Every once in a great while, you get to see something truly original. In the case of The Intruder, it is seeing the quite possibly unprecedented villain turn of perennial good guy Dennis Quaid. Seriously, while I have a couple of vague images in my head of him putting on a wry, cheeky smile, I can't … Continue reading Let the White One In – The Intruder
You could be forgiven if you've never heard of Claire Denis (or if you misread her name as Claire Danes), as she's not a name that most American movie-goers would know. If you're a fan of French cinema, however, you've almost certainly come across her work. She's one of France's most acclaimed filmmakers, with fairly … Continue reading Robert Pattinson is a Reformed Dick in a Box – High Life
Okay folks, I've waited long enough. I'm not going to "spoil" anything, because you've most likely already either seen the movie ($1.2 billion worldwide opening), have already been spoiled (seriously, LeSean McCoy, WTF Shady?), or simply just don't care. I will discuss plot elements, and I will reveal one late item that is already public … Continue reading Marvel Plays Their Greatest Hits – Avengers: Endgame
This is a review I've put off for a while for one reason or another. I had a bit of a backlog with articles and new features I wanted to debut when I saw this just over a week ago. Then I thought it'd make for a good Easter review, as this film does go … Continue reading Hell Hath No Fury Like a Chica Scorned – The Curse of La Llorona
Welcome to the newest feature here on the blog! I've been tooling this one around in my head for a while now, more than a year actually. The initial seed of the idea was to do a "Back Row Thoughts" column about movie marketing methods that just need to die (and boy are there a … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – May 2019
Laika Studios now have five feature films under their collective belt when it comes to stop-motion animation. The previous four (Coraline, ParaNorman, Box Trolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings) were all nominated for the Oscar for Animated Feature, and rightfully so. In addition to eye-popping animation and visual effects that continually breathe new life into a format … Continue reading Lighter Than Normal Laika Fare, But No Less Dazzling – Missing Link
There's a habit in the movie industry to release religious films around the Easter holiday, because, you know, Jesus truly cares about your entertainment habits in a medium he couldn't possibly have conceived of 2,000 years ago. Most of the time this manifests itself in the form of either evangelical treacle films that posit any … Continue reading How Sweet the Sound, and Scene – Amazing Grace
Welcome to the newest feature of "I Actually Paid to See This," which I call, "DownStream!" I've been thinking about doing this for a while. From about the midway point of last year, the majority of my "Back Row Thoughts" columns ended up being devoted to miniature reviews of documentaries and streaming films, which was … Continue reading DownStream: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll
A quick note before I dive into this review. I just wanted to apologize for the lateness of this particular post, as well as the relative radio silence over the past few weeks. There are some changes coming to the site, one of which will be rolled out in my next post, and I've been … Continue reading Call Me By Your Name – Shazam!
It is no secret that I am not a fan of the recent slew of Disney live-action remakes that no one asked for. It's also very true that I'm not a fan of remakes in general. So I fully admit that I had some inherent bias going in to see the new version of Dumbo, a … Continue reading Honestly, I Think I’d Rather Have the Racist Crows – Dumbo
I Actually Paid To See This 