Review: “Blue Beetle”

A bright young man unexpectedly binds with a mutant insect that grants him superhuman abilities and makes him a target of some bad people who would rather weaponize his powers. That sounds like I’m recounting the origins of the seemingly never-ending series of Spider-man movies, but it’s actually the premise of Blue Beetle, the newest […]

Review: “Scrapper”

“It takes a village to raise a child.” This sentence that appears across a black screen disappears within an instant, scratched out by yellow, crayon-like markings, a new sentence scrawled beneath it in clumsy handwriting: “I can raise myself thanks.” This playful intro kicks both the style and tone of Scrapper into motion. Writer and […]

Review: “Haunted Mansion” (2023)

The time: October 2013. The place: Anaheim, California. The people: my roommates and friends who were, like me at the time, Disneyland cast members, whose appointed backstage tour of one of the theme park’s most storied attractions, the Haunted Mansion, was delayed due to a necessitated clean-up of a loved one’s ashes a family thought […]

Review: “Brother”

“Think on every step before you take it. Put it to memory, remember that the whole way up. And if you can’t use your memory right, you lose.” Francis (Aaron Pierre) utters those words to his younger brother Michael (Lamar Johnson) as they stand staring up at a transmission tower in their Scarborough, Toronto neighborhood. […]

Review: “Oppenheimer”

It’s a thorny subject, one usually entered into with reticence. That the United States military’s dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 to end a war that was already effectively over was a horrid act is more of a fact than an opinion nowadays. Upwards of 200,000 […]

Review: “Barbie”

Everything is perfect in Barbieland. Barbie wakes up in the pink plastic confection that is her dream house, greets her friends, showers, and selects a stylish ensemble from her expansive wardrobe. She eats breakfast (a perfectly toasted waffle washed down with a glass of milk) before she goes about her day, which includes attending political […]

Review: “Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One”

Tom Cruise is the 21st century’s Buster Keaton. That Cruise is one of the last true movie stars is certain: his name— and his outspoken devotion to cinema— alone drives audiences to movie theaters in droves, despite his often unsavory personal life that typically draws more fascination than ridicule. That first statement might provoke more […]

Review: “Joy Ride”

R-rated comedies are having a small—but not insignificant—moment right now. While that particular brand of raunchy movie seemed to be a regular staple of the mid-late 2000s theatrical scene, with movies like The Hangover (which spawned a trilogy) and Knocked Up, they’ve become increasingly rare, and when one does pop up every now and then, […]

Review: “Once Upon a Time in Uganda”

A camera sweeps over the imposing Kazakhstan landscape, tracing the path of a lone figure walking amid the rock formations, a falcon flying overhead. The music swells as the camera pushes in close on this man, grandly philosophizing through his solemn voiceover narration. It’s an opening scene fit for an epic action movie, but Once […]

Review: “L’immensità”

In Emanuele Crialese’s L’immensità, Andrew (Luana Giuliani) is a 12-year-old boy wresting with his gender identity. Born Adriana, his parents Felice (frequent Crialese collaborator Vincenzo Amato) and Clara (Penélope Cruz) still call him by that name, and address him as “young lady.” They aren’t exactly hostile, and yet, their inability to understand or, in the […]