So many reviews, so little interest…Why not combine about 10 August movies into one super-review? The Meg…A film designed to make “The Shallows” or “47 Meters Down” look like masterpieces. I actually enjoy a good shark movie during the Summertime (both of the aforementioned got positive reviews from this critic), but “The Meg” isn’t even…
Category: Mindless Mondays
TON of Movie Reviews–“Cargo,” “Generation Wealth,” “Dog Days,” “Black Klansman,” “Ant Man 2,” “Puzzle,” “Spy Who Dumped Me” “Tau,” “Papillion,” “The Wife”
A bunch of random movie reviews that have nothing in common except I watched them all recently. Hey, I’ve got to post two months worth of movie reviews in a day, so things might get a little condensed… Cargo…An atypically low-key, emotional zombie film in which Martin Freeman (recently bitten) has to find someone to…
Movie Reviews: “7 Days in Entebbe,” “Set it Up,” “Truth or Dare,” “Peter Rabbit,” “Midnight Sun,” “Love, Simon,” “Pacific Rim 2,” “I Can Only Imagine,” “Extinction,” “Sherlock Gnomes”
Sometimes a movie (or 8) falls through the cracks, here now to pick it up… 7 Days in Entebbe…Home viewing is probably ideal for this smart hostage drama about Israel’s real-life attempt to rescue a plane that had been seized (by Palestinians and two German leftist-radicals who are a little too oblivious to their own…
Movie Review: “Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado” is Worthy of Your 4th of July Dollars
Another winner from screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (writer of not only the first “Sicario” but the best film of 2016 “Hell or High Water,” and writer-director of last year’s great “Wind River”) who at this point seems to do no wrong. While critics have been surprisingly harsh on this worthy sequel, fans will likely enjoy it–and…
Movie Review: “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” aka the Mr. Rogers Documentary
“The Mr. Rogers Documentary” might’ve been a better–albeit more artless–title for this stirring, roundly-acclaimed film since that’s pretty much how I have to describe it to people. [Just try telling people you’ve seen “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” and after a few seconds of taking in their confusion, you’ll see the awareness flood onto their…
Movie Reviews: “Hearts Beat Loud,” “Tag,” “American Animals”
Three films that pretty much have nothing in common except they’re all about different men assembling a team for an unusual project–whether it’s making a CD with your daughter, playing the same game of tag for thirty years, or stealing rare books from a college campus… Hearts Beat Loud…Nick Offerman plays an ex-musician and struggling…
HBO Documentaries: “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “The Final Year”
Two great documentaries that most political junkies will probably love. Although the subject matter is fairly different (for political docs), there are some overlaps in that both are about honorable civil servants trying–and mostly failing–to do the right thing in the face of a rising wave of political ignorance and hostility. The Final Year…This documentary…
Movie Reviews: “The Incredibles 2,” “Ocean’s 8,” “Adrift,” “Life of the Party”
Four films that don’t really have a lot in common except that they feature women in prominent roles and that I don’t really love or loathe any of them enough to want to write a several-paragraph full review… The Incredibles 2…Really, truly, completely nowhere near as good as the original. I’ve probably watched the first…
Movie Reviews: “Solo,” “The Titan,” “Hotel Artemis,” “Upgrade”
Sci-Fi fans have no shortage of options these days, so you might have to be pretty hard up to see these mostly so-so offerings. We’ll move from worst to first… Hotel Artemis…A great example of a movie that shouldn’t exist. This movie isn’t clever, it isn’t original, it isn’t particularly well-constructed nor well-directed nor well-written,…
Movie Reviews: “The Tale” vs. “Paterno”
HBO has had two TV movies deal with the difficult subject of child sexual abuse but in very different ways. “The Tale” is more experimental (and much more personal), zeroing in on the abused in a shockingly intimate way, while “Paterno” takes a broader, docu-drama approach to covering the after-effects of abuse and the real…
The Worst Pixar Movie (and Why They Should Cool it with Sequels)
AL gives his pick for the worst Pixar film ever made, a brief defense of the misunderstood “Cars 2” (the rare bumpkin-empowerment movie), and talks about why Pixar should stop making so many sequels.
Great Movies Revisited: “The Truman Show” is One of My Favorites
On the 20th Anniversary of “The Truman Show,” I explain why it’s one of the best movies of the 90’s and one of my personal favorites of all time. A powerful religious allegory, a razor-sharp media satire, and a drama for the ages all wrapped into one movie; it’s the best film ever made that…
Bad Movies Revisited “The Phantom Menace”
In the wake of “Solo”‘s flop, AL revisits the despised “Phantom Menace” and makes the case that it’s actually not the WORST “Star Wars” movie. He talks about the prequel trilogy’s real arc (the seductive lure of fascism) and ranks all the Star Wars movies.