Crisp Criticism - "Rough Night", "The Promise", "All Eyez on Me", "The Book of Henry"

by

Julien Faddoul

Rough Night

Five best friends from college reunite 10 years later for a wild bachelorette weekend in Miami. Then they accidentally kill a male stripper.

Lazy and unfunny with a lot of screaming and no composed humor. A typical Hollywood comedy for today. It being centered around the female gender makes zero difference.

d – Lucia Aniello

w – Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs

ph – Sean Porter

pd – Ryan Heck

m – Dominic Lewis

ed – Craig Alpert

cos – Leah Katznelson

p – Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, Dave Becky, Matthew Tolmach

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Zoë Kravitz, Kate McKinnon, Ilana Glazer, Jillian Bell, Paul W. Downs, Demi Moore, Ty Burrell, Dean Winters

The Promise

Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, a love triangle occurs between a brilliant medical student, a beautiful and sophisticated artist and a renowned American journalist.

Due to Turkish politics, films about the Armenian Genocide are virtually non-existent. It is a shame that when the world comes into possession of one, it is this dull and overproduced with a mawkish romance at its centre.

d – Terry George

w – Terry George, Robin Swicord

ph – Javier Aguirresarobe

pd – Benjamín Fernández

m – Gabriel Yared

ed – Steven Rosenblum

cos – Pierre-Yves Gayraud

p – Eric Esrailian, William Horberg, Mike Medavoy

Cast: Oscar Isaac, Charlotte Le Bon, Christian Bale, Daniel Giménez Cacho, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rade Serbedzija, Marwan Kenzari, Angela Sarafyan, Tom Hollander, Numan Acar, Igal Naor, Milene Mayer, Tamer Hassan, Alicia Borrachero, Abel Folk, Jean Reno, James Cromwell, Kevork Malikyan, Lucía Zorrilla, Roman Mitichyan

All Eyez on Me

A biopic on Tupac Shakur.

Dumb biopic in which its central figure is portrayed as a saint whose tendencies – even his worst – prove to be good in some way. But the film’s biggest mistake is in believing he was ever interesting at all.

d – Benny Boom

w – Jeremy Haft, Eddie Gonzalez, Steven Bagatourian

ph – Peter Menzies Jr

pd – Derek R. Hill

m – John Paesano

ed – Joel Cox

cos – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

p – LT Hutton, David Robinson, James G. Robinson

Cast: Demetrius Shipp Jr, Danai Gurira, Kat Graham, Jamal Woolard, Dominic L. Santana, Annie Ilonzeh

The Book of Henry

A boy named Henry has a crush on Christina, the daughter of an abusive Police Commissioner. To keep her safe Henry comes up with a rescue plan. Henry’s mother, Susan, decides to help him carry out this plan…or whatever.

Breathtakingly bad. Almost delightful in its abysmal awfulness if it weren’t so offensive to one’s intelligence. It’s rare to find as staunch a commitment to such nonsensical business. Render it as a comedy, then it’s a masterpiece. But I doubt that’s what Trevorrow had in mind.

d – Colin Trevorrow

w – Gregg Hurwitz

ph – John Schwartzman

pd – Kalina Ivanov

m – Michale Giacchino

ed – Kevin Stitt

cos – Melissa Toth

p – Carla Hacken, Jenette Kahn, Sidney Kimmel, Adam Richman

Cast: Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay, Sarah Silverman, Dean Norris, Lee Pace, Maddie Ziegler, Tonya Pinkins, Bobby Moynihan, Joel Garland