-
Air (2023) Review
Air (2023)Director: Ben AffleckScreenwriter: Alex ConveryStarring: Matt Damon, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina, Marlon Wayans, Matthew Maher, Ben Affleck, Viola Davis Ben Affleck returns to the director’s chair for the first time in six years to turn what could be a dry boardroom drama into a thrilling, feel-good piece about the creation of the…
-
Assassin Club (2023) Review
Assassin Club (2023)Director: Camille DelamarreScreenwriters: Thomas DunnStarring: Henry Golding, Noomi Rapace, Sam Neill, Daniela Melchior, Jimmy Jean-Louis This must be in the mindset of a film critic when going in to any film: have an open mind, intend to see the good as well as the bad. Hundreds, oftentimes thousands, of people have offered tens…
-
The Pope’s Exorcist (2023) Review
The Pope’s Exorcist (2023)Director: Julius AveryScreenwriters: Michael Petroni, Evan Spiliotopoulos, R. Dean McCrearyStarring: Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto, Alex Essoe There is a rich history of films that prey on good old-fashioned Catholic guilt. From The Exorcist to Rosemary’s Baby to First Reformed, one of the best ways to scare the public is through our fragmented…
-
Renfield (2023) Review
The film works pretty well when it’s riffing on old monster movies or leaning into the victim support group therapy angle, but it’s much less successful when it has to be a more generic crime movie. The criminal underworld subplot gives Awkwafina’s cop her reason for being – to bring her father’s killer to justice…
-
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) Review
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)Directors: Michael Jelenic, Aaron HorvathScreenwriters: Matt Fogel, Shuntaro FurukawaStarring: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen It has been thirty years since Mario made his last big-screen appearance in the Bob Hoskins-fronted live-action masterpiece (if you ask the right people…) of videogame cinema. Given the…
-
Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (2023) Review
Much like in Duncan Jones’ ill-fated Warcraft adaptation, magic in this universe is shown to carry a cost, capable of achieving wondrous feats or causing great harm to yourself and others if misused. It can be a useful tool but only if you’re skilled and level-headed enough, and it can’t overcome every obstacle. Early on…
-
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) Review
John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)Director: Chad StahelskiScreenwriters: Shay Hatten, Michael FinchStarring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Hiroyuki Sanada, Rina Sawayama, Shamier Anderson, Marko Zaror, Scott Adkins A long winding path to redemption, freedom, and peace. A path filled with trials, tribulations, painful choices, and about 80% of your…
-
‘The Birds’ at 60 – Review
Jessica Tandy easily acts everyone else off the screen, giving her widow steely resilience and a painful history. The characters are for the most part a bit of a let-down, only working in the broadest of strokes, and that’s after Hitch asked his screenwriter, novelist Evan Hunter, for rewrites. Everyone gets just one unique character…
-
Pearl (2022) Review
Pearl (2022) Review Director: Ti WestScreenwriter: Ti West, Mia GothStarring: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Alistar Sewell In Ti West’s 2022 slasher film X, during the final confrontation between Maxine and Pearl, both played by Mai Goth, Pearl taunts the young Maxine saying, “You’re gonna end up just like me.”…
-
X (2022) Review
X (2022) ReviewDirector: Ti WestScreenwriter: Ti WestStarring: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Martin Henderson, Brittany Snow, Owen Campbell, Stephen Ure, Scott Mescudi In the season premiere episode of the podcast “You Must Remember This: Erotic 80s“, host Karina Longworth says that sex and violence have always intersected in Hollywood. There is no talking about one without…