the @popcollin reviews

Great work from a superb cast (David Strathairn Kate Bosworth, Martin Sheen, Edward James Olmos) can’t save what turns into a clichéd Erin Brockovich/Dark Waters wannabe. It has its heart in the right place, sure, but cartoonish characters and a bland script keep it from ever getting off the ground. […]

Jessica Chastain is great as a tough-as-nails gun-for-hire, but the movie itself is an uneven, poorly paced misfire. Mostly boring but punctuated by a couple killer (literally) fight scenes. 2.5/5 stars  

Take a couple of bankable stars, a directing duo whose last effort came out of nowhere to be considerably above average, and a premise that (at least on paper) has a decent amount of promise, and it would be hard to swing and miss, right? Netflix’s latest “original film” Project Power, […]

Early on in The Lovebirds, the latest throw-away comedy from Netflix, on-the-rocks couple Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) and Leilani (Issa Rae) sit in a diner and discuss how weird it is that milkshakes are the only food served with its own leftovers (that stainless steel cup with the extra last bit). A […]

Like a slow mosey through an Alabama backwater, Clark Duke’s directorial debut is a just-fine film with some colorful characters and some pretty views but not much else. (And, yes, it may be called Arkansas and be based on John Brandon’s 2009 novel of the same name, but the bulk of it […]

Though Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans have both parted ways with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (in a vain hope for greener pastures?) Chris Hemsworth will be back as Thor… though it most likely will be delayed at least a little due to the global COVID-19 quarantine. In the meantime, […]

If you long for the 90s—when Euro-set rom-coms were all the rage (Only You, Love Actually, Forget Paris, etc.)—but wished they were infinitely crasser and included a Sliding Doors-esque alternate universe, well… I’m still not sure the Netflix original Love Wedding Repeat would be worth your time. Written and directed by British TV vet […]

Set against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, Polish writer-director Łukasz Kośmicki’s first feature The Coldest Game has all the trappings of an edge-of-your-seat period thriller. Spies, microfilms, poison, and even an international chess tournament all feature prominently (along with vodka… copious amounts of vodka). Alas, however, it […]

Before writer-director Greta Gerwig took her shot, Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1868 novel Little Women had been adapted for the screen six times, including: a silent film in 1917, the George Cukor-directed, Oscar-winning standard-bearer in 1933, and even a contemporary re-telling in 2018. Gerwig first circled the project three years ago as […]

After eight years of destroying civilizations, executing armies, and scowling down on creation from high atop a fiery dragon, it’s nice to see Emilia Clarke smile. The Game of Thrones star has re-entered the rom-com world—following up 2016’s Me Before You—with Paul Feig’s laughy-weepie Last Christmas. Despite Clarke’s radiant performance, though, and more Christmas […]