Hollywood Reviews
NEVER LET GO Review: Halle Berry Lends Her Oscar-Winning Bonafides to Post-Apocalyptic Thriller
A founding member of the “New Extremity” movement that brought French horror filmmakers to the attention of international audiences in the early oughts, writer-director Alexandre Aja (Oxygen, The 9th Life of Louis Drax, Haute Tension) parlayed his fearless, uncompromising approach...
Toronto 2024 Review: THE WILD ROBOT, Ground-breaking Animation Powers Familiar Family Tale
Dreamworks Animation presents Chris Sanders' adaptation of Peter Brown's popular children's book.
Toronto 2024 Review: RIFF RAFF, Riffs on Parenting, The Holidays, And THE REF
The foul mouthed holiday film is now, more or less, a cinema tradition. From Terry Zwigoff’s Bad Santa to National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to Harold Ramis’s The Ice Harvest, there are plenty of these anti-Christmas yet still kinda Christmas...
SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY Review: Deeply Moving Portrait of the Actor Behind the Superhero
For Gen X’ers and Millennials, Superman in live-action form started and ended with Christopher Reeve. Across four films and a decade (1978-1987), Reeve embodied Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s Depression-era, comic-book creation, a secular savior, a super-powered alien from a...
TRANSFORMERS ONE Review: Workers Rights, Class Struggle, Robot Revolution
Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry lead the voice cast for director Josh Cooley's animated prequel.
SPEAK NO EVIL Review: The Importance of Being Impolite, Part 2
James Watkins directs the remake, starring James McAvoy, Mackenzie Davis, and Scoot McNairy.
REBEL RIDGE Review: Timely, Topical Suspense-Thriller
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier and now streaming on Netflix, the film stars Aaron Pierre, Don Johnson, and AnnaSophia Robb.
BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE Review: Back From the Dead, Demented and Delightful
Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Jenna Ortega star in Time Burton's worthy, worthwhile sequel.
AFRAID Review: Middling AI Horror Muddles Through Uninspired Third Act
First came HAL-9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey). Then came Colossus (The Forbin Project), followed by Proteus IV (Demon Seed), and SkyNet (The Terminator series). And that's just barely scratching the science-fiction surface. Individually and collectively, each film reflected the technophobic...
BLINK TWICE Review: The Gift? Of Laughter and Forgetting
The ritual of Catholic confession has never felt quite right to me; to each their own, but the idea that you can simply say some words that apparently mean you repent for some sins and that gets you into your...
THE CROW Review: Don't Call It a Reboot, Call It a Reimagining
After spending the better part of two decades parked in development purgatory, the long-mooted remake, reboot, and/or reimagining of James O’Barr’s comic-book series/comic strip, The Crow, makes a belated, somewhat anticipated appearance in the nation’s multiplexes just as the summer...
ALIEN: ROMULUS Review: Fede Alvarez's Worthy Addition to the Series Almost Undone By Egregious Fan Service
Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu star in the sci-fi thriller, directed by Fede Alvarez.
BAD MONKEY Review: Under Balmy Skies, Sly Comedy and Murderous Crimes
Vince Vaughn stars in a role he was born to play, alongside Natalie Martinez, Meredith Hagner, Rob Delaney, John Ortiz, Michele Monaghan, Ronald Peet, L. Scott Caldwell, and Jodie Turner-Smith.
Fantasia 2024 Review: SHELBY OAKS, A Rock Solid Fright Film From First Time Director Chris Stuckmann
Twelve years ago, YouTuber Riley Brennan went missing. When, after a long dry spell, a seemingly related tragedy lands on the doorstep of her sister Mia, the rescue mission restarts in debutante director Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks. Chris Stuckmann is...
BORDERLANDS Review: Even Cate Blanchett Can't Save Eli Roth's Risible Video Game Adaptation
An intergalactic bounty hunter on a mission to rescue a preteen explosives specialist faces off with an arms dealer’s army on a hostile desert planet in Eli Roth’s abysmal video game adaptation, Borderlands. With over one billion dollars in sales...
PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID 4K UHD Review: Sam Peckinpah Unmasked
Sam Peckinpah's got James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, and Bob Dylan's number in a new edition from the Criterion Collection.
THE INSTIGATORS Review: Bungling Criminals in Supposed Comedy
Matt Damon and Casey Affleck star in Doug Liman's knockabout action comedy about a bungled robbery, featuring an all-star supporting cast and a lot of smashed vehicles.
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Review: Self-Awareness Doesn't Make the Multiverse Less Exhausting
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman star in the latest Marvel movie, directed by Shawn Levy.
LADY IN THE LAKE Review: Out of the Water, Into Your Nightmares
Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram star in Alma Har'el's enthralling adaptation of Laura Lippman's mystery novel, debuting on Apple TV+.
TWISTERS Review: Lee Isaac Chung Channels His Inner Spielberg
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, the new version stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos.
