I’m not entirely sure 2021’s ‘Vacation Friends’ was crying out for a sequel, but here we are. Yes, the first outing (a Hulu original) was relatively entertaining, but not so much this lazy and pointless follow-up. Lil Rel Howery, Yvonne Orji, John Cena, and Meredith Hagner are all back as […]
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The Monkey King
Loosely inspired by an ancient Ming Dynasty novel, this animated effort from Pearl Studios arrives with all the promise of being something close to ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ or ‘Wolfwalkers’, but it instead seems to have gone out of its way to be as middle-of-the-road as possible, with the […]
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Who Done It: The Clue Documentary
Despite looking like a sixth-grade school project made on a VHS camcorder, this love letter to 1985’s ‘Clue’ still manages to offer plenty of insight into the making of (and legacy of) the cult-classic film. Featuring interviews with writer/director Jonathan Lynn, along with stars Michael McKean, Lesley Ann Warren, and […]
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Oppenheimer
The father of the atomic bomb gets the Christopher Nolan treatment in this fascinating, in-depth film set against the backdrop of the scientist’s 1954 national security clearance hearing. Cillian Murphy is outstanding in the lead role, and the incredible supporting cast—including Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh […]
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Barbie
Anyone wanting or expecting a light and frothy summertime romp about a doll’s adventures in doll-land better run in the other direction. Co-writer and director Greta Gerwig has instead given us Barbie (Margot Robbie) coping with a deep existential crisis as Ken (a brilliant, scene-stealing Ryan Gosling) becomes the poster […]
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Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One
Tom Cruise and company are back for one last (well, technically, two—as this is only Part One) impossible mission, and the stunts are yet again off-the-charts crazy. Also crazy is the 2:43 run time, but that can be mostly forgiven due to the sheer spectacle of this thing. Writer-director Christopher […]
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The Jewel Thief
The true story of Canadian wunder-thief Gerald Blanchard, this documentary is one of those that makes you stare at the screen and try to figure out if there’s any way to believe what you’re watching. Blanchard’s decades-long crime spree spanned three continents, with each heist getting more and more off-the-rails […]
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The Out-Laws
Clearly someone was looking for a clever way to reverse engineer the title into a full-length movie when they came up with this kinda-clunker. Pierce Brosnan and Ellen Barkin star as bank robbers who show up in town for the wedding of their unknowing daughter (Nina Dobrev) to her doofus […]
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Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
The fifth (and hopefully last?) Indy flick finds our intrepid hero in 1969, on the hunt for a nifty little time-travel gadget that, naturally, the Nazis can’t wait to get their hands on. (Yes, there are still Nazis around to torment Indy, even in the late 60s.) Phoebe Waller-Bridge holds […]
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Nimona
Based on the popular webcomic, this wildly clever and super-whimsical animated feature is pretty close to as good as they get. Chloë Grace Moretz stars as Nimona, a shape-shifting creature who teams up with a medieval knight (in futuristic times), after he is framed for murdering the queen. The dazzling […]
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