Streaming Recap: February 2020

TIMMY FAILURE: MISTAKES WERE MADE (Disney Plus) A family film based on a popular children’s book series may seem like an odd fit for the director of the Oscar-winning journalism drama “Spotlight.” But with Tom McCarthy at the helm, “Timmy Failure” is a kids’ movie that doesn’t dumb itself down for its audience. Timmy (Winslow […]

Review: “The Call of the Wild” (2020)

3.5 out of 5 stars. You’d have to have a pretty hard heart not to be moved by “The Call of the Wild,” a new adaptation of the classic Jack London story directed by Chris Sanders—despite a very obvious issue. The story of a dog’s journey from pampered house pet to his origins in the […]

Review: “Sonic the Hedgehog”

2.5 out of 5 stars. I can’t really say what exactly I was expecting from the live-action movie version of “Sonic the Hedgehog.” When the first trailer for the film debuted in April 2019, the reaction was outrage from fans, and something between confusion and horror for everyone else. Needless to say that despite an […]

From “1917” to “Parasite”: My Predictions for the 2020 Academy Awards

Awards season is already coming to end, thanks to the Academy Awards moving up the ceremony to the second Sunday in February. With some categories seeming like shoe-ins and others still up in the air, it’s going to be interesting to see how the shorter campaign season shakes out at the Oscars on February 9th. […]

Review: “Birds of Prey”

4 out of 5 stars. Comic book movies can be dicey territory, but I think it’s safe to say that most people found the 2016 ensemble film “Suicide Squad” to be an unsatisfying mess. The best part of that movie, however, was that it gave us Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn. The character, who […]

Review: “Weathering With You”

4.5 out of 5 stars. It’s hard to discuss “Weathering With You” without also bringing up “Your Name.” The latter film, an anime movie from writer/director Makoto Shinkai, is one of the highest grossing Japanese films of all time, and has been critically praised across the board. The story of a boy and girl connected […]

Streaming Recap: January 2020

January is usually a slow time of year, for movies and for me. I spent the last month playing catch up on a lot of television that I missed toward the end of 2019 (and if you need me I’ll be screaming about HBO’s “Watchmen” for the foreseeable future), taking advantage of the fact that […]

Predicting the 2020 Oscar Nominations

The Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards are behind us now, and in the early hours of tomorrow morning, the nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards (occurring February 9) will be announced. I’m coming in hot with some super last minute predictions for who I think will be nominated tomorrow morning. I am excluding […]

Review: “1917”

5 out of 5 stars. “1917” is a war epic brought down to a more personal level, without sacrificing the scale or horror of said war. That is thanks to director Sam Mendes and his crew, who adhere to a vision for this story—based on an anecdote told to him by his grandfather, Alfred Mendes—that […]

Review: “Uncut Gems”

3.5 out of 5 stars. I watched “Uncut Gems” for the first time over two days ago, and I still have a hard time putting my reaction to the film into words. It’s engrossing, but not exactly enjoyable; intense, even though the endgame is rather predictable. None of the characters are likeable, including Adam Sandler’s […]