the beleaguered animals that survived…
Whenever a classic television series is made into a movie, the buzz always seems to be about whether the screen version will be a creative variation on the theme or merely a campy, cornball, take-the-money-and-run ripoff trading in familiar formulas and shopworn cliches. After all, for every inspired adaptation like Batman (1989), Charlie’s Angels (2000) and 21 Jump Street (2012) there are just as many bitter disappointments, al a Dragnet (1987), I Spy (2002) and Get Smart (2008). Fortunately, Chips is more in league with the worthwhile remakes rather than the ones leaving you wondering why they ever bothered. The…
Elaine Parker (Samantha Robinson) only became a witch after being abandoned by her late husband. An incurable romantic with fairy princess fantasies, the gorgeous widow still harbors hopes of finding Mr. Right. With that goal in mind, she relocates to a quiet town in Northern California where she conveniently rents an already Goth-themed apartment in an imposing mansion on a hill. There, she makes fast friends with her laid-back landlady, Trish (Laura Waddell), while setting a trap for a string of unsuspecting suitors via a combination of spells and love potions.. Her first mark is Wayne Peters (Jeffrey Vincent Parise),…