Dir. by Robert Stromberg It's hard to review Disney's Maleficent without mentioning that the screening I went to ended with a hearty applause. The reason I feel it's necessary to point this out is because despite its clear flaws, this film is an absolute crowd pleaser. The audience bought into the world…
Much Ado About Nothing finds Joss Whedon at his sharpest and most creative I have something to admit. The 1993 film Much Ado About Nothing is one of the movies that made me fall in love with cinema. Partially because it was the first film adaptation of a Shakespeare play that I watched, and partially because…
The most recent installment in the Disney renaissance, Zootopia, is also easily their most timely and political. Basically the movie could be described as "let's talk about racism with animals," but like the best animated movies it mixes social subtext with genuinely hilarious moments and interesting characters. Zootopia starts on an elementary school play starring rabbit…
Anchored by its leads, The Nice Guys is a hilarious take on the buddy cop movie that is sharp and smart If 2016 has been lacking in anything, it’s comedy. There have been few hits, critically and commercially, and seemed that more comedies bombed than anything. However, there has been one gem from this year that should…
Hidden Figures delicately balances a racial drama with a biopic while also telling the story of the space race. The result is one of the most delightful movies of the year. It takes the right kind of movie to get a Thursday night crowd actually cheering in the theater. Well, Hidden Figures is that kind…
Hunt for the Wilderpeople marches to the beat of its own drum and offers up laughs, tears, and cheers. Sam Neill offers one of his best performances in memory while the world is introduced to a great new talent, Julian Dennison. There is no other movie like Hunt for the Wilderpeople. That's because it balances so many…
Part screwball comedy, part violent crime movie, I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore is an often hilarious strong debut by Macon Blair I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore can pretty much be summed up in its whimsical title. It leans on the worst of our society – an ozone killing car, another…
Funny, thrilling, and musical, Baby Driver is an action movie like no other with a protagonist that will make you sing. Any successful action scene and movie has to have a rhythm. Pace is everything. Well, Edgar Wright — best known for Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead — takes that requirement and sets it to…
Bright colors, quirky characters, and at the center of it a super pig. Okja is a visual delight but offers something deeper below its surface. Okja is a super pig. Yes, that’s what they call her species in the eponymous film. This animal, which is double the size of a hippo, slobbers uncontrollably, and has a propensity…
Dir. by Josh Boone It's rare that a film move me to tears. So rare in fact that only three films I have watched in my lifetime were able to do so. They were Michael Haneke's Amour, Roberto Benigni's Life is Beautiful, and now Josh Boone's The Fault in Our Stars. John Green was able…
