**editor’s note: This is one of those instances where we will discuss portions of the movie’s climax. It is impossible to talk about the biggest place “Halloween Kills” goes wrong without a discussion of the climax because that is where… Read More ›
At one point in Alexis Gambis’s new film, “Son of Monarchs,” the lead character, Mendel, ghosts his girlfriend. Eventually he reconnects with her and instantly acts very badly over a dinner. Seemingly without explanation, this issue evaporates and the two… Read More ›
One of the most interesting aspects of Daniel Craig’s time as James Bond is the push-and-pull it has offered between the traditional and iconoclastic versions of the character. The delicate balancing act has not always been a successful one for… Read More ›
It is the rare film that can make one both cringe in horror and cry in sympathy while still being utterly, off-the-wall, bonkers. This year’s Palme d’Or winter, “Titane,” is just such a film. Written and directed by Julia Ducournau,… Read More ›
Do you ever sit there for months on end waiting for a new movie or game or book or album to come out? How often does all that anticipation, all that build up, find you disappointed when the thing finally… Read More ›
The Kurt Russell movie, “Breakdown,” knows what it’s about: this is the story of one man doing everything he can to rescue his wife after she is kidnapped. That’s it. The Keanu Reeves movie, “Hardball,” doesn’t know what it’s about:… Read More ›
More and more, people complain about hearing movie “spoilers.” The complaint that has gone hand-in-hand with the seemingly ever-increasing presence of massive event movies. Interestingly, audiences are lied to on a regular basis for these movies, with things like trailers… Read More ›
There can be a sense of relief sometimes when one finishes watching a scary movie — the credits roll, the thing is over, and you can look out your window and remind yourself that the real world is just not… Read More ›
The success of “Dear Evan Hansen” on Broadway makes it exceptionally clear that there is something in the story and the songs and the production (and everything else) that speaks to an audience. It is inarguable. Never having seen the… Read More ›
I love the Jungle Cruise ride at Walt DisneyWorld. I know that it’s a little corny (or a lot corny), but it is an absolute favorite. I was, perhaps, a little trepidatious when it was announced that they were going… Read More ›
I don’t know very much about the book publishing world. I cannot attempt to tell you, in any sort of detail (or even broadly), how a book goes from manuscript form to sitting on the shelf at a bookstore and… Read More ›
There are kids who look a good scare as much as some adults, and it is for that crowd that the new Netflix film, “Nightbooks,” is clearly intended. Starring Krysten Ritter as an evil witch and Winslow Fegley and Lidya… Read More ›
At its best, “Star Trek” shines a light on our own humanity. It shows us how we could be better, how we could do more. It offers us not just those lofty ideals, but identifies its characters as being less… Read More ›
The movies “Nashville” and “A Place in the Sun” are both great. They both offer up not just engrossing stories, not just wonderful filmmaking, but important thoughts about the American Dream and the ways in which we can destroy it…. Read More ›
One, usually, does not approach a jigsaw puzzle from a single spot. That is, as you go around building the entire border, separating all the edge pieces no matter if they match the ones you already have or not. After… Read More ›
We are going to get a whole lot of movies about Covid. It is inevitable. They are going to discuss the disease and the response, the effects on the world at large and specific people in particular. These movies are… Read More ›
“Understated” is unquestionably the wrong word to use when describing Martin Campbell’s latest film, “The Protégé.” No, this is a movie with blood and violence and foul language. It is not understated. And yet, the most interesting thing about the… Read More ›
There is a brilliant moment in writer-director Evan Oppenheimer’s “The Magnificent Meyersons” in which Dr. Terri Meyerson (Kate Mulgrew) is talking to her mother, Celeste (Barbara Barrie), and suggests that we are all the sum of our experiences, whether we… Read More ›
I think that 2016’s “Arrival” and 2018’s “Annihilation” are two of the best “thinking” sci-fi/alien movies that we’ve gotten in a long while. These are movies that make you question what you’re seeing; they’re movies that make you instantly want… Read More ›
We are better when we can be ourselves and have confidence in the knowledge that those around us will accept us as such. One needs look no further than Disney-Pixar’s “Luca” to see just how much it means to be… Read More ›
It is one thing to be angry and quite another to see that anger manifest itself in a sensible—and potentially productive—way. The same is true for any emotion. Of course, try as we might, we can’t always control the ways… Read More ›
Mysteries are great. Suspense and scares are great. There is no reason why every little thing happening in a film has to be explained. There is no reason why we have to understand exactly how the horror in a horror… Read More ›
It would be wrong to think that James Gunn has taken, wholesale, his work on the two “Guardians of the Galaxy” Marvel movies and simply moved the concepts over to DC for their “Suicide Squad” sequel, “The Suicide Squad” (yes,… Read More ›
Movies don’t always have to make complete sense. The question is whether or not as we watch them we understand enough of what’s going on to enjoy them; whether there’s enough there to make us want to watch the entire… Read More ›
