Tag: Book Adaptation

REVIEW: Drama in ‘Four Good Days’ elevated by lead actresses

Four days can whiz by in an average work week, but as this film clearly shows, sometimes it can be an eternity.

Mila Kunis plays Molly in “Four Good Days,” a woman addicted to heroin who’s hit rock bottom. Looking for an attempt to get sober, Molly turns to her mother, Deb (Glenn Close), who’s mostly cut ties with her daughter.

It soon comes to light that Molly has attempted to do this before and eventually fell through each time, creating a distrust between her and Deb. However, Deb learns that Molly can get an injection that will remove the ability for her to get high. To get the injection, though, Molly must stay sober for four straight days.

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REVIEW: Generic story causes ‘Chaos Walking’ to crash

Yes, it’s a generic young adult science fiction film, but this time, wait for it, it has actors from Marvel and “Star Wars!”

Yeah, that doesn’t help all too much.

“Chaos Walking” is a film taking place on a new planet with an environment and atmosphere a lot like Earth’s. The only major difference is that men, for no specified reason, can have their thoughts on display. Their thoughts and inner monologues can be heard by people close by and some of the memories they have can even be seen. The film revolves around a young man named Todd (Tom Holland), who works on a farm in a small settlement town.

The colony was one of the first groupings of people to land on the new planet. However, because of a conflict with a native species, all of the women in the town died. The area doesn’t stay woman-less for long, though, as a scout named Viola (Daisey Ridley) from a larger ship with the next group of colonies crash lands on the planet.

Upon her discovery, the mayor of the small community (Mads Mikkelsen) sees an opportunity to call Viola’s ship and take it for himself. Feeling a need to protect her, Todd embarks on a journey with Viola, to get her away from the nefarious character and contact the ship first.

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REVIEW: ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ is a mess of misery and melodrama

The difficulties and hardships of poverty have no doubt been explored in some great movies.

Unfortunately, “Hillbilly Elegy” doesn’t join that club.

The movie is based on a memoir by J.D. Vance, an American businessman who grew up in Ohio. In the film, Vance (Gabriel Basso) is a student at Yale University who’s looking to get hired by a law firm.

However, during the night of a big social dinner, Vance gets a call that his mother, Bev (Amy Adams) has overdosed on heroin. As a result, Vance drives back to the town he grew up in and in doing so, thinks back to his youth where he lived with both his mother and his grandmother, affectionately known as Mamaw (Glenn Close).

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REVIEW: ‘Artemis Fowl’ is atrocious

I’ve been doing this for nearly 12 years, and every so often there’s a movie so bad it tempts me to walk out of the theater or hit the stop button. “Artemis Fowl” has joined that club.

Ferdia Shaw plays the titular character Artemis Fowl (Jr.). He’s a certified child genius who still has to go to school for some reason, and lives at a mansion with his father, Artemis Fowl Sr., and his butler, Domovoi (Nonso Anozie).

One day, his father goes missing, and is blamed for stealing several priceless artifacts. Artemis soon learns that his father has also been kidnapped by a mysterious figure. The antagonist tells Fowl he has to get an artifact to get his dad back. As it turns out, a civilization of fantasy creatures including fairies also want the same artifact. As a result, Artemis needs to deal with both entities to save his father.

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REVIEW: Latest ‘Emma’ adaptation is a stilted experience

“Emma” is a novel rich enough to spawn several on-screen adaptations, but unfortunately, the latest is rather dry.

Anya Taylor Joy plays the titular character here. A wealthy young woman in England, Emma has a reputation as a matchmaker. The movie picks up with her starting a friendship with Harriet Smith (Mia Goth), and eventually, she decides to try and set her up with one of the local suitors.

At the same time, Emma herself is looking at starting her own relationship with someone. However, some of her previous actions make the process somewhat tricky.

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REVIEW: ‘Call of the Wild’ hampered by split story, CG canine

In the 2019 “Lion King” I thought the computer animated animals didn’t emote enough. In this movie “Call of the Wild,” they might have done it too much.

This is the latest adaptation of a book of the same name about a big dog named Buck. As the films start, the dog is stolen from his home in California and sold to buyers in the Yukon.

From there, Buck goes on a series of adventures, which include becoming a sled dog to help deliver mail and later befriending a man named John (Harrison Ford) who lives in the region.

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REVIEW: ‘The Sun is also a Star’ is only a two star movie

“The Sun is Also a Star.” The North Star is also a star. And now I just miss the North Stars.

Anyway, there’s a movie to review. “The Sun is Also a Star” is the latest romance film based on a young adult novel. Of course, the movie follows two young adults, Natasha (Yara Shahidi) and Daniel (Charles Melton). Natasha is a Jamaican whose family is about to be deported back to Jamaica by the U.S. Government, while Daniel, whose family immigrated from Korea, is preparing to apply for college.

One day, through a chance encounter, the two meet and after talking, find out that they have differing opinions. Daniel believes in fate, destiny, and thinks that the universe brought them together. Natasha is much more of a skeptic, to the point where she doesn’t believe in fate or love. To convince her, Daniel suggests they spend the day together to prove who’s right and see if they fall in love.

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