The ultimate Marvel superhero movie concludes its 22-film arc that began with Iron Man in 2008 — except that there are more to come. But this series begins and ends with Robert Downey Jr.’s spectacular performance as Tony Stark / […]
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John Wick — Chapter 3: Parabellum (2019) ☆
This trilogy finale (gosh, I hope it is the end) represents a conundrum for me. I kind of liked the first one, wherein hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) doles out lethal retribution to the meanies who shot his dog. The […]
Continue reading »The Hustle (2019) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Ruprecht the Monkey Boy is one of my favorite movie characters of the 1980s. Recognize him? Ruprecht is one of the several people imagined by Freddy Benson (Steve Martin) in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, perhaps the funniest comedy of 1988. That […]
Continue reading »The Intruder (2019) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Ever buy a new house and then have weird things begin to happen? No, not me either, but it sure happens in movies, from the spooky occurrences in The Amityville Horror to the psychotic neighbors in Pacific Heights or Unlawful […]
Continue reading »Red Joan (2018) ☆ ☆ ☆
This is one thought-provoking movie. It is based, perhaps loosely, on the exploits of Melita Norwood, a British civil servant who successfully passed secrets about Britain’s atomic bomb program to the Russians during the 1940s and ’50s, but only exposed […]
Continue reading »Wild Nights with Emily (2018) ☆ ☆
I know next to nothing about poetess Emily Dickinson; truth be told, I don’t care for poetry (my own very modest efforts aside). This offbeat biography notes that Dickinson has always been considered a recluse who never meant to publish […]
Continue reading »Dumbo (2019) ☆ ☆ ☆
I had only seen Disney’s original animated film Dumbo (1941) in January for the first time, knowing that this version was approaching. I like the original, but don’t love it — especially the fact that the young elephant gets drunk, […]
Continue reading »The Chaperone (2018) ☆ ☆ ☆
I know little to nothing about Louise Brooks, the silent-era actress best known for the German films Pandora’s Box (1928) and Diary of a Lost Girl (1929). I thought she was German; turns out she was born in Kansas and […]
Continue reading »True Grit (1969) ☆ ☆ ☆
Turner Classic Movies hosted a fiftieth anniversary showing of the semi-classic western True Grit in May (yes, that’s how far behind I am in writing my reviews; I’m striving to catch up this month), and I was happy to view […]
Continue reading »Long Shot (2019) ☆ ☆
Opposites attracting has been a romantic staple forever. This movie posits that female presidential candidate Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) gradually falls for journalist / speechwriter Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) whom she knew when they were young. It’s a nicely developed, […]
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