When this musical-comedy was released in December I had not seen any of the popular Pitch Perfect trilogy. But over the last few weeks my wife Barb and I have caught up to the first two on DVD and have seen […]
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Father Figures (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
Based on the preview I was expecting a very raunchy comedy, a genre which I don’t particularly like. Certainly elements of the perverse are present — and yet this movie has great heart and chemistry, too. The result is an […]
Continue reading »Downsizing (2017) ☆ ☆
Satire without a central target results in scattershot humor, and mostly unfunny movies. That seems to be what has occurred with Downsizing, the latest film from director Alexander Payne and his writing partner, Jim Taylor. Despite a promising premise, the resultant […]
Continue reading »Star Wars, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
I was surprised how much I enjoyed the new Star Wars film. At 152 minutes it is the longest of the series so far; its lead is reclusive Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who has always been the least interesting character from […]
Continue reading »Darkest Hour (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
Gary Oldman endured hours of makeup and prosthetic applications every day to portray British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, to great effect. Oldman is a chameleon of an actor, a guy who has been making movies for more than […]
Continue reading »Justice League (2017) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman are back together again in Justice League, joined for the first time by The Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg. This is DC’s ultimate superhero mash-up, at least until the next big to-do. While it is fun to […]
Continue reading »Lady Bird (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
Actress Greta Gerwig makes her writing and directing debut with a coming-of-age story called Lady Bird. It is an honest, unflinching look at a young woman just reaching maturity, unsure of how to act or relate to others because, despite her […]
Continue reading »Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆
The best movies present characters who are forced to change or adapt as their stories occur, naturally and understandably. As they confront their mistakes, or situations they cannot overcome (but often do, because it is the movies), their feelings and […]
Continue reading »Thor: Ragnarok (2017) ☆ ☆ 1/2
Of the current Marvel superheroes, Thor is perhaps the oddest, coming as he does from an altogether different area of the universe. It’s hard for me to reconcile his mystical realm with the “normal” world which Marvel presents to us […]
Continue reading »Murder on the Orient Express (2017) ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2
I was not looking forward to this adaptation of the famous Agatha Christie novel, only because I remember the ending of the first movie version from 1974 — once one knows the remarkable ending to this mystery it can never […]
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