I’ve been seriously slacking on movie reviews lately. Kicking off our “30 movie reviews in 30 minutes” extravaganza (in part to lift spirits after the electoral college refused to do the right thing) is a pair of Natalie Portman vehicles… Knight of Cups…What’s going on with Terrence Malick? One of the best directors of all…
Category: Monday Morning Movie Reviewer
Monday Morning Movie Review: Under the Shadows
Every year, there’s at least one horror movie that capitalizes on this new trend of “personal horror” meaning films that are about a little more than slashing up teenagers and may explore more intimate fears like sex (It Follows), mothering (The Badabook), religion (The Witch), or dinner parties (The Invitation). “Under the Shadows” can now…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: The Accountant
A movie I wanted to like more than I did… What Works: Jon Bernthal, Anna Kendrick, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Tambor, J.K. Simmons, Jean Smart, and Ben Affleck? No movie with a cast this good—and all are lively here, doing what they can—can be all bad, and I would estimate that most of the film’s best moments…
Movie Review: Queen of Katwe
The Disney film about a young Ugandan girl (newcomer Madina Nalwanga as Phiona Mutesi) living in extreme poverty who gradually becomes a chess master. David Oyelowo plays her ultra-supportive coach and a (heavier than usual) Lupita N’yongo plays her more ambiguous mother. What Works: Director Mira Nair treats it more like an intimate play than a…
Movie Review: Masterminds
A forgettable heist film that–see, you already forgot this movie came out a month ago didn’t you? What Works: If you laugh at all during this “comedy” (starring Zach Galifi–you know who I mean–as an armored car driver who gets talked into a heist) it’ll probably be during the first third of the film, the…
Movie Review: Don’t Breathe
The one where three teenage burglars (Suburgatory’s Jane Levy among them) decide to break into a blind man’s (“Avatar” villain and professional badass Stephen Lang) house. And if robbing a blind man sounds bad on paper, just wait until you see the secrets this particular blind man is hiding… What Works: First-time film director Fede Alvarez must have…
Movie Review: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
Just…enough What Works: For me, there is just not much to recommend here. I guess the few brief flashes of fun are mostly found on Eva Green’s cartoon campy face (which you’ve now seen in several other fantasies) and a handful of cool visuals, but mostly this is a huge wash. What Doesn’t: Other critics are saying…
Reviews: Creative Control, The Invitation, High Rise, Cop Car, Green Room
Several indie-thrillers have slipped through the cracks this year, until now… Cop Car…Technically, this film came out in 2015 but it’s theaterical release is a small fraction of the people who’ll watch this at home and perhaps years later. It’s about two boys who run away from home only to stumble upon a (seemingly) abandoned cop…
Quick Reviews: The Mermaid, The Wave, The Last Man on the Moon, Everybody Wants Some
Every once and a while, a movie slips through the cracks, and that’s when it’s time for “quick reviews”… Everybody Wants Some…Richard Linklater (“Boyhood,” “Before” trilogy, “Dazed and Confused” of which this movie is a spiritual sequel to) has built a career out of the tricky feat of making naturalistic indies that are actually enjoyable…
“Hell or High Water” Is the Perfect Film to End the Summer
In a season of big-budget flops, “Hell or High Water” is the most purely enjoyable movie of the Summer. On a budget less than one-tenth that of “Suicide Squad,” “Independence Day 2,” and various other trash spectacles promising thrills but leaving me with a numb feeling—like I’d just watched someone else have the time of their…
Movie Review: “Don’t Think Twice” Perhaps the Best Comedy About Comedy
As someone who’s on the peripheral edge of being a comedian, I’ve always sought-out films, TV shows, books, or anything that can give us a peek behind the The Order of the Clowns, an exclusive unisex fraternity that has been breached in films from the biopic “Lenny” to Seinfeld’s documentary “Comedian” to Marc Maron’s podcast…
Movie Review: Can “Jason Bourne” Get Beyond Himself?
A few years back, when Jeremy Renner tried his hand as a Bourne-replacement in “The Bourne Legacy” I wrote an article about just how damn similar all the Bourne movies were—same basic plot, American character-actor CIA baddie, more internatonal-character actor rival assassin, outlandish car chase through a city towards the end with more hand-to-hand fights…
Movie Review: Kubo and the Two Strings
A beautifully-animated movie that will probably appeal more to adults than kids. What Works: The visual style is the main draw here, and it is enhanced by an actual theater experience, getting to see all the incredibly nuanced visual details. From the movie’s opening moments—an immense ocean wave sweeping over the audience—it lulls you into a…