Review: “Ready Player One”

2.5 out of 5 stars. It’s one thing for a film to reference or pay homage to pop culture figures; it’s quite another thing for a film to entirely revolve around said references. In some cases, this has worked splendidly: 1988’s “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” is a modern classic in which iconic cartoon characters coexist […]

Review: “Pacific Rim Uprising”

1.5 out of 5 stars. Hey, do like watching giant monsters fight giant robots? Did you love the movie “Pacific Rim”? Then boy, is this not the movie for you. It’s like Godzilla, but it isn’t quite Godzilla. It’s also like Transformers, but it’s not quite Transformers. Its style is derived somewhat from Japanese anime, […]

Review: “Love, Simon”

4 out of 5 stars. “Love, Simon,” has everything you’d expect to find in a teen rom-com: a quirky sense of humor, misunderstandings that complicate friendships, attempts to fit in while navigating the drama of high school, and the search for first love. But the one thing that makes “Love, Simon” not just stand apart […]

Review: “Tomb Raider”

3 out of 5 stars. With “Tomb Raider,” director Roar Uthaug tries to do something that no other film based on a video game has managed to do: imbue the story and characters with some humanity extending beyond the action scenes. By giving the film a more serious and gritty tone—and with an outstanding leading […]

Review: “A Wrinkle in Time”

2.5 out of 5 stars. Minor spoilers ahead for those unfamiliar with the story. I first read Madeleine L’Engle’s classic novel “A Wrinkle in Time” when I was in elementary school. I remember not being especially thrilled by it, but decided last year, in anticipation of Disney and Ava DuVernay’s film adaptation, it was time […]

Review: “Red Sparrow”

2.5 out of 5 stars. There have been a lot of people referring to “Red Sparrow” as the “Black Widow” movie. While we have yet to receive a stand-alone Black Widow film from Marvel Studios, Natasha Romanoff’s past has been referenced in past films. But outside of the similar titles, the fact that both characters […]

Countdown to the Oscars: Final Predictions

The 90th Academy Awards are this Sunday, and I can’t remember a year in which the awards were harder to predict. But with the Golden Globes, Critic’s Choice, BAFTAs, and various guild awards now behind us, a pattern has emerged giving us more of a concrete idea of who will take home an Oscar. Still, […]

Review: “Annihilation”

4 out of 5 stars. Often, the best science fiction films are the ones that don’t give you all the answers, but rather give you more to puzzle out on your own long after leaving the theater. Such is the case with Alex Garland’s second directorial effort, “Annihilation,” based on the first book in a […]

Review: “Black Panther”

5 out of 5 stars. Although several superhero films over the past couple years have done different things to make audiences rethink the genre, it’s easy to be inundated with the sameness of the Hollywood blockbuster. This is especially true of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which found a formula that seems to please audiences and […]

Review: “I, Tonya”

4 out of 5 stars. The 1994 Winter Olympics saw a record number of people tune in to watch the women’s figure skating competition, not for the sport itself, but for the drama surrounding U.S. skaters Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. It’s something that’s true even of director Craig Gillespie and screenwriter Steven Rogers’ version […]