A Cure for Wellness - Movie Review

Starring Dane DeHaan, Jason Isaacs, Mia Goth, Harry Groener, Ivo Nandi and Celia Imrie.
Written by Justin Haythe.
Directed by Gore Verbinski.

★★½

This isn't a smooth journey. It's a meandering journey with peaks and valleys, with some elements that work better than others. Nevertheless I was along for the gothic ride.

(Stefon voice): "This movie has everything! Corridors, swimming eels, catacombs lit by hundreds of candles!..."

It starts with Dane DeHaan (Chronicle), an actor who usually resembles a younger, skinnier meth-addicted Leonardo DiCaprio. He's an ambitious executive at a large soulless Wall Street firm. He is tasked with going to Switzerland and finding their CEO, who disappeared there three weeks ago to a spa retreat. He gets into an accident after arriving, thus making him a patient in need of recovery. Jason Isaacs play the suspicious doctor who runs the facility.

Parts of the movie reminded me of Shutter Island, with a central character whose grip on reality becomes questionable the longer he's at this remote location.

I was entertained throughout, even though I knew I was watching an imperfect vehicle for Gore Verbinski's gonzo imagination. Have I put enough caveats around this? I liked it, though I'm cautious about recommending it to too many other people.

LEGO Batman still #1, Great Wall #3

For the weekend of February 17-19, 2017, the top two spots remained the same. The LEGO Batman Movie added to its haul and will cross the $100 million domestic mark tomorrow. Fifty Shades Darker had a steeper drop, but it was enough to beat back the newcomers.

The Great Wall had a giant budget and is one of those movies designed more for overseas than domestic consumption. Still, bad reviews and the general "what is Matt Damon doing in ancient China?" question couldn't get it above the teens.

Fist Fight had an expected meh opening.

A Cure for Wellness had a bigger budget and came from Academy-Award winner Gore Verbinski (Rango). This felt like a passion project where the studio gave him money they knew they'd lose in order to get him to direct one of theirs.

Kudos to Oscar nominees Hidden Figures, La La Land and Lion staying in the top 11.

Opens February 24
GET OUT with Daniel Kaluuya, Alison Williams and Catherine Keener.
ROCK DOG with the voices of Luke Wilson, JK Simmons and Lewis Black.
COLLIDE with Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Ben Kingsley and Anthony Hopkins.

Rango - Movie Review

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Starring the voices of Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Ned Beatty, Bill Nighy, Alfred Molina, Stephen Root, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone and Timothy Olyphant.
Directed by Gore Verbinski.

If there's a better animated movie this year, then this is going to be a great year.

This animated Western comedy has its humor level seemingly more aimed toward adults than kids, but my kids still liked it. It takes tropes from several sources and uses them all for maximum efficiency.

It's about a lizard with a falir for the theatrical who finds himself in a small critter town named Dirt, where they need a new sheriff. The Lizard dubs himself Rango and makes up a heroic backstory. The town embraces him. Then the real trouble starts.

There are nods to Chinatown, Apocalypse Now, the Eastwood-Leone collaborations, and many more. But they're never done just for the wink and the nod. It enhances the story.