Movie Reviews

“The world has enough superheroes.” Such is the tagline for Ruben Fleischer’s Venom, a film that looked to be the supervillain origin story of one of Spider-Man’s most infamous foes.  Supervillain origin stories have never been a thing in cinema, especially from major comic companies like Marvel and DC.  The closest we’ve gotten is M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, but other than that, the only villain-focused film we’ve gotten is Suicide Squad, which, simply put, is an abomination.  But…

      “Music is essentially 12 notes between any octave – 12 notes and the octave repeat. It’s the same story told over and over, forever. All any artist can offer this world is how they see those 12 notes. That’s it.”     Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut, A Star is Born, is the fourth telling of the classic story, dating all the way back to 1937, with subsequent remakes in 1954 and 1976.  Each movie…

      Director Eli Roth is known for being a horror director (and being the Bear Jew in Inglorious Basterds).  Kicking off his career with Cabin Fever and progressing into bigger, bloodier fare like Hostel, Green Inferno, and Knock Knock, with a slew of shorts and guest spots, Roth gained notoriety for the immense violence and gore in his movies, becoming a staple in the Torture Porn Horror genre. But 2018 has been a growing year for the director. …

        The Predator is a movie that I am going to watch constantly on HBO in about a year.  That isn’t necessarily the best compliment for a movie, as I tend to have HBO on as background noise while I write reviews or go to sleep.  The movies I tend to choose for my background noise are movies that I love dearly that I’ve seen dozens of times or movies that I don’t…

        As I walked into A Simple Favor, there was one question looming in my mind.  And no, it wasn’t, “what happened to Emily?” The question was could Paul Fieg direct a thriller? Fieg, known for some of the great comedies this decade with Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy, and Ghostbusters has never done a movie quite like this before.  Film history has been mixed on comedic directors going towards the dramatic side.  Sometimes it’s been great, like…

        One of the things that excites me most as a critic is seeing new voices.  New directors who show us something fresh and unique that strays away from the norm of cinema.  It offers up an interesting film-going experience, as well as gets me excited for the future of cinema. Kin is the debut film from twin directors Jonathon and Josh Baker and it is an impressive debut.  Though the film is…

I’m so confused as to what in the actual hell I just watched.  The Happytime Murders is a movie that makes zero sense.  It makes no sense in it’s tone, it makes no sense in it’s logic, it makes no sense that it was made.  It was truly one of the most mind-boggling film-going experiences I’ve had in 2018. And you’re probably thinking, “Kevin, it’s a movie with puppets, why are you thinking so hard about…

      Crazy Rich Asians is one of the most enjoyable movies I have seen in 2018.  It’s a fun, funny, exciting, heart-warming movie about culture, family, and the power of love. Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is an NYU economics professor, happily dating the seemingly normal Nick Young (Henry Golding).  When Nick invites Rachel to Singapore for his best friends wedding, Rachel quickly finds out that Nick is part of a real estate empire…

        Spike Lee burst on to the cinematic scene in the late 80’s and immediately became a name to be reckoned with.  With his brash style and socially conscience films, Lee produced some masterful films, like Do the Right Thing, which is an American masterpiece, and Malcolm X, a searing biopic about the civil rights leader.  Lee kicked off the 2000’s with one to the most underrated films of this millennium, 25th Hour, and it…

      The Mission: Impossible franchise is Tom Cruise’s franchise.  Not only does Cruise star in the films, but he’s produces each film in the series and handpicks the directors for each film, usually a different one each time.  No actor has ever had this much power on franchise in cinematic history.  What having this much power has done is allow Cruise to showcase how absolutely insane he is.  Notorious for doing his own stunts, Cruise…