Chris Carnicelli

**SPOILERS** If you read Andy Weir's 2021 novel, "Project Hail Mary", you'll instantly recognize the plot. This movie is based on a 2017 novel, but the similarities are uncanny! The Chopra Cloud (the Petrovra Line), the giant alien talking spider, the lone astronaut in space, and the little floating purple Chopra lights (Astrophage). It's all there! Anyway, Sander is very good, but the script adaptation is dull, long, and pretty boring as the big alien spider spends all its time playing psychiatrist and friend to Sandler's spaceman. All fluff and no stuff. The ending is even a rip-off of 2001: A Space Odyssey & Interstellar!

Another Disney disaster! Screenwriter Jennifer Lee (Frozen II) apparently has no idea how to write for Disney's target audience: children! This is just a generic story about a generic village with a generic villain that is saved by a generic plucky, empowered girl that has a generic talking animal. Snooze. Compare this movie to the world-building of "Zootopia", the struggle of making your dreams come true in "Tangled", the slam-bang excitement of "The Incredibles", or the originality of "Frozen", and this lame duck pales by comparison. What the hell happened? Dare I even say this but....bring back John Lasseter to fix what's broken there! Yeah, I know. I said that! But desperate times, right?

Really bad. A cliched-riddled, predicable, trope-filled movie about a kids summer camp for would-be magicians that is exactly like "Meatballs" in plot. Adam Devine channels Jack Black in voice and acting while there simply isn't enough Gillian Jacobs. Practically every character is dull and two-dimensional with the exception of Theo who has some nice moments and scene-stealer Ruth (Isabella Crovetti) who makes this whole picture watchable.

*SPOILERS* It's a great documentary, if a bit long-winded in the beginning (you can easily skip the first 15 minutes and still catch up). What's truly frustrating is the sheer nonsense of (what seems to be) the police, Interpol, journalists, and the swindled people when they KNOW where Simon (the con man) is! I mean, he's RIGHT THERE in Germany or wherever and nobody makes a single move to grab him or call the authorities!! You'll be screaming at your TV "call the police!!" like me! And that ending?? Utter futility and disappointment!! Oy!

What. Was. That? Two hours and 12 mins I'll never get back! A sumptuous banquet of gorgeous cinematography and excellent acting driven to the ground with the worst screenplay imaginable! What was David Lowery thinking? Was he making the whole thing up as he was filming it? Scenes popped up for no reason that didn't add to or advance the plot. I had NO idea what was going on throughout most of the film and almost walked out. And that ending?! Sheeeesh!! Stealing the "vision dream" from "Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2"? That is SUCH a cop-out! Ugh!!!