Category: Monday Morning Movie Reviewer

If a film is really good, it holds my attention completely as I’m watching it. If it’s not, I start mentally writing the review before the end credits. Firmly in the latter category is “Beyond the Lights” (the black pop star saved by a black bodyguard/cop movie that’s getting rave reviews and white critics saying…

I didn’t expect this film to be as good as the first or even a very good movie, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this outright bad either… What Works: Did you like the trailer? Because all the funniest parts are in the trailer. I’d say about 90 percent of the jokes that actually…

Better late than never…even though it came out in the middle of October, this “Brad Pitt WWII tank movie” is still kicking around in some theaters so it’s worth a review. What Works: I wasn’t big on the movie as a whole, but there were some knockout standalone sequences like a climactic tank battle and…

Three thrillers (two docs, one scripted) that all cover real-life incidents… Devil’s Knot…Skip this mess of a film. The tale of the West Memphis Three (the three innocent teenagers in Arkansas that were arrested and convicted for the murders of three small boys solely because the cops mistakenly thought they were satanists) has been covered…

Two indie thrillers from January of this year, two very different experiences…[And a non-thriller, oddball pick I didn’t have a place for.] Open Grave…A zombie-type thriller wherein Sharlto Copeley wakes up in, you guessed it, an open grave filled with dead bodies. There’s not many scares or compelling moments. The opening sequence is one of the few…

Two different films about nefarious doubles, and even though both were critically acclaimed, I can really only recommend one of them… The Double…Jesse Eisenberg plays a ridiculously stilted office worker in a drab, gray existence who’s upstaged by a more confident, aggressive version of himself (it’s a double that only Eisenberg seems to notice looks…

Today’s theme: movies about the elderly, which we rarely see. These are various portraits that show growing old doesn’t necessarily mean slowing down. Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me…A documentary on the great actress Elaine Stritch. If you’ve ever seen her Broadway work or—more likely—as Alec Baldwin’s mother on 30 Rock, you’ll realize about what you’re in…

5 films that deal with different types of educational debates, and the many different types of education someone can get… Ivory Tower…A documentary that attempts to ask the question “Is a college degree still worth it?” It brings up student loan debt, spiraling tuition costs (tuition has gone up more than any other good or…

Two fairly acclaimed sports docs that are available on Showtime now. One received a theatrical release and a lot more buzz, but I found myself a little more captivated by “Glena.” “No No: A Dockumentary”…This documentary currently has an astounding 100 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which kinda makes me want to pan it…

The theme for the day: war movies, and all the different forms they can take. [Hint: It’s not all about WWII.] What’s interesting is that each of these movies are from perspectives other than American’s, and that alone makes any of them different and interesting, even if not all of them are very good. [But…

Today’s movie theme: HBO documentaries about individuals dealing with overbearing governments (usually, they’re worse off for it) or trying to get around them. Okay, so “112 Weddings” isn’t technically related to government oppression at all, but there is a gay couple that mentions their struggle to get married so that’s close enough for a theme…

I know that lumping in two female comics would drive either of them absolutely nuts, but the similarities are uncanny: they’re both named Chelsea, both their specials were on Netflix, they mention that their Jewish fathers like black women, they’re both most famous for shows I don’t care for (Brooklyn Nine Nine for Peretti, and…

5 HBO’s docs being reviewed…the theme? All of them revolve around women or women’s issues. “Dead Mother’s Club”…What does it do to a woman to loose their mother, especially at a young age? This doc deals with that question with three famous examples (Molly Shannon, Rosie O’Donnell, and an especially candid Jane Fonda give interviews)…