The first smart thing about The Mandalorian and Grogu is that it does not pretend to be more sacred than it is. Jon Favreau knows these characters were born in the streaming age, raised by memes, and adopted by audiences who came for the armor and stayed for the tiny green child who can tilt […]
Marvel’s so-called “First Family” returns not with a bang, but with a strangely warm crackle—a mid-century fireplace in the corner of a laboratory humming with unstable molecules. Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is both a reset and a provocation, asking whether a property that’s been burned twice in the past two decades can still find
GLADIATOR II (R) Dir. Ridley Scott Twenty years later, there is still plenty of strength and honor in the Roman Empire to fight for, only with more special effects and a more powerful focus on the need for a free Republic…and Paul Mescal’s neck muscles. Grade (3.5 / 5.0) Ask anyone who is a
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is a curious mixing up of reality and fantasy, though mostly fantasy. It seems that writer (with Kevin Etten) and director Tom Gormican intended to make a spoof of Nicholas Cage and his movies by weaving in and out of both in a multi-layered piece that oftentimes uncannily mirrors Cage’s
What a different film from the 2017 version, which I had loved. It’s puzzling that this one, written by essentially the same writers (director Patty Jenkins, Geoff Johns, Dave Callahan) and with the same director (Patty Jenkins), could fall so short of the previous version. Could the fact that it had so many (17) producers have made
It’s usually a bad sign when half of Hollywood’s A-list actors circle a project and then drop out. Everyone from Tom Hanks, Will Smith, Casey Affleck, and Mahershala Ali were at once attached to “Triple Frontier.” Writer/director J.C. Chandor has made 4 movies, 3 of them have been about the corruption caused by greed. This
Oscar winner Barry Jenkins highly anticipated new film opens exactly the way you would hope. A perfectly timed musical score from his “Moonlight” collaborating composer Nicholas Britell folds into the frame. The two lead actors (KiKi Layne and Stephan James) wearing outfits that compliment each other, slowly walk down the street daydreaming about their future
The Americans are here to ruin a promising franchise. Two years ago, director Matthew Vaughn made a star out of newcomer Taron Egerton (Eddie the Eagle) with a witty, sarcastic and intelligent script. Kingsman didn’t play as well in America, so for the sequel, everything from the pace, humor and Taron’s charisma is altered. The
There is a wall in this film but it isn’t portrayed as anything great. In fact, the title of the film falsely suggests the wall as the focal point. It’s a fantasy epic which uses legend to explain the implementation of China’s famous five-thousand-mile-long wall. While The Great Wall is the most expensive Chinese film