“Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers” is easily the best non-Pixar Disney+ original film yet (Review)
To folks of a certain age, this geriatric millennial among them, Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers was something of a gold standard in Saturday Morning cartoons. Before the early ‘90s superhero adventures of Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man, and X-Men there were two chipmunk detectives (always paired with quacking adventures of DuckTales on the TV […]
“Castro’s Spies” A Lesson in Perspective (Review)
Perspective is a fickle thing. It also may be the most under-appreciated aspect of modern social discourse. More than ever we as a society are collectively dug in. The combination of the vast abundance of news media available to consume as well as the giant echo chamber that is social media has not only enabled […]
“Brut Force” marks an impressive feature debut for director Eve Symington (Review)
Low-budget Indie Films from first time feature film directors often fall short in multiple areas. This isn’t meant to be snarky or condescending; making a movie is really freaking difficult. Very few people nail it on their first go. Even fewer do so working with, largely, an inexperienced cast and crew. When I watch […]
“Memory” A Familiar Thriller to Forget (Review)
What a shame. This is a film that could have been so much more. Memory stars Liam Neeson as a veteran assassin named Alex nearing the end of his career. While Alex, suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s, is ready to leave the game for good, he quickly learns it’s never that simple in his line […]
“Father Stu” Hubris Derails a Potentially Meaningful Story (Review)
“I cannot take credit for the movie’s success because this is God choosing me to make the film,” he added. “He knows finally I get to utilize all the talents and gifts that have been bestowed upon me for his greater good and to serve my part in his big picture.” This is a quote […]
“The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” Cage remains king (Review)
In case you hadn’t heard, Nicolas Cage is back. Cage began a return to the top with 2021’s Pig, but The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent confirms his reascent. This film sees Cage, playing a fictionalized version of himself, desperate for what he refers to as “the role of a lifetime”. Not a lot seems […]
“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” Course Corrects the Franchise, But Is It Too Late? (Review)
I start with an admission: I hated Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, this film’s predecessor. It was the first genuinely bad film, a morass slog of dopey callbacks, dithering political machinations, and ghastly screenwriting, among the nine other stories that make up the Wizarding World series of Harry Potter films and offshoots. That said, […]
Animal Empathy: Andrea Arnold’s “Cow” Provokes and Teaches (Review)
Cow opens, unflinchingly, with a close-up of a baby calf being slowly pulled out of its mothers body. The farmers, anonymous and barely pictured, tie ropes around its hooves to haul it out of the void and into the world. For a demanding but poignant hour and thirty-seven minutes, we follow (at cow eye-level) the […]
“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” Succeeds By Embracing the Source Material (Review)
I found the new Sonic the Hedgehog film resoundingly more satisfying and enjoyable than the first. In video games, including the Sonic series, often the second or third entry is the best iteration of a long running series. The first game cracks an idea wide open while the initial sequels are able to refine and […]
“The Bubble” Brings Pandemic Entertainment to a New Low (Review)
Is it time for yet more COVID-themed entertainment? In the two years since the pandemic’s inception, multiple films and ongoing series have addressed its effect on daily life. Bo Burnham’s Inside and Steven Soderbergh’s Kimi have proven that pandemic entertainment can be eye-opening and transformative, and that only makes new arrivals like The Bubble only […]
The Artist’s Dilemma: “Ahed’s Knee” Is a Thought-Provoking Look at State Censorship in Film (Review)
“Y” is a leather jacket-clad film director, scraggly and eccentric, dancing alone through an empty desertscape in Gaza. He bumps Israeli rock through his headphones and twirls in his Ray Bans before melodramatically face planting into the sand. “Ahed’s Knee” is about this quixotic protagonist’s struggle to make a film critiquing the Israeli government’s mistreatment […]
“You Won’t Be Alone” Uses Horror and Artistry to Interrogate Social Tension (Review)
I’ve found myself coming back to You Won’t Be Alone regularly in my thoughts. It’s a pleasant, rewarding experience when a film grows so mightily upon careful consideration because in the moment of watching the film I’m not sure I particularly enjoyed it. It’s well made and often quite lovely to look at, but the […]