
|
SHADOW
IN THE CLOUD
(R)
Gremlins:
The WWII Batch
SHADOW
IN THE CLOUD is the kind of film that knows
precisely what it is and frequently winks at its
audience throughout to let them know that it's
in on the gag.
The
film is a spectacularly inane hodgepodge of
divergent genres, like the creature feature, the
World War II men-on-a-mission thriller, and the
female empowerment action picture...and with
equal parts of TWILIGHT ZONE mixed in for good
measure.
It's the type of lurid grindhouse fare
that might have had an audience back in the day
for midnight drive-in screenings...
Posted
January 19, 2021
|

|
ANOTHER
ROUND (R)
Having
one for the road...but on the way to school
ANOTHER
ROUND marks a rather triumphant re-teaming of
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg and star Mads
Mikkelsen (who last partnered up on 2012's THE
HUNT) and it features arguably the most
deliriously - ahem! - intoxicating
premise of any movie from the year that was.
There
have been countless films about teachers, people
suffering from mid-life crisis, and those
afflicted with alcoholism, but this film manages
to cover all three of those elements and blends
them together into something that emerges as
both darkly funny and touchingly dramatic all
the same...
Posted
January 19, 2021
|

|
WOLFWALKERS
(PG)
Like
a storybook fable come lovingly to life
Pixar's
SOUL has been dominating the recent conversation
as of late about animated film releases - and it
is indeed quite good - but I personally think
that the wonderful
WOLFWALKERS
is the better offering that's getting lost in
the limelight.
This
latest animated fantasy adventure is from the
pioneering director tandem Tomm Moore and Ross
Stewart via their studio Cartoon Saloon...
Posted
January 14, 2021
|

|
SOUL
(PG)
Defending
your life
Pixar's
SOUL is one of their weirdest animated films,
but that's precisely what makes it one of their
finest of their recent crop of offerings.
It
not only represents an audaciously strange
change of pace for the Oscar winning studio, but
it also emerges as a most refreshing kind of
innovative change up after their mediocre and
easily forgettable ONWARD from earlier
this year.
SOUL tells an intriguing tale of a jazz
pianist that dies (sort of) and then gets
whisked to the afterlife and remains stuck there
(yeah, not the most light hearted of fare)...
Posted
January
14, 2021
|

|
MA
RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM
(R)
1/2
All
they want is my voice
Netflix's MA
RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM - based on the 1982 August Wilson play - is
set in Chicago of the Roaring Twenties and deals with black musicians
trying to make names for themselves in a largely white controlled industry
that wanted to use their music to make quick cash, even if it meant
crudely exploiting them. There's
definitely something disturbing at play here when it comes to how these
businessman yearned to claim an essential part of African American culture
- Jazz and Blues - as their own...
Posted
January 3, 2020
|

|
WONDER
WOMAN 1984
(PG-13)
Fighting
for truth, justice and the Themysciran way
There
is a sly moment in WONDER WOMAN 1984 that
thoroughly captures the titular character's
power, grace, charm and inherent goodness. It's
set in a packed shopping mall during the neon
colored Regan-era in question and features a
squad robbers trying to make a getaway, with one
of them nearly harming a young girl.
The most powerful Themysciran herself
swoops in and quickly dispatches of the evil
doers with lightning speed and ease...
Posted
December
31, 2020
|

|
THE
MIDNIGHT SKY
(PG-13)
Staring
into the apocalyptic abyss
To
say that George Clooney the director has had a
problematic and inconsistent career would be
apt.
Nearly
twenty years ago I thought he made one of the
best films of 2002 in his rookie filmmaking
debut with the biographical spy thriller
CONFESSIONS OF THE DANGEROUS MIND and followed
that up with the fine newsroom historical drama
GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK...
Posted
December
31, 2020
|

|
PALM
SPRINGS (R)
I
want tomorrow to be tomorrow
Wait
a tick...there's something awfully familiar
about this film.
Haven't I seen it some place before?
Not only that...but there's something awfully
familiar about this film.
Haven't I see it some place before?
Meta
sarcasm aside, the new indie comedy PALM SPRINGS
does indeed bare a striking resemblance to the
iconic time looping comedy GROUNDHOG DAY, which
featured a then highly novel premise of a
disgruntled weatherman re-living the same day
over and over again in a town he despises on an
endless, purgatory-like replay...
Posted
December
31, 2020
|

|
THE
GODFATHER CODA: THE
DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE
(R)
1/2
Coppola
takes a re-edit offer he couldn't refuse
Francis
Ford Coppola's THE GODFATHER: PART III opened in
cinemas 30 years ago this month, which, in turn,
came several years after the landmark success of
the first two multiple Academy Award winning
entries in the series that adapted author Mario
Puzo's original novels.
The initial GODFATHER film was a massive
audience and critical darling effort that put
Coppola on the cinematic map, and its follow-up
- just as praised, if not more so - solidified
the director as one of the pre-eminent artists
of his generation...
Posted
December 22, 2020
|

|
SOUND OF METAL
(R)
Learning
to live with the sound of silence
I
remember something that the late Roger Ebert
once said about the truly great movies being
like empathy machines:
They allow for us to live vicariously
through the lives of different people and grown
to understand where they come from, what drives
them, and what forces either propel them forward
or hold them back.
I
could think of no other movie from this past
year that fit this description more perfectly
than Darius Marder's intoxicating and masterful
SOUND OF METAL...
Posted
December 22, 2020
|

|
FREAKY
(R)
1/2
Freaky
Friday the 13th
The
new Blumhouse produced horror comedy FREAKY is a
wicked combination of FRIDAY THE 13TH and FREAKY
FRIDAY, with the former being a mad slasher
flick and the latter being a body swap comedy.
It comes from director Christopher
Landon, who previously helmed the very funny and
underrated HAPPY DEATH DAY, which was a fairly
novel GROUNDHOG DAY copycat, albeit with horror
film trappings.
Although FREAKY scores some laughs when
it needs to and will definitely appease those of
the slasher genre...
Posted
December 22, 2020
|

|
MANK
(R)
A
bed ridden screenwriter versus the boy wonder of
Hollywood
I've
been thinking an awful lot about David Fincher's
new fact based Netflix period drama MANK, which
takes its name from the famous American
screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, who's perhaps
best known in cinema circles for co-winning an
Oscar for the screenplay to what's largely
considered the greatest film of all time in
CITIZEN KANE.
Mankiewicz's collaboration with Orson
Welles has been the stuff of contentious legend...
Posted
December 11, 2020
|

|
HILLBILLY
ELEGY
(R)
Kentucky,
we have a problem
Ron
Howard's HILLBILLY ELEGY - streaming now on
Netflix - is attempting, I think, to be an
inspirational fact based coming of age drama
about a young man growing up in abject poverty
and strife that tries as best as he can to
elevate himself above it without forgetting his
roots.
Based on the memoir by J.D Vance that
chronicled his troubled upbringing in the Deep
South and his attempts to empower and better
himself, the film contains so many superficially
good performances by multiple Hollywood A-listers...
Posted
December 11, 2020
|

|
MULAN
(PG-13)
An
uninspired Disney retread lacking in
creative chi
Disney's
MULAN - their umpteenth live action remake of an
animated classic - is a real double dipper
offender in terms of being wastefully
unnecessary and a missed creative opportunity
all the same.
Of
course, this is based and adapted from the 1998
animated film of the same name, which, in turn,
was taken from the Chinese folklore THE BALLAD
OF MULAN.
I'll positively concede that it's unlike
the studio's previous and near scene for scene
remakes...
Posted
December 11, 2020
|

|
UNHINGED
(R)
zero
stars
Unbearable
to sit through
UNHINGED
is not only a putrid film, but it also lowers
itself to the level of the worst kind of
indefensible trash.
On
paper, it's a hellishly violent road rage
thriller that wants to be lurid,
sensationalistic B-grade grindhouse fare and a
thoughtful commentary piece about sensitive
societal issues.
You simply can't have it both ways.
You can't offer up a portrait of
toxically dangerous masculinity run amok and
then revel in the bloodshed and carnage
contained within while attempting to say
something meaningful about what triggers
psychopaths in the first place...
Posted
November 30, 2020
|

|
LET
HIM GO (R)
1/2
No
country for old men and women
LET HIM GO is a
thoroughly involving and
sometimes
positively chilling period thriller that's a
welcome throwback to the types of slow-burn,
character driven genre efforts of yesteryear
that we frankly don't get in abundance anymore.
It's the kind of the thriller that places
great respect in honoring the patience of
filmgoers in letting its narrative play out
slowly and methodically, so much so that when
violence does permeate the picture it does so
with a shockingly effective immediacy...
Posted
November 30, 2020
|

|
THE
SECRET GARDEN
(PG)
The
mystical power of nature
I'm not
altogether sure that I coveted the last adaptation of THE SECRET GARDEN
(produced by Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope) so much so that I
couldn't bare the thought of another cinematic iteration of this classic
1911 Francis Hodgson Burnett novel nearly
three decades later. One of the more
iconic pieces of children's literature of its era, this fantasy drama has
seen its fair share of versions on the silver screen...
Posted
November 21, 2020
|

|
MORTAL
(R)
Caught
between Ragnarok and a hard place
MORTAL is a
new Norwegian/American action thriller from director Andre Ovredal (TROLLHUNTER)
that emerges as yet another entry in an increasingly exhausting line of
movies with the premise of what if ordinary people possessed god-like
powers...and it does so very little of anything compelling with it. That's not to say
that compelling movies can't be made with this premise (see CHRONICLE),
but MORTAL is so slow moving, so listless, and so serious minded with its
subject matter that it frequently comes off as unintentional self parody...
Posted
November 21, 2020
|

|
I
USED TO GO HERE (R)
You
can never go home again
I
USED TO GO HERE is absolutely proof positive
that a film with am extremely well worn premise
(returning home to rediscover your roots) can be
bolstered by the charming presence of its lead
performer.
This
indie comedy's ace up its sleeve is Gillian
Jacobs, who's probably more familiar to most for
her small screen work on shows like NBC's
COMMUNITY and HBO's GIRLS, and here she plays a
struggling author who makes a journey back to
here alma mater and soon realizes that all of
her past educational and career aspirations have
hopelessly not come true...
Posted
November 21, 2020
|

|
REBECCA
(PG-13)
An
attractive looking period romance thriller that
lacks true sizzle
Netflix's
REBECCA remake is sumptuously shot, handsomely
produced, and simply looks sensational.
Regrettably, though, it never elevates itself
beyond being a dramatically serviceable and
visually appealing bore that struggles to leave
a lasting impression.
Of
course, this is a redo of Alfred Hitchcock's
1940 effort (his only film to ever win a Best
Picture Oscar), which in turn was based on the
1938 Daphne du Maurier romantic thriller novel
of the same name...
Posted
November 10, 2020
|

|
BORAT
SUBSEQUENT MOVIE FILM
(R)
1/2
This
sequel very nice
It makes perfect
sense that the sequel to 2006's - takes deep breath -
BORAT:
CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF
KHAZAKHSTAN crept up on an unsuspecting movie world without much
notice, which kind of reflects the go-for-broke and throw caution to the
wind comic bravery of its star, writer and producer in Sacha Baron Cohen.
Rumors were circulating online several weeks ago that Cohen shot
this follow-up film in secret (both prior to and during our current
pandemic) before finally releasing it to a surprised world just in time
for the U.S. presidential election...
Posted
November 6, 2020
|

|
ON
THE ROCKS (R)
1/2
Father
may not know best
There's a sly
and effective moment midway through writer/director Sophia Coppola's caper
comedy ON THE ROCKS (now streaming via Apple TV+) that showcases star Bill
Murray at the absolute zenith of his wily on-screen charm.
His character in
Felix (with his daughter Laura - Rashida Jones -
in tow in the passenger seat) are pulled over in the middle of the
night in downtown Manhattan by police officers.
The soon-to-be ticketing officer asks him for his license and
registration...
Posted
November 6, 2020
|

|
THE
WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW
(R)
1/2
A
not so sleepy hollow
Writer/director
Jim Cummings' THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW is an
absolutely superb, darkly funny, and intensely
enthralling small town horror comedy that plays
like a weird and gloriously audacious cocktail
of the regional idiosyncrasies of FARGO, the
nocturnal terrors of THE WOLFMAN, and the
deadpan comic absurdity of a James Gunn.
There have been too many films to count
about werewolves, but very few build nail biting
tension and macabre laughs as well as this one.
...
Posted
November 6, 2020
|

|
THE
TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
(PG-13)
The
whole streaming world is watching!
Aaron Sorkin's
new fact-based historical courtroom drama THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (now
playing on Netflix) contains the finest acting ensemble of the year and
features an absolute embarrassment of performances riches.
Plus, Sorkin's scripting and dialogue - in true characteristic
fashion - is as razor sharp and focused as it has ever been. ..
Posted
October 29, 2020
|

|
SPONTANEOUS
(R)
True
love hurts
SPONTANEOUS is one of the
strangest high school romcoms that I can recall seeing.
It contains a premise that definitely has not been done before,
which is really saying something for the jam packed, dime-a-dozen nature of
the genre.
This Brian
Duffield written and directed affair deals with a suburban high school
where its students start to...spontaneously explode.
Not emotionally.
Not metaphorically.
They literally and physically just explode into
geysers of blood and goo...
Posted
October 29, 2020
|
|
2067
(Unrated)
1/2
Solving
the problem of climate change...the hard way
The
new sci-fi thriller 2067 (yes, a creatively lazy title) has a truly
compelling time travel premise and some thoughtful insights into topical
themes of climate change/ecological disasters, but it never manages to
fully commit to these ideas, nor does it handsomely pay them off in any
meaningful and satisfying manner.
The central ideas surrounding this Seth Laney helmed film are
enthralling enough in the way he chronicles an Earth of the future that
has lost all plant vegetation...
Posted
October 29, 2020
|

|
THE
GLORIAS
(R)
1/2
A
feminist powered historical road trip biopic
Director
Julie Taymor's THE GLORIAS - now playing on
Amazon Prime - is a thoroughly involving and
superbly acted biopic that utilizes an
appropriately unconventional and avant garde
stylistic approach to cover multiple decades in
the life of iconic feminist leader Gloria
Steinem.
Based
upon her own book MY LIFE ON THE ROAD, the film
honors Steinem's tireless work in her field as
an highly influential American activist...
Posted
October 14, 2020
|

|
VAMPIRES
VS THE BRONX
(PG-13)
DIE,
SUCKHEADS!
What's
worse then gentrification, you may ask?
Gentrification
caused by an invasion of blood thirsty white
vampires (not metaphorically...literally).
This
is part of the darkly amusing and novel hook of
the new Netflix original film VAMPIRES VS. THE
BRONX, which is about as specific of a title as
one will come across lately.
Directed with great energy and style by
Oz Rodriguez (who previously made a name for
himself helming many lauded digital shorts for
Saturday Night Live)...
Posted
October 14, 2020
|

|
AVA
(R)
1/2
Chastian
has a view to a kill
The
superb and finely in-tune ensemble cast in the
new spy thriller AVA deserved much better than
the prosaic, by-the-book scripting that was
clearly given to them.
Quarterbacked
by the always assured Jessica Chastain (who also
serves as producer here) and also helmed by her
THE HELP director in Tate Taylor, the film
simultaneously tries to subvert genre
expectations while playing into the most
overused and tired conventions of it, which
leaves the final product feeling misshapen and
half baked at best...
Posted
October 14, 2020
|

|
ANTEBELLUM
(R)
Pagin'
Rod Serling...
ANTEBELLUM
is, on a basic level, a psychological horror
thriller that - much like GET OUT before it -
uses the trappings of the genre to speak out
about how racial tensions and the horrors of
systemic bigotry affects the modern world.
Where this Gerard Bush and Christopher
Renz effort does manage to one-up Jordan Peele's
Oscar winning film is in its fairly ingenious
plot twisty premise (which I'll get into in a
bit and won't shy away from discussing, seeing
as the marketing campaign for the film went out
of its way to tip it off)...
Posted
October 6, 2020
|

|
ENOLA
HOLMES
(PG-13)
It's
elementary, my dear brother Sherlock
Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary sleuth Sherlock
Holmes holds the Guinness Book of World Records
distinction of being the most portrayed
character of all-time on film and TV.
I
don't doubt that in anyway, but it does leave me
in a somewhat hesitant state to explore yet
another film featuring this iconic detective.
Granted,
well known and utilized characters are always
ripe for modern reinterpretation, I guess...
Posted
October 6, 2020
|

|
TESLA
(PG-13)
Let
the future tell the truth
The
fascinating, but poorly executed TESLA tries to
cover a lot of history in a far too brief
running time, not to mention that the titular
Serbian-American inventor, engineer, and way
ahead of his time futurist becomes sort of an
underwritten cipher in his own movie.
Considering
the sheer scope of Nikola Tesla's breakthrough
ideas and inventions - some of which included
the design of the alternating electrical current
and even shockingly prophetic ideas about
wireless transmission of currents a century-plus
before Wi-Fi was even an ubiquitous thing...
Posted
October 6, 2020
|

|
THE
DEVIL ALL THE TIME
(R)
Southern
Gothic
The
new star studded Netflix period film THE DEVIL
ALL THE TIME is an impeccably acted and
handsomely shot multi-decade and generational
drama with a sprawling (yet sometimes too
unwieldy for its own good) story that's about as
unnervingly grim and violent as anything that
I've seen this year.
Based
on the novel of the same name by Donald Ray
Pollock, this Antonio Campos directed effort
details the deplorably seedy comings and goings
of a series of southern characters in post World
War II America...
Posted
September 23, 2020
|

|
UNPREGNANT
(PG-13)
A
creatively unplanned road trip comedy
HBO MAX's
UNPREGNANT sometimes comes off like a annoyingly quirky sitcom version of
the alarmingly similar NEVER
RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, which I reviewed a few months ago and
thought was one of the finest dramas of the year.
Both films contain the same basic premise: A high school aged girl
discovers that she's pregnant and decides to secretly travel outside of
her home state in order to obtain a legal abortion without parental
consent...
Posted
September 23, 2020
|

|
I'M
THINKING OF ENDING THINGS
(R)
Eternal
befuddlement of the streaming viewer's mind
I
have a confession to make:
I've
been putting off writing my review for the
latest Charlie Kaufman film I'M THINKING OF
ENDING THINGS for as long as possible.
As
a matter of fact, almost for a week now
after screening it on Netflix (which produced
and released it).
An
adaptation of the 2016 debut novel of the same
name by Canadian author Iain Reid, this film is
almost impossible to classify (and discuss in
detail without engaging in spoilers...but I'll
try)...
Posted
September 16, 2020
|

|
THE
TAX COLLECTOR
(R)
An
urban gangster drama in need of a creative audit
Very few films
these days that feature decent talent in front of and behind the camera are as
unpardonably wrongheaded and thoroughly wretched as THE TAX COLLECTOR, a
new urban gangster thriller that makes so many ill advised decisions that
you kind of wonder how the finished product came out in its final form
without any measurable checks and balance system. ...
Posted
September 16, 2020
|

|
GET
DUKED! (R)
1/2
Straight
outta Highlands
AMAZON PRIME's
deliriously bizarre and thoroughly hysterical outdoor survival horror-
comedy GET DUKED! (formerly known as BOYZ IN THE WOOD) is like a twisted
stylistic merging of Edgar Wright and Taika Waititi combined with its own
unique brand of propulsive energy.
Its premise is a basic one: A group of high school lads take
a class mandated journey through the Scottish highlands and then are
hunted like animals by some sadistic rich folk residing there...
Posted
September 16, 2020
|

|
TENET
(PG-13)
What's
happened...happened
There's
an action sequence in writer/director Christopher
Nolan's newest science fiction spy thriller
TENET that almost defies simple explanation, but
I'll endeavor to do so here without engaging in
any tangible spoilers. Let's
just say that it involves a fist fight.
Seems pretty basic, right?
We have two combatants vying for dominance,
which is about as obligatory of a setup as there
is in a movie.
However,
this one is anything but ordinary...
Posted
September 5, 2020
|

|
BILL
AND TED FACE THE MUSIC
(PG-13)
1/2
A
trilogy capper too good to be thrown in the iron
maiden
There's
a sly moment in BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC that
pitch perfectly encapsulates the easy going vibe
of its titular characters as well as the
infectiously silly tone of this decades spanning
series as a whole. It occurs during a
pivotal scene when the now mid-fiftysomething
Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves)
and Bill S. Preston (Alex Winter) are faced with
an insurmountable challenge that forces them
into a decision that they fear will hurt their
band's (Wyld Stallyns) reputation...
Posted
September 5, 2020
|

|
THE
NEW MUTANTS
(PG-13)
1/2
Teachers...leave
them mutant kids alone!
THE
NEW MUTANTS - which marks the thirteenth installment
of the longstanding X-MEN cinematic universe -
is one of the many films this past year that was
a victim of horrible release timing as a result
of our current global pandemic, not to mention
that it faced the added burden of being caught
between a very public and recent acquisition of
all of the Fox studio properties by Disney...
Posted
September 5, 2020
|

|
PROJECT
POWER
(PG-13)
A
streaming pill mostly worth taking
Even though the
latest Netflix original film PROJECT POWER runs out of creative juices
during its final act, it nevertheless finds some refreshingly novel ways
of fusing together the super hero and drug trafficking genres with a
rather ingenious premise. Directors Henry
Joost and Ariel Schulman (who made the stylish, but empty minded NERVE)
conjure up one humdinger of an enticing hook...
Posted
August 28, 2020
|

|
CHEMICAL
HEARTS (R)
Teenage
love and other drugs
In
the wrong creative hands, Amazon Prime's
CHEMICAL HEARTS - based on Krystal Sutherland's
novel - would have been nauseatingly
melodramatic and painfully hard to swallow as a
high school coming of age drama.
Thankfully
and in large part because of some fine writing
and authentically rendered performances, the
film emerges as an uncommonly perceptive,
genuinely moving, and sensitive portrayal of
adolescent heartache, loss, and first love.
And all of this is anchored by its two
naturally in tune lead actors in Lily Reinhart
and Austin Abrams...
Posted
August 28, 2020
|

|
SPUTNIK
(R)
In
a Russian secret government base...no one can
hear you scream
Yes,
SPUTNIK takes its title from the world famous
satellite of the of the same name launched by
the Soviet Union in 1957, but it also translates
(in English) as "companion," the
latter of which makes more sense on a thematic
level here.
This Russian made sci-fi horror thriller
is a fairly ingenious hybrid: think of it as the
love child of the combined work of Ridley Scott,
Denis Villeneuve, and John Carpenter.
It's also an unrelenting creepfest that
deserves some very worthy comparisons to this
year's THE INVISIBLE MAN...
Posted
August 28, 2020
|

|
AN
AMERICAN PICKLE
(PG-13)
This
is the dream...this is the goal...perfect jar of
pickle
If you think
that movies are utterly bereft of original ideas these days then clearly you haven't
seen the new HBO Max comedy AN AMERICAN PICKLE, which contains a premise
that has never been done before...or maybe it has, but just not quite like
it. The film stars
Seth Rogen (also a producer here) playing a turn of the last century
Jewish immigrant that accidentally finds himself locked in a huge vat of
pickles and is preserved via its brine for one hundred years, after which
time he re-awakens in modern day New York...
Posted
August 17, 2020
|

|
MADE
IN ITALY (R)
Under
the Tuscany sun
MADE IN ITALY is
an unendingly charming and deeply personal drama made with an added aura
of meta heartache and sorrow. It stars real
life father and son tandem Liam Neeson and Michael Richardson playing a
fictional father and son tandem that are dealing with the tragic loss of
their wife/mother, who died in a hellish car accident.
Neeson's own wife and Richardson's mother, Natasha Richardson, very
famously perished in a 2009 skiing accident, which makes the whole
emotionally undercurrent of MADE IN ITALY all the more palpable...
Posted
August 17, 2020
|

|
THE
OUTPOST
(R)
Defending
an undefendable military base
The
new fact-based war thriller THE OUTPOST marks a
welcome return for director Rod Lurie, who
hasn't made a film in nearly ten years (he
previously helmed one of the best and most
underrated political dramas of the 2000s in THE
CONTENDER).
His latest tells the tale of 53 American
soldiers and two Latvian military advisors that
desperately tried to stave off the invasion of
400 enemy Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan during
Operation Enduring Freedom.
The U.S. base being attacked in question
was a sitting duck, if there ever was one,
located very deep in a valley and surrounded by
three gigantic mountains on every side.
...
Posted
August 8, 2020
|

|
EUROVISION
SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA
(PG-13)
1/2
Honey,
I'm still free...take a chance on me
Despite having
one of the most nonsensical titles of recent memory, the latest Netflix
original film EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: THE STORY OF FIRE SAGA (sorry, it
sounds like a HUNGER GAMES
spin-off) is a comedy set within the real life titular international
competition that (quickly checks notes) introduced the world to the likes
of ABBA and Celine Dion (arguably the most well known winners)...
Posted
August 8, 2020
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GHOSTS
OF WAR (R)
1/2
Ghost
in the war machine
I
love a solid genre mishmash as much as the next, and the one proposed by
director Eric Bress (THE BUTTERFLY
EFFECT) is an intriguing one, to be sure, in GHOSTS WAR.
The film builds up an awful lot of initial promise as a World War
II, men-on-a-mission flick crossed with an haunted house supernatural
horror film.
There have been recent examples of films melding fact and horror
fiction (like the superbly underrated zombie-fuelled OVERLORD)...
Posted
August 8, 2020
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GUNS
AKIMBO
(R)
You're
a killing machine, Harry
I will give
Daniel Radcliffe full props for flipping the bird to conventional
post-HARRY POTTER movie roles. After seeing GUNS
AKIMBO I can positively relay that it gives SWISS
ARMY MAN - an absurdist survival comedy that featured the actor
playing a chronically farting corpse - a run for its money for being the
looniest Radcliffe movie that I've ever laid eyes on...
Posted
July 29, 2020
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ARCHIVE
(R)
A
well oiled character driven robo-drama
The
cheaply produced, but ambitious indie sci-fi drama ARCHIVE is certainly derivative of about half a dozen other genre efforts, not to
mention that its final third doesn't quite equal the quality of its
opening sections.
Despite some wobbly scripting at times, though, writer/director
Gavin Rothery's debut effort emerges as a rather thoughtful and engaging
piece about A.I. and themes of love, loss, and moving on. That, and it
contains a genuinely surprising twist ending that feels legitimately
unforced and earned...
Posted
July 29, 2020
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GREYHOUND
(PG-13)
"The
waters are the beginning and end of all things
on earth."
Tom Hanks has had a
creative love affair with World War II history that dates back decades,
which began most famously by appearing in Steven Spielberg's Oscar winning
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and was followed up with producing HBO's splendid BAND
OF BROTHERS. He returns to the fold by
appearing in front of the camera and serving as screenwriter for the new
fictional nautical WWII thriller GREYHOUND, adapted by the 1955 novel THE
GOOD SHEPHERD by C.S. Forester. One
aspect that makes this battlefront piece refreshing is its approach...
Posted
July 19, 2020
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THE
OLD GUARD (R)
Immortal
beloved
The
latest Netflix original film THE OLD GUARD -
adapted from the comic book series of the same
name - most definitely doesn't score huge points
for originality (the concept of super powered
immortals fighting evil has been the stuff of
movie sci-fi and graphic novels before), but
where it does succeed is in how preposterously
entertaining the whole package is in having
subversive fun with its premise set within the
context of a modern action thriller...
Posted
July 19, 2020
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YOU
SHOULD HAVE LEFT
(R)
A
psychological horror thriller not worth visiting
YOU SHOULD
HAVE LEFT is one of those types of "PWP" films, or one that
contains a premise without payoff. It's from
writer/director David Koepp, who has made a large name for himself in
Hollywood, especially as a writer of such blockbusters like the first two
JURASSIC PARK films, INDIANA
JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, the first MISSION:
IMPOSSIBLE, and WAR OF THE WORLDS.
On a level of versatility, he's worked in a tremendous number of
genres...
Posted
July 13, 2020
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FORCE
OF NATURE (R)
1/2
Mad
Mel versus the hurricane
Not
to be confused with the late 90s Sandra Bullock/Ben Affleck romcom of
nearly the same name, FORCE OF NATURE is a new action film of startling,
almost mind numbing blandness. Very
few genre films like this are a sure-fire cure insomnia...but this one
fits the bill. The $23 million dollar, shot on location
production has a premise as basic as it gets (a series of dwellers try to
evacuate a Puerto Rico apartment building during a Category 5 hurricane
while nefarious criminals also wreak havoc on the inside)...
Posted
July 13, 2020
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IRRESISTIBLE (R)
Politically,
most things are still the same
Jon
Stewart spent the better part of two decades as
host of THE DAILY SHOW, a politically driven
comedic news program that arguably did just as
good of a job - if not better - of covering
headlines than the more "serious"
mainstream news outlets.
Surprisingly, he never achieved super
stardom in front of the camera on the silver
screen, as over the last few years he has opted
to work out his creative fantasies as a
writer/director...
Posted
July 3, 2020
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7500 (R)
1/2
Terror
in the skies above
7500
takes its name from pilot's code for hijacking,
which makes this international film, yes, an
airline hijack thriller.
Obviously, there have been so many of
these types of genre pictures over the decades,
not to mention that some - like Paul Greengrass'
masterfully frightening fact-based UNITED 93 -
have an even more elevated state of dread and
unease because of the events of 9/11...
Posted
July 3, 2020
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INFAMOUS (No
MPAA Rating)
The
viral generation Bonnie & Clyde
INFAMOUS
is one of those criminals on the run thrillers
that liberally borrows from the DNA of past
great films like BONNIE & CLYDE and NATURAL
BORN KILLERS without having much in the way of
its own voice with the subject matter.
The
premise contained within this Joshua Caldwell
written and directed effort is as old of the
hills: A pair of young drifter/lovers find
themselves committing a robbery spree across
America, angering law enforcement, but catching
the strange adulation of the general public...
Posted
July 3, 2020
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DA
5 BLOODS (R)
Band
of blood brothers
To
label writer/director Spike Lee's Netflix
original film DA 5 BLOODS as a war drama would
be misleading.
It's a decidedly rare breed of war genre
effort that's less about transporting you to the
past and into the hellish battlefields and is
more about the psychological imprint that combat
leaves on surviving veterans, which is made
especially more intriguing when one considers
the racial makeup of the people in question.
If
anything, DA 5 BLOODS makes for a wonderful
companion piece to Lee's last joint in the Oscar
winning BLACKkKLANSMAN...
Posted
June 25, 2020
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ARTEMIS
FOWL (PG)
Not-so-fantastic
beasts and who cares if you find them
I knew that I was
in serious trouble very early on in my streaming viewing of the new Disney
produced sci-fi adventure film ARTEMIS FOWL.
Within the first
few minutes of this adaptation of the young adult novel series by
Eoin Colfer the titular character's name is mentioned/referenced, like,
a dozen times. We get it.
Seriously. This film
is called ARTEMIS FOWL, it's about a young criminal mastermind
named Artemis Fowl, and is the single most Artemis Fowled film
in the history of Artemis Fowl...
Posted
June 25, 2020
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THE
KING OF STATEN ISLAND
(R)
Apatow's
less-than-crowning achievement
Judd
Apatow's THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND is a new
dramedy of strange contradictions.
It's
the kind of film that has an authentic and
grounded texture and some committed performances
that work together to intimately invite you into
its unique microcosm.
At the same time, I felt that Apatow's
efforts here were frustratingly pushing me away
at a distracting distance, largely due to some
creatively questionable choices that hold the
film back from achieving the same sort of
comedic greatness that typified his early work...
Posted
June 25, 2020
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BECKY
(R)
1/2
A
less than ideal vacation at the lake house!
I'm
not a cinematic snob, nor a prude.
I like B-grade trash.
In the right circumstances, I really do.
And BECKY is most definitely the type of
film that would be best described as retrograde
and low rent drive-in theatre/grindhouse fare.
But
it also happens to be bad trash and an
appallingly gory movie featuring adults doing
unspeakable harm to kids...and one psychotic kid
inflicting barbaric violence on many adults.
It also features Kevin James (yes, that
one of PAUL BLART: MALL COP and I NOW PRONOUNCE
YOU CHUCK AND LARRY) as a loathsomely sadistic
neo-Nazi criminal...
Posted
June 10, 2020
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THE
VAST OF NIGHT
(PG-13)
1/2
Look,
up in the sky...!
There
have been innumerable science fiction films over
the years that have dabbled into close
encounters and/or invasions by extra-terrestrial
visitors, but very few are done with such stark
filmmaking economy and eerie atmosphere like
director Andrew Patterson's THE VAST OF NIGHT,
which premiered last year on the indie film
festival circuit and is now available to stream
via Amazon Prime.
So many examples of this genre typically
favor mindless action/spectacle and numbing
visual effects, but the Oklahoma filmmaker shot
this one on the micro budgeted cheap...
Posted
June 10, 2020
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THE
TRIP TO GREECE (R)
Greece
is the word!
THE
TRIP TO GREECE is the fourth film in director
Michael Winterbottom's mockumentary series of
films featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon -
playing loosely fictionalized versions of
themselves - traveling to all points of exotic
and picturesque locales of the world while
engaging in some fine dining.
The
series actually began on the small screen as the
BBC series THE TRIP, which in turn was edited
down to form the 2011 feature film version of
the same name.
The two sequels - 2014's THE TRIP TO
ITALY and 2017's THE TRIP TO SPAIN - followed
suit...
Posted
June 10, 2020
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THE
LOVEBIRDS (R)
1/2
Living
not so happily ever after
THE
LOVEBIRDS is a stark reminder that the most
prosaically scripted romcoms can be made all the
more eminently watchable with two finely attuned
and likeable lead actors leading the charge.
Premiering
on Netflix a few weeks ago after being yet
another film on an increasingly long list that
have had their theatrical release lives
threatened by the Covid-19 pandemic...
Posted
June 4, 2020
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VALLEY
GIRL
(PG-13)
Girls
just wanna have fun!
I
think that I've made it abundantly clear over
the years that I typical loathe most remakes of
any kind.
It's as creatively lazy as it gets for
the medium.
That's
not to say that I haven't appreciated some
remakes.
In my mind, a good re-imagining of a past
movie has to pay some level of respectful homage
to what has come before while carving out its
own unique tone and vibe that makes the material
somehow feel fresh and new.
Otherwise, what's really the point...
Posted
June 4, 2020
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CAPONE
(No
MPAA Rating)
1/2
A
weird type of gangster picture that fails to
pack serious heat
CAPONE
is absolutely proof positive that a compelling
idea for a movie doesn't necessarily make for a
compelling movie.
To
be fair, it audaciously tries something
different when it comes to telling a story about
an unexplored side of one of the most famous
gangsters in history in Al Capone that's
arguably unknown to most.
That, and CAPONE could not be anymore
different than writer/director Josh Trank's
previous two efforts...
Posted
May 20, 2020
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ORDINARY
LOVE
(R)
1/2
Husbands
and wives
I
might be of the opinion that we have far too
many cancer themed dramas for my tastes, with
many - but not all - examples going for crude
melodramatic sensationalism versus authentically
rendered human drama.
Directors
Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn's ORDINARY
LOVE could be easily labeled as a "cancer
drama," seeing as it concerns a couple's
arduous trials and tribulations while navigating
through the wife's sudden diagnosis of breast
cancer.
Yet, what chiefly separates this film
from so many countless others with similar
narratives is in how penetratingly honest it
feels...
Posted
May 20, 2020
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SPACESHIP
EARTH (R)
To
boldly go where no Biopsherians have ever gone
before
The Biosphere
2 project was an awe inspiringly ambitious - if not equal parts crazy -
scientific undertaking, and is the subject of Matt Wolfe's sometimes
unwieldy, but thoroughly intoxicating documentary SPACESHIP EARTH. For those that
weren't around at the time or have forgotten, the Biosphere 2 was the
world's first and largest internal ecosystem, built between 1987 and1991
in Oracle, Arizona. After
completion in 1991, a group of so-called "Biospherians" were
elected to enter the vast structure and seal themselves within in for two
years...
Posted
May 20, 2020
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MY
SPY
(PG-13)
Definitely
not a Bautista bomb
There’s
a moment in the
new comedy MY SPY featuring star
Dave Bautista shaking two school kids out of a
tree...with his bare hands...while playing a
game of hide and seek, and another with him
camouflage hiding in a toy closet with a puppy
to avoid detection. It
was at this point when I realized that (a)
Bautista is a really game showman and is willing
to make himself look cool or absurd when a
screenplay requires it and (b) this movie
is much funnier than I was expecting,
considering that it's occupying a very
overcrowded genre that some would argue is on
life support...
Posted
May 10, 2020
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BLOODSHOT
(PG-13)
1/2
We
can rebuild him...we have the technology
With
the possible exception of the RIDDICK themed
sci-fi franchise, can anyone out there frankly
remember any of Vin Diesel's non-FAST AND THE
FURIOUS starring roles and films?
Outside
of PITCH BLACK, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK and
RIDDICK, I'm hard pressed to recall (random
order) THE LAST WITCH HUNTER, the xXx franchise,
and BABYLON A.D. (to name a few) in any detail.
Now, I'm not talking about solid and
under appreciated dramatic turns from the
fiftysomething actor (like the criminally unseen
FIND ME GUILTY), but rather action focused
roles...
Posted
May 10, 2020
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THE
ASSISTANT
(R)
1/2
A
timely rallying cry drama
THE
ASSISTANT contains a premise that's so
deceptively simple, yet speaks relative volumes
about toxic work environments, male toxicity,
and the distressing struggles that young up and
coming women face while trying to climb the
corporate ladder.
It's
the product of Kitty Green, making her dramatic
feature film directorial debut, who spent a
better part of a year interviewing women that
once worked for Harvey Weinstein, only later to
expand her interviews beyond these people...
Posted
May 10, 2020
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EXTRACTION
(R)
A
passably thrilling JOHN WICK clone
I'll challenge anyone that
thinks that Chris Hemsworth is a bona fide and bankable movie star. That's not to say that he's a
mediocre talent. Far from it. However,
if one modestly scrutinizes the Australian actor's non-THOR
roles and films then it becomes apparent that he really can't draw mass
audiences himself, emphasizing a questionable career trajectory.
People love the actor as the God of Thunder (one of the most pitch
perfectly cast MCU characters, for sure), but do any filmgoers honestly
remember his turns in box office duds...
Posted
April 30, 2020 |

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BAD
EDUCATION
ORIGINAL
MOVIE
(No
MPAA Rating)
We
don't need no education...
BAD EDUCATION - which
premiered on HBO this past weekend - is director Cory Finley's follow-up
effort to this terribly underrated THOROUGHBREDS,
and it once again shows him as an ever-evolving and superlative filmmaking
talent. His latest is an
utterly intoxicating dramatization of the real life tale of the largest
education theft in American history, all of which was exposed, ironically
enough, by a high school newspaper reporter that smelled a financial rat
when no one else did...
Posted
April 30, 2020
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NEVER
RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS
(PG-13)
An
authentic and harrowing of tale of a young
woman's tough joruney
One
of the very best films of the year is one that I knew next to nothing
about before I saw it. I
went into Eliza Hitmman's NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS completely cold,
having no idea that it was an abortion drama.
Having said that, to simplistically label it as "an
abortion drama" would be incredibly misleading, seeing as it's an
unflinchingly honest and superbly acted film that never manages to overtly
politicize or get aggressively preachy with its subject matter.
Its story concerns a young 17-year-old girl's journey to the big
city to abort her pregnancy...
Posted
April 30, 2020
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THE
LAST FULL MEASURE (R)
Failing
to rise to the call of duty
THE LAST FULL
MEASURE is an earnest and noble minded Vietnam War themed fact based drama
that's unfortunately mired by some lackluster creative discipline and
execution. It tells a story
that absolutely should be seen, that of war hero William H. Pitsenbarger,
who personally saved over sixty men during one of the U.S. campaign's
deadliest days on April
11, 1966...
Posted
April 30, 2020
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LIKE
A BOSS
(R)
1/2
This
workplace comedy is dead on arrival
If LIKE A BOSS were any
less of a movie then we'd barely have anything to actually project on a
cinema screen. Very few workplace comedies are as punishingly awful
as this. It's as disastrously unfunny of a starring vehicle for the
trio of Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, and Salma Hayek if there ever was
one. Equally head scratching is
that this piece of disposable trash was directed by the very competent
Miguel Arteta, who previously made a quite hilarious - and quite
underrated - comedy in CEDAR RAPIDS...
Posted
April 30, 2020
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DOWNHILL
(R)
The
bunny hill of remakes
DOWNHILL is one
of those films that's more forgettable and unnecessary than truly awful.
It's a work that has some genuine talent in front of and behind the
camera (proven stars Will Ferrell and Julia Louise-Dreyfus and directors
Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the Oscar winning screenwriters of THE
DESCENDENTS and the filmmakers behind the sensational and
underrated coming of age dramedy THE
WAY, WAY BACK). But
considering the team assembled here, DOWNHILL is disappointingly dull and
unfunny...
Posted
April 21, 2020
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COFFEE
& KAREEM
(No
MPAA Rating)
This
buddy cop comedy needs a lot more milk and sugar
added to the scripting
COFFEE
& KAREEM is a new comedy that definitely
wants to have its cake and eat it too.
This latest Netflix original film wants
to appease fans of multiple genres - the cop
buddy action comedies of yesteryear, kid
friendly family comedies, and hyper foul
mouthed, lewd, and unapologetically hard R-rated
raunch fests.
It
yearns to be cute and foul at the same
time. So, what audience was this
film designed for...
Posted
April 14, 2020
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ONWARD
(PG)

Pixar's
latest doesn't magically go to infinity and
beyond
Pixar's
ONWARD is easily one of the studio's oddest
animated films, but it's also one of its more
regrettably subpar and forgettable efforts.
Their
visual maestros and artists have undoubtedly
made yet another endlessly gorgeous film on a
level of technical craft, not to mention that
the underlining story here about the bond
between siblings and how families experience
great difficulties in letting go of deceased
members has potential for dramatic potency...
Posted
April 14, 2020
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INTERNATIONAL
FALLS
(R)
1/2
Stand
up comedy as mid-life crisis and marital therapy
Amber
McGinnis' INTERNATIONAL FALLS begins quaintly as
a quirky small town Americana comedy about a
struggling and touring stand-up comic that
strikes up an unlikely friendship and romance
with one of the locals.
Just when you think, though, that you
know precisely where it's heading, McGinnis'
feature film debut effort manages to subvert our
very expectations of such romcom material, and
surprisingly traverses down some poignant and
distressing paths...
Posted
April 14, 2020
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VIVARIUM
(R)
How
NOT to buy your first home
VIVARIUM
is a new slow burn science fiction thriller
that's made on the cheap, but nevertheless
becomes more genuinely unnerving as it unfolds
throughout its relatively taunt 97 minutes.
It dabbles in a premise that's seen the
light of day, in one form or another, in many
previous films (an unsuspecting couple living in
an absolute hellish suburban nightmare), but
VIVARIUM takes it several macabre steps forward
in its narrative evolution...
Posted
April 5, 2020
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BANANA
SPLIT
(R)
Sticking
it to your ex in the most roundabout way
I
would need an infinite number of hands to count
how many high school romcoms that I've seen in
my 45 years on the planet, especially ones that
involve multiple girls fighting over the
affections of one hunky male suitor.
BANANA SPLIT attempts to subvert many of
this genre's most tired and overused clichés -
while still adhering to a few of them - in terms
of its relationship arcs.
In its case, this film provides for an
intriguing twist on traditional female
friendship/high school comedies, and one that
feels infinitely more grounded and lived in than
most..
Posted
April 5, 2020
|

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BLOW
THE MAN DOWN
(R)
1/2
When
quaint small towns harbor big, dark secrets
The
new Amazon original Maritime murder mystery noir
BLOW THE MAN DOWN deserves legitimate
comparisons to the peak work of the Coen
Brothers, in particular their Oscar nominated
FARGO.
Both
films maintain a wonderfully evocative sense of
period and place and contain an immersive
regional texture.
Both films feature an eclectic menagerie
of colorful characters set against the
background of small town American.
Both films marry dark comedy and dramatic
pathos exceptionally well.
And finally, both films show a drearier
underbelly of isolated small town Americana that
rarely gets seen in contemporary films...
Posted
April 5, 2020
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THE
HUNT
(R)
1/2
We're
definitely not in Arkansas anymore
With
the possible exception of THE NEW MUTANTS, I
can't think of another film that's been typified
by more bad luck release doom than THE HUNT.
Director Craig Zobel's (COMPLIANCE and Z FOR
ZACHARIAH) newest film - on its most basic
levels - is a satire about American political
divide as well as a take on THE MOST DANGEROUS
GAME premise of people hunting and killing other
people for sport.
Universal originally set the film for
release back in September of last year, but
cautiously balked after a series of mass
shootings in Dayton and El Paso last August..
Posted
March 29, 2020
|
|
THE
JESUS ROLLS
(R)

This
unnecessary spin-off throws nothing but gutter balls
The
Coen Brothers' THE BIG LEBOWSKI is arguably the
biggest cult film to emerge of the last 25
years.
Their 1998 crime comedy concerned a Los
Angeles based slacker and
bowling fanatic and all of his comings
and goings with a rich menagerie of colorful
personalities.
It's by the Coens' own admission that -
despite the long lasting appeal of their film in
the years subsequent to its release - they'd
never do a sequel.
That's probably a wise move, especially
considering that it's awfully hard to re-capture
cult film/pop culture lighting in a bottle
twice...
Posted
March 29, 2020
|
|
EMMA
(PG)
1/2
Austen
3:16
To
quote its full title (including an intriguing
bit of punctuation) EMMA. is the newest in what
seems like a tremendously long line of Jane
Austen movie adaptations.
The author's 1815 romance comedy novel
has seen the light of day on the silver screen
multiple times over, from the well respected Gwyenth
Paltrow iteration of 1996 to, my personal
favorite, a radical modern day retelling in
1995's valley girl centric CLUELESS.
You can almost say that Hollywood making
versions of Austen's literary world is a unique
industry in itself...
Posted
March 29, 2020
|

|
LOST
GIRLS
(R)

Lost,
but not forgotten
Based
on the 2011 New York Magazine story that, in
turn, spawned Robert Koller's non-fiction book:
LOST GIRLS: AN UNRESOLVED AMERICAN MYSTERY, the
new Netflix film LOST GIRLS tells the fact based
tale of one woman whose family life was deeply
affected by the Long Island serial killer, a
still unidentified person that's believed to
have slain a dozen-plus people over the course
of two decades, with most of the victims being
women...
Posted
March 22, 2020
|

|
THE
LAST THING HE WANTED
(R)
1/2
Who
wanted this incomprehensible mess?
The
new Netflix thriller THE LAST THING HE WANTED is
the kind of ridiculously messy and endlessly
convoluted film that feels like the makers
should handed out narrative road maps beforehand
to everyone that wishes to watch it.
Based
on the Joan Didion novel of the same name, this
Dee Rees directed affair seems like it was
assembled out of multiple ingredients
haphazardly thrown into a story blender and
without any idea as to how to mix them fluidly
together...
Posted
March 22, 2020
|

|
SPENSER
CONFIDENTIAL
(R)
This
action comedy is best kept on the down low
The
new Netflix produced action comedy SPENSER
CONFIDENTIAL is ever-so-loosely based on the Ace
Atkins novel WONDERLAND, which in turn used
character names from the detective series by
Robert B. Parker (that work was appropriated
into the mid to late 80s TV series SPENSER: FOR
HIRE with Robert Urich. Still with me? It
seems that the makers of this film were hoping
for it to springboard a new franchise, but it
becomes abundantly clear very early on in
SPENSER: CONFIDENTIAL that it's really not up to
creative speed...
Posted
March 22, 2020
|

|
THE
WAY BACK (R)
1/2
Affleck
gives a three pointer with nothing but net
performance
Not to be
confused with the 2013 coming of age film THE
WAY, WAY BACK, Gavin O'Connor's sports redemption drama THE WAY
BACK has taken on a whole new personal level as far as star Ben Affleck is
concerned.
The 47-year-old
actor recently and publicly came clean about his own decades-long bout
with alcoholism, something that derailed his marriage and nearly shut down
his career...
Posted
March 14, 2020
|

|
COLOR
OUT OF SPACE
(No
MPAA Rating)
1/2
A
crazy eyed Cage-ian sci-fi horror thriller of a
different hue
It's hard to
imagine that director Richard Stanley hasn't made a feature film in nearly
25 years. His last attempt
at such was the doomed production of 1996's THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU,
which was a self professed passion project for the filmmaker, but his
dreams of seeing that film through to final fruition failed when he was
unceremoniously terminated and replaced during principal photography.
Soured to the whole Hollywood system, Stanley has laid dormant from
it ever since...
Posted
March 14, 2020
|

|
THE
NIGHT CLERK (R)
A
REAR WINDOW clone not worth checking into
The new crime
drama THE NIGHT CLERK represents Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner
Michael Cristofer's first feature film directorial effort in nearly twenty
years, with his last film being 2001's ORIGINAL SIN. This obviously
begs the question as to whether or not a two decade absence was well worth
the wait for this? The short answer would be...not really. THE NIGHT CLERK
tries to position itself as a Hitchcockian, REAR WINDOW inspired thriller
with some modern day twists...
Posted
March 14, 2020
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THE
INVISIBLE MAN (R)
A
classic horror tale put through a compelling
modern day blender
There
have been countless films over the years that
have been made about unstoppable monsters that
stalk their unsuspecting and vulnerable prey,
but there's something more unspeakably creepy
and horrifying about trying to defend oneself
against a silent foe that can't been
seen...or...worse yet...that no one around you
believes exists. That's
something that the makers of the new iteration
of THE INVISIBLE MAN keenly understand.
This remake, of course, is the umpteenth
version of this premise that dates as far back
as the original Universal horror film series of
Hollywood's Golden Age...
Posted
March 5, 2020
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THE
CALL OF THE WILD
(PG)
 1/2
When
adaptations get lost in the wilderness
Harrison
Ford.
God
love 'em.
The
man's an icon of the silver screen that hardly
needs any introduction whatsoever, and he's
played some of the most legendary and memorable
heroes of the medium.
His latest film is THE CALL OF THE WILD,
which is, of course, based on the 1903 short
Jack London wilderness adventure novel of the
same name that's been adapted for film multiple
times over, with perhaps the two most well known
being the 1935 Clark Gable and 1972 Charlton
Heston starring iterations respectively...
Posted
March 5, 2020
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A
SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE:
FARMAGEDDON
(PG)
1/2
Close
encounters of the farm kind
I've
run out of superlatives over the years when it
comes to talking about the animated films
produced by Aardman, the studio that has become
absolute masterful pioneers of the thankless art
of stop motion.
Their latest endeavor (released
internationally last year and finally seeing the
light of day here on Netflix), the amusingly
titled A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON, is
another qualitative home run for the studio...
Posted
March 5, 2020
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SONIC
THE HEDGEHOG
(PG)
Must
go faster...must go faster!
One of the very
first large purchases that I ever made with my own money was a Sega Genesis
game console. I was
13-years-old and felt like I just acquired a Roles Royce.
The first cartridge that I inserted into this fabled system was
Sonic the Hedgehog, which featured a character that was, yes, a
hedgehog that can run at super sonic speeds.
Two things stuck with me as I played it: (1) This is the most
ridiculously fast video game I've ever played and (2) this little blue
haired creature was oddly endearing...
Posted
February 24, 2020
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FANTASY
ISLAND
(R)
zero
stars
A
horrible piece of wish fulfillment
The
big screen adaptation of the late 1970s and
early 1980s ABC TV series - which involved a
vacation island resort where travelers could
literally live out their deepest desires - is
absolute garbage of the lowest order and an
embarrassingly wrongheaded movie of amateurish
trashiness.
This is such a categorically wretch
remake/reboot that it never once rises to the
retrograde moniker of so-bad, it's-good...
Posted
February 24, 2020
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HORSE
GIRL (R)
An
uncomfortable gallop into the darker underbelly
of mental health
The Netflix
produced film HORSE GIRL begins with relative modesty and simplicity, but
then slowly and somewhat compellingly segues into one of the single
strangest dramas that I've seen in quite some time. On a basic
premise level, it couldn't be anymore economical: A chronically
introverted and unendingly shy craft store sales associate starts to deal
with her mental health slowly, but surely, unraveling...
Posted
February 24, 2020
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BIRDS
OF PREY
(AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE
HARLEY QUINN)
(R)
The
not-so suicidal squad
To
quote its full title (takes a deep breath), BIRDS OF PREY (AND THE
FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN) is like a rainbow hued
cocaine fever dream induced comic book film of rampant, insane chaos,
quarterbacked by a wickedly loony and absolutely game for anything
performance by Margot Robbie
and
some of the most sensationally realized action set-pieces this side of any
JOHN
WICK
film...
Posted
February 15, 2020
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UNCUT
GEMS
(R)
Sandler
at his most dramatically refined
Make no
mistake about it, the Safdie Brothers are unqualified cinematic masters of
tension and mood. Their films wash over viewers in a stupendously uncomfortable
wave, making us feel all of the fever inducing levels of despair and panic
that their characters on experiencing on screen. Josh and
Benny
Safdie's last film, the Robert Pattinson starring GOOD
TIME, was a nightmarish urban crime film that had a hyper adrenalized sense of narrative momentum...
Posted
February 15, 2020
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