Posts tagged Dwayne Johnson
MOVIE REVIEW: DC League of Super-Pets

With its buoyant humor and stellar energy, DC League of Super-Pets is the finest pampering treat we’re going to get and it’s a welcome one, even if a treat like this is a tad on the unhealthy side. With no apologies to Joss Whedon, Zack Snyder, or anyone else, it took bringing in a bunch of animal characters, the writers of The LEGO Batman Movie, and shifting to animation to give us the best theatrical Justice League movie we’ve had to date.

Read More
MOVIE CLASSROOM: Baywatch

Too busy heading to the beach over the holiday weekend to read a lengthy review?  Listen and watch instead in under 8 minutes.  Next up in my "Movie Classroom" video series on the Every Movie Has a Lesson YouTube channel is Baywatch where I heap praise on all things jiggle, sizzle, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Read More
MOVIE REVIEW: Baywatch

Contrary to how well the Mythbusters pulled it off, you can't shine sh-t, not turds of the TV or film variety.  Terrible TV shows make terrible movies.  Asking for anything more is asking too much, and there's nothing wrong with that.  All of the zing and jiggle audiences enjoyed in eleven seasons and 242 episodes of Baywatch get the amplified and gaudy movie treatment an entertaining guilty pleasure deserves.  Enjoy what you enjoy and don't be ashamed of it.

Read More
GUEST CRITIC #22: The Fate of the Furious

Between us two busy Chicago film critics and working fathers, Emmanuel and I are orchestrating a trade of "guest reviews" for each other's sites.  I was swamped last week and I was unable to see "The Fate of the Furious."  He missed Chris Evans' vehicle "Gifted."  My review of that will go on his site and his review of vehicular mayhem arrives right here:

Read More
COLUMN: New Year's Resolutions for the Movie Industry in 2017

Plenty of regular everyday people make New Year's Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too.  Annually, including this sixth edition, this is my absolute favorite editorial to write every year.  I have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change.  I'm sarcastic, but I'm not the guy to take it to the false internet courage level of some Twitter troll.  This will be as forward as I get all year.  

Read More
MOVIE REVIEW: Moana

She may wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, but don’t you dare call Moana a “princess.”  The enterprising titular “chieftain’s daughter” is a breezy breath of warm Pacific air surging through a Mouse House built on castles, corsets, and crowns.  Promoting powerhouse diversity and pushing away the trappings of romance, “Moana” is a progressive step from Walt Disney Animation Studios carrying wonderful messages for young girls in a Millennial day-and-age that is too often obsessed with body image and glamour.  

Read More
MOVIE REVIEW: San Andreas

"San Andreas" is one of those terrible-to-OK movies that Dwayne Johnson makes either passable or good solely through his presence, heroics, and charisma alone.  We're a long way from great here, but "San Andreas" counts as mind-numbing fun that's fit for the summer season.  The errors, implausibilities, and eye rolls are as high as the city-leveling casualty rate, but Warner Bros. and company weren't aiming very high.

Read More