Movie Reviews

          Saint Frances kicked off the 7th annual Chicago Critics Film Festival and what a delightful way to start the festival it was.  Alex Thompson’s film is smart, funny, endearing, authentic, and showcases the talent of writer/start Kelly O’Sullivan. Bridget (Kelly O’Sullivan) isn’t society’s definition of successful.  She’s a 34 year old waitress with no prospects for a lover or for a family, which is cool with Bridget.  Bridget still thinks…

This review was originally published for Vents magazine.  Link HERE             The word parabellum is a Latin phrase meaning, “if you want peace, prepare for war” and a war is what we got in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, the exhaustingly thrilling, gorgeously shot third installment of one of cinema’s greatest action franchises. The last time we saw Mr. Wick (Keanu Reeves), he had just killed fellow assassin Santino D’Antonio…

        I was in to Pokémon when it first became popular in the United States back in the late 90’s/early 2000’s.  I had the cards, played the game on my Gameboy, and even watched the show and the movies based on the show.  Watching Pokémon Detective Pikachu brought me back to that time.  It might be different from the Pokémon I grew up with, taking place in a different world with plenty…

      I can’t say my expectations were high for The Intruder.  I generally try to have a level head when going into every movie, for fair judgement, but this one was leaning on the, “why am I seeing this?” side.  But I have to tell you, I had a ball watching it.  Sure there are some issues with some of the story beats and some of the “scary” scenes made me chuckle rather than…

      Long Shot feels like a movie that was written by a group of teenage boys hanging out in a basement.  A schlubby male fantasy filled with stoner jokes, gross out gags, and a love story about a beautiful, successful woman saving a vulgar, out of shape, down-on-his-luck writer.  Luckily, thanks to few funny moments and terrific performances by Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen, Long Shot feels more like a misfire than a complete…

THIS REVIEW IS 110% SPOILER FREE, SO KEEP READING!!           Well, we’re here.  We’re in the Endgame now.  After eleven years and twenty one movies, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally come to this.  Avengers: Endgame is the finale of one of cinema’s greatest journeys and answers all the burning questions that have plagued us for the last year and ties up the last eleven years of cinematic world building. The result…

      Guillermo del Toro made two Hellboy movies back in 2004 and 2008, both of which are very good movies that understood its characters and understood the world they were in.  However, due to neither film making a lot of money domestically – the first one making $59 million, the second one making $75 million, respectively – Hollywood decided to not let del Toro finish out a trilogy and instead wait eleven years to…

      After 2017’s It was a critical and financial success, Stephen King adaptations immediately became the hottest properties in all of Hollywood.  So rather than take a lesser-known property to remake, like Graveyard Shift, or a film that was poorly received upon its initial release, like Sleepwalkers or Dreamcatcher, the first film to follow the It-hype was Pet Sematary, a remake of the 1989 horror classic which, for this critic, is one of the most unsettling horror movies…

        Shazam is a comic book character I knew nothing about going into the film.  I never read comics as a kid, but before heading into a new superhero origin story, I usually have a basic understanding of our hero before I enter the theater.  I was completely clueless on Shazam, to the point where I wasn’t even aware he was initially called Captain Marvel until Marvel sued DC for the name…

        The stoner comedy is a genre of film that has slowly faded away.  There have been films that have been based around smoking weed, but none that really fall into what it really means to be a stoner comedy.  A movie where the weed isn’t so much a main character, but a weapon that our stoned out hero or heroes use in order to survive their personal quest, which can vary…