Review: “Jungle Cruise”

I was in the audience at the Walt Disney Studios panel at the D23 Expo in 2019 when some of the first footage from “Jungle Cruise”—an adventure film based on the Disney Parks attraction of the same name—was premiered. But it was less the trailers themselves that made an impact, and more the surprising and […]

Review: “Jumanji: The Next Level”

3.5 out of 5 stars. 2017’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” was a surprisingly imaginative reboot of the 1995 film. But it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that its sequel, “Jumanji: The Next Level,” wouldn’t have anything new and exciting to offer. While it does retain a lot of the same elements that made the […]

Review: “Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”

2.5 out of 5 stars. There’s at least one thing that can be said about “Hobbs & Shaw”: it knows exactly what it is, and doesn’t try to do anything more than that. At the same time, this spinoff of the “Fast and Furious” franchise proves that there is little left for this series to […]

Review: “Skyscraper”

2.5 out of 5 stars. “Skyscraper” is a take on “Die Hard” that is exactly what you’d think it is, and at the same time, doesn’t deliver enough. It’s diverting for a couple of hours, sure, but everything about it is mediocre, from the lazy title to the characters to the story to even the […]

Review: “Rampage”

1.5 out of 5 stars. “Rampage,” a new action movie directed by Brad Peyton and starring Dwayne Johnson, is based on a 1986 arcade game of the same name, a bit of trivia that I actually wasn’t familiar with going into the movie. But it makes sense to me now, as “Rampage” is so simplistic, […]

Review: “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”

3.5 out of 5 stars. It seems like Hollywood runs on brand recognition nowadays. Connecting a movie to an existing franchise, no matter what it is, is view as a necessary ingredient for success. Take “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” a stand alone sequel/reboot of the 1995 adventure film starring Robin Williams. While the film […]

Review: “The Fate of the Furious”

3.5 out of 5 stars. By the time a franchise reaches its eighth movie—if it even continues for that long—it usually is beginning to show signs of slowing down. “The Fast and the Furious,” however, seems to be doing the opposite. In fact, the eighth film in that series, titled “The Fate of the Furious” […]