Posts Tagged Nine Lives

Movie Mayhem – Best and Worst of 2016

Posted by Bryan Caron in Entertainment, Film, Movies, Reviews on January 8, 2017

For various reasons, my goal for 2016 was to attend less movies, hopefully avoiding the bad in favor of the good. And though I did skip some movies that in years past I probably would have gone to because they were there, the inevitable stinker still crept into my viewing addiction. And at 107 movies, I only saw 3 less than I did in 2015 (though those three would probably have ended up on my worst list). So much for that resolution. But, with 58 movies graded at an A- or above, this year’s crop still managed to be on the higher end in one way or another. So, what were some of the most awe-inspiring (and some of the stinkers) from the past year? Let’s find out.

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Movie Mayhem – Nine Lives

Posted by Bryan Caron in Entertainment, Film, Movies, Reviews on August 7, 2016

If anyone was ever to remake The NeverEnding Story, I would bet dollars-to-donuts Christopher Walken would play the owner of the bookshop Bastian steals from. Alongside his many supporting roles in an eclectic array of films, Walken has somehow become the go-to actor to play “the mystical shopkeeper.” Okay, yes, it’s only been twice now, but in both Click and the new cat-tastrophe (oh my gah… I can’t believe I just did that!), Nine Lives, it becomes clear Walken is a little too bemused by the parody of himself. There’s no life left in his once Oscar-winning persona, a noticeable problem that infects everything else around it. There’s something to be said for an actor elevating a film that seems otherwise thrown together, but when it feels like he — alongside Kevin Spacey, another professional  stalwart that doesn’t belong anywhere near a film like this — isn’t even attempting to give 110%, that not only affects those around him from giving their all, but it telegraphs to the viewer that the film isn’t worth their time.

A good example for this is The Fifth Element, a film that could have been a disaster of Jupiter Ascending proportions had it not been for every single actor just letting loose and going for it, delivering terrific performances as if the film was poised to win every Oscar category. Of course, the actors involved had the advantage of working with a well-written script. Unfortunately, Nine Lives can’t hold up on that front either. Read Full Review

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