The TV and Film Guy's Reviews

Recent Posts - page 5

• Howling at “The Wolf of Wall Street”

  By Josh Lasser on December 21, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Movies are not obligated to provide us with good, moral, individuals.  They can show us bad individuals and they are under no obligation to tell us that the characters are bad.  None at all.  Instead, it is up to us,… Read More ›

• Movie Review: “Rumble”

  By Josh Lasser on December 14, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  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”

  By Josh Lasser on December 10, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  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”

  By Josh Lasser on December 9, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  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 ›

• What About Beatty?

  By Josh Lasser on December 7, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  A few weeks ago we talked about Tom Cruise and for good reason.  After all, the man is Tom Cruise and a classic movie star.  This week, therefore, we’re going to talk about someone slightly more classic (or, at least,… Read More ›

• “Shang-Chi” and the Legend of the Fourth Phase

  By Josh Lasser on November 30, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Marvel has not done a great job with putting compelling villains on the big screen.  The number of truly interesting ones can be counted, probably, on one hand, and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” is no different…. Read More ›

• Movie Review: “A Boy Called Christmas”

  By Josh Lasser on November 24, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  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 ›

• On “Vanilla Sky,” the Tom Cruise one Where…

  By Josh Lasser on November 23, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  We desperately tried with this week’s episode to not do the whole “Tom Cruise is the last great movie star” thing, and we kind of(?) accomplished that.  I mean, we make an argument that he’s a great movie star, but… Read More ›

• Movie Review: “Black Friday” (2021)

  By Josh Lasser on November 19, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  We have all heard of the horrors of working retail on Black Friday, and some television series, like “Superstore,” have depicted the event. What the Cloud 9 employees did not have to deal with, however, was an alien invasion. That’s… Read More ›

• Movie Review: “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road”

  By Josh Lasser on November 18, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Sometimes a movie’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness (or perhaps vice versa). Directed by Brent Wilson, “Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road,” puts the Beach Boys legend front and center and in doing so offers us a glimpse at… Read More ›

• Movie Review: “India Sweets and Spices”

  By Josh Lasser on November 17, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Written and directed by Geeta Malik, “India Sweets and Spices” takes a fictionalized look at one wealthy Indian community living in New Jersey. It is a movie that succeeds in being touching and funny and rather cutting. Slightly messy, slightly… Read More ›

• Fun-Size “Candyman” too Constricted by its Wrapper

  By Josh Lasser on November 16, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  There’s a general sense about “fun-size” candy bars that there is in fact very little that’s fun about them — they are, simply put, not terribly enjoyable.  They offer the sense of what is there in a regular-sized bar, but… Read More ›

• Movie Review: “Clifford the Big Red Dog”

  By Josh Lasser on November 10, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  As I have said before (as have many others), movies are magic. Movies have the ability to transfer us to a new world, to show us new and amazing things about our world, to offer up stories of heartbreak and… Read More ›

• Avoiding “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”

  By Josh Lasser on November 9, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  What is it to tell the story of someone’s life?  What does that mean?  Surely it is a great responsibility and no one wants to do a shabby job.  Sometimes, however, shabby is exactly how a biopic ends up. This… Read More ›

• Movie Review: “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”

  By Josh Lasser on November 4, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  We like to put things in neat little boxes, to label them. This includes movies as categorize such as comedy or drama or action or sci-fi or horror or whatever. Often however, as we all know, attempting to impart such… Read More ›

• A Little Shouting About “Scream”

  By Josh Lasser on November 2, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Okay, fine, Halloween was last week.  We admit that, but also refuse to accept a world in which we can’t discuss a horror movie in November.  Heck, the fifth “Scream” movie–which is not so cleverly titled, “Scream”–is being released this… Read More ›

• Tuesday the 26th: Josh vs. Jason

  By Josh Lasser on October 26, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  It may have taken decades to get there, but I’ve finally watched the first eight “Friday the 13th” movies.  Yes, only the first eight — they’re the ones set Paramount released this year (the other two in the original series… Read More ›

• Rebecca Hall’s Performance Powers “The Night House”

  By Josh Lasser on October 19, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  We have, somehow, reached mid-October, and that means it’s time for horror movies (not that you can’t watch them any time).  Out today on Blu-ray is “The Night House,” a mediocre haunted house film made quite good due to the… Read More ›

• Movie Review: “Halloween Kills”

  By Josh Lasser on October 15, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  **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 ›

• Movie Review: “Son of Monarchs”

  By Josh Lasser on October 14, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  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 ›

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