This summer, there were also non-Marvel movies to consider… Alice Through the Looking Glass…lol. Grade: D- [Yeah, centering a sequel nobody asked for around the idea of a sentimental backstory to the Mad Hatter was a brilliant idea, and audiences responded accordingly.] Star Trek Beyond…Worse than the first two “Star Trek” films, and I wasn’t a real…
Category: Mindless Mondays
Movie Reviews: Doctor Strange, Captain American: Civil War
Look, I’m clearly in the minority. I know that, but Marvel films are just kind-of soulless, “who gives a shit?” enterprises… Doctor Strange…Benedict Cumberpatch plays a humorless, uninteresting doctor that somehow develops the extremely interesting ability to travel through worlds, manipulate time, basically have God-like powers, etc. Although Doctor Strange the character may be the…
Movie Reviews: Knight of Cups, Jane Got Her Gun
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…
Monday Morning Movie Reviewer: Deepwater Horizon
You might think you don’t want to watch a movie about the BP oil spill—of course, you’re probably not on Alabama Liberal if that’s you, but even if it is, you’ll be surprised. Personally, I refuse to buy gas at BP and any movie that shows exactly how corporations fuck-up to create environmental disasters is…
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…
Please Watch My Short Film “Falling Towers”
First completed short film under the Alabama Liberal YouTube Channel (subscribe please), Playlist One Man Movies, movies made by one person, filmed in one day, from idea to finished film in one week, on a budget of no more than one dollar… Please watch, like, and comment