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Creed III
(2023)
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D. Watkins
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Creed III is promoted as a boxing movie, but is really a tale of pain, regret and the power of brotherhood.
Posted Mar 11, 2023
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Chris Rock: Selective Outrage
(2023)
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Melanie McFarland
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Netflix sold the show as if it were steak when, at best, we were only ever going to get a McDonald's hamburger. Now, is that an acceptable, solid substitution for the best version of his work?
Posted Mar 07, 2023
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Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre
(2023)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Action scenes feel slack.... Ritchie never allows viewers to get invested in the characters or the story.... The cast also seems underused.... The passable "Operation Fortune" is criminally ho-hum because Ritchie fails to deliver on its potential.
Posted Mar 03, 2023
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Cocaine Bear
(2023)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Many of the set pieces in director Elizabeth Banks' one-joke film are shocking because they are so boring. This film promises laughs and scares but manages to deliver neither.
Posted Feb 24, 2023
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0/4
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Jeepers Creepers 2
(2003)
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Matthew Rozsa
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Despite enjoying the first two “Jeepers Creepers” movies (which I saw before I knew about Salva’s background)... I know too many people who were victimized as children by predators like Salva for me to be able to support someone like him.
Posted Feb 19, 2023
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Your Place or Mine
(2023)
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Melanie McFarland
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Your Place or Mine is... fine. It does not ruin a great American rock band's catalog. But doesn't make the viewer feel much of anything, which is antithetical to the rom-com.
Posted Feb 13, 2023
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Irreversible: Straight Cut
(2020)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"Irreversible" may have felt like a bomb detonating on original release. "Irreversible: Straight Cut" does not quite have that power, but it does gives viewers a chance to revisit this extraordinary film and see it in a new way.
Posted Feb 11, 2023
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Pamela, a Love Story
(2023)
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Alison Stine
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Any documentary worth its footage is going to try to shed a new light on its subject -- and Netflix's "Pamela, A Love Story" does so, presenting a more thoughtful, haunting and emotional side of Anderson's story.
Posted Feb 06, 2023
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1.5/4
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The Core
(2003)
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Matthew Rozsa
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Although the acting is top notch, the rest of "The Core" is too cliché and bloated to be enjoyable... the bigger problem with "The Core" is that the information that it presents to audiences as legitimate science is, quite simply, bunk.
Posted Feb 05, 2023
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You People
(2023)
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Melanie McFarland
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Now, there are enough thoughtful screen examinations of racial politics along with normalized visions of inclusive casting to make "You People" stand out as a gormless throwback.
Posted Feb 04, 2023
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One Fine Morning
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Mia Hansen-Løve excels at these kinds of compassionate character studies, as evidenced by her previous films... "One Fine Morning" joins this cluster of exquisitely rendered dramas about the ebb and flow of everyday middle-class people.
Posted Jan 28, 2023
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A Man Called Otto
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Foster and Hanks make this increasingly sentimental film go down easy.
Posted Jan 13, 2023
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Broker
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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The magic of Kore-eda's film is that viewers will experience considerable affection for his film's characters and Woo-sung's well-being. This is a highly satisfying drama about love, families and forgiveness, starting over and creating a better life.
Posted Dec 26, 2022
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Babylon
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"Babylon" is exasperating. It tries to do too much but ends up doing not saying very little. Less would have been more.
Posted Dec 23, 2022
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Johnson certainly delights in creating puzzling distractions, but even if his film is as deep as a layer of onion skin, it is immensely engaging. "Glass Onion" gently mocks its characters, which what makes it so enjoyable
Posted Dec 22, 2022
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Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Among the most remarkable, risky and fearless work to grace screens this year. Surrender to it. It is extraordinary.
Posted Dec 16, 2022
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"Sr."
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Understated, revealing, poignant, and funny.... Throughout "Sr." its subject emphasizes how the best things often happen spontaneously. Smith's film, a love story between father and son, reflects this salient point beautifully.
Posted Dec 02, 2022
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A Christmas… Present
(2022)
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Melanie McFarland
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Even by retrograde Hallmark holiday movie standards, it's a blizzard of poor writing and empty schmaltz devoid of propulsive tension or profound resolution, but with 500 percent more scripture references.
Posted Nov 28, 2022
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EO
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Viewers can make connections or interpret people, or actions, or emotions as desired. EO is not going to judge, but he is going to tell you what to think or feel, which is perhaps the beauty and brilliance of this uncommon film.
Posted Nov 18, 2022
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Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(2022)
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Melanie McFarland
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Wakanda Forever may not be the perfect Marvel movie, but [it] prove its worthiness as a bridge – not merely between Phase 4 and Phase 5... but from the bleakness of loss to a stable place from which a new generation can move forward.
Posted Nov 17, 2022
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Retrograde
(2022)
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Sophia McClennen
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The film offers an intimate, chilling portrait of the colossal failures, human costs and destructive consequences of the abrupt end to America's longest war.
Posted Nov 17, 2022
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Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
(2022)
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Melanie McFarland
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The reality of a rock star's story is often more sobering than the fantasy built around them. Whether that's true of Yankovic may be revealed in another work. He's in control of this one, and we'll happily laugh along.
Posted Nov 04, 2022
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The Good Nurse
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Lindholm takes what could easily have been a TV movie of the week thriller and elevates it to an involving drama by keeping the danger spiky.
Posted Oct 26, 2022
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A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting
(2021)
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Melanie McFarland
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The main takeaway from A Tree of Life is the awe-inspiring resilience of the people who lived through the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in the United States.
Posted Oct 26, 2022
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Decision to Leave
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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The ambiguity of what is really going on is what makes the film so tantalizing.... "Decision to Leave" is a stunning achievement that ends by deliberately raising more questions than it answers.
Posted Oct 14, 2022
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Blonde
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Andrew Dominik's insufferable NC-17 adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel of the same name is to Marilyn Monroe what cubic zirconia are to diamonds.... Monroe wants to be taken seriously, but "Blonde" never feels sincere.
Posted Sep 28, 2022
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The Woman King
(2022)
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Melanie McFarland
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If you're someone who loves action movies that use "true events" as an entry to a deeper narrative about surviving trauma, defying misogyny and overcoming personal torment in the face, along with all the ass-kicking, then The Woman King is a masterpiece.
Posted Sep 26, 2022
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Barbarian
(2022)
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Kelly McClure
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What Barbarian offers, in addition to a full runtime of unexpectedly horrifying imagery mixed with surprising twists, is the chance for all of us to reflect on who could potentially show up as anti-character witnesses at our own good samaritan trials.
Posted Sep 19, 2022
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See How They Run
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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See How They Run starts out as a fleet comic mystery, but it quickly loses it fizz and turns into flat champagne.
Posted Sep 17, 2022
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The Bad Seed Returns
(2022)
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Alison Stine
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It's a shame because the fear in the movie flickers out, never really catching fire like the wood shop of the first film.
Posted Sep 06, 2022
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The Immaculate Room
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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This film offers some interesting food for thought for folks who are game.
Posted Aug 19, 2022
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Bullet Train
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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For all the screwball comedy, droll retorts, and kinetic action, "Bullet Train" entertains, until it goes over-the-top, which is not long before the train literally goes off the rails.
Posted Aug 06, 2022
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They/Them
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"They/Them" is a smart and savvy film that demonstrates the value of putting queer heroes in the horror genre as well as the damaging effects of conversion therapy and not allowing people to be who they are.
Posted Aug 05, 2022
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Nope
(2022)
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Melanie McFarland
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Hunting for hidden meaning within the story and the pictures deepens the complexity of our relationship with the movie, but that's also a distraction from the simple enjoyment of its popcorn flick simplicity.
Posted Aug 01, 2022
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Vengeance
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"Vengeance" is as entertaining as it is offbeat, and it showcases Novak's talents in front of and behind the camera well.
Posted Jul 29, 2022
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The Gray Man
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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It is a big, noisy, explosive adrenaline rush — a live-action spin on that old "MAD" magazine comic, "Spy vs. Spy" — and about as deep.
Posted Jul 22, 2022
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Where the Crawdads Sing
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"Stupefyingly bad.... It is very much like a swamp: tepid and unmoving."
Posted Jul 15, 2022
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Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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So benign and enjoyable viewers may find themselves uttering one of its heroine's oft-used refrains, "Oh, that's lovely." And for the romantics — not the cynics — in the audience, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Posted Jul 14, 2022
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Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
(2021)
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Kenneth Womack
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As with the best films, Questlove's narrative is shrouded in mystery, while leaving an emotional resonance that won't be soon forgotten.
Posted Jul 11, 2022
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Both Sides of the Blade
(2021)
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Gary M. Kramer
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A potent and well-acted film.
Posted Jul 08, 2022
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The Lost Weekend: A Love Story
(2022)
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Kenneth Womack
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The great triumph inherent in The Lost Weekend, and in Pang's steadfast curation of John's memory over the years, involves the celebration of Lennon's enduring spirit.
Posted Jul 07, 2022
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Flux Gourmet
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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The entire endeavor could not be more pretentious. However, Strickland (and his game players) all take "Flux Gourmet" incredibly seriously — which is precisely why viewers don't have to. This film is very dark, very dry, and very funny.
Posted Jun 23, 2022
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Official Competition
(2021)
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Gary M. Kramer
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Cohn and Duprat are deliberately, deliciously playing into this discussion of talent vs. fame.... Banderas gives a sly, knowing performance that shows he knows exactly how vainglorious Félix can be
Posted Jun 17, 2022
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The Janes
(2022)
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Melanie McFarland
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Directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes permeate "The Janes" with unforced wry humor that adds a triumphant glow to a story that other filmmakers may have presented as a grim struggle.
Posted Jun 10, 2022
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Lost Illusions
(2021)
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Gary M. Kramer
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A sumptuous adaptation.... The film is so impeccably made — the cinematography, costumes, and art direction are all fabulous — that only Lucien cannot see the "cold, inhumane smiles" of his detractors to know he has blundered in his efforts to get ahead.
Posted Jun 10, 2022
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RRR
(2022)
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Melanie McFarland
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All that's required is an appreciation for the director's aptitude for wielding visual chaos with the delight and vigor of an orchestra conductor.
Posted Jun 08, 2022
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The Phantom of the Open
(2021)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"The Phantom of the Open" is as appealing as Maurice Flitcroft. It is impossible not to be inspired by his incredible story.
Posted Jun 04, 2022
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Men
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"Men" is often unsettling but not necessarily in the expected ways, which is mostly to the film's credit.
Posted May 20, 2022
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The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent
(2022)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" may not quite be a game-changer for Cage time will tell but it does poke fun at Cage's celebrity in a smart, self-deprecating way. It is sure to please fans and non-fans alike.
Posted Apr 22, 2022
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The Duke
(2020)
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Gary M. Kramer
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"The Duke" is completely agreeable, and pleasant, but it could have been more arch or cynical. This film ends up being as likable as its puckish hero, who gets by on his good will.
Posted Apr 22, 2022
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