UglyDolls (2019) - Movie Review

You know it’s a bad start when “This was originally going to be a Robert Rodriguez kids film” seems like a best-case scenario. The fabled one-man film crew may not have the best track record when it comes to family films, but when put next to director Kelly Asbury, whose work varies from ‘decent compared to what came before’ with Smurfs: The Lost Village, and outright atrocious with Gnomeo & Juliet, at least he had the first two Spy Kids films under his belt. But then again, I doubt that anyone would be able to salvage this thing, because the list of problems here is hefty.

Gotti (2018) - Movie Review

 

Crime stories tend to appeal to a rather seedy part of the human fascination. Something about tales of men who took their own piece of the world by force, obeying no law other than their own, is somewhat appealing in a morbid way. As a result of this, although crime dramas can result in highly potent storytelling, there needs to be an understanding of the moral ambiguity of the subject and their actions. An acknowledgement that, no matter how squeaky-clean they may have appeared as people to whom family meant everything, they are still criminals. This film, a biopic on legendary underworld figure John Gotti, made with the blessing of Gotti Jr. himself, fucks that up worse than any other crime flick I’ve sat through.