Movie Reviews

        The Saw franchise is one of the longest running horror movie franchises, spanning eight films over seventeen years. From James Wan’s claustrophobic game-changer through the numerous sequels, the Saw franchise has become synonymous for its extreme gore, unique deaths, and chaotic plots that offer up twists, flashbacks, and tales of morality. Spiral: From the Book of Saw is the ninth entry in the Saw franchise and it is unlike any Saw movie we have seen before. Though there are aspects…

        Modern technology is great until it isn’t. With just our cellphones, we have worldly access to whatever we want. You need a restaurant recommendation? Update on the latest sports scores? See what your favorite celebrity is up to? Quickly learn how to make casserole? Self-diagnose yourself with an illness? Talk to your cousin who lives across the country? You can do all of that just on your phone and much, much…

      Thunder Force marks the fifth film in which Melissa McCarthy has been directed by Ben Falcone, a frequent co-star of McCarthy films and her real-life husband. As a comedic duo on screen, McCarthy and Falcone are excellent and play off each other seamlessly (the best example of this would be the airplane scene in 2011’s Bridesmaids). But as an actor-director duo, the results haven’t been as successful. McCarthy, a two-time Oscar nominee,…

        The title of the movie says it all. In one corner we have Godzilla, the giant blue-fire breathing lizard who scours the ocean and has a nose for other monsters roaming the Earth. In the other corner, King Kong, the giant gorilla who rules the mysterious Skull Island. Though having already met in 1963′ King Kong vs. Godzilla, the two cinematic behemoths have never met on a scale of this level…

        Bob Odenkirk is latest actor over fifty years old to get an “old guy kicks ass” movie, following in the footsteps of actors like Liam Neeson, Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin Costner, Denzel Washington, and Keanu Reeves (you might not think Keanu counts, but he was 50 when he made John Wick) who have made these kind of movies before, some turning them into franchises. Looking at the list of actors I…

Here are my reviews of The Lost Sons, Sound of Violence, and The Spine of Night from the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.         THE LOST SONS   In April of 1964, a baby was stolen from a Chicago hospital and nobody knew who or why it happened. A few months later, a toddler is abandoned and people begin to wonder if this could be the baby that stolen roughly a year ago. The Lost Sons takes a look…

Here are my reviews of Broadcast Signal Intrusion and The Oxy Kingpins from the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.       BROADCAST SIGNAL INTRUSION   Broadcast Signal Intrusion is the cinematic equivalent of a NASCAR driver driving a perfect race, having the lead the entire race only to have his tires blow out in the final lap. It is a film that for the first two acts and even part of the third act, the film was spectacular. I was…

        Reviewing Zack Snyder’s Justice League is quite the bizarre task. How does one rate this movie? Do they rate it with knowledge of the 2017 version, which saw director Zack Snyder leave the project for personal reasons, only to be replaced by director Joss Whedon and the film end up being a complete dud? Does one rate it pretending the 2017 one doesn’t exist (even though it 100% does and Zack Snyder is…

Here are my reviews of The End of Us and Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil from the 2021 SXSW Film Festival.       THE END OF US   The 2021 SXSW Film Festival is the second film festival I have covered in 2021, following the Sundance Film Festival back in January. Between these two festivals, I have noticed that we have a new growing subgenre on our hands: the COVID comedy. These are small, micro-budget, largely improvised…

        The Courier is a Cold War thriller that looks at an ordinary man and his involvement in the Cold War. This is a true story about Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch), a charming British businessman who is brought on by MI6 and the C.I.A. to help get information from Oleg Penkovsky (Merab Ninidze), a high ranking Russian officer who is willing to give out Russian secrets in order to get out of the…