Review: “Alien: Covenant”

2 out of 5 stars. Director Ridley Scott is clearing trying to Say Something with “Alien: Covenant,” which, although its title doesn’t make it sound that way, is actually a sequel to 2012’s “Prometheus,” which was itself a prequel to the “Alien” franchise that originated with Scott at the helm. The adrenaline-pumping action bits that […]

Review: “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”

4.5 out of 5 stars. Like most sequels, it’s not quite as fresh as the original, taking the endearingly quirky trademarks that made it so popular and pushing them to the point where it’s almost overkill. Almost, but not quite, because “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” is a stellar sci-fi adventure that holds its […]

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” […]

Review: “Speech and Debate”

4 out of 5 stars. “Speech and Debate” opens on a school board meeting in the small, conservative town of Salem, Oregon, immediately setting up the tone of the film and the environment in which this story takes place. The town’s mayor has recently resigned due to scandal, while the choice for this year’s school […]

Review: “Power Rangers” (2017)

3.5 out of 5 stars. They’re not your typical superheroes, but the Power Rangers were an indispensable aspect of almost every 90s kid’s life, beginning with the original 1993 television series. It’s rather astounding that, given the franchise’s ongoing popularity and the onslaught of nostalgia-based adaptations and reboots over the last few years, the Power […]

Review: “Beauty and the Beast” (2017)

4 out of 5 stars. There’s a point in director Bill Condon’s live-action version of Disney’s animated classic “Beauty and the Beast” where I knew right off that I was going to love the movie, and that point comes no more than two or three minutes into the film. The opening sequence that details the […]

Review: “Kong: Skull Island”

2.5 out of 5 stars. Warner Brothers has been trying to reboot its classic monster movie franchises over the past several years, with 2014’s “Godzilla” supposedly kicking off a series of new films. That film had mixed results, but “Kong: Skull Island,” the second film in this new “Monsterverse,” does even more so. Directed by […]

Review: “Logan”

4.5 out of 5 stars. Eight years ago, leaving the theater after watching the terrible, clichéd, first stand-alone Wolverine movie, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” I never would have thought the franchise would be here now. And yet, here we are. “Logan” is the third Wolverine standalone (following a middling 2013 effort simply titled “The Wolverine”) and […]

Oscar Predictions

We’re officially less than a week away from Hollywood’s biggest night. The 89th Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 26. Damien Chazelle’s gorgeous musical “La La Land” received a record-tying 14 nominations, and is the favorite to win a majority of them, including Best Picture, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still predictions […]

Review: “John Wick: Chapter 2”

4.5 out of 5 stars. They call him the Boogeyman, and whisper about that time he killed three men in a bar with only a pencil. As much as everyone hypes up the skills of assassin John Wick, it would be very easy to fail to meet audience expectations for the character. But not only […]