Movie Reviews

My reviews of The Novice, The Phantom, and Ultrasound from the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.     THE NOVICE   How far are you willing to go to be the best? Whenever this question is brought up in a movie, I am immediately hooked. Movies like Black Swan and Whiplash showcase protagonists who push themselves to their absolute limits, both physically and mentally, in order to be what the deem to be the best. Writer/director Lauren Hadaway’s film The Novice is the latest in this…

My reviews for See For Me, Catch the Fair One, and Dating & New York from the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.     SEE FOR ME   See for Me belongs in the same horror sub-genre as Rear Window and Hush in that the film is thriller revolves around a protagonist with a handicap. In Rear Window, it was a man confined to a wheel chair due to a broken leg who suspected his neighbor of killing his wife. In Hush, it was a…

My reviews of Blind Ambition, Mark, Mary & Some Other People, and Wolfgang from the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.       BLIND AMBITION   Blind Ambition is a documentary that plays like an underdog sports movie in the vein of Cool Runnings, but there is no athleticism involved. This is a movie about a group of refugees from Zimbabwe who now reside in South Africa who try to win the global Wine Tasting Olympics. This is…

        In the Heights is a perfect movie for a post pandemic world. After over a year of staying home, social distancing, and not being able to see friends and family members, we are slowly getting back to normalcy as the world begins to open back. John M. Chu’s fantastic musical wants to celebrate everything that we’ve missed in the last year. It is a movie about community, love, life, and fun…

        Cruella marks the second time Disney has given us a live-action reimagining of one of their iconic villains following 2014’s Maleficent. And much like Maleficent, Cruella was a movie that was very frustrating. There are a lot of elements to the film that I really liked, particularly the look and the vibe of everything. But that all gets bogged down by a bloated runtime and a very messy plot. Cruella de Vil’s villain origin story…

        2018’s A Quiet Place was a critical and box office sensation and a breakout hit for director John Krasinski. One of the aspects that made that film great was its simple concept: if you make a sound, your life could be over. Krasinski crafted a terrifying, thrilling film and one that put Krasinski on the scene as a director. With A Quiet Place Part II, Krasinski shows his growth as a director….

        Army of the Dead marks director Zack Snyder’s return to the zombie genre since his feature directorial debut Dawn of the Dead, a remake of the George A. Romero zombie classic. The film also marks the first Snyder film not rooted in the world of DC universe since 2011’s Sucker Punch. Seeing as I think Dawn of the Dead is Snyder’s best film as a director, as well as not being the biggest fan of…

        Profile is the latest film in this new genre of thrillers that take place entirely on a computer/phone screen, following in the footsteps of such films as Unfriended, Searching, and Spree. But unlike those movies, in which the screen-sharing gimmick runs thin the longer the movie goes on, Profile is a gripping, intense thriller that never lets up and uses the screen sharing gimmick perfectly. Amy (Valene Kane) is a struggling journalist looking for a gig…

        Those Who Wish Me Dead is a testament to the superstar that is Angelina Jolie. Director/co-writer Taylor Sheridan’s latest woodsy western thriller pits Jolie deep in the Montana woods as a forest fire rages and two incredibly dangerous hitmen chase her and a boy who has secrets about their boss. It’s a simple premise reminiscent of the mid-budget thriller of the 90’s, but it’s a tense, wild ride and Jolie is front…

      I don’t know what my expectations were for John Berardo’s Initiation, but one thing I do know is that I did not expect the film to be a slasher film reminiscent of Scream 2. This is a college murder mystery. A film where a seemingly idyllic and normal college experience is turned upside down by a series of murders on the campus which leads to an unraveling of dark secrets at the university. It…