BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE is a ramshackle effort trading on goodwill and nostalgia. What made the original so disarming and anarchic 36 years ago burbles to the surface from time to time, but as a whole, it is a mawkish thing following formulas that that original eschewed with raucous glee. We find Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) older… Read More »
MORBIUS
Let me start with a spoiler. MORBIUS is not a good film. This grim and grimy excursion into the Marvel Universe has the special effects. It has the clash of superhero and super villain. It has a bustling metropolis (New York City) where the residents, and at least one federal agent, are quick to blame… Read More »
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
Leaving aside what might otherwise be a richly nuanced discussion of why we need another Spider-man reboot so soon, it is with delight and relief that I report its success. Tom Holland takes on the red spandex and the ironic wisecracks as Peter Parker, the brilliant high-school kid whose bite from a radioactive spider has… Read More »
THE FOUNDER
Who knew that milkshakes would loom so large in the story of how McDonald’s became the corporate behemoth that it is today? From the multi-spindle mixers hawked by Ray Kroc during his salad days, to the seductive lipstick imprint on the rim of a glass containing an ersatz version of the creamy treat, to a… Read More »
SPOTLIGHT
SPOTLIGHT does more than dissect the passions at work in the investigative news process. As riveting as the specifics are of how The Boston Globe’s special investigative team chased down the sex-abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, it’s the larger question, that of how wide-spread sexual abuse of children by priests could have flourished for… Read More »
A MINIONS of Diminishing Returns
It must have seemed like such a good idea. Take the loveable little yellow minions from DESPICABLE ME and star them in their own movie. Certainly the eponymous MINIONS features much of what made them so irresistible. There’s that burbling mélange of human and Minion-esque language. The ebullient nature, the eagerness to please, and that… Read More »
BIRDMAN or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
THE SHORT VERSION: One of the best films of the year.
TOY STORY 3
Since his introduction by Pixar over a decade ago, Woody the toy cowboy (Tom Hanks) has faced dangers and adversaries of many varieties. In TOY STORY 1, it was Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) stealing the number one position in owner Andys heart, and that psychotic kid next door who did unfortunate things to the toys… Read More »
ROBOCOP
ROBOCOP is a laudable rethinking of the 1987 original. Told in broad thematic strokes, it still harbors in its soul a fine dialectic on identity, humanity, and even the reality (or lack thereof) of free will. Sure, its an action flick with shoot-em-up and blow-em-up sequences, but thanks to a grounding performance by Joel Kinnaman… Read More »
WHITE NOISE
As I sit and tap out these words on my computer, it is January 4, 2005 and I have just seen WHITE NOISE, a prime contender for NEXT years Razzie Award. It is inept, it is inane, and it is seemingly interminable. And why shouldn’t it be? The people behind this dreck thought it would… Read More »