2019
Spies in Disguise
This is a high-tech animation that the kids in the audience found at the screening I attended to be great fun. There are the obligatory scenes of puke, poop, and pee; but the story has substance in pitting a nerdy little peace-loving scientist against a macho master spy who always insists on doing his jobs alone
Little Women
“Short and spicy”, “married or dead”, those were the parameters Louisa May Alcott was given on how to write women and end her stories in the 1850’s. Academy Award nominated director Greta Gerwig brings Alcott’s “Little Women” back to life 25 years after it’s last theatrical treatment that starred Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon. Short
Invisible Life
Brazil’s entry to compete in the Academy Award for best International Film debuted at Cannes earlier this year where it received the Un Certain Regard Award for director Karim Aïnouz. “Invisible Life” has some stereotype issues, all women are victims in a story set in the 1950’s and that all men are pushers. Beyond that
Cats
Tom Hooper’s film version of “Cats” the musical is as bizarre as it is confusing. The adaptation has suffered greatly upon rollout, stemming from visual effect backlash when the characters were unveiled. The concept of taking actors’ faces and digitally inserting them into this amalgamation of human/cat bodies is the kind of peculiar you stare
Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker
Will this agony ever end,” C-3PO says at one point. Anyone who believes Disney’s marketing ploy that, “this is the final Star Wars film,” hasn’t been paying attention. Nothing and no one is ever final in this franchise, which is the biggest turn off for non-fans. As you watch the eleventh film in the franchise,
Bombshell
First it was The Big Short, I Tonya, Vice and now Bombshell. Movies about the convergence of media and politics told in a way that breaks the fourth wall have found their place in the annual award season race. These films, adapted from one article or source, are edited in a way that’s snappy and
Uncut Gems
If you like movies that manufacture migraines, agitate viewers senses and lead you to a state of anxiety, then Uncut Gems is what you have been waiting for. Familiarity with Josh and Benny Safdie is key to managing expectations on Adam Sandler’s latest work. There is no denying that Sandler, along with The Safdie Brothers
6 Underground
The last decent Michael Bay movie was Transformers (2007). Since then the action director has delivered a buffet of discardable sequels and ornamental Wal-Mart shelf one-offs. Up to now, everything was done under the studio system, and while it’s true the 2013 Pain & Gain (based on a very violent true story) was an attempt