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Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Inferno

This is the third movie based on the Dan Brown bestseller by the same name, following “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” in what was promised to be a trilogy.

Tom Hanks is back as Robert Langdon, the art historian and cryptologist, who is attempting to save the world from a virus designed by our reigning villain who decides to cure overpopulation by wiping out half the population of the world.
More than in the other two movies, Inferno, is a bit harder to follow if you are not a devout Dante scholar. The plot races from one thing to another as we get to experience the beautiful sceneries of locations from Rome to Istanbul and somehow there seem to be less active and puzzles to solve along the way, in comparison with the first two movies of this franchise.
Hanks is Hanks, no matter whatever material he touches he is going to be amazing, and his cast of characters follow his lead and give a stellar performance from Felicity Jones through Ben Foster to Omar Sy and Irrfan Khan.
Even though this is yet again a movie about saving the world there seems to be an absence of urgency throughout. I give it a THUMBS IN THE MIDDLE.

October 28, 2016
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Keeping Up with the Joneses

The resemblance of this flick to Mr. and Mrs. Smith is uncanny, however the coupling of Don Drapper and Wonderwoman aka Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot is not only as visually stunning as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt but funny too, as two undercover spies trying to blend-in in suburbia.
Its true we have seen those type of movies a million times but somehow this is one manages to capture a nerve and just so we won’t be able to claim this is such a predictable storyline, director Greg Mottola already reveals the end of the movie in the first scene… or does he?
Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher give a great over-the-top performance, as the sidekick, suburban couple caught in an espionage triangle.
This movie wanted to be a bit a satirical about the spy movie genre, however it does fail in that miserably.
All in all, I really had a good time watching this movie so I am giving it a THUMBS UP!

October 21, 2016
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Tim Burton is back after a two-year absence, directing an adaptation to the best-selling novel from 2012, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which truly feels like the perfect fit for this visionary director: telling a story that blends between realities and spans between worlds and time. He has done that kind of flicks so many times he could already be crowned a master in complicated storytelling.
This movie really has every element for a successful tween movie from friendship to love, from the generational gap inside the family to growing up as a weird teen.
Fox hopes that Miss Peregrine is going to be a Harry Potter sized hit for the studios as author Ransom Riggs has already published two more books in Miss Peregrine series, which are just waiting to be adapted to sequels.
Although the MPAA gave it a PG-13 rating, I watched the film with my ten years old who did not seem to be frightened by anything going on in the movie.
I enjoyed it but she did, even more, I give it a THUMBS UP!

September 29, 2016
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews The Magnificent Seven

MGM decided to remake the 1960 classic western “The Magnificent Seven” and although it did leave the storyline in the 2016 version identical to the original one, for some odd reason the filmmakers decided to make this a politically correct western having cast members from all ethnicities, kinda like remaking “Boyz’N the Hood” with an all-white cast.
So in the Yul Brener part, we have one of Hollywood’s greatest African-American actors, Oscar winner Denzel Washington, and then Korean Lee Byung-Hun is reprising the role originated by James Coburn and Mexican Manuel Garcia-Rulfo reprises the role originated by Horst Buchholz. And in which alternate universe does a black outlaw in the Wild West command a bunch of white hillbillies and doesn’t get shot by them in less than a minute…
Maybe director Antoine Fuqua just wanted to create a science fiction western and didn’t tell us.
The 1960 movie was considered one of the best action movies of its time… yet in the 2016 movie, the action starts about an hour into the movie after long dialogues between the characters.
I can’t say anything bad about the acting as all the stars of this movie are really great actors, yet the movie itself is just a bit boring for my taste.
Sometimes classic movies should just not be allowed to be remade no matter how lucrative the box office return seems to the studios.
Denzel you know I love you, but I have to give this one a THUMBS DOWN!!!

September 24, 2016
Ron Jacobsohn Reviews Bridget Jones’s Baby

Everyone I talked to about this movie immediately was asking “do we really need another Bridget Jones” fifteen years later… I say what does it matter how many years later as long as it’s a fun experience and I really had a good time watching “Bridget Jones’s Baby” and there is a very good reason why… Sharon Maguire who directed the first film, but not the second one is back at the helm but more importantly the trio behind the script is original author Helen Fielding, Borat scriber Dan Mazer and Oscar winner Emma Thompson, who naturally wrote herself some of the funniest lines in the movie.
The premise has Bridget getting pregnant and confused over who did it. Leave it to Bridgit to make this tragic misfortune into a laugh out loud comedy with plenty of OMG moments.
Joining the cast or regulars is Doctor McDreamy himself, Patrick Dempsey, who is so much more fitting in the role of prince charming than the tragic Derek Sheppard of Grey’s Anatomy.
I still can’t get used to Renee Zellwegger’s unbearable British accent but the whole circus going on around her for 123-minutes makes you forget it after a while.
I predict this flick having a much longer shelf life on home entertainment as our big screens tend to make a lot more money these days with those 3D/Imax type of movies where things explode every few seconds.
I know I am probably going to be in a minority here, but I am giving this one a THUMBS UP!!!

September 16, 2016