Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is precisely that, a joyful celebration of the characters who’ve been part of our lives for the past fourteen years. Funny, nostalgic and sentimental, it’s a perfect farewell to the franchise. Recommended. Continue reading Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
Married couples going at each other has been a reliable source of laughs for as long as I can remember. The Roepers on Three’s Company. The Bundys on Married with Children. The Barones on Everyone Loves Raymond. When you put two actors who can deliver zingers with deadly precision together, it’s comedic gold. Which is probably what interested Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman in The Roses, who play the eponymous warring couple in addition to being executive producers. They knew how much fun they would have with this material, and that we’d enjoy watching them tear each other to shreds. They were right.
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When Liam Neeson agreed to star in The Naked Gun, he knew he had big shoes to fill. If you’ve seen the previous movies in this franchise, you probably heard those words in the voice of leading man Leslie Nielson, a dramatic actor who quickly mastered the art of the deadpan delivery. You may also have envisioned the 6’ 4” Neeson stumbling around in a pair of noisy clown shoes. That’s the challenge with following up one of the greatest comedies ever made, filling those iconic shoes. While Neeson is up to the challenge and the movie is funny, it’s not in the same league of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker films from the Eighties and early Nineties.
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Fantastic Four: First Steps is a fun joy ride, with memorable characters, a wonderful production design and exciting action sequences. One of the best science fiction films in years. Recommended. Continue reading Fantastic Four: First Steps
Superman is a lot. Stuffed with characters and subplots, the movie takes time getting into a rhythm. But when it does, it’s a strange, wild ride. Writer-director James Gunn’s film honors Superman’s roots while taking him in wonderfully weird new directions. For the first time in years, I cared about Superman and wanted to see what happens next. Recommended. Continue reading Superman (2025)
At first blush, Materialists looks like a typical romantic comedy, where an attractive single woman is forced to choose between two suitors. Option A is the handsome, rich, older man she’s just met and could give her everything she wants. Option B is a man closer to her age who’s scrapping by, but who she connects with because they were once in love. Since both options are good–for different reasons–the fun is in waiting for the heroine to make her choice. Although Materialists follows the same formula, Celine Song’s follow-up to her wonderful Past Lives aims higher. It invites you to reflect upon your dating experiences and asks, how did you end up with the love of your life?
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Horror movies have always given sound advice of where not to go on your vacation. For example, you really shouldn’t stay at that ominous-looking hotel up on the hill (Psycho), or your friend’s cabin in the middle of the woods (Evil Dead), or that hostel in Slovakia (Hostel). Dangerous Animals suggests that despite the obvious reasons for visiting Brisbane’s Gold Coast in Australia, you probably don’t want to go there either. Because even an exciting tourist activity like swimming with the sharks may very well end up being unexpectedly life-altering. But if you really can’t resist, definitely let your loved ones know what your plans are before you climb aboard that boat. That way, they’ll know where to start searching for your body parts when you go missing.
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The Nerd Identity. The Geek Ultimatum. Although it may sound like I’m being snide, both of those fake titles describe The Amateur perfectly. The movie isn’t about an extremely capable one man wrecking crew out for revenge, like the characters played by Matt Damon, Jason Statham, Denzel Washington, for example. Instead we have Rami Malek, who nobody would ever describe as being physically threatening. He has the body of a man who’s probably never set foot in a gym, and if he ever did it was to reboot the WI-FI router.
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In one form or another, the MCU films released after the conclusion of the Infinity Saga have been trying to answer the same question: who will be in the next incarnation of The Avengers? The six years haven’t provided us with any definitive answers outside of Anthony Mackie’s version of Captain America, who appears to be in because of his brand. There simply can’t be an Avengers squad without some version of Captain America on it. Every other superhero we’ve seen so far appears to be in play for a spot on the roster, which is strange considering how well-planned Marvel’s films seem to be.
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So this is what’s been on writer-director Ryan Coogler’s mind while he’s been making films based on existing IP. Although he left his imprint upon Creed and the Black Panther movies, they weren’t entirely his creation. For example, you could tell which parts of his Marvel movies came from his mind and which were mandated in order to fit into the larger MCU. Sinners, Coogler’s first original film since Fruitvale Station twelve years ago, reflects the freedom he likely felt at no longer needing to tell a story using other people’s characters and storylines. His latest is a rare intimate blockbuster, one that is brazenly adult-oriented, filled with big ideas and told with indelible images that demand our attention. It’s a full-throated cinematic experience that swings for the fences and connects more often than not.
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