Paired up for the second of three segments, "You'll Probably Agree" YouTube video critic Mike Crowley invited me to his Star Wars lair to offer an advance review Solo after a recent press screening. Mike is a big fan and was very eager to hear the prequel lowdown. He lets me take the lead to frame, dispel, and clear up expectations, hype, and some pressing questions. This review and video is SPOILER-FREE!
Read MoreSucceeding frequently with several exciting and well-conceived action sequences and a bevy of rich supporting characters to enjoy, Solo: A Star Wars Story still has an inescapable ceiling. Directed by a respected safe veteran in Ron Howard, rescuing this film from loudly reported production woes, this prequel seeks to chronicle a background of how our favorite smuggler, thief, and scoundrel came to be. On this writer’s ledger, the first two of those three traits register emphatically from the movie.
Read MoreNo matter what, all of Deadpool 2 is nonsensical, of course, and there was no way this movie wasn’t going to be exactly what it is: FUN. That part doesn't go away. Folks can try to champion the first film and this one as anti-comic-book-movie movies, but, make no mistake, both of these blockbusters end up becoming comic book movies anyway just with more willingness and success to subvert the formula. However, that ridiculous energy is precisely the charm people are flocking and paying to see over in this
Read MoreThe post-credits cameo of the big bad Thanos in The Avengers set into motion an even greater arc of ambition that catapulted two more phases, twelve more films, and dozens of new major players since. Now at the ten-year mark of this endeavor, all of the patience, enthusiasm, and success pays off with Avengers: Infinity War. Thriving with a symmetry of captivating gravitas and heroic thrill on many levels, this saga’s newest peak is an expanse of scorched earth that stings, shocks, lingers, and satisfies.
Read MoreThe dignified art form of cinema may not need a dumb and dazzling film like Rampage, but what escapist audiences do seek out and need are larger-than-life stars. There will always be an ass-kicking place for brawny men like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on the silver screen. The former WWE superstar has become the center square of any year’s blockbuster Bingo card. The fully-formed persona that is Dwayne Johnson is always a welcome treat
Read MoreIn Cold War, Jon and Maggie’s misery is our delight and played for side-splitting laughs. The level of vomit in the film is as voluminous as the dark humor. This comedy is the brainchild of writer J. Wilder Konschak making his feature-length screenplay and co-directing debut with Stirling MacLaughlin. His created scenarios and pitfalls are bracingly honest for both their entertaining embarrassment and sinister believability.
Read MoreSome films that cross our eyes are an exercise of the art form. They trade tidy entertainment for a celebration of craft. There are clear pluses and minuses to such an undertaking. Stripping away conventions left and right to make something wholly unique and downright peculiar, November was Estonia’s 2017 entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The experimental foreign film brims with allegory and is strikingly shot. However, the film’s compelling qualities never seem to match its obscene effort towards the art
Read MoreFor any MCU film to do this leader and his civilization justice, it has to capture the traits of dominance. Ryan Coogler’s film accomplished that and then some with a stature and ferocity fitting of the comic book legend. Pushing aside the proclivity to have a empowered science nerd or a plucky quipster as its heroic lead, a Marvel film hasn’t been this brawny, righteous, and tough since Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Black Panther strides proudly and powerfully with every progressive step as one of the best MCU films we’ve ever seen.
Read MoreScoot Cooper’s grizzled western Hostiles opens with a quote from novelist D.H. Lawrence that reads: "The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.” Those four adjectives and labels assigned by the English writer ring true for the late 19th century historical era he observed and also for the film itself you will watch. Each of those traits are embedded within Cooper’s difficult and impressive film.
Read MorePhantom Thread is a exquisite film of elevated aesthetics that drape over a scintillating story of tumultuous potential discord. There is infinite richness within the despair, spun by Daniel Day-Lewis re-teaming with his There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson, as the fictional 1950s tailor of status. Mundane in some moments and mysterious in others, the sum of the literal and figurative details within the stitches and seams of this film make it one of the year’s best.
Read MoreThe Post feels like Spielberg painting by numbers, continuing a bit of a downward trend for the filmmaker. This was accomplished because it was easy, didn’t require a rush, and still cost a sizable $50 million, not because a director was shedding trappings to do a rough and raw film. The Post is a highly polished quality story gift-wrapped to Spielberg and completed with a precision that is pleasing and purposeful. It is effective, but not affecting or truly but not truly demanding for a director, ensemble, and creative team of this caliber.
Read MoreThrow out all of the Star Wars fan theories you’ve read or heard in the last two years. Ignore all of the online noise and irresponsible think piece editorials that have piled up on the web since Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Most importantly, relinquish whatever warped and selfish expectations that have been formulated by the blitz of marketing buzz. Star Wars: The Last Jedi takes its mountain of hype and shoves it away to make something nonconformist and wholly compelling in quite possibly the richest and most expressive entry of the storied franchise.
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