“Cats” Review
Halfway through Cats, my brain broke. I can’t recall if it was when Ian McKellen started hissing like a cat or when Judi Dench started rubbing her whiskers on other cats. I thought about picking my brain back up but then realized something; this is a musical called Cats with Continue Reading
“Bombshell” Review
You don’t even have to look up the credits to know this film was by one of the co-writers of The Big Short. Within the first few minutes, we’re given a crash course on the Fox News beast that brewed the scandal of Roger Ailes. We meet a few people Continue Reading
“Parasite” Review
While Bong Joon-ho’s filmography boasts much of the fantastic, most of them carry a scathing criticism of the class structure that damages futures and society. There’s no missing that commentary in Parasite, shoving it into our faces with uncomfortable catharsis. Blindsiding the audience as a dark comedy, this story takes Continue Reading
“Knives Out” Review
Rian Johnson’s whodunnit of Knives Out is a love-letter of a murder mystery that broadcasts an affinity for the genre while still holding a sharp edge all it’s own. While it plays with the material and finds some of the dark humor within such a scenario, there’s a real sense Continue Reading
“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” Review
While there are plenty of nostalgic stings for Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood present within this emotional journey, there’s one moment that is exceptionally powerful. While out to lunch, Rogers recommends a break from the conversation to have a moment of silence to think of those who loved us and brought us Continue Reading
“Ford v Ferrari” Review
As the triumphant tale of how Ford won the Le Mans race, I wasn’t all that enthralled to hop into the passenger seat of such a story. This was especially concerning for a picture that runs 2 1/2 hours that I fully expected to be bogged down in its checklist Continue Reading
“The Kill Team” Review
In 2013, Dan Krauss directed a documentary on the Maywand District murders during the War in Afghanistan, trying to find context and meaning within interviews. In 2019, he has directed a film on the same subject with the same title but now seeks a tougher answer. How would we feel Continue Reading
“The Laundromat” Review
The craziness of the corruption within capitalism breeds a similar sense of maddening within the assembly of Soderbergh’s The Laundromat. The film takes aim at the Panama Papers scandal, the damage it caused and how the leaks only revealed a small part of a big problem yet to be resolved. Continue Reading
“Pain & Glory” Review
There’s a sweetly somber vibe to the contemplative and quiet appeal of Pain & Glory. It would seem like in the twilight years of director Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), having been inspired to revisit the past, that there’s a lot on his plate to reconcile with. But he’s also aged Continue Reading
“Joker” Review
Given the competition, I could easily see someone praising the surface-level sophistication of something like Joker greatly distancing itself from the current crop of comic book films. There’s no quippy superhero to save the day, no routine villain scheme of taking over Gotham and no anti-hero bent where our antagonist Continue Reading