A Star Is Born (2018)

I lose interest after the early episodes of The Voice and American Idol too once the 'dreams come true' talent-discovery moments have passed, and it doesn't help that the electric first encounter and romance between Gaga's Ally and Cooper's Jackson in the first half of the very long movie descends in the second half into a boring highlight reel of "the sorts of things that happen" to celebrity couples.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Case 39 (2009)

A bit like The Bad Seed crossed with The Omen only incredibly stupid, Case 39 stars Renee Zellweger as a child welfare worker who comes very quickly to the conclusion that the child murderers and abusers she encounters over the course of her job have good reason for wanting to stuff their devil's spawn into their gas ovens, and so she starts wanting to do the same.

★☆☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

American Hustle (2013)

This lively comic "who's grifting who" crime caper with a warm heart opens with Christian Bale's conman carefully constructing a combover to hide an unfortunate male pattern baldness and from there introduces con artists, FBI agents, politicians and mobsters who are all similarly doing what they have to do to survive - not just the high tension/high risk sting at the movie's centre (based on the FBIs actual ABSCAM operation in the 70s and 80s) but their very human frailties, dysfunctional marriages, tricky affairs, dicky tickers and office politics.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

The Star Wars prequels (Episodes 1 to 3) would have benefitted from some of the sass and verve, humour and energy that this space adventure has packed into its two hours, with Chris Pratt the unlikely Skywalker space pirate teaming up with Yoda raccoons and Jar Jar Binks trees to save the universe from some kind of Vader light sabre glowing Death Star thing.

★★★☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

The Hangover (2009)

After a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas, a group of severely hungover men must find the missing groom-to-be in time for his wedding by piecing together the events of their night before with their only clues outrageous things like a tiger in their hotel room, a missing tooth, a found baby, and myriad characters friendly and not.

★★★★☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

The Hangover 2 (2011)

Las Vegas was a better setting for these amnesiac partiers; their all-too-similar antics in this sequel's Bangkok brings to mind badly behaved football teams on season end breaks to Thailand, all obsessed with semen, erections, and homosexual intercourse, and the monkey isn't as good as the tiger, and the tattoo isn't as good as the dentist's knocked out teeth, the missing brother not as good as the missing groom, etc..

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS