Leaning on this hastened and rapidly emptying hourglass, Michael Keaton has formed a dramatic backbone in Knox Goes Away that is simultaneously blunt and poetic. Composer Alex Heffes (Mamma Mafia) floats a muted trumpet score cue that shapes a grim and fittingly noir vibe between the soft scene-to-scene camera fades. That said, as insightful as it strives, this is still a dive into the spine of a faithless killer, a person distant from the complete sincerity of a hero.
Read MoreThis movie was better off not slamming the accelerator through its narrative entanglements to the next action showdown. Miller and company are best in The Flash when they are not doing something super and addressing the bigger themes about their conditions and consequences. You feel the movie’s melodrama hit most not when it zips by you with a rush of hot air but in stillness when it wrestles with its proverbial speed demons.
Read MoreI had the honor and pleasure this past week to join a league of movie-loving dads talking about a true fathers' movie: 1983's Mr. Mom. Host Patrick Hicks orchestrated myself and fellow regular Feelin' Film contributor Jeremy Calcara in a lively discussion covering the film, dad jokes, how our own upbringing informed our own parenting styles, our tremendous wives, and what makes this John Hughes film worth revisiting.
Read MoreFriend-of-the-page Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews invited me to record the beginnings of a new podcast for his brand. Because his YouTube reviews tend to be spoiler-free, these new chats will be spoiler-filled reactions and discussions. As always, we have a fun back-and-forth as two guys free of "fanlexia" to praise Spider-Man: Homecoming. Enjoy!
Read MoreSpider-Man: Homecoming, starring Tom Holland as a true and proper teenage Spider-Man/Peter Parker, is a welcome and refreshing clean slate for the character. It's too bad it took three franchise attempts to get here. Filled to the brim with both easter eggs, supporting characters, swell touches of character, and zesty heart, this is the Spider-Man film you've always hoped for. Enjoy my full spoken review layered with an interactive whiteboard lesson for the latest "Movie Classroom" video review on this website's YouTube channel:
Read MoreSpider-Man: Homecoming counts as a clean slate for Peter Parker’s web-slinger. Now nestled into the established Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Holland is a true teenage Spider-Man, one that was never successfully conveyed by two previous franchises and their over-aged actors. Aiming to please and bursting with effervescent zest at every flip, swing, and turn, John Watts’ Spider-Man: Homecoming succeeds as a brand new jumping off point for a character that badly needed course correction.
Read MoreChock full of more jokes, puns, and references than there are virtual plastic bricks, “The LEGO Batman Movie” is a breezy blast of unabashed fun. Twirling with dazzling animation and saturated with endless character possibilities, these two hours of zippy entertainment offer exhilarating playful engagement for young audiences and many absolute belly laughs for the adults. Like “The LEGO Movie” before it, the biggest flaw will always be the manic pace.
Read MoreAs with any year, there are hot topics being debated immediately stemming from snubs and surprises. Here are my reaction and takeaways, consisting of five snubs and five surprises, coming out of this morning's nominations announcements.
Read MoreThe 88th Academy Award nominations will be announced tomorrow morning, January 14, 2016, hot off of the weekend's 73rd Golden Globe awards. I've been following the full awards season over on my Awards Tracker page. Using that data as the tea leaves and a truckload of hunches, I'm going to attempt to closely predict the Oscar nominations for the "Big 8" categories for the third year in a row.
Read MoreMore and more each year, the Golden Globes have become more an a popularity contest than a true precursor to the Academy Awards. What you're watching on TV is a party thrown by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and hosted by Ricky Gervais in an effort to be loved and share some love. To its credit, the awards show still garners legitimate attention and ratings. The winners do get a pretty positive rub and the marketers gain a few more "Winner of..." graphics to put in the newspapers next to their films.
Read MoreThe extraordinary new film "Spotlight" answers the motivating historical benchmark set by "All the President's Men" nearly four decades ago to make a truly transcendent film about real print journalism and true history. Chronicling another Pulitizer Prize-winning case of investigative journalism, director Tom McCarthy's fifth directorial effort is nothing short of a new masterpiece. "Spotlight" is, far and away, the best film about the media since Clooney's "Good Night and Good Luck" and the best about print journalism since Pakula's landmark classic. This film will make people rewrite "best of" lists.
Read MoreAlright, folks! I've done all of the research I can. I've read all of the tea leaves and broken down every race. I've made my detailed picks in seven columns and editorials over the past week. Here's my master list. In the three years of writing these Oscar nominations and following the data on my website, my prediction score has improved every year. Last year, I correctly guessed 20 of 24 awards up from 19 and 17 from the two years before. I'm gunning for another 20+ night again.
Read More
