THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What is the best movie ever about TV?
This week’s pick for me was an instant no-brainer. Sidney Lumet’s masterpiece satire has evolved from being a sarcastic time capsule to a modern-day cautionary tale we’re nearly living. I do have to love these other picks included this week and I most especially need to clear out that blind spot for Broadcast News. Summer break can’t get her soon enough.
Read MoreIn the provocative short film How Does it Start, a young teen girl in 1983 named Rain, played by Lola Wayne Villa, has been introduced to topic of sex without such positive elder counsel. The wheels have turned. The curiosities have sparked. The peers have stoked the fire. The triggers have all gone off and this girl wants the mystery of what has been made out to be so taboo and important to growing up as a real woman.
Read MoreArriving on home media this week from Disney is their glowing smash hit Captain Marvel starring Academy Award winner Brie Larson and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The film itself is a forthright winner for introducing this powerful and important new character and the disc release gives us a little peek as to how it all came to be. Keep an eye out on store shelves Tuesday, June 11th to pick up your copy in 4K, Blu-ray, or both. Here’s a quick advance look at what the home edition has to offer, just as long as you can wait through a quick period-accurate Windows 95 loading screening (nice touch).
Read MoreThe “comic counsel” dais of Ian' Simmons’ Kicking the Seat podcast was burnt to the ground and resurrected from the ashes at the ShowPlace ICON X theater after watching the culminating send-off that was supposed to be Dark Phoenix, the final Fox X-Men film. David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel, Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man’s Movie Reviews, myself, and four hot new microphones makes this post-film discussion sizzle. Come and enjoy our back-and-forth. Critic and proud!
Read MoreWhereas Days of Future Past was a face-lifting and jump-starting franchise savior, Dark Phoenix following X-Men: Apocalypse has become the moment of collapse. And it’s not solely because Fox was bought by Disney. Simon Kinberg and company have run out of juice to tell an interesting story sufficiently after multiple chances. When you watch this new movie and actually miss the gaudy theatrics of X-Men: The Last Stand because it at least tried, that’s a very surprising and telling thing.
Read MoreTHIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What is the best movie cameo ever?
Keanu Reeves just got done dropping jaws and metaphysical truths in Netflix’s Always Be My Maybe this past weekend. It got David Ehrlich to wonder was was the best cameo ever. I was heartset on Alec Baldwin from Glengarry Glen Ross, but he’s technically a billed member of the cast. After that, it came down to Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder or Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction. You can read my pick and criteria below from the survey article. Many great picks from the other critics boost the list!
Read MoreSlot machines are a few hundred parts of circuits and machinery, a million parts mathematical odds, and at least one part entertainment. With the razzle-dazzle of thematic presentation, the ease of use, and the big jackpots, these lines of sit-down entertainment are endlessly popular. There are many movie-themed slots with free online spins for your enjoyment. Casual gamblers drop those coins in hopes of scoring more in return. With the superhero movies being the biggest movie trend of the moment thanks to Avengers: Endgame, one has to wonder if their advanced abilities and powers could make them better and more successful winners. In an exercise of fun brainstorming, here are five Marvel movie superhero characters we think could beat any slot machine.
Read MoreFar rarer than they used to be twenty-plus years ago, easy and breezy flicks like Always Be My Maybe from Netflix remind us the traditional romantic comedy is alive and well. Best of all, the nostalgia present in today’s artists from growing up during that 1990s heyday are now making their own movies with their own lens. Smash hit stand-up comedienne Ali Wong and the ever-affable Randall Park of Fresh Off the Boat fame are clearly two of those people. Affectionately blending their own societal zest from their place in America’s Melting Pot, Wong and Park bring new voices as a genius comic pairing. Much of the method of Always Be My Maybe may be routine, but the resulting charm is unfailingly welcome.
Read MoreWe’ve all used movies to escape. But what if you could take that escape and make it real? Often movie scenes are set in real places that you can do more than visit, you can even spend an entire night. Take a trip beyond the confines of your living room or local theater and spend a night in a place you thought you could only visit on-screen. Courtesy of Reservations.com, here are those hot spots!
Read MoreSometimes the craziest ideas become the most fulfilling ones when they come to fruition. In 2010, wildlife cameraman John Chester and his private chef wife Molly decided to merge their interests and turn their lives upside-down. Combining his respect for nature with her excitement for food, the Chesters gave up city living in Los Angeles to move an hour north and start a true traditional farm that exists harmoniously with nature. In the hands of an artist and filmmaker, The Biggest Little Farm takes would look like a capricious and half-hearted whim fit for a green reality show on basic cable and turns the the documented endeavor something ambitious, important, and miraculous.
Read MoreAfter Gareth Edwards rebooted the legendary Japanese sea monster for a modern audience with a stern seriousness and hefty scope that destroyed all previous campiness connected to the character, this Michael Dougherty-helmed follow-up burns up all of that renewed credibility right away within the first half-hour on through to the exhausting end. Where’s the blame? That would be the humans because the behemoths really come out to play. Bad quippy comedy, nonsensical plot trappings, and unimportant character inclusions are the true weaknesses that defeat these monsters.
Read MoreTHIS WEEK'S QUESTION: What is the worst movie ever and why?
Not too many critics are taking too kindly to Disney re-imagined Aladdin. I see the appeal, but it’s far from a great remake. That said, it’s far from the worst too. By golly, have there been some stinkers. This week’s IndieWire critics survey from David Ehrlich polled for the ugliest of the ugly and got ten selections. For the second survey in a row, I went to the 1990s, this time for Gus Van Sant’’s reviled Psycho remake. Misguided isn’t even the beginning of it. Any other choice here was going to be a distant second for me.
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