Is a movie compelling because the story is compelling or is a movie compelling due to the manner in which it is told? Ideally, of course, it’s both and regrettably, not every movie succeeds on both fronts. Sometimes one overshadows… Read More ›
review
Movie Review: “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
The Writers Guild of America is currently on strike. One element of the entertainment industry that greatly concerns the WGA is the increasing prevalence of artificial intelligence. Could AI eventually be used to write television and movie scripts? Could it… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
Movies need not succeed on all fronts to be successful overall. Having enough laughs in a comedy might make up for a lack of interesting characters. Give us truly great chemistry between the leads and a romance can spin its… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Fast X”
There are two distinct reviews one could write of “Fast X,” the newest entry in the “Fast & Furious” franchise. Neither review would be untrue, but they still would seemingly be at odds with one another. The first of the… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Resurrection” (2022)
Perhaps the most important thing to note about writer-director Andrew Semans’s new film, “Resurrection,” is not that it is horrifying, but rather that it is grippingly horrifying. It may be described as a “psychological thriller,” and while those words are… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Top Gun: Maverick”
The “Star Wars” movies do not exist within the world of “Top Gun.” That might be an odd thing to have stick with someone walking out of the long-delayed “Top Gun: Maverick,” a sequel to the 1986 film, but it… Read More ›
Movie Review: “The Bad Guys” (2022)
Years ago, NBC offered up reruns by explaining, “if you haven’t seen it, it’s new to you.” The same sort of notion is present in DreamWorks Animation’s latest, “The Bad Guys.” Rather than just recycling an old episode though, what… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”
In my review of the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie, I suggested that the film had managed an incredible task – it had exactly the same amount of good and bad within it and therefore somehow hit a neutral state…. Read More ›
Movie Review: “The Outfit” (2022)
“You had me at hello.” Renée Zellwegger’s line from “Jerry Maguire” has become something of a punchline (maybe it was a punchline from the moment the film came out), but there is still truth in there. Sometimes, from the moment… Read More ›
Movie Review: “John and the Hole”
Is there a reason for it? Even if we don’t know why someone in a movie acts in a specific manner, or takes a specific action, does the character have a reason for taking the action? If the answer is… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Dog” (2022)
You have almost undoubtedly heard the saying, “Chocolate and peanut butter — two great tastes that go great together.” Reese’s wasn’t wrong, the peanut butter cup is delicious, but there’s something important there in that idea at the saying’s core… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Blacklight” (2022)
Liam Neeson, as we always note, has a very particular set of skills. It isn’t just Neeson’s on screen characters that do, it’s the man himself. The actor has the ability to portray aging killers with a heart of gold… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Sundown” (2022)
Some movies are stuffed to the gills, packed with quick cuts and a constantly shifting camera, overloaded with dialogue and characters and plot twist after plot twist. There is often a sense with such a film that they are trying… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania”
Although some of the advertising promises for “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” to be the final “Hotel Transylvania” film, such an inducement did not, apparently, convince Adam Sandler to return as the voice of Dracula. Yes, after three entries in the series,… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Italian Studies”
As the end credits roll in writer-director Adam Leon’s new film, “Italian Studies,” the character played by Vanessa Kirby is given the name “Alina Reynolds.” She does go by this name for a little while in the movie, but until… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Sing 2”
What is it that we expect of a sequel? If characters from one movie return for a second, should what happened to them in the first matter? Can motivations from the original, motivations that put the entire plot of the… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Rumble”
Although the assumption was not always correct, once upon a time it was easily believed that if a movie was switched from a theatrical release to VOD, or never given a theatrical date in the first place, it was going… Read More ›
Movie Review: “Benedetta”
George Costanza famously once said, “it’s not a lie if you believe it.” Paul Verhoeven’s latest movie, “Benedetta,” may not deal with anything quite so mundane as trying to beat a polygraph test on whether or not someone watches “Melrose… Read More ›
Movie Review: “American Sicario”
Some movies do not tell a single story, they tell two or three or more (or none!). Such movies can often display a sort of hybrid sensibility, more easily swinging between various emotions depending on which story is front and… Read More ›
Movie Review: “A Boy Called Christmas”
All too many Christmas movies are infused with a saccharine sweetness – a cloying, fake, forced sense of happiness and joy. Every year there are new entries into this disappointing cadre of works and 2021 is no exception, one only… Read More ›
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