The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part had a lot to live up to when looking at the success of 2015’s The Lego Movie. There was a part of me that was excited beforehand, but as always, I tried to hold reasonable expectations since it’s usually hard to replicate the same level of success with sequels. Although that was the …

With R rated comedies like The Happytime Murders, you just hope they take advantage of the freedom they have to do whatever that rating allows. Doing that doesn’t guarantee that the movie will be good, but you can at least see the potential for it to get a positive reaction from the audience. With this particular product, I think there …

Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 showed us that war can be as much about propaganda and politicking as it is about death and destruction. Unfortunately, this made for an unexciting, albeit engaging film. Part 2, and the final entry in the Hunger Games franchise, shows that all of this political maneuvering does pay off in the end. Hunger Games: Mockingjay, …

Good sequels can be hard to come by. Too often filmmakers essentially reproduce the first film, or deviate too far from what audiences initially fell in love with; the balance between maintaining the essence of the first film with creating newness is difficult. As a huge fan of 2012’s Pitch Perfect, I am happy to report that Pitch Perfect 2 …