Tim joined Tom Barnard and the crew for the “The KQ Morning Show” on KQRS-FM Thursday to review the crime thriller “The Little Things” and the sports drama “Born a Champion.” Click to listen below. The segment is brought to you by Michael Bryant and Bradshaw & Bryant.
AUDIO: Tim Lammers reviews “Promising Young Woman” and “Breach” with Kelly Cordes on WJON-AM. Click above to listen.
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for “The KQ92 Morning Show” with Tom Barnard on KQRS-FM, “Paul and Jordana” with Paul Douglas and Jordana Green on WCCO Radio, “It Matters with Kelly Cordes” on WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “Let’s Talk Movies with Tim Lammers” with Tim Matthews on KRWC-AM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere, and reviews streaming programming on WCCO Radio’s “Paul and Jordana” as well. On TV, Tim has made hundreds of guest appearances on NBC affiliate KARE on the news program “KARE 11 News at 11”.
Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan scores an impressive hat-trick with “Glass,” the long-awaited sequel to his 2000 mystery drama “Unbreakable” that was bridged by his hit 2016 horror thriller “Split.”
VIDEO: See Tim’s review of “Glass” and “Stan & Ollie” with Adrienne Broaddus on KARE-TV.
Released in 2000, “Unbreakable” essentially examines an obsessive comic book art dealer’s (Samuel L. Jackson) idea that superheroes — like Bruce Willis’ David Dunn — walk among us and will go to any means necessary to confirm his beliefs; while 2016’s “Split,” as it turns out, reveals there are supervillains — like James McAvoy’s Kevin Crumb, who suffers from dissociative identity disorder — too, like the Beast – one of Kevin’s 24 personalities.
“Glass,” a name assumed by Jackson’s character in “Unbroken” because of his brittle bone disease, takes place, appropriately, 19 years after the events of the first film, where David realizes that he must confront his fellow meta-human who wreaking havoc across Philadelphia. Getting in his way, though, is a Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), who finds a way to institutionalize David, Kevin and Glass in a bid to convince each of them that their perceived powers are just figments of their imaginations.
AUDIO: Hear Tim’s review of “Glass” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show.”
The interesting thing about “Unbreakable” is that is really was ahead of its time with its dark superhero narrative — considering it came out after DC had its run and faded in 1990s, and just as Marvel’s X-Men and Spider-Man showed there was interest in the moviegoing public that the Marvel Cinematic Universe could finally materialize with Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and the Avengers.
Oddly enough, Shyaman’s inventive superhero movie reemerges at a time where there’s been a proliferation of them, yet amazingly, “Glass” still sets itself apart thanks to filmmaker’s penchant for plot twists and real-world narrative, which is enhanced by the terrific performances of McAvoy, Willis and Jackson. (Plus, in a class move, the writer-director brings back nearly every member of “Unbreakable’s” cast, save Robin Wright, whose character’s absence is explained in the story.)
Fans of “Unbreakable” and “Split” are going to love “Glass,” as Shyamalan’s sweeping, twisty and ambitious narrative finally comes together in grand fashion after two decades. The film will no doubt be confusing, though, to those who’ve never seen “Unbreakable” and/or “Split,” and Shyamalan is putting a lot of trust in his audience as such by not including any sort of prologue. Naturally, there are flashbacks to the previous films in “Glass,” which aids the story at key points in the film. If at all possible, everyone, whether they’ve seen “Unbreakable” and “Split” or not will greatly benefit by revisiting the films before seeing “Glass.”
Ultimately, all roads lead to the smashing ending of “Glass,” where you realize that despite third chapter’s tidy conclusion, Shyamalan is not done telling his comic book tale just yet.
Lammometer: 7.5 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
It’s “Die Hard” meets “The Towering Inferno” in “Skyscraper,” a mindless summer popcorn action thriller that despite its obvious influences is very entertaining.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as Will Sawyer a former FBI hostage rescuer-turned-security adviser who is contracted to inspect the tallest skyscraper in the world, a 3,500-foot tower in Hong Kong. However, just as the state-of-the-art top half of the skyscraper is about to open to the public, terrorists set the 90th floor on fire, and since they’ve highjacked the security system and fire safety mechanism, the blaze is spreading upward. That’s a big concern to Sawyer, since his wife (Neve Campbell) and two kids are on the 98th floor.
AUDIO: Click above to listen to Tim’s review of “Skyscraper” with Tom Barnard on “The KQ Morning Show.”
The action scenes in “Skyscraper” are over-the-top ridiculous (in one scene he leaps from a construction crane to a broken window in the tower while 100 stories up), but who cares? The movie is intense, the special effects are spectacular (those with fear of heights might get queasy) and the always likable Johnson is exactly the sort of action hero needed for the role.
AUDIO: Click here to listen to Tim’s review of “Skyscraper” with Paul Douglas on WCCO-AM Radio (segment begins 8:30 in)
Sure, The Rock doesn’t measure up to the “King of Cool” himself, Steve McQueen, from “The Towering Inferno” nor does he have the snappy one-liners Bruce Willis made classic in “Die Hard” (Yippie Kay ki ya mother f … anyone?), but he certainly gets resourceful like Willis’ John McLean does by putting duct tape and other items (his prosthetic leg) to good use. All told, “Skyscraper,” is just a fun summer romp.
Lammometer 7.5 (out of 10)
Tim Lammers reviews movies weekly for The KQ92 Morning Show,” “KARE 11 News at 11” (NBC), WCCO Radio, WJON-AM, KLZZ-FM, “The Tom Barnard Podcast” and “The BS Show” with Bob Sansevere.
Bill Murray once again plays a role tailor-made to his keen comic sensibilities in “Rock the Kasbah,” an amusing tale about a over-the-hill rock tour manager who’s seeking redemption in the unlikeliest of places. Murray is great as usual, even though the plot of the film – grounded in the plight of a real Afghan woman – is hopelessly contrived.
Murray stars as Richie Lanz, who finds a silver lining in a very dark cloud over his doomed music management career when he gets an invite to bring his last client, Ronnie (Zooey Deschanel) to play a USO tour in Afghanistan. Once Richie and Ronnie get there, though, they find bombs going off and talk of getting body armor if they want to stay safe. Freaking out, Ronnie steals Richie’s money and passport and secures a trip to Dubai, leaving the down-on-his-luck tour manager stranded in Kabul with no means of getting out anytime soon.
Richie’s fortunes change, though, when he meets a couple of shady American arms dealers (Scott Caan and Danny McBride), who send him on a mission to sell ammunition to a tribal leader who is trying to protect his people from rivals. By happenstance, Richie stumbles across the tribal leader’s daughter, Salima (Leem Lubany) singing in a cave in the desert, where she dreams of being on the country’s televised singing competition “Afghan Star.” Richie wants to get Salima there, but he’s going to have to be creative because the country’s culture forbids women from singing and dancing in public.
While it’s not nearly as funny or poignant as Murray’s stellar dramedy “St. Vincent” from last year, “Rock the Kasbah,” ably directed by Barry Levinson, is still a good comedy that will please fans of the legendary funnyman. He’s aided by a fantastic supporting cast, including Kate Hudson as an enterprising American hooker building up a nest egg in Kabul, as well as Bruce Willis as a hard-nosed mercenary who helps Murray out of some serious jams. Lubany also shines as the would-be Afghan singing star, even though the plot comes off as highly implausible.
Thankfully avoiding any sort of political commentary (which you would expect given the film’s Afghan war setting) “Rock the Kasbah” works, if anything, as a rock ‘n’ roll fantasy. You just know Murray would never survive these sorts of circumstances in the real world, but as Richie Lanz, he rocks the house.
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“The Last Witch Hunter” (PG-13) 1 1/2 stars (out of 4)
Fresh off the blistering success of “Furious 7,” Vin Diesel’s latest star vehicle, the supernatural action adventure “The Last Witch Hunter,” hits the wall even before the movie has a chance to get revved up.
Diesel stars as Kaulder, a medieval axe and sword slinger who is cursed to live forever by a powerful witch in the 13th century in the film’s prologue. The bulk of the movie, though, is set 800 years later, when a long-dormant coven made up of the most evil witches and warlocks threaten to emerge and wreak havoc on the world, and only Kaulder and a pair of priests (the always great Michael Caine and Elijah Wood) can stop them.
Without the type of insane “Furious” car stunts and action sequences to distract the audience, Diesel’s limited acting range becomes painfully obvious in “The Last Witch Hunter.” While he appears to be an affable actor, Diesel’s delivery in “The Last Witch Hunter” is horribly a one-note performance, and the run-of-the-mill creature effects that creep up throughout the film aren’t much better.
In a movie that has no sense of humor about itself (a key to the “Furious” franchise’s success), Diesel, for the lack of better words, is running on fumes. He needs to get back on the “Furious” trek – and fast – if his career is to going to last.
Original Interviews, Reviews & More By Tim Lammers
