Sometimes movies function on all cylinders, everything working towards a single goal. Other times—perhaps more often—elements of a film are at odds with each other. These disparate elements may simply not mesh well or they could work actively against one… Read More ›
While watching writer-director Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s latest film, “The Truth,” I couldn’t shake the fact that there was something very familiar about it. Perhaps the fact that it was selected for both Venice and TIFF caused it to lodge in my… Read More ›
In the first few minutes of the new David Bautista film, “My Spy,” there are references to “Fifty Shades of Grey,” “Iron Man 2,” and “Notting Hill.” There are also a bunch of jokes based on diegetic needle drops (okay,… Read More ›
The most impressive thing about writer-director David Koepp’s “You Should Have Left” (which is based on the novel by Daniel Kehlmann) is that it is not content with simply offering up an exploration of whether Kevin Bacon’s Theo Conroy’s dark… Read More ›
Next week, Paramount is releasing a new Blu-ray of “Ghost,” the 1990 film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg. That provides us the perfect opportunity to take another look at the movie. I will admit to enjoying the… Read More ›
Director Peter Medak has made a new documentary entitled, “The Ghost of Peter Sellers.” The movie looks at Medak’s experiences directing Sellers in the the 1973 film, “Ghost in the Noonday Sun.” Well, we say the “1973 film,” but “Ghost… Read More ›
Watching a movie there is often a push-and-pull where one’s head fights their heart (or vice versa). Logically speaking, the characters are acting in incredibly dumb ways, ways sure to result in poor outcomes. Emotionally speaking, the characters are trapped… Read More ›
As always when I tackle horror, I come at it from an “intrigued by the genre but certainly not an expert in the minutiae” stance (there are sites which focus solely on horror and do so wonderfully). And, stating that,… Read More ›
John Travolta’s character in 1980’s “Urban Cowboy” is not a good person. The sad thing about the movie, however, is that it doesn’t seem to recognize this. In this year’s “The Hunt,” we have a whole lot of folks who… Read More ›
As Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” moves back and forth between the past and the present, Vietnam and the United States, open war and hidden, it becomes clear that we are watching Lee is at his best. More than that… Read More ›
Sometimes the movie you’re watching isn’t the movie you think you’re watching. Worse, sometimes it’s not the movie those behind it think they’ve made. With “The King of Staten Island” Judd Apatow has indeed created yet another film about adult… Read More ›
Imagine a movie about a widowed father who has been searching for a missing son for years. The father’s second son is still around, now married with a teenager of his own, but the father sees right past him, always… Read More ›
Rather than looking at some current home video release, this week’s podcast is all about the joys of sitting down and watching a whole lot of movies from a single series. Specifically, we’re looking the MCU. Over the course of… Read More ›
There is something to be said for moody films which contemplate what it means to be alive and what it means to die on one’s own terms. Nicolaj Coster-Waldau’s latest, “Exit Plan,” is just that – a movie that examines… Read More ›
It would be unfair to say that once the credits start rolling on Josephine Decker’s “Shirley” one will ask why they bothered watching it all the way through. The answer to that is Elisabeth Moss. Yet again proving herself to… Read More ›
“The Deer Hunter” is an incredible film. It is also a difficult watch. It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it — the thing never gets any easier even when you know what’s going to happen. “Escape from L.A.”… Read More ›
There are movies out there that make you feel the weight of whatever event is taking place within them. Then there are movies where the event may be important, but rather than experiencing emotions based on it, the sentiment felt… Read More ›
I don’t necessarily like being the person who looks at something fun and has all the enjoyment sucked out of it for a potentially silly reason, and yet, here we are. You can’t fight genetics. Or, you can fight genetics… Read More ›
Please forgive the kind of meta nature of the below piece. It feels essential to do it this way… Every so often when I request a review copy of something, the response I get is positive, but it comes with… Read More ›
A painter has a show in an art gallery. A drug addict in the middle of an extended binge breaks into said gallery with another man and steals two of the painter’s works. When the thief comes down and is… Read More ›
This week’s podcast is 75% look back and 25% disappointment. Sure, that’s like an apples and air fryers kind of a thing taking us to 100%, but there’s a pandemic on and we don’t have to play by the rules… Read More ›
There is no specific need for a Stargate to appear in “Scoob!,” the new Scooby-Doo based animated film that’s arrived on VOD today, but it fits into a movie which also incorporates the Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, Dick Dastardly, Simon Cowell,… Read More ›
In my middle school, everyone learned that the lead character in “The Call of the Wild,” Buck, is a dynamic progressive character. It was the way we were taught to write a standard five paragraph essay. That worked wonderfully (except… Read More ›
There is something unsettling that takes place throughout the running time of “How to Build a Girl.” The movie, which stars Beanie Feldstein, is full of golden little moments, great bits of humor, and a wonderful lead performance. It is… Read More ›
