Logan Lucky: Movie Review (No Spoilers)

By Michael Momper

Logan Lucky is an incredibly fun and delightful bit of popcorn entertainment. Now, with that out of the way, I would like to bring up a dishonest cinema trick that has irked me for years- you can call it "quote mining".  This occurs on most DVD boxes or advertisements for movies that get very few truthfully positive reviews. For example, if film critic Graham Craycraft were to say that Bad Grandpa is "Unabashedly and unapologetically awful, with absolutely zero moments of hilarity within", I would not be surprised if the film studio ran an advertisement that quoted him saying "Unabashed and unapologetic, with moments of absolute hilarity within".  Believe it or not, stuff like this happens all the time in the movie business because some movies just have nothing positive to be said about them.  It is always frustrating when a movie reviewer starts a sentence saying "Far from the best movie of the year..." and the advertising company will retrieve "Best Movie of the Year". You can spot this easily however... ask yourself three questions: one, does the movie have generally bad reviews from critics? It might end up quote mining.  Two, have you read the quoted critic's review/does the blurb seem to betray the tone of the review? There might be quote mining present.  And three, does the blurb seem to betray the sentiment that the reviewer has portrayed in past reviews? (for example, is this the fifth time this year that the critic has been quoted as saying "best movie of the year"?)  There very well might be quote mining present.

So, in my typical honest and integrity-filled way of reviewing, I will write you a few movie blurbs that *actually portray how I felt about Steven Soderbergh's hilarious new hit Logan Lucky.
  • An undeniably good time; carefree, smart, and exciting
  • Hilarious and well-acted in every measure
  • Extremely slick, stylish and meticulously shot
  • A fun country twist on Soderbergh's excellent way of crafting, with plenty of shots reminiscent of Contagion and Ocean's Eleven
  • Witty and energetic, with smart writing and plenty of good emotion
  • Lighthearted and cheery, it's film-making that just keeps you entertained

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Panther: Movie Review (No Spoilers)

Image
By Michael Momper Let me start by saying this: Black Panther does not need to be pandered. It does not need a patronizing pat on the back. It is, in my opinion, a very good movie- and that is all that matters in the world of art. Fresh off of his tremendous first two directorial features, Fruitvale Station and the immensely popular Rocky sequel Creed , director Ryan Coogler is back, but in a very different setting. Being that it is a Marvel movie, expectations are sky-high as always- but with those expectations comes the free reigns of a massive budget. This is a sizable challenge for a young director, who has to tell a completely new origin story, make us interested in the character, and rise to the demands of the typical Marvel fandom. As such, Coogler certainly delivered in spades. Black Panther features a different sort of protagonist, one who is decidedly more mild-tempered and noble than the likes of Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, etc. For this reason, the human touch a...
Read more

Hit Man: Movie Review (Warning: Contains Spoilers)

Image
  By Michael Momper Can a movie be morally irresponsible? Where should we draw that line? I submit to you that it can, and I think you will agree. Consider two subjects: tone and content. When a movie's tone is problematic, even if the intentions are good, we might have a compromised piece of art. Consider a movie about a real serial killer that fumbles the tone so badly that you actually root for the killer, or find him charming and likeable. Rightfully, audiences call this out as irresponsible filmmaking- the killer had real victims, and likely living, still-grieving families, so whatever the intentions of the filmmakers it is still important to never let the film revel in the evil of its subject. Content is a slightly thornier subject. If you've read our blog, you know that Graham and I are no prudes. We aren't going to call out a film as "morally irresponsible" just for having some nudity and lots of swearing. However, a piece of art that glorifies evil is som...
Read more

Hostiles: Movie Review (No Spoilers)

Image
By Michael Momper The modern Western is oftentimes a movie packed with clichés and tired genre tropes, and most people can probably rattle them off even if they are not fans of the genre: long journeys on horseback or in covered wagons, revolvers being fired into the air, a cast of buff alpha males (luckily we have been spared from Westerns featuring scrawny beta males so far), and at least one damsel in distress. The newest well-reviewed Western to hit theaters, writer and director Scott Cooper’s Hostiles , actually contains every one of these hackneyed plot devices… and yet somehow manages to become one of the best films I have seen in this genre in a long time. Scott Cooper has consistently been able to nab some excellent actors for his projects, including Jeff Bridges, Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Johnny Depp and Benedict Cumberbatch. In Hostiles , Christian Bale returns for his second Cooper feature, alongside fellow talent in Rosamund Pike, Wes Studi, Ben Foster, and Ro...
Read more