Your Custom Text Here
“Good” and “bad” are certainly relative terms when it comes to Ruben Fleischer’s Marvel-based film, which focuses on an evil alien life form known as a “symbiote” that was originally conceived back in 1984 as an adversary for Spider-Man…
Read More
The Meg delivers a fierce prehistoric bite without falling prey to campiness or gratuitous gore. The shark thriller has more science fiction elements than expected. Director John Turteltaub (Cool Runnings, National Treasure) has a story to tell with the monster hunt. This is both a positive and negative. The characters are fully fleshed out, but the narrative lulls with their excessive dialogue. Thankfully the bone chomping action kicks in on cue…
Read More
Ari Aster's Hereditary isn't scary, in the traditional sense. Meaning, the first-time feature-film director doesn't rely on jump scares or cheap gimmicks to goose you out of your seat.
No, Hereditary is scary in an unconventional way. It unnerves you. It gradually earns your trust, because it wants you to believe, wholeheartedly, in its campfire tale so that when the final card is shown, you'll tumble over the edge with the movie into the full grip of insanity. Make no mistake, the final act of Hereditary is an assault. But it's one that this movie earns, through each deliberate and disturbing step…
Read More
To put it lightly, Star Wars has an unfortunate history when it comes to putting origins of notable characters on the big screen. The whole prequel trilogy was designed to flesh out the history of the cinematic universe via the path Anakin Skywalker took to become Darth Vader, but its legacy is one of bad storytelling choices, underwhelming performances, and garish, ugly visuals. That in mind, the sci-fi franchise has clearly learned a lot of lessons leading up to the making of Solo: A Star Wars Story -- but at the same time, it does ultimately suffer from many of the same issues as George Lucas' last three directorial efforts…
Read More
Perfection is a tough thing to follow. But by more than one metric, that's what Deadpool 2 had to do. Ryan Reynolds makes for the perfect Wade Wilson, Deadpool was the perfect way to introduce the character on the big screen properly (we're still trying to forget X-Men: Origins - Wolverine) and the movie was a total crowd-pleaser that absolutely dominated at the box office. Maybe Deadpool isn't perfect by every measure of scrutiny, but it was the perfect thing for the character. Deadpool 2 had the ridiculous task of living up to those expectations and I'm here to tell you, against all odds, they totally pulled it off. Deadpool 2 is totally awesome and, while it certainly isn't a movie without flaws, it's arguably the perfect sequel…
Read More
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has consistently proven to be an unprecedented blockbuster experiment in many ways over the last decade, but the long-teased arrival of Thanos has unquestionably been one of its most ambitious and risky maneuvers. Not only have fans waited for him through six years and 12 movies since his first on-screen appearance in Joss Whedon's The Avengers, but it has been repeatedly said by filmmakers that the ultra-villain's spotlight moment would be the adventure that every previous Marvel Studios film has been leading towards (a total of 18 features over 10 years). That's an unreasonable amount of pressure and hype to put on any single project -- and it's only multiplied by the insane popularity of the franchise.
The real crazy thing, though, is that they actually succeeded…
Read More
Have you been wondering what the dude who used to play Jim on The Office has been up to? It turns out, he's been acquiring the skills required to become an excellent director who has just delivered one of the year's first truly excellent movies with A Quiet Place. In addition to directing the flick, John Krasinski stars in this horror/thriller with his real-life wife Emily Blunt, alongside some very talented young actors. The result? A genuinely terrifying, truly unique and ultimately brilliant cinematic experience that rewards your curiosity at every turn…
Read More
Stop-motion animation is a remarkable art form. There is a certain luddite aspect to it, as the powers of modern computers could render in hours what it takes weeks for artists to physically build. But there is arguably no cinematic medium greater at conveying levels of detail or handmade craftsmanship. It ultimately makes for a unique screening experience, as you find yourself drawn into each sumptuous frame as you're embedded in the story.
Of course, not every filmmaker can pull off making a stop-motion animated movie... but writer/director Wes Anderson absolutely can…
Read More