5 Best Movies of Summer 2018

When I have reflected on summer movies in past years, I’ve always found it hard to pick the best ones from the films I’ve seen, usually because there aren’t more than a couple that I believed were truly great. This year, however, my top five list was hard to narrow down because there were so […]

Review: “Crazy Rich Asians”

4 out of 5 stars. “Crazy Rich Asians” is the first film produced by a Hollywood studio to boast an all-Asian principal cast in 25 years. They are a minority who are often either grossly under-represented, or poorly represented, in major American films. And while “Crazy Rich Asians,” which is based on the novel of […]

Review: “The Meg”

3 out of 5 stars. Thanks to the Syfy Channel and the “Sharknado” movies, we’re living in a new golden age of cheesy monster flicks, and as evidenced by the popularity of these low-budget movies, the more far-fetched and, quite frankly, intentionally bad, the better. Big budget Hollywood films that are released in theaters are usually […]

Review: “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation”

2.5 out of 5 stars. It’s a bit odd seeing a movie like “Hotel Transylvania” getting a release date in the middle of July, but it makes sense considering that the latest film in the hit animated franchise is titled “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.” And if you think that means this movie will be […]

Review: “Eighth Grade”

5 out of 5 stars. “Eighth Grade” is the story of an average girl’s last week of middle school. But there’s nothing average about this film, which is the debut feature from writer/director Bo Burnham. Rather than a quirky and sugar-coated teen comedy, it’s about as honest and unflinching as a portrayal of middle school […]

Review: “Mission: Impossible- Fallout”

4.5 out of 5 stars. The “Mission: Impossible” film franchise has a lot in common with its leading man, Tom Cruise. They’re both relentless, and never seem to know when to stop or how to slow down. But they also age gracefully while managing to pull out some new tricks to impress audiences. And while […]

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: “Ant-Man and the Wasp”

3.5 out of 5 stars. “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” the sequel to what is likely the most low-key of all the Marvel films, comes to theaters less than three months after the release of the huge and highly-anticipated “Avengers: Infinity War.” The latter film was high-stakes and emotionally draining, which is part of the reason […]

Review: “The Incredibles 2”

4 out of 5 stars. Pixar’s “The Incredibles” was released 14 years ago. Think about that. Fourteen years. The long-awaited sequel to the animated film that follows a family of superheroes is finally in theaters, and it picks up at the exact moment that its predecessor left off, the familiar characters springing into action as […]

Review: “Ocean’s 8”

3.5 out of 5 stars. There’s one moment in “Ocean’s 8” that calls out the necessity of an all-female reboot of the franchise, when Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) and her partner Lou (Cate Blanchett) are going over potential hires for their big heist. When Lou brings up a male candidate and Debbie immediately says no […]