It’s not often, if ever, that you can say that a film is good despite Tom Hanks’ presence, but such is the case with this splashy, kaleidoscopic Elvis biopic from writer-director Baz Luhrmann. Austin Butler absolutely blows the roof of the joint as The King, but Hanks’ cartoonish turn as […]
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Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes
Hot on the heels of HBO’s mind-blowingly fantastic 2019 miniseries about the 1986 nuclear meltdown, this documentary doesn’t offer a whole lot more information, but it does lend a bit more harrowing realism in the sense that we’re seeing the actual people and actual events as they happened. Not for […]
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Official Competition
This Spanish-language, minimalist skewering of the motion picture industry is a brilliant, expertly shot and written masterpiece from Gastón Duprat & Mariano Cohn. Starring Penélope Cruz, Antonio Banderas, and Oscar Martínez, it’s as good as they come, full of career-best performances along with dazzling cinematography by Arnau Valls Colomer. It’s […]
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Cha Cha Real Smooth
Newbie writer-director Cooper Raiff clearly has some talent and is bound for bigger and better things. Despite a few missteps, his tale of a young, aimless college grad who falls for an older(ish) woman (Dakota Johnson) has plenty of heart and charisma and snappy dialogue. It’s a cute and quirky […]
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Lightyear
We’re told at the outset that this is the film that ‘Toy Story’ kid Andy watched all those years ago, making him want to buy a shiny new Buzz Lightyear action figure. And though Pixar’s 26th film is fine enough for what it is—a Star Wars/Star Trek-type adventure film—it underwhelms […]
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Jerry and Marge Go Large
Based on a true story, “Jerry and Marge” stars Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening as the Michigan couple who found a loophole in the lottery and walked away with millions, helping their tiny little hometown in the process. It’s sweet and charming and floats over you like a cool breeze, […]
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Spiderhead
In the near future, inmates at a loosey-goosey prison run by Chris Hemsworth are subjected to mind-altering drug experiments gauging paranoia, lust, and happiness (among other things). Despite a solid cast (which also includes Miles Teller and Jurnee Smollett), this quarantine-shot dud fails in its mission to come off as […]
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Jurassic World: Dominion
For five movies, the formula has worked—let dinosaurs loose, and let humans try to escape (or fight) to survive the day. Why, then, writer/director Colin Trevorrow decided to jettison that and instead focus on a mutant locust swarm and a debate about the ethics of human cloning is anyone’s guess. […]
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Hustle
I know, I know… another Adam Sandler Netflix movie, but this one actually has some decent chops and emerges as one of his better movies to date. Playing a burned-out hoops scout, Sandler (who co-produced, alongside LeBron James) stars alongside a bevy of real-life NBA faces in the ‘Rocky’-style story […]
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The Phantom of the Open
Mark Rylance strikes again! The best actor working today stars as real-life dock worker Maurice Flitcroft, who, despite never swinging a golf club in his life, decided one day to just go play in the British Open. Hilarity ensues. Scripted by ‘Paddington 2’ writer Simon Farnaby (there’s your first hint […]
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