Green Room is the ultimate story of being in the (very) wrong place at the (very) wrong time. The punk rock band The Ain’t Rights is having financial woes, and in dire need of gigs. Out of desperation, they agree to play an off-the-beaten club in the woods—the meetup and favored watering hole of a […]
Category: Movie Reviews
Nerve: Truth or Dare – Truth + Dare Squared!
A good girl high school student with two friends – a male friend, Tommy, who is not a boyfriend and a girlfriend, Sydney, who is not a girlfriend – takes a walk on the wild side through a game accessed on social media. It does not go well.
Movie Review: Ice Age: Collision Course Signals the Franchise’s Creativity is Extinct
In Ice Age: Collision Course, the 5th entry in animated franchise which first debuted 2002, the central characters once again find themselves in extreme peril and reacting to it in kind. Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), overly worries, his best friend—the sabertooth tiger Diego (Denis Leary)—attempts to keep him grounded through reason, and Sid the […]
Movie Review: Paul Feig Calls Upon Nostalgia in Ghostbusters Remake
The 2016 iteration of Ghostbusters serves as a remake of its 1984 predecessor (note: most decidedly not a reboot or sequel in any sense). Those who recall the now iconic and beloved previous films will find the premise here familiar—three scientists (Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Kate McKinnon) whose interests focus on the occult band […]
Star Trek Beyond is the New Crew’s Best Work!
Star Trek Beyond beats the curse of the odd numbered Trek films with a stick. With plenty of the kind of pace you expect from director Justin Lin, the film wins praise for the way he integrates the character moments into the action.
Lights Out Breaks Its Own Rules!
The premise of Lights Out is intriguing: a dysfunctional family torn apart by the mother’s psychological issues, which take on a life of their own – or are taken over. The problem is that before we’re a third of the way through the film, it breaks its own rules.
Ghostbusters Is Smart, Funny and Melodramatic Summer Fun! Sorry If It Ruins Your Childhood!
After a couple of decent trailers that actually withheld most of the film’s funniest moments, Ghostbusters arrives with wit, charm, lovable goofiness, some serious melodrama and comes thisclose to being as good as the original. The all-female Ghostbusters (and their dumber than a sack of flying mallets male receptionist) are worthy successors to Ivan Reitman’s […]
The Secret Life of Pets: Smart, Silly Summer Fun!
The Secret Life of Pets is the third animal-based animated film of the summer (behind Zootopia and Finding Dory) and the probably the slimmest in terms of plot and/or saying stuff – but that doesn’t mean it’s not almost sublimely smart, silly fun.
A Half-Hearted Vote for The Purge: Election Year
For the third night of this franchise, The Purge: Election Year blends new and familiar to create an uneven concoction. Writer, director, and overall mastermind of the series, James DeMonaco, sits at the helm once again, but one can’t wonder if even he is wishing this franchise will end soon on the highest note possible before falling […]
Swiss Army Man: Way More Than a Just Boy and His Farting Corpse Jet Ski!
Even before we meet the odd couple who constitute 95% of Swiss Army Man, we are given hints of the oncoming oddness through the credits as various ‘send help’ notes drift by on increasingly curious and elaborate vessels – including one that ends with the exclamation, ‘I AM SO BORED!’ Then we get to the […]
The BFG is a Visual Delight but a Sluggish Movie!
Steven Spielberg’s first film with Disney, The BFG, features three brilliant performances and a horde of delightful visuals that are dulled more than a little by the film’s tendency to meander – dropping the pace to sluggish. It doesn’t quite capture that unique balance of whimsy, wit and darkness that Roald Dahl’s work so great, […]