Bokeh’s setting is beautiful, and its costars play likable characters with decent chemistry. The film’s problem, however, is it has no idea what to do with its premise. “A retreating couple suddenly find themselves alone on Earth” has potential (it’s been done before to various degrees of success), yet Bokeh spends a painfully tedious 45 minutes literally having its character aimlessly wander about before introducing a curveball…for about 5 minutes before going right back to the wandering. I won’t say Bokeh’s themes reach pretentious levels, but they’re certainly given more self-importance than deserved. All in all, Bokeh ends up being one big waste of time, plot, and acting.
CHiPs:
You know there’s something wrong with a comedy when you can count the amount of laughs on both hands. You know something’s really wrong when you can count the laughs with only one hand. I faced neither problem when watching CHiPs, because I didn’t laugh once (not even a chuckle). When a comedy leaves you stone-faced, with the more than occasional cringing, throughout its entire run, then you know something went horribly wrong in the making.
Going in Style:
A mediocre premise at best (and, at worst, a one-note joke spread too thin), Going in Style fails to really give anything worth taking notice. There’s nothing bad or infuriating about the film, but its jokes are too mild (providing only the occasional chuckle) and the characters too run-of-the-mill to make anything about it memorable. Going in Style ends up a diluted, forgettable variant to better heist films (both in drama and comedy) before it.
Life:
I’ve seen some wild theories about how Life is secretly an origin story to the recently announced Venom film. If such awesome theories are true, then Life just went up a level in creativity and surprise twists. Theories aside, Life is a good, albeit standard, sci-fi horror film. All the elements fall into play—a little disturbing here, a little fascinating there; some thrills, some chills, some existential conversations, etc.—with nothing relatively noteworthy or new taking place, including the twist ending, which I saw coming a mile away. If you’re a fan of sci-horror, however, Life is effective enough to moderately satisfy your needs.
