The Big Sick may be the latest entry in the Judd Apatow lifts gifted comics to the next level sweepstakes, but it is very much not a Judd Apatow film. Written by Kumail Nanjiani and his wife, Emily Gordon, The Big Sick is the mostly true story of how the couple met, fell in love, […]
Tag: Movie Reviews
Spider-Man: Homecoming – The Superhero Movie John Hughes Never Made!
Throughout its development and shoot, practically everyone on the Marvel Studios team would talk about how Spider-Man: Homecoming would a John Hughes-styled high school movie with the bonus of superheroics. Everyone involved somehow managed to make that thought reality. Spider-Man: Homecoming is a unique mix of John Hughes and Marvel.
Spider-Man: Homecoming Review! It Bugs Me!
My two favorite super hero films remain X-Men 2, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 and The Avengers. For me those three films couldn’t be more different and represent the pinnacle of the Super-Hero genre. I’m not one of those blind “Marvel can do no wrong” fan girls. Spider-Man: Homecoming isn’t a perfect film, but it’s damn […]
Despicable Me 3 – Reliable Fun!
After reinventing itself for Despicable Me 2, with Gru becoming a good guy and finding love, DM3 introduces soap and superhero trope the twin brother and adds a villain who styles himself after the ‘80s kids show he starred in before adolescence got it cancelled. The Minions, of course, are back in the way they […]
Baby Driver’s Got The Beat!
I can imagine the pitch for Baby Driver, ‘It’s a coming of age story about this young guy who’s the best getaway car driver ever – because he has tinnitus and listens to music to drown it out. When he falls in love with a diner waitress, he wants out.’ When you strip Baby Driver […]
Transformers: The Last Knight Is Not a Good Night!
Transformers: The Last Night is either action or exposition and on so many fronts it has trouble keeping itself straight – let alone letting the audience do so. I’m going to be completely upfront here: my inner 12-year old was bored; my outer 65-year couldn’t doze off because the movie was too loud, and I […]
Rough Night Almost Overcomes Rough Start!
Rough Night is an R-rated comedy that starts slowly and gradually picks up speed until the last thirty minutes finally become the laugh riot the trailers suggested it would be. It’s not quite enough to endorse the movie, but it definitely comes close.
The Mummy Is the Best Part of The Mummy!
The Mummy – the first entry in what Universal Pictures is calling Dark Universe – gives the new universe a pretty shaky start. Despite Alex Kurtzman showing some skill at juggling character and plot arcs, and keeping things moving forward at a good pace, he can’t overcome the clunky script (six writers involved at story […]
Wonder Woman Is a Wonder? Too Easy, But Accurate!
How long has it been since we’ve seen a brilliant, completely unironic superhero movie? 2011’s Captain America: First Avenger. Before that? Probably Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie (1978)/Richard Lester & Donner’s Superman II (1980). To that remarkable (and remarkably short) list we can add Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales – Bits of It Are Entertaining!
The opening sequence of Dead Men Tell No Tales finds young Henry (Lewis McGowan) rowing out to sea, tying a bag of rocks to his leg and plunging into the sea – where he lands on the deck of the sunken Flying Dutchman and we learn that he is the son of Will Turner (Orlando […]
Baywatch Swims Just Fine!
Maybe it’s just the mood I had going into Baywatch (looking for a laugh or two after a day of packing up to move), but I quite enjoyed Baywatch. I only ever watched a couple episodes of the TV series, but the movie seemed to hit every one of the major parts of the show […]