Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018)
Genre: Musical
Director: Ol Parker
Starring: Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Meryl Streep, Dominic Cooper, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth, Cher, Julie Walters, Andy Garcia,
Jeremy Irvine, Celia Imrie
Duration: 114 minutes
Class: PG
KRS Releasing Ltd

Ten years after the film version of the hit theatre musical comes its sequel, which sees old faces return and new ones join the Abba sing-along.

The plot follows on from the first film, which grossed over $600 million at the box office, but this time has flashbacks, which explains how Meryl Streep’s character Donna  – who is now dead – arrived in Greece.

Donna’s daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) is pregnant with Sky’s (Dominic Cooper) child, however, the couple’s relationship has been turbulent for some time. Sophie doesn’t know how she will cope without her mother.

With Tanya (Christine Baranski) and Rosie’s (Julie Walters) guidance, she finds out more of her mother’s past (Lily James plays a younger Donna), including how she fronted The Dynamos, started her villa on the island, met each one of Sophie’s dads, Sam, Bill and Harry (Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård and Colin Firth) and raised a daughter on her own. Sophie also has an unexpected visit from her estranged maternal grandmother, Ruby Sheridan (Cher).

The film, directed by Ol Parker (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel) opens worldwide, including Malta, on Friday but its first reviews are already trickling in. Leslie Felperin of The Hollywood Reporter says that despite the sequel being made with more money, wit and craft, it “remains faintly disappointing”, adding that the film’s biggest fault is that  “so much of its soundtrack, the very engine that propels it, is made up of far too many actual B sides or lesser-known tunes”.

Similarly, Owen Gleiberman of Variety commented that “most of the songs here are less high-profile Abba gems, and that means that the movie conjures a more reflective, downbeat mood”. However, he admits that he could not resist Cher’s performance of Fernando.

Other critics like Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian however, were more positively impressed. He wrote that the “feta fever dream is weirdly irresistible”. 

Ben Travis of Empire was carried away by the film’s musicality of its singing and dancing and said the film “is still infectious as it was a decade ago”.

Ratings
IMDB: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A
Empire: 3 stars

From left, Jon Hamm, Ed Helms and Jake Johnson are caught up in a complex game in Tag.From left, Jon Hamm, Ed Helms and Jake Johnson are caught up in a complex game in Tag.

Tag (2018)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Jeff Tomsic
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Ed Helms, Jake Johnson, Jon Hamm, Annabelle Wallis, Isla Fisher, Hannibal Buress
Duration: 100 minutes
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Jeff Tomsic makes his directorial debut with this comedy revolving around an elaborate game of tag.

One month every year, five competitive friends (played by Ed Helms, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, Jake Johnson and Hannibal Buress) hit the ground running for a no-holds-barred game of tag – risking their necks, their jobs and their relationships to take one another down. This time, the game coincides with the wedding of the only undefeated player. And what should be an easy target soon becomes an all-out war as he knows they are coming to get him.

The film received mixed reviews.

Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal wrote: “For all its repetitiveness and frantic silliness – the impurity of its absurdity – Tag ends up being good fun, with an unexpectedly sweet spirit that stays with you.”

Sandy Schaefer of Screen Rant said: “It might not have much more substance than the titular game, but Tag offers enjoyable and breezy action/comedy entertainment.”

Other critics were less forgiving.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine commented: “As a movie, Tag is all over the place, with gags too hit-and-miss to cohere into anything truly memorable.”

According to Michael Ordona of Common Sense Media, “the concept for this comedy sounds like fun, but in practice it turns out to be pretty thin”.

The $28 million production so far has grossed $66.7 million worldwide since its release in the US on June 15.

Ratings
IMDB: 6.8/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 54%
Empire: 2 stars

Life becomes one violent nightmare in The First Purge.Life becomes one violent nightmare in The First Purge.

The First Purge (2018)
Genre: Horror
Director: Gerard McMurray
Starring: Y’Ian Noel, Lex Scott Davis, Joivan Wade, Marisa Tomei, Patch Darragh, Mugga
Duration: 98 minutes
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

The dystopian horror film, directed by Gerard McMurray, is a prequel to Purge, which follows events happening during an annual 12-hour span in which all crime in America is temporarily legal.

The new film sees how in order to push the crime rate below one per cent for the rest of the year, the New Founding Fathers of America test a sociological theory that vents aggression for one night in one isolated community. But, when the violence of oppressors meets the rage of the others, the contagion explodes from the trial-city borders and then spreads across the nation.

Critics gave the violent film somewhat average ratings, with some of them finding similarities with modern day realities.

Alan Zilberman of the Washington Post said the film “is an unabashedly violent B-movie throwback, the sort director John Carpenter used to make, with moments that resonate with real life”.

A.A. Dowd wrote: “Wringing genre thrills from headline atrocities, The First Purge is at once crass and provocative in its timeliness.”

And the critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: “The First Purge should satisfy fans of the franchise and filmgoers in the mood for violent vicarious thrills, even if its subtextual reach exceeds its grasp.”

Ratings
IMDB: 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 53%
Empire: 3 stars

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