Tropic Overview
Tropic Cinema Offers Up Eight Diverse Films
Reviewed by Shirrel Rhoades
Once again Tropic Cinema squeezes eight films onto its
four screens, an amazing feat of prestidigitation that delivers twice the
movies we might otherwise expect. And what variety -- animated comedy to heist
film, surreal slapstick to historical drama, intellectual fare to spy story,
sci-fi adventure to documentary fun!
“The Secret Life of Pets” is a big winner with
audiences -- no doubt dog owners. This delightful animated comedy follows a
pair of pooches (voiced by Louis C.K. and Eric Stonestreet) who get lost in New
York while their owner is away at work. Mishaps follow. But all ends well for
our doggies. The Atlantic says, “There’s something
quietly therapeutic about spending 90 minutes with some nutty, heroic furballs
on a hero's journey with very low stakes.” And Newark Star-Ledger tells us,
“The big chase scenes and action-movie adventures are fine. But what delights
here are the small details of what happens once we close the door -- the
standard poodle who throws a heavy-metal party, or the dachshund who gets
massages.”
“Now You See Me 2” is the sequel to that same-name
heist tale, the one where a group of magicians rob a Paris bank from a stage in
Vegas. This time around the Four Horsemen (Jesse
Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, and Lizzy Caplan with an assist from
Mark Ruffalo) take on a mad techie
genius (Daniel Radcliffe) in a science vs. slight-of-hand thriller. Globe and
Mail says it’s “just as cheerfully outlandish as
the caper flick’s precursor, with the acceptance of fancy tricks and
misdirection twists dependent on an audience’s love of a good hoodwink.” And
The Shiznit concurs that “it’s corny and it’s predictable but there’s an
underlying charm that almost blindsides you, and its embrace of its
ridiculousness is a definite improvement on its predecessor.” And Reel Film
Reviews calls it “...a singularly conceived and executed piece of work.”
“Swiss Army Man” also stars Daniel Radcliffe,
here playing a dead guy who washes up on the beach. Paul Dano is the
half-crazed castaway who finds the body that seems to come to life in this
surreal romp. As NUVO Newsweekly puts it, “You can
laugh, wince, and squirm at ‘Swiss Army Man.’ You can harvest the small truths,
enjoy the lyrical moments... And when somebody asks you if you’ve seen any good
movies lately, boy, will you have an interesting answer.”
Like a page from history, “Free State of Jones”
features Matthew McConaughey as a Confederate deserter who fought to free the
slaves in Jones County, Mississippi. Toronto Star sums up the 2 1/2-hour movie
with the simple words, “A Civil War rebellion
becomes an enervating movie by director Gary Ross.” Sacramento News & Review adds, “It’s a true story, with political and racial ramifications
well into the 20th Century, and McConaughey and Mbatha-Raw are ideally cast.”
Another biopic, “Genius” recounts the turbulent relationship
between writer Thomas Wolfe and Max Perkins, the famed Scribner’s editor who also
shepherded the works of Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Boston Globe calls it “An intriguing study of the personalities and torturous
process behind some of the early 20th Century’s great writing.” And
Ex-Press.com expounds, “Using his trademark ability to blend dour disdain with
puppy-eyed sympathy, Colin Firth forms an evenly weighted narrative footing as
Perkins, while Jude Law indulges every thespian fiber in his body to push out
pain and inspiration as Wolfe.”
“Our Kind of Traitor” is a spy story based on the John
Le Carré novel about a British couple caught
between the Russian Mafia and the duplicitous MI6. Ewan McGregor and Naomie
Harris are cast as the pair who try to help a Russian money launderer defect,
only to wind up with bad people shooting at them as they hide out in the Swiss
Alps. Movie Notion describes it as a “sharply
played and nicely realized Carré adaptation.” And RogerEbert.com finds it to be
“a handsome and often absorbing picture.”
“Independence Day: Resurgence” is also a sequel,
picking up the sci-fi story twenty years later when aliens have returned to
destroy the Earth. Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, and Judd Hirsch reprise their
original roles, but Will Smith sat this one out. Reforma says, “It delivers what it promises: no plot, but great special
effects and destruction.” And Digital Spy adds, “It’s silly, it's ridiculous, it’s over the top. And it’s a
perfect piece of '90s nostalgia.”
And let’s not overlook the new documentary titled
“Tickled,” journalist/ filmmaker David Farrier’s foray into a feather tickling
competition. You can’t help but laugh. MLive proclaims, “The old cliché about truth being stranger than fiction
rarely feels so apt.” Minneapolis Star Tribune adds, “Not quite answering every
question it asks, ‘Tickled’ still opens a dangerous ‘can of worms’ of
stranger-than-fiction journalism.” And Detroit News sums it up: “The film is an
investigative thriller that unravels the deep web of lies, threats and deceit
that festers in the dark corners of the Internet, and shows how online behavior
can have damaging, real-world implications.”
There you have ‘em -- eight films on four screens.
A magician’s act in itself.
srhoades@aol.com
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