Mom and Dad is a ridiculous, campy horror-comedy starring Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair with a premise that it stretches to the absolute max. Mom and Dad comes on the heels of a line of highly successful horror movies about the anxiety of parenthood—mainly The Babadook, A Quiet Place, and Hereditary. While each of those examples is elevated…
Annihilation is equal parts beautiful, terrifying, and intellectual while also including an emotional truth about what it means to be human. High-minded sci-fi has defined the late 2010s with entries like Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 defining the period. Another film that could be included in that group is Alex Garland's Ex Machina. Garland explored extremely human topics by framing…
Red Sparrow delivers a thinly plotted, gratuitous espionage thriller that fails to take off despite a strong cast (with some questionable accents) At the end of Red Sparrow, the entire audience at the screening all physically recoiled when the screen cut to black. A few seconds after that, someone began to slow clap sarcastically and…
Love, Simon is groundbreaking as the first gay coming of age film by a major studio. Although, it is more than what it seems on the surface. This is what straight people must feel like when they watch romantic comedies. That's a comment that I've been seeing a lot about Love, Simon, the newest film by…
Ready Player One is a visual feast and boasts impressive action sequences that will certainly entertain, but it's missing heart, which makes the movie a letdown. The culture that Steven Spielberg’s latest film Ready Player One invokes is one that he had a hand in creating. Geek culture is something today that is discussed both positively…
Alex Strangelove, now streaming on Netflix, is a coming out dramedy with an identity crisis despite a charming lead performance by Daniel Doheny. Netflix's Alex Strangelove follows on the heels of Love, Simon, the first LGBT teen movie from a major studio. Love, Simon succeeds mostly in part to its lack of self-importance. It treats protagonist Simon as any…
Mission: Impossible — Fallout is yet another great entry in this long-running franchise thanks to Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise. Over the course of six movies, Mission: Impossible has basically turned into the franchise where Tom Cruise does crazy stunts. Fallout, the newest entry, is no exception—and I'd have it no other way. Christopher McQuarrie—he wrote and directed this…
Blockers is an uneven, but hilarious, profound, and progressive take on the American sex comedy The teen sex comedy has been a staple in American cinema for decades with massive hits like American Pie and The 40-Year-Old Virgin anchoring the contemporary era. However, these raunchy gross-out comedies have been due for a refresh for some time.…
The Meg doesn't deliver on its summer B-movie promises, though Jason Statham does his best to hold the movie together. Jason Statham fighting a giant prehistoric shark is a log line that promises a perfectly campy B-movie summer blockbuster. And that fact that it's coming out in the heat of August only supports that theory. However, The…
Funny, bright, and charming, this younger version the web-slinger in Spider-Man: Homecoming breathes new life into the character and superhero genre. The bright colors, catchy soundtrack, and witty dialogue make this incarnation of Spider-Man the most light-hearted. However, what makes Spider-Man: Homecoming the best movie in the many versions of the character so far is that it's hyper-aware…
