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Godzilla: King of the Monsters

“Long gone is the muddied politics and visual poetry of Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, which found the titular kaiju providing salvation from humanity as a by-product of his own biological imperative to be alpha over all others. He wasn’t the benevolent protector of humanity as he became in many of To” read more

The Elephant Man

“David Lynch’s second film, The Elephant Man, appears on the surface as one of his more outré works. Nary a twisty narrative that takes multiple viewings to possibly discern, The Elephant Man was nearly like Lynch going all prestige on everybody… on the surface. Peak deep enough beneath the surf” read more

Mulan II

“One of the worst aspects of the first Mulan was the presence of Mushu, Eddie Murphy’s wisecracking dragon that was an obvious attempt at recapturing the magic of Robin Williams’ genie from Aladdin, so here comes Mulan II doubling down on his presence. While he was a supporting player in the orig” read more

Atlantis: Milo’s Return

“So, this was clearly intended as a trial-run for an Atlantis: The Lost Empire spinoff TV show, right? I mean, it just seems so obvious given the way that the three different adventures involved have clean three-act structures and obvious breaks for commercials and separation into individual episodes” read more

The Indian in the Cupboard

“The foundation for the story is the childhood belief that your toys could become real, or even were real when you weren’t looking. This idea appeared in two divergent films in 1995: The Indian in the Cupboard and Toy Story. One of them had a ton of heart and spawned a long-lasting franchise, while” read more

Gay Purr-ee

“What do you get when you combine the talents of Chuck Jones, operating as a writer and producer, and a vocal cast that includes Judy Garland, Robert Goulet (in his film debut), Red Buttons, and Hermione Gingold? Well, you get Gay Purr-ee, a film that’s more visually arresting than it is capable of” read more

Easter Parade

“Seventeen musical numbers in 103 minutes. No one can unfairly claim that Easter Parade doesn’t offer a lot of bang for its buck, but that doesn’t mean it was necessarily money well spent. There’s no real story or concept here, just a loose connection of scenes that ostensibly tell a story but ” read more

Judgment at Nuremberg

“A three-hour black and white courtroom drama about the Nazi trials populated by movie stars in the waning days of their careers – sounds like the recipe for a snooze fest, an overly pious piece of do-gooder cinema that’s overly saccharine. Judgment at Nuremberg is not that movie. I mean, in a wa” read more

The Clock

“The Clock is a lovely little movie that offers Judy Garland one of her rare straight dramatic parts. It doesn’t hurt that she’s matched by a fabulously sincere and present performance by Robert Walker, and an overall tender tone that underscores the bittersweet nature of the romance. The Clock i” read more

Presenting Lily Mars

“Booth Tarkington’s novel gets the glossy MGM treatment here, so that means the downbeat ending and realistic traumas the characters face are softened and/or jettisoned in favor of a triumphant final bow before the curtain closes/screen fades to black. Presenting Lily Mars is a great showcase for t” read more

Ziegfeld Girl

“Ignore that James Stewart, fresh off an Oscar win for The Philadelphia Story, gets top billing here. Here’s a supporting player to the trio of stage-struck hopefuls played by Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, and Lana Turner. The whole thing is overly long, the melodrama gets laid on a bit too thick, I d” read more

Andy Hardy Meets Debutante

“I fully admit to being skeptical about the Andy Hardy films. I don’t mind a little sugar, but there’s nothing sour to offset the sweet about these films. They’re pleasing little lies about a piece of Americana that likely never existed. A better written and acted The Brady Bunch, if you will. ” read more

Love Finds Andy Hardy

“Small town American was never as picture perfect and saccharine as it was in the Andy Hardy series. There’s the stoic but supportive father (Lewis Stone), fretful loving mother (Fay Holden), nicely combative older sister (Cecilia Parker), and Andy, the teenager on the right side of mischief-making” read more

Thoroughbreds Don't Cry

“The first pairing of Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland finds the pair playing second fiddle to a waifish British male youth. No, not Freddie Bartholomew, who seems tailor-made for the lead role and was mysteriously dropped, but Ronald Sinclair, a carbon-copy of Bartholomew. Sinclair’s lacking in char” read more

Little Nellie Kelly

“Judy Garland’s not a girl, not yet a woman in Little Nellie Kelly, an oddball film that has her playing both mother and daughter. Loosely based on the George M. Cohan play of the same name, Garland finds herself stuck between the opposing male forces of her life in both incarnations and a metric t” read more