You’d think a rude, crude Christmas movie starring Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, T.J. Miller, Olivia Nunn, Kate McKinnon and Jillian Bell would, by mere fact of its existence, would have to be a laugh riot. You’d be wrong. Office Christmas Party is fitfully funny at best; occasionally poignant, and mostly humdrum.
Category: Movie Reviews
Miss Sloane Is In It To Win It! Political Games Frame Intriguing Character!
Elizabeth Sloane (Jessica Chastain) is a lobbyist – one who will do anything to win even at the expense of her own career. When her boss (Sam Waterston) orders her to “start getting women into guns,” she quits his behemoth of a firm to run the gun control campaign being waged by a ‘boutique’ firm.
Moana’s Progressiveness Results in Magic
Moana is story of a young pacific islander woman who yearns. While understanding her rightful duty to one day lead and guide her people given that she the chief’s daughter, the possibility of what lies beyond her island across the great wavy sapphire expansion drives Moana’s (Auli’I Cravalho) curiosity on a daily basis. When her […]
The Edge of Seventeen – Specific and Timeless!
The Edge of Seventeen is not just another teen coming-of-age movie. Like John Hughes’ Pretty in Pink or The Breakfast Club, it’s a generational story that is very specific to the present but will likely be considered timeless like Hughes’ films.
J.K. Rowling Launches Charm Offensive with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them!
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a textbook for first year students at Hogwarts. Written by Newt Scamander, it lists a number of fantastical creatures, their habitants, habits and diets – as well as the level of danger posed by each. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is also a dazzling new […]
Finding Dory Keeps Swimming and Goes No Where
Chronologically, it has been 13 years since its Finding Nemo, but Finding Dory picks up only about a year after the events of its predecessor. Marlin (Albert Brooks), Nemo (Hayden Rolence), and Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) are living happily together, with routines on the schedule most days. Dory, however, begins having mild flashbacks, breaking through her […]
Arrival – First Contact Doesn’t Have To Be a Contact Sport!
Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival is a First Contact movie to rival 2001: A Space Odyssey or Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Come to The Frontier for Twisted Neo-Noir Fun!
A female drifter running from the law happens upon a gang that stole two million dollars in an out of the way motel/coffee shop called The Frontier. If you’re looking for an old-fashioned gritty noir thriller with twists and turns and doublecrosses and an ending that both comes out of nowhere and, upon reflection, makes […]
Doctor Strange – It’s Not About You!
UPDATE: I just got in from seeing Doctor Strange in IMAX 3D (the advance screening was in a regular old theater). When you read – or reread – my review, square it. S.A. Wiebe Marvel Studios has another winner on their hands. Doctor Strange is one of the best Marvel movies – and that’s saying something! […]
Doctor Strange is a Prescription for Weird Unusual Fun
Doctor Strange is the story of a renowned egotistical neurosurgeon, Dr. Stephen Strange, who loses the ability to use his hands due a freak car accident, thus effectively ending his career. Searching for answers and possible cures, Strange finds himself in Tibet seeking out a being known as The Ancient One (Tilda Swinton). The Ancient […]
Nerve Unnerves but Never Puts It All Together
Nerve is set in the current modern digital age, where teenage millennials live in an open-source world of access and exposure. A graduating senior, Venus (Emma Roberts, whose character goes by “Vee”) is struggling with some life choices: should she go to the expensive colleges of her dream on the west coast, and should she […]