Review: “Thor: Ragnarok”

4.5 out of 5 stars. I have made no secret of my feelings for Marvel’s “Thor” franchise. The first “Thor” movie was an elongated trailer for “The Avengers” disguised as a so-so origin story. Its follow-up, “Thor: The Dark World,” is Marvel’s worst effort, a dark and dingy outing that did no service to the […]

Review: “The Florida Project”

4.5 out of 5 stars. Sean Baker’s film “The Florida Project” is set mere miles from the most magical place on Earth, which makes the plight of the characters it explores all the more sobering. While tourists spend lavish amounts of money on vacations at Walt Disney World, residents in nearby Kissimmee struggle to scrounge […]

Review: “Goodbye Christopher Robin”

2.5 out of 5 stars. A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books are among the most beloved children’s tales of all time, which might be a big reason why the real story behind them is such a downer. Director Simon Curtis’ film “Goodbye Christopher Robin” details the creation of the famous bear, and explores its impact not on […]

Review: “Blade Runner 2049”

3.5 out of 5 stars. “Blade Runner 2049” opens with a shot that calls back to Ridley Scott’s original 1982 film: a close up of an eye, staring straight into the camera. It’s an unsettling image that sets the tone of the film, as well as one of its main themes: the perception of what […]

Review: “Battle of the Sexes”

4 out of 5 stars. “Battle of the Sexes” opens with a scene that, despite taking place in the early 1970s, likely won’t be unfamiliar to many audiences. Fresh off of a winning streak that made her the world’s top woman tennis player, Billie Jean King (Emma Stone) discovers that the prize money for the […]

Review: “Kingsman: The Golden Circle”

2.5 out of 5 stars. If 2015’s “Kingsman: The Secret Service” was surprisingly fun, its sequel, “Kingsman: The Golden Circle,” is surprisingly disappointing. The film, which is once again directed by Matthew Vaughn, opens promisingly enough with its protagonist, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) engaging in a wild fist fight with a rejected Kingsman applicant, Charlie […]

Review: “Mother!”

3.5 out of 5 stars. You’d be hard-pressed to find a mainstream movie in theaters this year that is more insane than Darren Aronofsky’s “Mother!”, or a movie that will make you feel more insane by the time the credits roll. The psychological horror film (an unusually arty release to come from a mainstream studio), […]

Review: “It” (2017)

4 out of 5 stars. “It” opens with one of the most famous and controversial scenes from Stephen King’s novel. Six-year-old Georgie Denbrough from the small town of Derry is chasing a paper boat in the rain, when it floats into a gutter. As he goes to retrieve it, Georgie is confronted by a […]

The 5 Best Movies of the Summer

I’ve been taking a break from watching and reviewing current films for a bit, as we ease out of summer and into fall. This time of year is one of the slowest for big movie releases, but even this summer at its peak was one of the slowest ones box office-wise in recent memory. Despite […]

Review: “The Big Sick”

4.5 out of 5 stars. Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Boy loses girl. Girl falls into a coma. It sounds like a plot whipped up just for film, but it actually is the real-life love story of Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon—which they then turned into a screenplay for a […]