Review: “Elvis”

With a drawn-out, deep howl and a vibration that starts at the toes and rolls up through his entire body, a pivotal scene early in director Baz Luhrmann’s newest movie lets us watch two stars being born. The first is Elvis Presley, the subject of Luhrmann’s biopic “Elvis.” Luhrmann gives us a glimpse of an […]

Review: “Lightyear”

“Lightyear” is the first movie from Pixar Animation Studios to receive a theatrical release since the March 2020 run of “Onward” was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It isn’t that Pixar hasn’t been churning out hits; films like “Soul,” “Luca,” and “Turning Red” have all been released straight to streaming on Disney Plus, […]

Review: “Jurassic World Dominion”

There is likely no more egregious thing that the “Jurassic World” trilogy, or the “Jurassic Park” series as a whole, has done than reunite the trio of Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum for the first time since Steven Spielberg’s 1993 classic, only to have Dern’s Dr. Ellie Sattler state that she reconnected with […]

Review: “Top Gun: Maverick”

I have to admit, I initially wasn’t all that excited for “Top Gun: Maverick,” long-awaited (both in terms of the 36 year distance between it and its predecessor, and multiple delays, first to shoot more complex action scenes, and later due to the COVID-19 pandemic, repeatedly pushing it from its initial summer 2019 release date) […]

Streaming Movie Reviews

As we’re fast approaching the end of August (what??) I’m recapping some of the new movies released on streaming services over the past month. There sure were some stinkers, but as we start to edge closer and closer to award season, some potential contenders are starting to pop up. Be sure to check out Sundance […]

Review: “Candyman” (2021)

Sometime last year, in the early throes of quarantine, I watched the 1992 film “Candyman” for the first time, in preparation for Nia DaCosta’s new take on the story, which was delayed multiple times from its original June 2020 release date due to the pandemic. I pressed play sometime after midnight, which was a mistake—something […]

Review: “Reminiscence”

“The past can haunt a man. That’s what they say.” Nick Bannister’s (Hugh Jackman) opening narration in “Reminiscence,” and his voiceovers throughout the remainder of the film, calls to mind classic films noir in which the hardened protagonist wearily dictates his thoughts, feelings, and ruminations on morality. But “Reminiscence” never does more than remind us […]

Review: “Free Guy”

Guy is not the kind of character you’d usually want to play in a shooter game. In fact, he’s not the kind of character you’d normally be able to play at all. Guy is a non-playable character, or NPC, a background figure created to populate a video game’s environment, whether to just provide atmosphere or […]

Review: “The Suicide Squad”

The DC Extended Universe got off to a rough start—so much so that over the last year, we’ve seen Warner Brothers attempt to course correct the DCEU, not by investing in bringing new characters and stories to life, but by tinkering with their past failures. This past spring saw the release of Zack Snyder’s four […]

Streaming Movie Reviews

Happy August to all who celebrate! Today I’m recapping some direct-to-streaming films that were released in July, including one of the year’s best movies (“Summer of Soul”) and Netflix’s very fun horror trilogy event, “Fear Street.” You can find my capsule reviews of those movies and others down below! “SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE […]