Title be damned, this romantic comedy (starring Silicon Valley’s Kumail Nanjiani as a man who breaks up with a girlfriend he loves only to discover his mistake when she lapses into a coma) is one of the best films of 2017. What Works: The rom-com is an endangered species (there are now more films mocking them…
Author: Alabama Liberal
Movie Reviews: The Zookeeper’s Wife, The Promise
A pair of earnest-duds based on WWI or II true stories, but how many times do we have to watch bad movies with noble intentions think a World War setting can save any narrative flaw or stale filmmaking? The Zookeeper’s Wife…Based on the true story of a Polish zoo that doubled as sanctuary for Jews…
Movie Round-Up: Trainspotting 2, CHiPs, Belko Experiment, Wilson
If you had told me I would enjoy the critically-reviled “CHiPs” remake more than the long-anticipated “Trainspotting” sequel, I might’ve punched you in the face. But that’s exactly what happened… Trainspotting 2…Even the movie’s clumsy official title “T2” feels derivative, and although you can’t blame Danny Boyle for wanting some of that Linklater-“Before Sunset/Midnight” indie-sequel magic, this…
Movie Review: Death Note
One of the rare Netflix Original movies that may be slightly underrated by critics. This film—about a teenager (Nat Wolff) who receives a mysterious “Death Notebook” that allows him to kill anyone whose name he writes in it with the aid of a nefarious demon (voiced with delight by Willem Dafoe)—isn’t perfect by any stretch, but it…
Why is King Carpetbagger & Uber-New Yorker Trump Really Defending Neo-Confederates?
The reactions to Charlottesville–and especially Trump’s bizarre comments afterwards–fell, predictably, along partisan lines. More than two-thirds of Republicans said Trump’s pitifully unconvincing “both sides” equivocation and quasi-defense of white supremacists was “well handled,” and even more than that said it wouldn’t affect their support of him in the long term. While Democrats once again came…
Monday Morning Movie Review: The Excellent “Wind River”
“Wind River” is the directorial debut of one of my favorite screenwriters, Taylor Sheridan of “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water” fame, and even if it’s not quite as good as the 2016 best film of the year “Hell or High Water,” what is really? It’s at least as good as “Sicario” and features a strong Jeremy…
Movie Review: An Inconvenient Sequel
How discouraging it is that on the day I choose to review “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” Twitter is trending “The Other Inconvenient Truth” with anything they want to talk about (racism, Russia, Trump of course, microaggressions, sexism, etc.) and in that moment I almost felt how Al Gore must on a daily basis,…
Movie Review: Dunkirk
At long last, a film you might still care about. If you’ve already gotten through the first 21 of my “24 reviews in 24 hours” film day, you’ll likely be more interested in this… What Works: Christopher Nolan is a huge advocate for movie theater viewing, and especially IMAX viewing, and I am glad I watched…
Reviews: “Baby Driver,” “Atomic Blonde,” “Valerian and the 1000 Planets,” “Lego Batman Movie”
Three of these movies are not actually that old, and you may find any of them in less-selective theaters with 20 screens and needing a way to fill them. However, they’re all genre-related and it’s important to look at the right (and wrong) way to do action, sci-fi, or comic book based movies. Baby Driver…I…
Documentary Reviews: “Chasing Coral,” “Icarus,” “Risk,” “My Scientology Movie”
Many documentaries have gotten so compelling, and professionally-made, that in 2016 I picked “Weiner” as the best film of the year, the first time I’ve done so in the site’s history. Only time will tell if that’s the case this year, but I’d already rather watch three of these four movies over much of what’s come out…
Reviews: “Life,” “Table 19,” “The Great Wall,” “Beauty & Beast,” and Great “A United Kingdom”
A quintet of “Beast-themed” movies, of course, as this weekend’s events in Charlottesville taught us, not all beasts aren’t human, and “A United Kingdom” (the best of the bunch) targets a much more nefarious type of beast. Life…This somewhat overrated sci-fi film is about an international space station that picks up Martian life which is–you…
Reviews: Incredible Jessica James, To the Bone, Naked, Sandy Wexler, Deidra & Laney Rob a Train
Will Netflix distribution eventually replace traditional theaterical distribution? Part of me hopes not, but I had to admit it was kind-of nice watching five original movies in a single day for less than the price of one outrageous $15 L.A. ticket. I’m one of the biggest defenders of movie theaters out there, and I know…
Movie Reviews: “I Don’t Feel At Home in this World Anymore,” “Message From the King,” “Sleepless”
Vigilante movies are somewhat irrestible, aren’t they? You get to watch somebody else take on a corrupt system rigged to favor criminals (both high and low) either through extreme negligence (as in the case of “I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore”) or law enforcement kickbacks (“Sleepless”). But even though vigilante films/noirs may…