I really wanted to like A Quiet Place. It has a wonderful science-fictional premise and using silence as an ever-present necessity is brilliant. Then why was I so frustrated and disappointed with the film? Let me explain. John Krasinski’s film shows […]
Continue reading »Month: April 2018
Final Portrait (2018) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Movies about people who create art or literature are especially difficult because the artistic impulse is interior. How do you convey how someone else views the world other than watching them paint or type or sculpt or think? It’s the […]
Continue reading »Rampage (2018) ☆ ☆ ☆
Sometimes the silliest movies (or the stupidest, or the raunchiest, or the weirdest) offer more fun their more traditional counterparts, and that is certainly true for Rampage. I had a blast watching this science-run-amok monsterfest, which is, essentially, an updated King […]
Continue reading »Black Panther (2018) ☆ ☆ ☆
Regular readers know my general antipathy to superhero films, comic book adaptations and fantasy films, yet even I can appreciate a good one when it comes along. Black Panther is a good one. I was surprised to find it a […]
Continue reading »Isle of Dogs (2018) ☆ ☆ ☆
Wes Anderson’s films are quirky ensemble pieces that many people love. I’ve been ambivalent about some of them, but I have really enjoyed his unique animated stories. First it was Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009); now it’s Isle of Dogs. Anderson’s anthropomorphic allegories […]
Continue reading »The Death of Stalin (2018) ☆ ☆
Political satire is tricky to create and impossible to satisfy everyone who witnesses it. For every viewer that sees brilliance and cleverness someone else sees insult and stupidity, and that’s just due to its political content. Factor in style, pace, […]
Continue reading »Ready Player One (2018) ☆ ☆
Steven Spielberg is my favorite director but occasionally he chooses projects which I wish he would have skipped. This is one of them. I am aware that the Edward Cline book on which it is based (Cline also co-wrote the […]
Continue reading »Love, Simon (2018) ☆ ☆ ☆
Although it is comedically uneven there is no question that Love, Simon is a heartfelt exploration of what it means for a young man to come out publicly as gay. The story’s protagonist, Simon (Nick Robinson), has “a big secret,” one […]
Continue reading »The Leisure Seeker (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
Some high-profile films in the recent past have spotlighted the challenges and difficulties facing elderly people or those afflicted with memory loss, such as Still Alice and Mr. Holmes. These and others are now joined by the dramatic comedy The Leisure Seeker, […]
Continue reading »Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018) ☆ ☆
I liked the giant robot vs. kaiju (giant monsters from another dimension) movie Pacific Rim (2013), which I feel is a lot of fun. The story picks up ten years later, after the kaiju threat is considered moot, in an indifferent […]
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