Login
Home
92 Lists
1531 Reviews
Collections
“The core of Hello, Dolly! is a warhorse of a show that is structured in such a way that it always works. Yes, it even works in this bullheaded adaptation which plays every single detail for the back of the house. Itās almost aggressive in its demands for maximum entertainment, as if it were trying” read more
“A confession: I eventually had to abandon Upstream Color with 30 minutes left to go. Look, you can bombard me with as much abstract and bizarre imagery as you want, but without a tether or reason to care about the abstract oddities, I will not care or invest my brain power and empathy into it.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a beautiful nightmare dipped in a silvery varnish. The narrative thrust of the film doesnāt matter, what matters is the evocative mood and daring visual sense of prior and encroaching gloom and doom. It seems only natural that a vampire would thrive among these ” read more
“Is my problem with Yelling to the Sky that it doesnāt have a story, but is merely a formless movie that follows around a character in her emotional development. My problem with it is that thereās nothing to gleam from it. It feels like the result of filming a group of actors going through exerci” read more
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
“Giddy and buoyant, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a modern day variation of a screwball comedy. Picturing players like Carole Lombard as Delysia, Marie Dressler as Miss Pettigrew, and Robert Taylor as Michael should give you an idea about the type of movie weāre talking about. Itās full-throt” read more
“Remove the interracial marriage and diversity of the cast and Things We Lost in the Fire wouldnāt have looked out of place as a womenās picture tearjerker from the studio era. Itās a full-blooded melodrama that alternates between forlorn, cloistered emotional spaces and facile, artificial oper” read more
“As originally conceived, Robinson Crusoe on Mars was set be another disposable and ludicrously cheap/camp piece of sci-fi film-making from the 60s. Man gets stranded on Mars, fights all sorts of strange lizard monsters, befriends friendly comedic sidekick alien character, and becomes great liberator” read more
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
“During Dick Tracyās āMoreā sequence, Madonnaās Breathless Mahoney sings: āBut thereās nothing better than more, more, more/Nothingās better than more.ā If ever a lyric perfectly encapsulated the blockbuster film-making ethos that was it. And so we find ourselves watching Guardians of” read more
“There was a time when Disney would simply release their films from the vault, either on the big screen or on the home video market, then throw them back after a predetermined period of time. It was a simpler time. Then in 2010 Tim Burton was hired to do a live-action remake of Alice in Wonderland, i” read more
Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
“Fans of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies know that Teen Titans: The Judas Contract was originally announced as the intended third feature from the line. Then it all just disappeared for no apparent reason and remained dormant until the credits stinger of 2016ās Justice League vs. Teen Tita” read more
“Maybe itās just a general sense that dark magic, weird mysticism, and twisted fantasy are subject matters that fascinate me, but Justice League Dark is one hell of a fun ride. Here is a film that dives into a niche group of characters and gives them a chance to shine. Yes, some of that shine is on” read more
Justice League vs. Teen Titans
“Donāt let the title fool you, this is far more a Teen Titans story than it is a Justice League one. Theyāre very much not on equal footing, and the forced presence of the league ends up being a detriment to the rest of the story. Itās predictable where the story is going to take the leagueās” read more
Justice League: Throne of Atlantis
“It picks up directly where the teaser from War left us off, but Throne of Atlantis sidelines Aquaman in his own story for about half of the running time. This is a damn shame because it is at its most fun and engaging when it places the Justice League in the backseat to the craziness of Aquamanās ” read more
“Frenzied and chaotic are the best terms to use for Justice League: War. Another lean 75 minutes thatās puffed with too many ingredients and the bread never rises. Unless all you wanted was a series of action scenes with the occasional pauses for one characterās origin story, a few moments of gro” read more
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
“Oh my god, a Justice League that doesnāt place its focus on Superman or Batman (or both), but on another member of the leagueās expansive roster? We havenāt seen that since way back in 2008 when The New Frontier placed a stronger emphasis on players like the Flash, Green Lantern, and Martian M” read more
Justice League: Gods and Monsters
“Elseworlds, as they are known in the comics, are a long-standing tradition with DC. They provide creators a chance to explore the rich mythology and complex character relationships in standalone stories that can recontextualize the entirety of the character without infringing on the main continuity.” read more
Justice League: The New Frontier
“Darwyn Cookeās The New Frontier is a sprawling, seminal, absolutely brilliant love letter to the Silver Age of comics. Any adaptation of the work will inevitably be viewed through a sliding scale of success and/or failure, yet Justice League: The New Frontier is a resounding success. Possibly beca” read more
“A ton of fun is packed into this 75 minutes, but do you get the vague sense that it looks and feels like a movie and more like the series/season premiere/finale of a never-made Superman show? I do, but it would have been on hell of a Superman show. The angular look is pleasing, the voice cast is sol” read more
“Well, hereās a mixed bag. The Killing Joke is a powerful but slim volume that could never be feature-length without expanding the narrative, so expand it they did. And maybe it should have remained a slim 45 minutes now that Iāve seen just what theyāve done with it. Ā In the original text,” read more
“After seeing just how wonderful the Arkham games designs and overall style takes to animation, Iām hoping that maybe weāll get a few more of these. Anything involving the Suicide Squad, or Task Force X depending on which character is spouting their code name, should be like this: dirty, smaller ” read more
“As of right now, this is the final entry in the Damian Wayne trilogy of films detailing his introduction into the Bat-Family, his eventual crossroads, and here we see him returning to the fold fully converted. Bad Blood also introduces us to Batwoman, already operating but brought under the wing (so” read more
“A sequel to Son of Batman, Batman vs. Robin is an improvement over the first film, but itās still mired in the blood and explosions that undermine the emotions at play here. We should care deeper about the fractures between Batman, Robin, Nightwing, and the presence of the Court of Owls. Thereās” read more
“We could have easily descended into emotional bathos and clichĆ©d āhope and love winsā triumph of spirit stuff in Short Term 12, but we skirt past it. Oh, thereās a few spots where the machinations are in place to edge us towards that, but the remarkable work from an incredibly talented cast k” read more
“Is this the sight of Woody Allen trying to make one of Alfred Hitchcockās chic European comedic thrillers? If so, then Allen should promptly return to witty, urbane jokes, or his novelistic comedic-dramas, because trying to make something that combines murder-mystery with romance and ethnic suppor” read more
“For every positive attribute, thereās an equally negative one at play in Son of Batman. This sense of balance renders the film one of the more unmemorable and an indifferent entry in DCās animated film series. It also marks the first entry in a trilogy of directly related films that up to this p” read more
“We have spent nearly twenty years watching the time-traveling, claw-heavy exploits of the X-Men, and Logan proves a fitting conclusion to many of these characters. In a perfect world, this would be the last X-Men film for a while, allowing enough time to go by for the audience to warm-up to the even” read more
The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2
“The finale to The Dark Knight Returns is a stronger film, and one that is informed by the escalating paranoia, trauma, and nihilistic violence of its predecessor. It hits the ground running at full speed and never slows down until the dust settles between Superman and Batmanās climatic fight. Itā” read more
The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1
“Adapting Frank Millerās iconic deconstruction of the Dark Knight mythos is a herculean effort for any creative team ballsy enough to try it. Not only was it a meta-commentary on the logical end-point of Batmanās borderline-insanity and obsessive nature, but a pitch-black satire on the entirety o” read more
“A bittersweet romantic comedy riff on Marty thatās also the final big screen appearance of a cinematic legend? Yep, I didnāt know that this was a thing either, but Only the Lonely has its awkward charms in enough of the right places to give it a mild recommendation. Much of this praise goes towa” read more
“Color me shocked about this little film thatās surprisingly touching. A story about three close friends slowly drifting apart in that awkward moment between the end of high school and the beginning of college, The Wise Kids offers all of its characters moments of tenderness and grace. The uncertai” read more