I've been a fan of Jenny Slate for a long time. She's a tremendous actress, one of the funniest comedians in the world, and an almost unequaled voice talent. In particular, her work on Bob's Burgers, The Great North, and Big Mouth is just astounding. She has an almost unparalleled ability to breathe life into … Continue reading Great Thing in a Small Package – Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
Baz Luhrmann has directed six feature films over the course of his career to date. Of the previous five, the only one I really enjoyed was Romeo + Juliet, mostly because it was a novel concept at the time to put a modern spin on Shakespeare, blending the dialogue with a 20th Century backdrop. It … Continue reading A Hero to Most – Elvis
Scott Derrickson is a fairly accomplished filmmaker, spending the better part of the last 20 years establishing some serious credibility in the realm of horror. Between the Sinister series, Deliver Us From Evil, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose, the man knows how to reach fans of the genre. Curiously, though, his success led to … Continue reading It’s For You – The Black Phone
Remember how earlier this month I was advocating for a cinematic universe of quirky, daft, lovable British disruptors? First we had The Duke, then The Phantom of the Open. Now we can add Brian and Charles to the list. Seriously, let's keep going with this. It's infinitely more clever and enjoyable than anything Marvel or … Continue reading My, Robot – Brian and Charles
Last year, I noted in my review of The Last Duel that a lot of goodwill in that film was squandered by an inappropriately manipulative bit of on-screen text. In that particular case, a story that delved into the nuance of personal perspective when it came to a serious crime that led to a duel … Continue reading Toy’s Story – Lightyear
Despite my inordinate amount of snark and cynicism, I'm being completely honest when I say that I want to see the positive in just about everything. Even for a film like Jurassic World Dominion, the teaser of which I named as "The Worst Trailer in the World... This Month," one that I knew based on … Continue reading Insert Extinction Joke Here – Jurassic World Dominion
As I watched the utterly delightful The Phantom of the Open the other day, I had an odd thought. Given all of the various movie franchises we've got crammed into our collective consciousness these days, this film provides an opportunity for something truly groundbreaking. What we need are cinematic universes where Mark Rylance gets to … Continue reading The Road to Perfection – The Phantom of the Open
It is undeniable that David Cronenberg is a master of body horror. Just look at The Fly, Scanners, or the fact that an early episode of Rick and Morty used his name as a verb when it came to a mishap that turned everyone on Earth into amorphous mutants. It is further undeniable that apart … Continue reading One Word: Plastics – Crimes of the Future
I've been a fan of Bob's Burgers from the very beginning. From the first episode, I have been enamored with Loren Bouchard's distinctly kooky characters and the lovably insane Jersey Shore-like world. So you can imagine that when The Bob's Burgers Movie was announced back in 2017, I was just as excited as I was … Continue reading Order Up! – The Bob’s Burgers Movie
The long-awaited sequel to Top Gun has had its release delayed multiple times due to the COVID pandemic, and to his credit, Tom Cruise fought tooth and nail to ensure that the film would get a full theatrical release rather than going to streaming, as I'm sure its studio, Paramount, would have preferred simply for … Continue reading I Can Admit When I’m Wrong – Top Gun: Maverick
I Actually Paid To See This 