|
|
GRETA
(R)
Not
everyone needs a friend
GRETA
is the kind of psychopathic stalker killer from
hell genre exercise that feels so woefully
telegraphed, antiquated, and paint-by-numbers
that I left my screening pondering why a
filmmaker of Neil Jordan's established pedigree
would ever bother wasting his time making it.
This
is a film essentially made on autopilot,
emulating the very popular aforementioned
sub-genre that became prominent in the 1980s and
1990s...
Posted
March 10, 2019
|
|
|
HOW
TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON:
THE
HIDDEN WORLD
(PG)
How
to make the perfect trilogy
Dreamworks'
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON franchise has been one
of the sublime surprises of the animated film
world, which began so modestly, yet powerfully
with the 2010 original
that told an epically staged Viking fantasy
storyline featuring an awkward and shy lad
befriending an elusive dragon (mythical beasts
that were sworn enemies of humanity)...
Posted
March 10, 2019
|
|
|
THE
MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT
(R)
 1/2
Sam
Elliott: Nazi and creature hunter
To
quote its gloriously specific - yet monumentally
spoilerific - title, THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER
AND THEN THE BIGFOOT is a new action adventure
film steeped in history and more than a bit of
pulpy, comic book inspired intrigue.
Reading that title alone will probably
elicit ample eye rolling in some filmgoers,
seeing as it will probably make them feel that
this is low budget, B-grade fare designed for
midnight showings at grindhouse cinemas...
Posted
March 10, 2019
|
|
|
ALITA:
BATTLE ANGEL
(PG-13)
1/2
More
human than human
Considering
that he began his career with remarkable modesty
back in the mid-90s making an introductory
feature film that cost a measly $7000, it's a
staggering experience to witness Robert
Rodriguez play within the multi-million dollar
budgeted sandbox that is ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL...
Posted
February 28, 2019
|
|
|
HAPPY
DEATH DAY 2U
(PG-13)
1/2
Worst.
Day. Again. Ever.
Remember
2017's HAPPY DEATH DAY, the GROUNDHOG DAY
inspired time looping knock-off that was a
surprisingly enjoyable and mostly razor sharp
dissection of teen slasher horror films?
For that matter, do you remember 2017's HAPPY
DEATH DAY, the GROUNDHOG DAY inspired time
looping knock-off that was a surprisingly
enjoyable and mostly razor sharp dissection of
teen slasher horror films...
Posted
February 28, 2019
|
|
|
THE
LEGO
MOVIE 2:
THE
SECOND PART
(PG)
Everything
is sort of awesome with this sequel
I
had the lowest of low expectations going into
the original THE LEGO MOVIE back in 2014, seeing
as I thought it was another lame and bottom
feeding attempt on Hollywood's part to try to
cash in by make a prominent toy line into a
feature length film.
Rather
improbably - and some would say (ahem!) awesomely
- the Chris Lord and Phil Miller animated
effort was a joyously unexpected cinematic
curveball...
Posted
February 18, 2019
|
|
|
COLD
PURSUIT
(R)
1/2
Revenge
is a dish best served...
No
beginning of the movie year would ever been
complete without the annual right of passage
known as the Liam Neeson seeks vengeance,
takes names, and kicks ass revenge action
thriller.
It's
become a staple of the veteran sixtysomething
actor's career rejuvenation over the last
decade-plus, which highlighted the former Oskar
Schindler and Michael Collins actor get down and
dirty in some fiendishly enjoyable B-grade
exploitation efforts...
Posted
February 18, 2019
|
|
|
VELVET
BUZZSAW
(No
MPAA Rating)
1/2
Gilroy's
art world satire/horror thriller isn't quite so
razor sharp
On paper, VELVET
BUZZSAW should have been a grand slam home run. It contains the
writer/director and stars of NIGHTCRAWLER
in Dan Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Rene Russo respectively and
features subject matter that's absolutely ripe for nail biting satire: the
world of the uber pretentious and self-aggrandizing contemporary L.A. art
world and criticism...
Posted
February 18, 2019
|
|
|
HIGH
FLYING BIRD
(No
MPAA Rating)
Soderbergh's
near slam dunk sports drama
One thing that
I'll give Steven Soderbergh is that - at a relatively late time in his
career when most other directors would be too timid to stray too far away
from their own established comfort zones - he's unafraid to push his skill
set and the medium forward in audacious new directions. HIGH FLYING BIRD
is his latest unorthodox effort, streaming now on Netflix and shot once
again utilizing just iPhone 8 cameras...
Posted
February 18, 2019
|
|
|
THE
KID WHO WOULD BE KING
(PG-13)
1/2
A
kid in King Arthur's court
It's crazy to
consider that it's been nearly a decade since director Joe Cornish made a
film, with his last one being his 2011 breakout cult sci-fi hit ATTACK
THE BLOCK (which also helped launch the career of a pre-STAR
WARS John Boyega). Cornish
now returns to filmmaking duties with THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING, one of
2019's early and splendid surprises.
The film is sort of a wonderful hybrid work with a throwback vibe...
Posted
February 6, 2019
|
|
|
SERENITY
(R)
There's
nothing alright, alright, alright about
this noir thriller
I don't have the
slightest idea how to review this film.
How would anyone, for that matter.
Let me explain.
SERENITY (not to
be confused with the 2005 Joss Whedon directed sci-fi film of the same name) is a new neo-noir thriller written
and directed by Steven Knight, who previously made the 2014 Tom
Hardy drama LOCKE (which miraculously
contained ample tension and masterful intrigue despite being a one man
movie mostly set in a car)...
Posted
February 6, 2019
|
|
|
GLASS
(PG-13)
A
glass half full trilogy closer
At this late
stage in the game I think a majority of filmgoers - and critics, for that
matter - should be asking one simple question:
How many more
chances for cinematic redemption should one give writer/director M. Night
Shyamalan?
It's a legitimate
question.
The Indian
filmmaker was once considered to be the next Spielberg, which
feels like forever ago now, and with his career jump starting and multiple
Oscar nominated THE SIXTH SENSE his future certainly looked promising...
Posted
February 6, 2019
|
|
|
ROMA
(No
MPAA Rating)
Life
itself
What a bold and
miraculous artistic achievement Alfonso Cuaron's ROMA is, shot exquisitely
and with a painterly eye in glorious black and white (he also serves as
his own cinematographer) and chronicling a semi-autobiographical drama
about his own upbringing in Mexico city. The very last
film the Oscar winning director made was the spellbinding GRAVITY,
a science fiction survival thriller set in outer space, and previous to
that he made one of the finest dystopian films ever in CHILDREN
OF MEN...
Posted
January 31, 2019
|
|
|
IF
BEALE STREET COULD TALK
(R)
"I'll
tell you a story, if I may..."
Writer/director
Barry Jenkins previously made the Academy Award winning Best Picture MOONLIGHT,
a small scale and budgeted, but profoundly moving and beautifully told
drama about the evolution of a homosexual black man's life, told via
multiple time periods and with multiple actors playing said character.
In all fairness, it was a gutsy and outside of the box selection
from the Academy...
Posted
January 31, 2019
|
|
|
ESCAPE
ROOM (PG-13)
A
puzzle box thriller not worth solving
Ah yes, no
beginning of the year film season would be complete without another entry in
the PWP film genre, or a genre of films containing premises
without payoff. ESCAPE ROOM is a
new psychological horror thriller centered on the concept of, yes,
escape rooms, a physical adventure game in which players have to solve a
series of complicated puzzles and riddles utilizing well hidden clues in
order to escape from a seemingly inescapable room...
Posted
January 25, 2019
|
|
|
THE
UPSIDE (PG-13)
There's
no downside to this Cranston and Hart pairing
There's not much
of an - ahem! - upside to most movie remakes, seeing as far too many
don't honor the original source material while simultaneously spinning it
into fresh directions for a new audience. THE UPSIDE is the
inevitable American remake of the 2011 French film THE INTOUCHABLES, which
was a huge financial success and critical and audience darling.
That film chronicled the true story of a wealthy and white
quadriplegic and his black ex-con caregiver and ultimate BFF...
Posted
January 25, 2019
|
|
|
WELCOME
TO MARWEN
(PG-13)
1/2
He
gets by with a little help from his little
friends
Robert
Zemeckis'
WELCOME TO MARWEN is a new fact based drama that tells the endlessly
strange, yet endearing story of artist and photographer Mark Hogancamp,
who in April of 2000 was viciously attacked outside of a bar by five men,
nearly being beaten to death in the process.
He drunkenly admitted to them that he had a penchant for wearing
women's shoes, which precipitated their hate crime attack.
After nine days in a coma and 40 days in the hospital, Hogancamp
was discharged and left a mentally and physically broken man...
Posted
January 12, 2019
|
|
|
HOLMES
& WATSON
(PG-13)
1/2
A
mysteriously unfunny spoof
On a superficial
level, HOLMES & WATSON is a movie.
No,
seriously...it is. It contains a
feature length running time, it has a massive studio and fairly sizeable
budget behind it, it stars two bankable and proven comedic actors, and it
has been
aggressively marketed to the eager moviegoing masses.
But HOLMES &
WATSON is barely a movie.
It most assuredly isn't a comedy either, seeing as it contains
virtually no laughs.
And it's not - despite a very specific title - a new Sherlock
Holmes mystery worth investing in...
Posted
January 12, 2019
|
|
|
BUMBLEBEE
(PG-13)
1/2
Almost
more than meets the eye
BUMBLEBEE is the
very best possible TRANSFORMERS live
action movie that I've ever seen.
Now, considering
that I've hated the five (dear Lord in Heaven...five) previous
Michael Bay helmed franchise installments and that every single one placed
high on my lists of ten worst films of their respective year...that may not be saying a
whole hell of a lot.
Okay, sarcasm
aside, let me get serious for a bit and start on a positive here...
Posted
January 12, 2019
|
|
|
VICE
(R)
The
most unlikely powerful VP in American history
In 2015
writer/director Adam McKay was a rather unlikely Oscar winner for his work
on THE
BIG SHORT, which was an
absurd satirical take on the 2008 Financial Crisis and the devastating
impact it had on America.
The central theme of that film was how people in places of
limitless wealth and power nearly destroyed the country...out of pure
greed to attain more wealth and power...and at the expense of the poor.
It was both as hysterical as it was shocking...
Posted
January 12, 2019
|
|
|
CAN
YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
(R)
1/2
Dear
Melissa: All is forgiven
I've spent the
better part of the last decade coming down hard on Melissa McCarthy, an
extremely talented actress that has done her career absolutely no favors
by appearing in one witless and puerile comedy after another, like THE
BOSS, TAMMY, IDENTITY
THIEF , and LIFE OF THE PARTY. Most of my reviews of those
films have one commonality in wishing that she strayed as far away from
the stale and overused conventions of these films and the characters that
she played so she can instead embark on something audaciously fresh and
novel...
Posted
January 12, 2019
|
|
|
AQUAMAN
(PG-13)
1/2
Somewhere...beyond
the sea...
Let's face facts: Aquaman has never been considered as - for lack of a better word - cool
as his other DC Comics super heroes like Batman and Superman. The notion of an
orange and green costumed man that can breath underwater and talk to
various aquatic life makes this hero a difficult nut to crack on the
silver screen while not making him the butt of easy jokes.
Considering the somewhat shaky ground that the DC Extended Universe
has been on lately...
Posted
January 4, 2019
|
|
|
MARY
POPPINS RETURNS
(PG)
A
spoonful of sugar makes the sequel go down
I asked myself
two questions as I left my screening of MARY POPPINS RETURNS:
1.
Outside of obvious financial motive for the studio, was there any
need for Disney to make a sequel to the cherished original from over 50
years ago? Short answer?
Nope.
2. Is MARY
POPPINS RETURNS an entertaining sequel worthy of big screen consumption?
Short answer:
Yup...
Posted
January 4, 2019
|
|
|
SPIDER-MAN:
INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
(PG)
They
all do whatever multiple spiders can
Okay, so shove
these facts up your mind, true believers: SPIDER-MAN: INTO
THE SPIDER-VERSE is, believe it or not, the very first feature length
animated film about the world's most famous wall-crawler.
It's also the seventh SPIDER-MAN film since 2000, including Sam
Raimi's sometimes masterful and sometimes mediocre trilogy, Marc Webb's
equally mixed bag two pack of AMAZING
SPIDER-MAN franchise reboots, and, yes, the MCU reboot of the
reboot in last year's SPIDER-MAN:
HOMECOMING...
Posted
December 26, 2018
|
|
|
MORTAL
ENGINES (PG-13)
1/2
A
mortally wounded franchise opener
MORTAL ENGINES is
an absolutely stunning triumph of visual effects, art direction, and
production design. It's also, rather
unfortunately, an abysmal failure on a basic character and story front. Despite an
ambitiously bonkers premise, I simply didn't care about anyone or anything
in this post apocalyptic sci-fi film.
I think the overall intent when it comes to cinematic world
building is for a film to legitimately feel like it's transporting you to
another time and place and makes, in turn, its otherworldly universe seem
tangible and real...
Posted
December 26, 2018
|
|
|
THE
MULE (R)
1/2
A
rare Eastwoodian starring vehicle lacking in
substance
I find myself marveling
at Clint Eastwood's prolific nature as a director over the last decade -
at an extremely ripe 88-years-old - more so than I do at the overall
quality of said films during that period. He's made six
films since 2010, which is pretty remarkable in itself when one considers
that the former Man With No Name has more than reached retirement home
age. I find his efforts to
have been a mixed bag...
Posted
December 26, 2018
|
|
|
BOY
ERASED (R)
1/2
Trying
to cure what doesn't need curing
BOY ERASED is
based on the 2016 memoir of the same name by Garrard Conley, who is the
only child of a Baptist pastor that, when he was attending college at
19-years-old, was outed as homosexual to his deeply religious parents.
Being absolutely petrified with the notion of being openly gay
within his fundamentalist family, Garrard was given a choice by his father...
Posted
December
19, 2018
|
|
|
CRAZY
RICH ASIANS
(PG-13)
1/2
A
crazy conventional romcom with historically
significant underpinnings
Something
dawned on me just after I finished screening
CRAZY RICH ASIANS.
This
new romcom is paradoxically a groundbreaking and
important film in the annals of Hollywood
history...that also happens to be just as
achingly conventional and clichéd as just about
any other dime-a-dozen romcom out there that
preceded it. Now,
hear me out.
..
Posted
December
19, 2018
|
|
|
THE
FRONT RUNNER (R)
1/2
A
flawed political drama with its Hart in the
right place
Politicians
having their careers tainted by scandals involving adulterous affairs
hardly seems so shocking these days.
In some respects, their professional lives are hardly affected at
all. President Bill Clinton
managed to finish two terms as the Commander-in-Chief during the 90s after
a much publicized affair, and the current President managed to even get
elected after being caught red handed in an embarrassing audio recording
condoning sexual assault...
Posted
December
11, 2018
|
|
|
BLINDSPOTTING
(R)
An
urban dramedy with very few creative blind spots
BLINDSPOTTING is
the second film from 2018 alongside Boots Riley's SORRY
TO BOTHER YOU that is set in Oakland, California and contains
themes of race relations, gentrification, and how the identities of
communities are all but being destroyed by corporate interests that are
only in it for themselves and to make a quick buck...
Posted
December
11, 2018
|
|
|
GREEN
BOOK (PG-13)
1/2
An
odd couple of a different color
I
can only begin to imagine the pitch meeting for
GREEN BOOK: "It's
like a reverse engineered DRIVING MISS DAISY
meets THE ODD COUPLE...and it'll be a funny, yet
sobering take on race relations in
segregationist America in the early 60s...and
it'll be directed by one half of the team that
made DUMB AND DUMBER, KINGPIN, and THERE'S
SOMETHING ABOUT MARY..."
Posted
December
2, 2018
|
|
|
CREED
II (PG-13)
"I
must break you...again!"
At the risk of
mixing sports metaphors, 2015's CREED was a
real cinematic curveball thrown at audiences, especially to fans of the
ROCKY series in general. The
Ryan Coogler directed soft reboot/sequel to the iconic Sylvester Stallone
pugilist franchise was far greater than it had any business of being, and
it imbued a renewed lease on life for a series that, to be fair, went out
on a high note with 2006's ROCKY BALBOA,
which in turn came out after a series of so-so to mediocre sequels over
the last few decades...
Posted
December
2, 2018
|
|
|
FANTASTIC
BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD (PG-13)
A
prequel/sequel that needs a spell of
enchantment
To quote its full
tongue twisting title, FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD is a
sequel that seems to have this annoying insistence on pushing me away at an
uncomfortable distance instead of luring me in to its expanded upon
cinematic universe. It's the tenth
overall film set in the wizard heavy mythological world of HARRY POTTER
and the direct follow-up to 2016's FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM...
Posted
December
2, 2018
|
|
|
WIDOWS
(R)
Never
send in a man to do a woman's job
Steve
McQueen is a filmmaker that seems positively unafraid of subject matter or
genre challenge, having seriously wowed me with such diverse film
offerings such as 2008's HUNGER (about the
1981 Irish hunger prison strike), 2011's SHAME
(about a man dealing with a debilitating sex addiction) and 2013's 12
YEARS A SLAVE (a historical period drama about a New York African
American that was kidnapped into slavery in the mid 1850s). After
a far too long absence the British director has returned to the silver
screen...
Posted
December
2, 2018
|
|
|
THE
GIRL IN THE SPIDER'S WEB
(R)
1/2
A
tangled web of espionage intrigue
Considering our
current Me Too movement era, a cinematic return to THE GIRL WITH THE
DRAGON TATTOO series would seem positively fitting. The franchise was
born out of author Stieg Larsson's best selling literary works, which
introduced the world to its ferociously empowered female hacker heroine
Lisbeth Salander...
Posted
November
26, 2018
|
|
|
OVERLORD
(R)
1/2
Inglourious
Nazi zombie hunting basterds
OVERLORD is like
an EC Comics/Weird Science tale come lovingly to life.
Its plot concerns a bunch of American soldiers that are dropped in
behind enemy lines before D-day and make some ghastly discoveries of Nazi
scientific experiments that have re-animated dead soldiers, with the end
result resembling what's essentially zombies. In many respects,
OVERLORD is kind of a nice companion piece to, say, Quentin Tarantino's
historically sketchy INGLOURIOUS
BASTERDS...
Posted
November
20, 2018
|
|
|
BOHEMIAN
RHAPSODY
(PG-13)
Is
this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
Freddie Mercury
came an awfully long way in his relative short life from his time as a
college student that worked as a baggage handler at Heathrow Airport in the
early 70s. Of course, I'm
referring to the legendary frontman of the British rock group QUEEN, whose
music was responsible for nearly a quarter of billion records being sold,
which cemented their status as one of the best selling artists and
greatest bands of all time...
Posted
November
20, 2018
|
|
|
THE
OLD MAN AND THE GUN
(R)
1/2
The
Sundance Kid's swan song
I remember the
very first time I saw Robert Redford in a film. There was a
mischievous look in his eyes that was accompanied by a disarming smile.
He gave the impression that he was winking at the camera and, in turn,
audience without actually doing so. I sat back and fully realized what star power
meant in this instance, and throughout my life watching Redford's movies
I'm constantly reminded of his presence as a screen performer...
Posted
November
20, 2018
|
|
|
HUNTER
KILLER (R)
1/2
Hunter
Killer! Qu'est-ce
que c'est!
All while
watching the new political action thriller HUNTER KILLER I was chiefly
reminded that submarines aren't inherently very interesting on a visual
level. With their simplistic
shape and relatively slow pace across the screen, there's simply not much
dynamism on display, which leaves it up to the director and cast to
make what happens inside of the vessel all the more engaging and
appealing...
Posted
November
10, 2018
|
|
|
SORRY
TO BOTHER YOU
(R)
This
satire can have more than a minute of your time
The new absurdist
black comedy SORRY TO BOTHER YOU is one of the strangest films that I've
ever seen. It's a work that -
to its credit - defies basic genre classification.
It's part social/cultural satire, part sci-fi parable, part broad
workplace comedy, and part commentary piece about race, class, and
capitalism run amok. The film
marks the directorial debut of Boots Riley, the Bay area rapper turned
filmmaker, and his first film positively brims with audacious and bizarre
originality...
Posted
November
10, 2018
|
|
|
HALLOWEEN
(R)
1/2
Same
old genre tricks, not enough new treats
It's impossible
to understate the relative importance that John Carpenter's 1978 horror
thriller HALLOWEEN had on its genre and on the larger movie industry as a
whole.
He all but single handedly invented the mad killer "slasher"
horror genre all on his own and, for better or worse, went on to inspire
an unending number of copycat efforts throughout the 1980s...
Posted
November
3, 2018
|
|
|
HOTEL
ARTEMIS
(R)
1/2
Almost
worth checking in
HOTEL
ARTEMIS belongs on a list of films that I like to call PWP efforts: ones
that have a great premise without payoff.
It's a
new cyberpunk futuristic sci-fi thriller from writer/director Drew Pearce
(making his feature filmmaking debut), who has devised a mostly unique
concept for his dystopian film, which also benefits from a very strong
ensemble cast, a swift and assured momentum, and a low-rent vibe and feel
that somehow doesn't feel like disposable B-grade junk food...
Posted
November
3, 2018
|
|
|
FIRST
MAN
(PG-13)
For
all mankind
FIRST MAN -
Damien Chazelle's first film since winning the Oscar for Best Director for
2016's LA LA LAND - tells the story of
the build-up to the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 20, 1969, during which
time Neil Armstrong famously became the first man to ever step foot on it. His Herculean
feat not only was a momentous moment for all of mankind, but also
marked the end of the Cold War inspired space race between the US and
Russia...
Posted
October
27, 2018
|
|
|
BAD
TIMES AT THE EL ROYALE
(R)
Good
pulp fiction, but not quite "Royale with
Cheese" good
It's
amazing to consider that nearly twenty five years after its release that
generation after generation of filmmaker are repeatedly still trying to
recapture Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION
lighting in a bottle style. Directors
have endeavored - with intermittent levels of success over the years - to marry
Tarantino's brand of ultra violence, swiftly assured and punchy dialogue
exchanges, lurid crime elements, and likeably amoral crooks...
Posted
October
27, 2018
|
|
|
VENOM
(PG-13)
1/2
"I'm
Spider-Man's reckoning!"
The character of
Venom - first introduced nearly thirty years ago to the pages of Marvel Comics' Amazing
Spider-Man #300 - has fully emerged over that period as not
only one of the web crawler's most famous and nightmarish of villains, but
also as an extremely popular fan favorite among comic readers.
This, rather predictably, led to an awfully hasty and not fully
fleshed out appearance as one of the three chief antagonists in Sam
Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 3...
Posted
October
21, 2018
|
|
|
A
STAR IS BORN (R)
An
invigorating new lease on an old Hollywood story
I personally find
it so achingly difficult to screen every new remake that sees the
cinematic light of day as of late.
Unless you have something fresh and revitalizing to bring to the
table while maintaining some semblance of faithfulness to the original (my
litmus test for good remakes), then what's the point? And A STAR IS
BORN has certainly been made and remade far more times than I sometimes
can keep track of...
Posted
October
21, 2018
|
|
|
LEAVE
NO TRACE (R)
Into
the wild
Writer/director
Debra Granik's LEAVE NO TRACE is one of the more quietly understated, but
ultimately powerful character dramas that has come out this year, mostly
due to her dedicated observational eye as a filmmaker, a finely
attuned cast, and a compelling thematic undercurrent about the nature of
survival and how parents cope with rearing their children without any
conveniences of a modern technological society...
Posted
October
21, 2018
|
|
|
LIFE
ITSELF (R) 1/2
A
box of chocolates drama
The new drama
LIFE ITSELF - not to be at all confused with the documentary of the same name about the
life and times of late film critic Roger Ebert - is a
multi-generational portrait of people that seem inexplicably drawn
together via some twisted form of fate. It's from
writer/director Dan Fogelman, perhaps best known for creating the breakout
TV series THIS IS US as well has having penned screenplays for films like
CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE and CARS...
Posted
October
11, 2018
|
|
|
GOTTI
(R) 1/2
Badfellas
GOTTI is the
BATTLEFIELD EARTH of fact based mob dramas. It simply has no
business being as categorically awful as it is. The film is, of
course, based on the life of notorious Italian American New York residing John
Gotti, who became one of the most powerful and ruthless mob
bosses in the Big Apple's history...
Posted
October
11, 2018
|
|
|
THE
PREDATOR (R) 1/2
"Black!
You son of a bitch!"
THE
PREDATOR is the fourth film in the science fiction series,
coming after the original 1987 John McTiernan directed/Arnold Schwarzenegger
starring classic, the not bad/not good 1990 sequel, and the surprisingly
well oiled 2010 sequel (not including,
of course, some terrible ALIEN VS.
PREDATOR spin-off efforts). Considering
that THE PREDATOR (emphasis on THE to help segregate it apart
from the introductory installment) has writer/director Shane Black at the
helm should equal instant buzz...
Posted
October
2, 2018
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FAHRENHEIT
11/9 (R)
We're
on a road to nowhere
According
to director Michael Moore, America and its political party system is
royally screwed. Early on in
his latest documentary FAHRENHEIT 11/9 he plainly asks viewers one
simple and blunt question about the current state of affairs in his home
country: "How the
fuck did this all happen?"
How, indeed.
Moore has made a
career of out making documentaries the push buttons on multiple
social/cultural/political ills...
Posted
October
2, 2018
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MANDY
(R) 1/2
A
surreal Cage-ian Death Wish
At
the risk of sounding pretentious, MANDY is a movie that isn't designed to
be passively watched, but rather actively experienced. I can't think of any other way to relay how to view this
action/horror film, which feels like a 1980s Heavy Metal album come to
nightmarish life crossed morphed with an intense fever dream.
It's also an unrelentingly gory revenge thriller, but even that
basic descriptor doesn't do it much justice...
.
Posted
October
2, 2018
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ALPHA
(PG-13) 1/2
A
stone age boy and his dog
I
engage in no hyperbole whatsoever in saying that there has never been a
movie quite like ALPHA about man's relationship with man's best friend. Yes,
there are innumerable examples of canine centric dramas that have
delicately and poignantly relayed how owning a pet can be a most special
and life changing gift, but ALPHA has much vaster ambitions than that....
Posted
Posted
October
2, 2018
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WHITE
BOY RICK
(R)
Diaries
of a teenage informant
WHITE BOY RICK
is a new fact based period crime drama that's painted in extremely
familiar gangster genre formulas (down on his luck hoodlum rises above his
station in life to become a major criminal player) and a somewhat rushed
tone that could have perhaps benefited from a mini-series or long form
documentary format. Yet, it's
potently and authentically acted throughout and contains a hook that's
most certainly fresh and worthy of cinematic exploration...
.
Posted
September
21, 2018
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PEPPERMINT
(R) 1/2
A
minty revenge thriller with a bad aftertaste
The
ridiculously titled PEPPERMINT - taken from, I kid you not, an ice cream
flavor - is the fourth revenge porn action thriller that I've seen in 2018
alone, proving that the lurid genre is all the current rage. It's also the
second one I've seen featuring a female protagonist, coming on the heels
of Coralie Fargeat's evocatively stylish REVENGE..
.
Posted
September
21, 2018
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HEREDITARY
(R) 1/2
Be
careful what you pass on
HEREDITARY
is a new supernatural horror thriller that's a visceral masterpiece in
terms of generating nail biting tension, haunting atmosphere, and a
chillingly eerie vibe of intrigue throughout.
It contains moments of profoundly unsettling imagery that could
aptly be described as Kubrickian. Tonally and aesthetically, writer/director Ari Aster's
feature film debut is astonishingly well crafted,
and the manner that he maintains - throughout most of the film's running
time - a bona fide nerve wracking tone is to his rookie filmmaking
credit...
Posted
September
21, 2018
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BLACKkKLANSMAN
(R)
Going
undercover...the hard way
Writer/director
Spike Lee has made a career out of making racially charged dramas that
push all kinds of buttons with his unique brand of in-your-face bluntness.
BLACKkKLANSMAN boldly and proudly continues this trend for the
acclaimed filmmaker, which finds inspiration in a highly bizarre, yet
absolutely real story that's set forty years ago, but somehow manages to
hold up a mirror to our current divisive times...
Posted
September
11, 2018
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THE
HAPPYTIME MURDERS
(R) 1/2
A
happy time at the movies...it ain't
In
my 43 years on the planet I've never required - nor have ever asked - for
any Muppet character to curse up a storm in order to be appealing and
funny in a movie. Not. Once. Part of what
made, for example, the late Jim Henson's iconic Muppet characters so
endlessly endearing was that they were all, in their own respective and
unique ways, as charming as any of the human characters that surrounded
them...
Posted
September
11, 2018
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UPGRADE
(R)
"Gentleman:
we can rebuild him...we have the
technology..."
The
futuristic science fiction thriller UPGRADE is made up of a considerable
number of regurgitated thematic parts from countless other past efforts in
the genre in terms of man's symbiotic, but strained relationship with
machines and AI technology. It
also contains obligatory elements of the revenge thriller thrown in for
good measure that we're all seen before...
Posted
September
11, 2018
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SUMMER
OF '84
(R)
Stranger
things are afoot in small town Oregon
The
nostalgically titled SUMMER OF '84 conjures up memories for me of walking
to the local video store during my teen years and cruising through the
B-grade horror section and seeing a lot of box art that echoes this film's
poster. And I mean that
as a sincere compliment. This
Canadian/American production concerns a group of four suburban teens that
are amateur sleuths and believe - in their heart of hearts - that one of
their kindly neighbors is indeed a vile serial killer of children...
Posted
September
11, 2018
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MILE
22
(R) 1/2
ESCORT
MISSION: THE MOVIE
The new espionage
action thriller MILE 22 is one of the most frustratingly over-directed and
hyperactively edited films that I've seen this year.
It's almost as if director Peter Berg was high on massive
quantities of speed while making it, seeing as the resulting film is so
headache inducing and eye straining that cinemas should be handing out
Aspirins to patrons after they exit their screenings of it...
Posted
August
30, 2018
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