MA (2019)
Genre: Horror, thriller
Director: Tate Taylor
Starring: Octavia Spencer, Diana Silvers, Juliette Lewis, McKaley Miller, Corey Fogelmanis, Gianni Paolo, Missi Pyle, Dante Brown
Duration: 99 minutes
Class: 15
KRS Releasing Ltd

Tate Taylor, the director behind the award-winning film The Help (2011) and The Girl on the Train (2016) returns with the psychological horror film Ma.

The film’s main protagonist is Octavia Spencer, who won an Oscar for her supporting role in  The Help. Here she plays a lonely, middle-aged woman who befriends some teenagers and decides to let them party in the basement of her home. But they have to follow some house rules, for example, one of the kids has to stay sober, they should not curse and never go upstairs. They must also refer to her as Ma.

The woman’s hospitality soon starts to turn into obsession and the best place in town for the teens becomes one hell of a nightmare. 

The film, unfortunately, received poor reviews despite Spencer’s good performance.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said: “So it’s a kick to see Spencer dig into the title role in Ma, a Blumhouse scarefest that tries but rarely lives up to the irresistible dynamo at its centre.”

Benjamin Lee of The Guardian commented: “Spencer works hard to keep us on her side and it’s her messy, melancholic character work that endures, a portrait of a woman broken and breaking those around her that’s really quite hard to shake. Ma is a few more drafts from perfection but the actor playing her is the real deal.”

On the other hand, Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote: “You can’t take Ma seriously. It’s a squalid formula picture that’s too busy connecting dots, hitting beats, engineering situations designed to make you squirm. But you will squirm.”

And the critics’ consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads: “Octavia Spencer’s performance overpowers many of Ma’s flaws, but uneven pacing and a laboured story keep this thriller from fully realising its unhinged potential.”

The $5 million budget film grossed $21.6 million worldwide since its release last weekend.

Ratings
IMDB: 6.2/10 
Rotten Tomatoes: 64%
Empire: 2 stars

The mythical monster is back in full force in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
Genre: Action, adventure
Director: Michael Dougherty
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Ziyi Zhang, Sally Hawkins, Charles Dance
Duration: 131 minutes
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd

Warner Bros’ sequel to the 2014 film Godzilla sees eco-terrorists stealing a sonar device developed by scientist Emma (Vera Farmiga) to control the title monster. 

Her ex-husband (Kyle Chandler) is recruited to track it down even as Godzilla clashes with monstrous rivals like the fabled winged Mothra,  Rodan and his ultimate nemesis, the three-headed King Ghidorah.

These ancient super species vie for supremacy, leaving humanity’s very existence hanging in the balance.

The film received quite poor reviews. Ben Travis of Empire wrote: “Globe-trotting but not adventurous, action-packed but not remotely exciting, utterly overstuffed and completely paper-thin. Nuke it from orbit.”

Joyce Slaton of Common Sense Media commented: “Thunderously loud and overly long, this continuation in the Godzilla franchise does have some rousing monster fights, but it’s marred by a muddled storyline and blah visuals.”

Owen Gleiberman of Variety had mixed feelings. He described the film as “a giddy and satisfying clash of the titans” but continued:  “You won't feel cheated; at stray moments, you'll feel the wonder. But for every high point, there's a moment when the thrill threatens to leak away.”

The film, which cost a whopping $170 million to produce, stomped to the top of the US box office and grossed $179 million worldwide since opening last weekend.

Ratings
IMDB: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 39%
Empire: 1 star

Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway form an unlikely duo in The Hustle.

The Hustle (2019)
Genre: Comedy
Director: Chris Addison
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson, Alex Sharp, Casper Christensen 
Duration: 93 minutes
Class: 12A
KRS Releasing Ltd

The comedy follows a glamorous, seductive British woman named Josephine Chesterfield (Anne Hathaway) who has a penchant for defrauding gullible men out of their money. 

When she crosses paths with Penny Rust (Rebel Wilson), a cunning and fun-loving Australian woman who lives to swindle unsuspecting marks, the two grifters join forces for the ultimate score ‒ a naive tech billionaire in France.

Critics lambasted the movie. Sandy Schaefer called it a “tedious repackaging of a fun, comedic premise”, while A. O. Scott of The New York Times thought it was too similar to the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Ella Kemp of Empire did not mince her words: “The Hustle buckles under the overbearing weight of its own vulgarity. Avoid the dirty rubble by all means. An embarrassment to the heist genre, an insult to all existing comedies, a disgrace to feminism.”

The film has indeed not fared very well at the box office, grossing $73.9 million worldwide since its release in the US on May 10.

Ratings
IMDB: 5.3/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 15%
Empire: 1 star