Nearly forty years after Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining hit the silver screen, Doctor Sleep has finally come along to answer the question that has been burning in our brains since: what happened to Danny Torrence after his father tried to kill him and his mother? Okay, maybe this wasn’t burning in our brain. But Doctor Sleep is a sequel to The Shinning and, thanks to the recent popularity of adapting Stephen King books, we got…
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The last time we saw director Taika Waititi he was changing the landscape of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Thor: Ragnarok, a film many regard as the best Thor film and a real standout of the entire MCU. How does Waititi use his new found cache? By making Jojo Rabbit, a movie about a Nazi youth who has an imaginary friend who just happens to be Adolf Hitler (who is played by Waititi…
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I saw Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite a little less than a month ago. As soon as the credits started rolling I knew I had just watched a truly special film, but I was unsure how special. I recently saw the film again and was blown away once again. Bong Joon-Ho has crafted undoubtedly one of the best movies of 2019. Fewer films have surprised, shocked, and moved me like Parasite did. And yet, telling you what…
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Harriet Tubman is inarguably one of the greatest Americans to ever live. The former slave-turned-abolitionist is responsible for freeing hundreds of slaves through various ways, including the Underground Railroad. She is a true legend and it was only a matter of time before we got a biopic about her and her incredible journey. Kasi Lemmon’s Harriet is the worst kind of biopic. Not the worst, but the worst kind. This is…
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Writer/director Robert Eggers burst on to the cinematic scene in 2016 with his haunting debut, The Witch, a movie many consider to be one of the finest horror movies of the decade. It is one of the strongest debuts of the decade and Eggers immediately established a style of writing and directing that was different and new, which made him one of the most exciting new voices in the game…
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The Terminator franchise is a franchise I wish was over. In fact, I wrote a piece a few years ago about which franchises needed to die and spoiler for those who wanted to read the list, but the Terminator franchise landed at the number one spot. It’s a franchise that has been around for almost forty years and one that should have ended ten years ago. James Cameron’s first two films, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement…
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Usually when making this list, a list I have been doing monthly for three years, I have a relatively easy time picking which movies should make the cut. Sometimes I’m forced to snub one or two, but usually the five are pretty easy to pick. This month was the opposite of that. There are over fifteen films coming out in November that I am excited for, which is kind of insane. We got horror movies,…
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Paradise Hills is one of the strangest movies I have seen in 2019, if not the strangest. Writer/director Alice Waddington, in her feature directorial debut, has created a unique science fiction film that hooks you from frame one. It’s a stunning debut and a film I couldn’t look away from. Paradise Hills opens on a Victorian-style wedding with a twist. We meet Uma (Emma Roberts), our bride, who is wearing a white…
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The 55th Chicago International Film Festival has officially come to a close. Over the last twelve days, the festival showed numerous films from all different genres with various budgets from a number of different countries from all around the world. This is an incredibly diverse film festival and every year I am honored to attend it. I saw 26 films at this year’s festival and I would say it was a very good year at…
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*NOTE: This review is going to be a CAPSULE review, which means it’ll be a tight, quick critique of the film. Extracurricular is wild, rambunctious film that subverts the hostage genre. This is a hostage film that is about far more than that hostage that is taking place. This is a movie that looks at broken families, corrupt governments, and a man desperate to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. The film looks at…
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