Jungle Cruise is the latest film based on a Disney theme park attraction, and fans will be delighted by the handful of obvious nods (puns, so many puns!) and Easter eggs (Dr. Albert Falls! Trader Sam!) referencing the iconic ride. If only the movie’s plot weren’t so convoluted and derivative. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra from […]
The Exchange
The Exchange centers on Tim Long (Ed Oxenbould) a teenager in small-town Canada in 1986 who chafes against his fellow residents’ lack of sophistication. This has resulted in an isolated, friendless existence where Tim would rather hang out with the curmudgeonly janitor at City Hall than kids his own age at the local hockey rink. […]
Ride the Eagle
Ride the Eagle is not a bad movie, but one that’s so aggressively mediocre that it starts to seem bad after a while. This very streamlined man-child-comes-of-age lark is so inoffensively relaxed in its perfunctory set-up and payoff that it’s difficult to loathe, but eventually the relaxed vibe starts to feel like coasting, at which […]
Nine Days
We are each the main character in our own story. And in life’s more chaotic moments, it’s easy to think we’re living through our own TV show. Moments of high drama flatten our spirits. Our embarrassments function like screwball comedy. Moments of unspeakable irony make us wonder who’s turning the screws. Each day is a […]
Old
There is a movie inside Old that flows organically out of its characters, driven by their fears, desires, and regrets, generating a clear-eyed and affecting metaphor for the speed with which life passes us by, and our inherent unwillingness to slow down long enough to savor every moment. It’s as eloquent a thematic underpinning as […]
This Is Not a War Story
In the movies, war is exciting and chaotic and inspiring, full of adventure and heroism and way-cool weapons. Well, as Talia Lugacy’s film warns us right from the start, This Is Not a War Story. Instead, this is a story about what happens after the war, when veterans come home. Many of them are wounded. […]
Space Jam: A New Legacy
The prevailing critical logic on Space Jam: A New Legacy is that it’s bad. And…yeah, that basically tracks. More intriguing than general derision, though, is exploring precisely how the film ended up in its current form, a melting pot of contradictory aims so dissonant that any chance at basic coherence was dashed at the conceptual […]
Trust
It’s hard to gain. It’s easy to lose. It’s almost impossible to get back. “Trust.” That’s the title, and topic, of a twisty new marital drama featuring Brooke and Owen, an attractive, successful, having-it-all Manhattan couple. He’s a local TV anchor on the rise. She’s just opened her own art gallery and signed a hot […]
Gunpowder Milkshake
Netflix’s Gunpowder Milkshake takes place in a neon-soaked alternate universe where only criminals and the people who aid and abet them seem to exist. At home there is Karen Gillan’s Sam, a hitwoman for a crime syndicate called The Firm. Sam was raised by Nathan (Paul Giamatti), one of the organization’s higher ups, after her […]
Steps
According to the Chinese proverb, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Sometimes, though, the most life-changing journeys begin with 12. The new film Steps, though, isn’t really about Alcoholics Anonymous. It’s a story about conquering addictions, of all kinds. To drugs and alcohol. To rage and violence. To impulsive decisions […]
Black Widow
Black Widow is the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to hit theaters in over a year (it’s also available via Disney+ Premier Access). Yet, while its opening was delayed due to the pandemic, even if it had come out on its original release date in May 2020, it still would have felt like it came […]
The Ice Road
Since 2008’s Taken, Liam Neeson has more than established his action hero bona fides after previously demonstrating his talent as a dramatic actor in films like Schindler’s List. Unfortunately, Netflix’s The Ice Road won’t burnish his legacy in either category, as even Neeson can’t make this poorly executed action thriller exciting. Neeson plays a gruff […]
The Penny Black
Look around the poker table, veteran gamblers like to warn. If you can’t spot the sucker – it’s you. There’s a lot to look at in the mostly intriguing con-man documentary and clearly someone’s being taken for a ride. But who is it? The mysterious Russian on the run who says he has millions of […]
F9: The Fast Saga
Fans of the Fast and Furious franchise pretty much know what to expect from new entries by now: thrilling action, comfortingly familiar characters spouting platitudes about family, and the odd joke or two. From that perspective, F9, the ninth movie in the improbable saga, is a smashing success — and I mean that literally. It’s […]
Luca
A pleasant if predictable fable about acceptance and diversity, Luca is a lesser effort from Pixar Animation Studios, which still places it above most animated feature films. It’s full of lovely animation and appealing characters, in a well-realized setting that draws from both mythology and history. For its target kid audience, Luca is perfectly effective, […]
Every Single Someone
It’s often been said that movies reflect society, yet despite America’s terrible epidemic of gun violence, movies have rarely grappled with the issue, much less explored the topic of violence from the perspective of the often young, white men who choose to perpetrate it. Filmmakers’ reasons for staying away from this messy topic are understandable. […]
Untitled Horror Movie
The extremely meta – and very funny – Untitled Horror Movie stars six TV actors from shows such as Shadow Hunters, The Vampire Diaries, 13 Reasons Why, Never Have I Ever and The Umbrella Academy playing… six TV actors. In the film, they star in a popular TV show that’s on the verge of cancellation. […]
Holler
Holler is a film that seems to have an uncanny psychic link to its characters and environment, a kind of synthesis between form and subject that can’t be manufactured, only felt. Portraits of Rust Belt desperation are quite popular in the industry of late, to the point that Appalachian Misery Porn should be designated its […]
Awake
Awake, Netflix’s latest apocalyptic thriller, echoes films like A Quiet Place and Bird Box, in which a single event changes the fate of humanity, forcing its characters into a desperate fight for survival. However, Awake‘s characters and the world it builds aren’t nearly as compelling as those of other similarly themed films, resulting in a […]
Marathon
No one makes Christopher Guest movies like Christopher Guest, as filmmakers Anthony Guidubaldi and Keith Strausbaugh prove with their Guest-style mockumentary Marathon. But just because Marathon doesn’t match up to the brilliance of Guest films like Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show doesn’t mean that it isn’t entertaining, and Guidubaldi and Strausbaugh put together […]