AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM is a tired pastiche of the super-hero/sci-fi genre most notable for being a perfect distillation of the phenomenon known as “super-hero fatigue”. Smothered by its been-there, seen-that vibe, it presents little to recommend it beyond Randall Park as both the embodiment of egregious exposition and the voice of reason. He… Read More »
AMERICAN FICTION
At one point in AMERICANN FICTION, the provocatively named Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), notes that there is no moral to his story. Perhaps, though, that >is< the moral. In his adaptation of Percival Everett’s novel Erasure, Cord Jefferson takes on many issues for which there are no clear-cut answers, but for which the questions… Read More »
MAY DECEMBER
The opening credits for MAY DECEMBER play over a melodramatic score of insistent, skittery chords. Those chords will return, but at moments that to us seem banal, yet in the psyche of the December part of the cast, Gracie Yoo, played by the inimitable Julianne Moore, they signal a worldview not so much at odds… Read More »
THE MARVELS
There is one thing you can say for sure about THE MARVELS. There is a whole lot of it, and most of it involves overwrought CGI effects. They are beautifully executed, but eventually become tiresome, not just for the repetitive nature of the fight sequences, but also for the sheer scale, which starts at 11… Read More »
THE KILLER
David Fincher’s THE KILLER is as methodical as its protagonist, the philosophizing hit man in the midst of pickle that challenges his core nihilistic belief system in which karma doesn’t figure, nor does luck. The irony may be lost on this unnamed protagonist, but not on us as we are treated to a cavalcade of… Read More »
THE HOLDOVERS
It is a tried and true formula, and when it works well, one that can be endearing. Not original, but endearing. And so it is with THE HOLDOVERS, Alexander Payne’s beautifully realized coming-of-age tale set at an exclusive New England boarding school where the real lessons are not the ones taught in the classrooms. This… Read More »
EXPEND4BLES
Rarely does a film make me want to plead to the heavens above (and even the denizens below) to make it stop. Just stop. Just stop the projection, turn up the lights, and let us all slink back to resume our regular lives as best we can after the Razzie-worthy trash we have endured. And… Read More »
JULES
JULES is a wise and gentle comedy-drama about the vicissitudes of aging and the balm of a really good listener. There’s also a UFO and its extra-terrestrial pilot thrown in for good measure. Gifted with three well-tempered performances by Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin, and Harriet Sansom Harris, it takes a clear-eyed approach to the… Read More »
MEG 2: THE TRENCH
MEG 2: THE TRENCH is a wildly uneven effort, spending as it does most of its time as dud of an action drama and the rest as a rapturously unhinged action comedy. It is far more successful at the latter. Fortunately, star Jason Statham doesn’t let a creaky script (and that’s what we have here)… Read More »
INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY
And so we come full circle in the Indiana Jones saga as Indy once again faces the Nazis, this time while going in search of the Dial of Destiny. It’s a bittersweet farewell (unless it makes enough money to tempt all concerned with another installment), rife with complicated action sequences that don’t all succeed in… Read More »
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