The Flamboyant Flair of Rocketman Sets a New Bar for Music Biopics

I’m not sure where the current surge of baby boomer music movies came from, but it looks like it’s here for a little while longer. After the rocking songs of Queen took music biopics to new heights at the box office last year, Hollywood has its eyes set on The Beatles and Bruce Springsteen-influenced movies … Continue reading The Flamboyant Flair of Rocketman Sets a New Bar for Music Biopics

Besides a Nefarious Octavia Spencer Performance, Ma Is a Bit of a Mess

The second you give me a horror film starring Octavia Spencer as the villain, I’m there. Ma, a new thriller from the director of The Help and The Girl on a Train, held the promise of that, but aside from a devilishly fun performance from Spencer in the titular role, it doesn’t offer much else. It … Continue reading Besides a Nefarious Octavia Spencer Performance, Ma Is a Bit of a Mess

Brightburn is More of a Fizzle

What if Superman, an alien who crash landed on a small farm in Kansas and was raised by the couple that lived there, turned out not to be a hero and a savior, but pure evil? What if, instead of using his incredible powers for good, he used them to cause pain and misery? What … Continue reading Brightburn is More of a Fizzle

The Wandering Earth – The Biggest Movie You’ve Never Heard Of

At the same time that Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame have been dominating the box office, China came out with a mega-blockbuster of their own. Now the third-grossing movie of the year as well as China’s second biggest movie of all time, The Wandering Earth is the country’s first full-scale science fiction epic. Part interstellar spectacular, part disaster … Continue reading The Wandering Earth – The Biggest Movie You’ve Never Heard Of

Unicorn Store – Wonder, Magic, and Growing Up Without Losing Yourself

To say that Brie Larson is having a good year would be a bit of an understatement. The Oscar-winning actress smashed through the patriarchy and box office records with Captain Marvel, and less than two months later is set to reprise the role of Carol Danvers in Avengers: Endgame, a little film that’s all but guaranteed … Continue reading Unicorn Store – Wonder, Magic, and Growing Up Without Losing Yourself

“The Best of Enemies” is This Year’s Green Book, and That’s Not Good

Will we never learn? With the wound of the offensive and irresponsible Academy Award winning Green Book still open and bleeding, Hollywood has, after only a little more than a month later, bestowed upon us yet another plain, sanitized look at racial tensions in the South during the 60s and 70s. The Best of Enemies isn’t quite … Continue reading “The Best of Enemies” is This Year’s Green Book, and That’s Not Good

“Us” is Unsettling, Bloody, and One Hell of a Thought-Provoking Ride

If, for whatever reason, you were still having doubts that Jordan Peele, half the mind behind Key and Peele, which filled the void left from Chappelle's Show, and the entire mind behind 2017's monster hit Get Out, as well as the upcoming Twilight Zone reboot, consider them extinguished with the release of Us. Peele has … Continue reading “Us” is Unsettling, Bloody, and One Hell of a Thought-Provoking Ride

The Lobster – Love by Regulation

I really reject the repeated notion that “Hollywood is out of ideas”. You hear that over and over again, and it’s simply not true. There are endless original movies being made every day by an endless amount of filmmakers both new and old, but most people just don’t go see them. It’s something I quickly … Continue reading The Lobster – Love by Regulation

Climax – Dancing and Descending Into Madness

I have never seen anything quite like Climax, the hallucinatory, drug-and-sex-fueled hour and a half of chaos helmed by Argentine-French writer and director Gaspar Noé. At moments it is beautiful, at others it’s manic and depraved, and at others it’s transcendent of its own art form. It’s horrifying, hypnotic, seductive, and impossible to look away … Continue reading Climax – Dancing and Descending Into Madness

Swiss Army Man – The Weird, Artsy Farting Corpse Movie

I don’t really know what to make of Swiss Army Man. It’s impossible to pin down exactly what it is - it’s doesn’t fit into the confines of any one genre (I guess comedy / adventure would be the closest), it’s incredibly strange and is proud to be so, its humor goes back and forth … Continue reading Swiss Army Man – The Weird, Artsy Farting Corpse Movie