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A
QUIET PLACE
(PG-13)  1/2
Silent
Movie
Something very
special happened to me during my screening of the new sci-fi horror
thriller A QUIET PLACE.
For the first
time in my twelve years as a film critic I was able to watch a movie in a
jam packed cinema with an audience that remained virtually silent
throughout its running time. That's a large
part of the ethereal power of director John Krasinski's mercilessly eerie
and uniquely potent film...
Posted
April
16,
2018
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|
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BLOCKERS
(R)
A
teen sex comedy that's cock of the walk
Based on the one
trailer that I saw for BLOCKERS beforehand, I had absolutely zero desire
to screen this film. On a pure surface
level, this teen sex comedy delves into material that's been so overdone
and has become pretty stale for the genre over the years - a group of
ultra horny high school students desperately try to become adults and lose
their virginity during prom night...
Posted
April
16,
2018
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|
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PROUD
MARY
(R)  1/2
Nothing
to be boastful of here
PROUD
MARY pulls an annoying game of bait and switch with audiences that's
tipped off as early as its opening credit sequence.
This
introductory montage has the look, sound, and feel of a 1970's
exploitation film, which initially had me hooked.
Unfortunately, and within a few minutes into the film, it becomes
abundantly clear that PROUD MARY is neither set in the 70's, nor does it
cheekily embrace its blaxploitation roots...
Posted
April
16,
2018
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READY
PLAYER ONE
(PG-13)  1/2
Would
you like to play a game?
Steven
Spielberg's READY PLAYER ONE - adapted from the popular 2011 novel of the
same name by Ernest Cline - often feels like a video game with gloriously
and beautifully rendered cut scenes that regrettably has somewhat
lackluster gameplay. For the
uninitiated, it may feel like an odd analogy to use video games to
describe a movie, but READY PLAYER ONE - both in silver screen and book
antecedent form - is a massive homage filled love letter to both the games
and cinema of 1980's...
Posted
April
6,
2018
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|
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THOROUGHBREDS
(R) 1/2
A
pure bred black comedy/thriller
Cory Finley's
ultra black comedy thriller THOROUGHBREDS is about entitled women of
wealth and privilege that are so bored and lacking in empathy towards
other people around them that they begin to harbor murderous thoughts. The playwright
turned director has crafted a debut film that feels like a play
in terms of structure, tone, and pacing, not to mention that he allows
dialogue to propel scenes forward from one intriguing moment to the next...
Posted
April
6,
2018
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|
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PACIFIC
RIM UPRISING
(PG-13) 1/2
It's
time to to cancel the apocalypse
PACIFIC RIM
UPRISING is a wholly unnecessary and carelessly unimaginative sequel to
the Guillermo del Toro 2013 directed post apocalyptic sci-fi thriller
involving giant man piloted robots that battle even larger monsters to
ensure the protection and survival of the human race. I thought that
the first film in this series embraced the lunacy of its wacky premise
while regrettably taking it all a bit too seriously...
Posted
March
31,
2018
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|
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UNSANE
(R) 1/2
iNSANE
I’m
not sure what’s more fascinating and amazing
about UNSANE: (1) That a veteran A-list Oscar
winning filmmaker like Steven Soderbergh - fresh
out of self-imposed retirement - shot this film
using nothing but an iPhone or (2) that - in
spite of 1 - his film still packs a potent
visceral punch as a psychological thriller that
also has his esoteric fingerprints all over it.
Once
again, as he normally does, Soderbergh commits
triple duties here as director, director of
photography, and editor...
Posted
March
31,
2018
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|
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TOMB
RAIDER
(PG-13) 1/2
Run,
Lara, Run!
I
think it’s important for film critics to use relative benchmarks when
rating films and not universal ones.
For example, when I give JOHN WICK a
4 star rating I'm not implying that it's as good as, say, a 4 star rated drama
like CITIZEN KANE; rather, that Keanu Reeves flick was a 4 star action
thriller...
Posted
March
23,
2018
|
|
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LOVE,
SIMON (PG-13) 1/2
A
love story for everyone
I've
been noticing that an awful lot of filmgoers and critics have been
comparing the new high school/coming of age comedy LOVE, SIMON to the
films of John Hughes. I find such
analogies to be somewhat odd and illogical. The film - based
on Becky Albertalli's SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA - is just as
shrewdly written, well acted, and crowd pleasingly funny as the best of
the Hughes' body of work, but, last I checked, the late director's most
iconic adolescent themed films never had homosexual protagonists...
Posted
March
23,
2018
|
|
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A
WRINKLE IN TIME (PG)
Lost
in space
Disney's latest
live action fantasy A WRINKLE IN TIME - alongside recent examples from the
studio like TOMORROWLAND
and THE BFG - is yet another example of a
high concept effort that gets severely undermined by a
lackluster overall execution. Based on an
apparently unfilmable 1962 novel of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle
(unread by me)...
Posted
March
17,
2018
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|
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DEATH
WISH
(R)
zero
stars
A
remake that aims very low
Eli
Roth’s DEATH WISH - a remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson starring
original - is not only an incredibly ill timed and wholly unnecessary
movie, but it's also a numbingly sleazy one as well. It’s
sleazy for wanting to have thoughtful commentary about guns, gun violence,
and vigilante justice, but only ends up celebrating its “hero’s”
carnage and making him “cool." To drive the latter
point home, he's showcased in nifty montages that have AC/DC blaring on
the soundtrack for added shallow effect...
Posted
March
17,
2018
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|
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RED
SPARROW
(R)
Two
Lawrences for the price of one
As
far as Cold War themed espionage thrillers go, RED SPARROW is perhaps more
grippingly atmospheric, sexual graphic, shockingly and sadistically
violent, and sinisterly plotted than just about any other of its kind that
I've seen. This Russian spy
game genre effort will draw obvious comparisons to last year's sensational
ATOMIC BLONDE, which
was based on a graphic novel and celebrated its wanton neon colored Regan
era trashiness like a badge of honor...
Posted
March
12,
2018
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|
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MUTE
(No
MPAA Rating) 1/2
Then
we take Berlin
Very few
filmmakers have come dashing out of the gate with as much confidence and
creativity in their first two films than Duncan Jones.
His 2009 ultra low budget sci-fi thriller MOON
marked an audacious beginning for his career, and he subsequently followed
that up with 2011's trippy mind bending time traveler themed SOURCE
CODE, which I thought was even better than his debut effort...
Posted
March
12,
2018
|
|
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ANNIHILATION
(R)
Thoughtful
sci-fi isn't extinct
In
a relative age when compelling speculative
science fiction is an increasingly rare commodity at the cinemas, I
wholeheartedly welcome in open arms genre efforts like ANNIHILATION, which
is another thematically strong and viscerally immersive sci-fi film from
writer/director Alex Garland, whom previously made a large splash with his
superlative Oscar winning directorial debut in EX
MACHINA and, before that, made a niche for himself penning SUNSHINE
and 28 DAYS LATER. ...
Posted
March
6,
2018
|
|
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EARLY
MAN (PG) 1/2
GOOOOOOOAAAAAAL!!!
The
opening section of EARLY MAN - the latest Aardman animation studio
produced and Nick Park directed stop motion film - is as spectacularly
silly as any I've seen as of late. It shows the extinction event that wiped dinosaurs off of the
planet and how, via that event, mankind discovered a love of soccer.
Wait...what?!
Not joking...
Posted
March
6,
2018
|
|
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GAME
NIGHT (R) 1/2
Not
your typical get-together
I
love having game nights myself. I play a mean game of Pictionary, and
usually get very caught up in the singular pleasure of getting a teammate
to properly guess what I'm drawing, especially when it's more obscure. I do, however,
remember vividly when I was given a "cyclops" to draw, and seeing
as a minored in Fine Art in university I thought that this would be a slam
dunk. I mean, who doesn't
know what a cyclops is...
Posted
March
6,
2018
|
|
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BLACK
PANTHER
(PG-13) 1/2
WAKANDA
FOREVER!!!
BLACK PANTHER is
certainly not the first major Hollywood studio super hero film featuring a
black lead character (that honor goes to 1998's BLADE, which also spawned
a trilogy and helped usher in the notion that Marvel Comics based silver
screen outings could be popular and profitable)...
Posted
February
24,
2018
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|
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THE
15:17 TO PARIS (PG-13) 1/2
A
sluggish dramatic train to nowhere
No
word of a lie, but at around the 45 minute mark
of my screening of Clint Eastwood’s
THE I5:17 TO PARIS I turned to my friend
and depressingly said, “This movie feels like
THE ROOM, but with a vastly larger budget and an
Oscar winning director at the helm.”
That's
ultimately telling and sad, seeing that I had no
idea that an 87-year-old industry veteran that
has directed films for a better part of five
decades was capable of making something as soul
crushingly dull and frequently amateurish such
as this...
Posted
February
24,
2018
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|
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THE
POLKA KING
(No
MPAA Rating)
The
greatest scandal...in polka history
The new Netflix
comedy THE POLKA KING tells a fact based narrative about a Polish American polka
band leader named Jan Lewan, whom during the 1990's was driven by the
power of attaining the American Dream, albeit via deplorably unethical and
illegal ways. Now, the premise
of a polka singer, beloved by many in his tight fanbase and inner circle,
actually becoming a lecherous crook because he simply couldn't help
himself is material that seems ripe for comedic exploration...
Posted
February
19,
2018
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|
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PHANTOM
THREAD (R) 
PTA's
finely tailored period romance
It may sound
beyond strange to say this, but Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my favorite directors that has made a fair number of films that I have not
liked...at least as much as other have.
When he burst onto the movie scene in the 90s with films like HARD
EIGHT and especially BOOGIE NIGHTS (still his best film) and MAGNOLIA (his
second best), I honestly thought we were witnessing the birth and growth
of one of the most singularly talented American directors in some time.
Then came strange
experimental pictures...
Posted
February
19,
2018
|
|
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THE
CLOVERFIELD PARADOX
(No
MPAA Rating)
A
mystery box not worth opening
Looking back on
the first CLOVERFIELD film from 2008
and it's hard to overstate, in retrospect, what a masterpiece it was in
terms of movie and viral marketing. The
J.J. Abrams
produced and Matt Reeves directed monster invasion thriller was advertised
with cryptic and compellingly vague trailers (the first of which didn't
even attach a title to the preview).
Then came 2016's superb sort-of-sequel, sort-of-not-a-sequel 10
CLOVERFIELD LANE...
Posted
February
14,
2018
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|
|
DEN
OF THIEVES (R)
In
the 'HEAT' of the night
I'm typically a
real sucker for crime/heist films, even ones as blatantly derivative as
DEN OF THIEVES, which appropriates the look, tone, feel, and story arcs of
Michael Mann's 1995 masterpiece HEAT.
As I walked out of my screening of it I thought that there's a
reasonable claim to be made that this latest cops and crooks action
thriller is a pretty copy and paste remake of Mann's iconic film in
multiple respects...
Posted
February
14,
2018
|
|
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THE
SHAPE OF WATER (R) 1/2
Beauty
and the aquatic beast
I'll
begin my review of the new period fantasy THE
SHAPE OF WATER by saying this: Writer/director
Guillermo del Toro is a supreme cinematic
visualist whose passionate enthusiasm shines
through in all of his films. The
Mexican filmmaker has carved out a career of
helming one arresting film after another on a
level of pure escapist imagery, whether it be
BLADE II, HELLBOY I and II, his
Oscar winning PAN'S LABYRINTH, and PACIFIC RIM,
and in all of those films the level of
innovative and loving craftsmanship on display...
Posted
February
14,
2018
|
|
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MAZE
RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE
(PG-13)
A
pretty WCKD trilogy closer
As
far as the very overcrowded and mostly mediocre young adult literary
adaptation genre goes, I certainly thought that 2014's THE
MAZE RUNNER - adapted from the dystopian sci-fi book series by
James Dashner - was a most promising start to an intriguing new film franchise. That
well oiled and consummately directed trilogy opener did a stellar job of
harnessing its LORD OF THE FLIES themed narrative about a group of lost
boys struggling to escape their mysterious imprisonment through a bafflingly complex
labyrinth...
Posted
February
5,
2018
|
|
|
I,
TONYA (R)
A
cutting edge biopic
Tonya
Harding became a media punching bag over twenty
years ago.
She's infamously more well known for
being linked to an attack - perpetrated by her
then husband and his accomplices - against
fellow figure skating competitor Nancy Kerrigan,
which occurred just before the 1994 Olympics.
Even though - by her own claims - she was
not directly responsible for the attack,
she nevertheless had intimate links to those
that were and the ensuing scandal rocked the
athletic world...
Posted
February
5,
2018
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|
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CALL
ME BY YOUR NAME
(R)
Summer's
rapture
It
would be deceptively easy to label Luca
Guadagnino's CALL ME BY YOUR NAME - adapted from
the novel of the same name by Andre Aciman - as
a gay love story. Yes, the early 1980's set
period drama does indeed contain a central
romance between two young men, but the pair
never once refer to themselves as homosexual...
Posted
February
5,
2018
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|
|
12
STRONG
(R) 1/2
AMERICA...F--K
YEAH!!!
To quote its full
title, 12 STRONG: THE DECLASSIFIED TRUE STORY OF THE HORSE SOLDIERS is the
latest 9/11 themed war drama that contains an utterly fascinating fact
based storyline that never comes compellingly alive the way it wants to. Based on Don
Stanton's non-fiction book THE HORSE SOLDIERS (a better title than the
film's), 12 STRONG deals with a previously unknown military triumph that
the U.S. had in Afghanistan in direct response to 9/11...
Posted
February
1,
2018
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|
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HOSTILES (R)
A
trail of tears
Writer/director
Scott Cooper specializes in films that create a remarkable evocation of
time and place while grounding them with characters that have an
authentically lived-in weight about them.
You gain the sense that life's hardships have weighed heavily on
their souls to the point where spiritual redemption seems unlikely...
Posted
February
1,
2018
|
|
|
As
I proudly do every year, here's a list of TEN
REASONS why you should have enthusiastically
rushed out to the cinema in the year that was, followed by a
detailed listing of every 2017 film that I
enjoyed in one form or another.
Posted
January
25,
2018 / Revised February 5, 2018 |
|
|
THE
POST (PG-13)
The
fight for a free press
The new
historical political
thriller THE POST deals with the true story of how the journalists of The
Washington Post and New York Times published the Pentagon Papers,
classified documents that dealt with previously undisclosed information
about U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War as far back as the Truman
administration. The papers
revealed that the government systematically lied to both Congress and the
American people about enlarging the war effort in Vietnam, even though
they realized it was a losing effort at best...
Posted
January
20,
2018
|
|
|
THE
COMMUTER (PG-13) 1/2
NON-STOP:
PART 2
Every year around
this time we get yet another entry in the Liam Neeson takes names and kicks
ass action thriller genre, which joyously celebrates the sixtysomething actor
giving another thanklessly grounded and committed performance that's centered
in an overall narrative that ridiculously - in not entertainingly - flips
the bird to earth bound logic. I'll
be the first to admit that I've largely been an apologist of these films...
Posted
January
20,
2018
|
|
|
As
I bravely do every year, here's a list of TEN
REASONS why you should have avoided cinemas like
the plague in the year that was, followed by a
detailed listing of every 2017 film that
disappointed me in one form or another.
Posted
January
13,
2018
|
|
|
MOLLY'S
GAME (R)
Sorkin
and Chastain are all in
The timing of
MOLLY'S GAME could not have been any better, seeing as this reality based
crime drama has been released in a post-Harvey Weinstein Hollywood and
contains a story of a fiercely savvy and indomitable career minded woman
that - through self-empowerment and gritty determination - becomes a
success by having huge power over powerful men...and men that once had
power over her...
Posted
January
13,
2018
|
|
|
MOLLY'S
GAME (R) 1/2
Rich
premise, poor execution
My main issue
with Ridley Scott's new fact based crime thriller ALL THE MONEY IN THE
WORLD is that the late breaking story behind the scenes of the making of
his film has not only overshadowed it...but it's also more compelling than
the final product itself.
Of course, I'm
referring to the fact that as the film was nearing release Scott decided
to recast Kevin Spacey in one of its more crucial roles...
Posted
January
13,
2018
|
|
|
DOWNSIZING
(R) 1/2
Big
ideas, small returns
DOWNSIZING
represents an absolutely compelling change of pace for Nebraska born and
raised writer/director Alexander Payne, whom up until this point in his
career has made charmingly idiosyncratic dramedies of a decidedly modest
scale (he made one of the best high school comedies of all time in 1999's
ELECTION, followed that up with memorably strong observational pieces
like SIDEWAYS and THE
DESCENDANTS, and recently made
the sublime NEBRASKA in
2013)...
Posted
January
7,
2018
|
|
|
THE
GREATEST SHOWMAN
(PG-13)
There's
a sucker born every minute
THE GREATEST
SHOWMAN is, as far as musicals and biopics go, so trivially soft pedaled
and rose covered that it almost feels like the movie screen that it was
projected on was sprayed with disinfectant.
Engineered for
maximum crowd pleasing entertainment value while wholeheartedly ignoring
some of the sketchier aspects of its subject matter's life and legacy, the
film comes off more as a saccharine TV movie of the week than it does a
sprawling and epically staged musical worthy of its budget, scale, and
stars...
Posted
January
7,
2018
|
|
|
JUMANJI:
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
(PG-13)
We
got fun and games...
I'm
not sure whether I should be shocked, embarrassed, or a strange
combination of both by how much I enjoyed - to quote its full title -
JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, the long awaited sort of sequel, sort of
franchise reboot of the 1995 Robin Williams starring original. There
has been a loyal contingent of fans out there that have coveted that
27-year-old film, which represented, for its time, a cutting edge
CGI-infused fantasy action spectacular...
Posted
January
7,
2018
|
|
|
BRIGHT
(R)
A
dull infusion of cop thriller and fantasy
The ironically
titled BRIGHT is a would-be compelling genre mishmash effort that's so
dull and uninspired in terms of execution that you have to wonder where
its near $100 million budget went. Netflix's
most expensive feature film in their history was able to use that capital to nab
a high marquee star and director in Will Smith and David Ayer away from
theatrical productions and to the streaming service, and the end results
clearly reveal that their talents were never fully utilized...
Posted
January
7,
2018
|
|
|
DARKEST HOUR (R) 1/2
Never,
never, never give up
It's positively
baffling to consider that Gary Oldman - one of our greatest living actors
- has never won an Academy Award. Even more
shocking is the fact that he has only been nominated once during his
entire illustrious career, one that has seen the chameleon-like thespian
play roles as varied as Sid Vicious, Lee Harvey Oswald, Beethoven, Count
Dracula, and Commissioner Gordon, just to name a few...
Posted
January
7,
2018
|
|
|
STAR
WARS: THE LAST JEDI
(PG-13) 1/2
A
disturbance in the Force
Reviewing any
STAR WARS movie has always been difficult for me, mostly because I have a
painfully thorny task of placing myself within a tightly sealed critical
bumble apart from my obsessive fandom of this series, which began as soon
as I was relatively out of diapers. Part of my vocal
disappointment for the first Disney helmed entry in this iconic space
fantasy saga...
Posted
December
21,
2017
|
|
|
THE
DISASTER ARTIST (R) 1/2
Finding
cinematic success in absolute failure
Like Tim Burton's
ED WOOD before it, the infectiously entertaining THE DISASTER ARTIST is a
fact based comedy about a spectacularly awful filmmaker that also happens
to be spectacularly passionate about making films, despite his genuine
lack of talent. Of course, I'm
talking about the enigmatic Tommy Wiseau, the writer, director, producer,
star and financial backer of the 2003 drama THE ROOM, a film that took me
three tries to get through, but once finished I realized what a special
class of aggressive mediocrity it achieved..
.
Posted
December
18,
2017
|
|
|
GOOD
TIME (R) 1/2
Ironically
titled
I have to be completely
honest upfront in this review: Robert
Pattinson has never been an actor that I would describe as having any
level of range and/or charisma; I've rarely liked him in
anything. Watching GOOD
TIME, though, has forced me to re-evaluate that stance, seeing as former sparkly
vampire heartthrob from TWILIGHT so fully
immerses himself in his role here of a lowlife criminal that memories of
Stephanie Meyers' laughably awful young adult series is all but forgotten...
Posted
December
18,
2017
|
|
|
LADY
BIRD (R)
Youth
is wasted on the young
There have been
many coming of age films that have traversed the life and times of an
adolescent going through a tumultuous year in school, but very few are as
exceptionally well written, flawlessly acted, and authentically rendered
as LADY BIRD. Written and
directed with great observational honesty by Greta Gerwig - making her
solo directorial debut - the film deals with a rather troubled young girl
as she tries to make it through her final year at her Catholic high school...
Posted
December
12,
2017
|
|
|
THREE
BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (R)
To
catch a killer
Martin McDonagh's
intoxicating and masterfully constructed THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING,
MISSOURI is one of the better films that I've seen as of late that's able
to seesaw rather delicately and confidently between emotionally ravaging
drama and ultra black comedy. It's a film
punctuated by multiple flawed and tortured characters - in one form or
another - that coalesce together and are forced head on to deal
with their own respective baggage...
Posted
December
12,
2017
|
|
|
INGRID
GOES WEST
(R)
#InstaStalker
Social media is a
fundamentally powerful force in modern culture, especially as a mass
communication medium. However, it also has a decidedly macabre underbelly as a
highly dangerous force of ill will when utilized by the wrong people,
which is precisely the main message contained within the exceedingly bleak
black comedy INGRID GOES WEST, which concerns a fanatically and clinically
sick woman that goes well beyond normal means to become friends with
another woman that she's been essentially stalking online via her
Instagram page...
Posted
December
6,
2017
|
|
|
TULIP
FEVER
(R) 1/2
A
dramatically wilted period romance
Very few period
dramas featuring Academy Award winners both in front of and behind the
camera are as criminally dull and amateurishly constructed as TULIP FEVER. This laughably
wrongheaded film stars the likes of Oscar winners Alicia Vikander,
Christoph Waltz, and Judi Dench and is written by Tom Stoppard (who won a
Best Screenplay Oscar for SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE decades ago) and finds very
few ways to properly harness their not so inconsiderable talents...
Posted
December
6,
2017
|
|
|
WONDER
(PG-13) 1/2
Never
judge a book by its cover
When I stop and
think about how eye rollingly sentimental and shamefully manipulative
WONDER could have been under the wrong direction it literally makes me
shiver. Here's an
uplifting and inspirational coming of age family drama - based on the 2012
novel of the same name by R.J. Palacio - that concerns a 10-year-old boy
that suffers from a socially distancing congenital disorder that has
horribly deformed his face...
Posted
November
30,
2017
|
|
|
JIM
AND ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND
(No
MPAA rating) 1/2
"Thank
you very much!"
Nearly twenty
years ago when I heard that Jim Carrey was going to be playing Andy
Kaufman in the Milos Forman directed biopic MAN ON THE MOON it felt like a
cinematic marriage made in heaven. Kaufman himself
made a huge and notorious name for himself as a cult comic until his
cancer related death in 1984, whose absurdist antics on shows like TAXI,
SNL and appearances on Late Night with David Letterman were largely well
ahead of their time and the stuff of performance art legend...
Posted
November
30,
2017
|
|
|
JUSTICE
LEAGUE
(PG-13)
Super
friends united
There are two
distinct ways that I could sum up my thoughts about JUSTICE LEAGUE, the long
awaited super hero team up film and fifth entry in the DC Extended
Universe.
The 10-year-boy
in me that plays with action figures and reads comic books unequivocally
loved JUSTICE LEAGUE. It's a living manifestation of my wildest childhood fantasies
come thrillingly to life...
Posted
November
25,
2017
|
|
|
MURDER
ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS
(PG-13)
Everyone's
a suspect
There
have been so many countless Agatha Christie inspired whodunit murder mystery movie
thrillers over the decades that one has to wonder whether or not a literal
adaptation of the author's literary work, at this stage in the cinematic
game, is even creatively worthwhile. Her 1934 classic
novel MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS has been appropriated on the silver
screen before, most famously in the Sidney Lumet directed 1973 version,
not to mention a 2001 made for TV iteration...
Posted
November
20,
2017
|
|
|
DADDY'S
HOME 2 (PG-13)
A
sluggish homecoming
Outside of
massive paydays for all involved, I'm frankly stumped as to why anyone
thought that DADDY'S HOME 2 was a sequel worth exploring. It's the
follow-up film to 2015's sort-of-okay, but sort-of-mediocre Will
Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg revenge comedy featuring a pair of dads - one a
biological father and the other a stepfather - ferociously waging war on
one another for the ultimate affection of their family members...
Posted
November
20,
2017
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THOR:
RAGNAROK
(PG-13) 1/2
The
god of thunder...ous quips
In my original
review of the first THOR movie - a Marvel
Cinematic Universe franchise installment that I was in the minority for
greatly enjoying - I spoke of what a thanklessly difficult job Chris Hemsworth
had in playing the titular character: Too much self aware camera mugging
and the Norse God would approach levels of high camp, but a performance
too needlessly solemn and the character would be a monotonous bore...
Posted
November
14,
2017
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|
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THE
MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US
(PG-13)
A
mountain of survival drama clichés
There are only
two things that help elevate the new outdoor survival/romance drama THE
MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US above the moniker of a cheaply disposable and utterly
forgettable TV movie of the week: (1) The committed
performances by stars Kate Winslet and Idris Elba that work relative
wonders with such relatively mediocre material and (2) it contains
a few moments of natural beauty that looks sensational on the silver
screen...
Posted
November
14,
2017
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|
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SUBURBICON
(R)
Pleasantville
it ain't
SUBURBICON
is a new black comedy/social satire that's
constantly at war with itself.
The
problem with this film is not that it lacks
narrative and thematic ambition, but rather that
it has no idea whatsoever how to marry all of
its discordant tones and story threads smoothly
together to create a unifying and meaningful
whole...
Posted
November
7,
2017
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THANK
YOU
FOR YOUR SERVICE
(R)
A
war on the homefront
Movies
about the hellishly brutal nature of war and combat and the effects that
it has on soldiers after they leave the battlefield and return home are
not only a relative dime a dozen, but are also a very tricky genre to pull
off effectively, mostly because of the overt familiarity with the
underlining material...
Posted
November
7,
2017
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