Category: Review

  • Tomb Raider, Love Simon

    This week brings the reboot of the video game adaptation franchise, “Tomb Raider”, and the gay teen romance, “Love, Simon.” It’s tough to imagine anyone but Angelina Jolie playing Lara Croft, but Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander brings her own compact flair to the role. While the film is nothing to write home about, it’s…

  • A Wrinkle in Time, Thoroughbreds

    This week brings Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of Madeline L’Engle’s “A Wrinkle in Time”, and Cory Finley’s murderous teen thriller “Thoroughbreds.” ​The source material for “A Wrinkle in Time” does not scream “make me into a film!” but if there was anyone who could potentially have done it, it was Ava DuVernay. While there are admirable…

  • Red Sparrow, Nostalgia

    Jennifer Lawrence (like… almost ALL of Jennifer Lawrence) is back on the big screen this week in the spy film “Red Sparrow.” Also way too many famous people waste my time in the limited release “Nostalgia.” It’s easy to compare “Red Sparrow” to Charlize Theron’s “Atomic Blonde” (which I loved). In part because there frankly…

  • Annihilation, Every Day

    To say “Annihilation” is an adaptation is a loose definition of the word “adaptation.” The film is very much it’s own thing, which made it hard as a book reader to disconnect. “Annihilation” stars Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, and Oscar Isaac. ​Meanwhile “Every Day” is about as faithful as a…

  • Black Panther, Early Man

    Ryan Coogler kicks ass and takes names with his Marvel directorial debut. Chadwick Boseman returns as T’Challa, and is joined by Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Forest Whitaker, and Angela Basset. Oh yeah and I guess Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis are there too… Wakanda Forever!…

  • Fifty Shades Freed

      ​The “Fifty Shades” franchise continues to break records with me, and not in a good way.  This is the third and hopefully final of these trash heaps. I don’t understand the appeal of these films, but this one in particular seems the least sexy of them all. Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return, as…

  • The Commuter

      ​This week’s review is “Taken”… on a train. Aka “The Commuter” Okay it’s a little more complex than just “Taken” on a train, but still, this Liam Neeson action film feels like a rip off. Even with the usually decent cast of Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Jonathan Banks, Sam Neill, and Elizabeth McGovern,…

  • Call Me By Your Name

      In which you never look at a peach the same way again…  ​Fresh off their Oscar nominations, I fianlly get to talk about “Call Me By Your Name.” I’d been hearing about this film for ages, which probably set my expectations a little bit too high, but all in all the film was very…

  • 12 Strong, Phantom Thread

      This week brings the war film “12 Strong” and Daniel Day-Lewis swan song “Phantom Thread”. “12 Strong” is a pretty cookie cutter war film, except it takes place in modern day and there are horses… That’s about it. Stars Chris Hemsworth, Michael Pena, Trevante Rhodes, and Michael Shannon all do fine jobs, but the…

  • Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Paddington 2

      Did “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” deserve to win the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Drama? Not in my books. I was however pleasantly surprised this week by the charming “Paddington 2.” Don’t get me wrong, I thought “Three Billboards” was good, I thought Frances McDormand definitely deserved her Golden Globe. However I…