Ben is Back is a very present-tense title, not just a name but an active occurrence. That makes sense since it’s a very present-tense film, a moment-by-moment Read More

In the midst of Disney’s IP regeneration bonanza, as the studio proceeds to unearth its hallowed classics and reformat them as modern-day mega-blockbusters, Mary Poppins Returns takes Read More

There is no Beale Street in If Beale Street Could Talk, and that’s the point: when James Baldwin wrote the novel in 1974, the street name Read More

There is much to chew on and savor in The Favourite– kinky asides, intriguing isolated moments, loopy dry humor adding spice to the regal period setting. Read More

Boy Erased is about as well-intentioned as a movie can be while still shamelessly misrepresenting the subject it so staunchly supports. There’s no question that its heart Read More

As we exit the Halloween season, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is something of a fright fest for writers, this real-life story of a notable published Read More

As one who came of age in the 1990s, it’s surreal to me that we have now moved far enough beyond that decade to look back Read More

First Man opens with an enthralling sequence in which a young Neil Armstrong makes a perilous ascent into the outer atmosphere as an X-15 test pilot. Through Read More

Family Thanksgivings are always awkward, but especially so when the traditional familial arguments descend into a violent showdown with rogue Homeland Security agents. So unfolds the Read More

In this particular comic book boom in cinema history, when superhero adaptations are almost stubbornly efficient in terms of both frequency and relative quality, it’s almost Read More

There’s a disconnect between what A Star is Born truly is and what it feels like it needs to be. Said disconnect doesn’t hinder the film from Read More

Night School is interesting as a movie-going experience, insomuch as it barely resembles one, yet I was hard-pressed to leave the theater offended by that fact. There Read More

Peppermint opens with a claustrophobic white-knuckle sequence of blunt force brutality – Jennifer Garner, its headlining star, swiftly and nearly wordlessly kicking the ass of a Read More

The easiest way to process the abject failure of The Happytime Murders is to know that those Taco Bell “nacho fries” commercials are more successful conceptually than Read More

In this particular Hollywood era, one so dominated by monolithic tent poles and so fueled by familiarity as a box-office catalyst that even minor fringe hits Read More

Spike Lee’s vital importance to the history and progression of American independent cinema lies in his boldness. It’s a boldness of suppression finally set free, of Read More

The Meg is like a time capsule from 1998, the sort of patently ridiculous but nevertheless stolidly earnest wannabe late-summer tentpole that’s so mind-numbing that at least Read More

It’s a golden rarity when a film can leave you feeling simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated. Mission: Impossible – Fallout is that golden rarity. In the realm Read More

In terms of comic-based superhero franchises, all the belabored exposition is usually handled in the first installment, allowing the sequel to hit the ground running. Ant-Man Read More

I don’t know the degree to which Uncle Drewwill have universal appeal to all audiences, so therefore I don’t know the degree to which everyone will Read More