Review: “Halloween Kills”

If 2018’s “Halloween”— the first installment in a new trilogy that continues the events of the classic 1978 slasher— was about Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) and her family facing the pain of the past, its sequel, “Halloween Kills,” is about how weaponizing that pain can turn us as evil as the entity we are […]

Review: “The Last Duel”

The myth of noble knights, regal ladies, and majestic, sprawling kingdoms is one that is often romanticized, both in fantasy and in stories based in reality. So far this year, we’ve already had one film, David Lowery’s “The Green Knight”— an adaptation of an Arthurian legend— challenge the notion of the courageous knight on a […]

Review: “The Rescue”

In 2018, the world was held rapt by the story of 12 young soccer players and their coach, who became trapped deep in a cave in Thailand, flooded by monsoon rains. But the enthralling discovery by divers that all 13 individuals were still alive deep underground 10 days after their disappearance comes less than halfway […]

Review: “The Addams Family 2”

2019’s animated “The Addams Family” movie was a disappointment largely in how it shoehorned its unconventional characters into such a conventional plot, but at least it showcased the weirdness of each character and the spooky mansion they live in. Not even that can be said for its new sequel, “The Addams Family 2,” which sees […]

Review: “Bergman Island”

“Bergman Island” is one of those movies that I had to watch twice before I could really start to grasp its intricacies. There’s no doubt that writer/director Mia Hansen-Løve’s movie has a lot for film fans to chew on. Set on Fårö, the Swedish island where the legendary director Ingmar Bergman lived, worked, and was […]

Review: “No Time to Die”

Six actors (seven, if you’d like to throw David Niven in there for the 1967 parody “Casino Royale”) have portrayed Agent 007 in the nearly 60 years since a tuxedo-clad Sean Connery first introduced himself as “Bond, James Bond” in 1962’s “Dr. No.” They’ve all come and gone over the years without a lot of […]

Review: ”Venom: Let There Be Carnage”

I’ll be the first to admit that I— along with many others— entered 2018’s “Venom” with the wrong expectations (you can read my lukewarm review from its initial release here). I distinctly remember sitting in the theater, not quite able to believe what I was watching. A gritty, serious comic book movie, “Venom” is not. […]

Review: “Titane”

“Titane” may have only just been released in theaters stateside, but writer/director Julia Ducournau’s second feature, which recently won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, is already notorious for its main character’s, um, affinity for automobiles. But there is way more to “Titane” than that. It’s a horror film, sure, one that involves pregnancy and self-mutilation […]

Review: “Falling for Figuro”

The romantic comedy genre has touched almost every imaginable environment or scenario, but I can’t think of one set in the world of opera. Director Ben Lewin’s “Falling for Figuro,” which follows rival opera singers who fall in love, may ultimately adhere to the expectations of the genre, but it also occasionally subverts them, and […]

Review: “Dear Evan Hansen”

Like most musical theatre fans, I was all over the “Dear Evan Hansen” Broadway cast recording when it was released in early 2017. The collection of pop tunes written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who were also behind the popular musicals “La La Land” (which I like) and “The Greatest Showman” (which I loathe) […]