Southpaw was a film I could not wait to see.  It was number nine on my Most Anticipated Films of 2015 list that I made at the beginning of the year.  It had everything going for it.  An established director in Antoine Fuqua (Training Day, 2001), an incredible cast, including Rachel McAdams, Oscar winner Forrest Whitaker, and a jacked Jake Gyllenhaal, excellent marketing and trailers, and a soundtrack produced by Eminem. Sadly, the film did…

Before going into Ant-Man, the 12th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was a bit hesitant.  My lack of knowledge of Ant-Man gave me the idea that this superhero and his powers were kind of a joke and mildly stupid compared the other Marvel heroes we have met so far.  Also, the production was a troubled one, with one of my favorite directors, Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, 2007), originally set to direct but left…

Amy is a look at the life of troubled artist Amy Winehouse, from the early days to her downfall into drugs, alcohol, and her eventual death at the young age of 27. I did not know a lot about Winehouse before going into this movie.  I thought that she was just another artist who couldn’t handle the rockstar life style.  But director Asif Kapadia has given us a much deeper story than that. The first…

I don’t go to the movies to see bad movies.  I don’t ever want a movie to be bad because then it just wastes my time and money.  But, Terminator Genisys was one I had a bad feeling about from the beginning.  From the awful, spoilerific trailer, to the current state of Hollywood, and the casting, this movie had all the makings to fail. I don’t want to toot my own horn or anything, but…

2012’s Magic Mike was one of the best surprises I have ever had going to the movies.  A film that was advertised as Channing Tatum and a patsy of strippers getting hot, wild, and naked amongst a sea of women was actually a personal character study about a man looking to find himself and a career with very limited stripping.  A lot of women were disappointed, I was not. Well now Tatum and the patsy are…

A good comedy sequel is hard to come by.  Most of them are terrible, like Caddyshack 2 (1988),  Evan Almighty (2007), and The Hangover II (2011) .  But sometimes, in a very rare occurrence, you get a Wayne’ World 2 (1993), a comedy sequel that may not be as great as the original, but is still great in its own right and worthy of its predecessor. I am happy to report that Ted 2 is an example…

When I write my reviews, usually I will write about the movie a few hours after seeing it.  I gather my thoughts and let the movie simmer so I can compile a full, cohesive opinion of the movie. After seeing the documentary The Wolfpack, which I saw earlier this week, I was unable to write my review right away due to other obligations I needed to attend to.  Initially, my thoughts on the Sundance Film…

If there is one thing that I learned from Love & Mercy it is that Brian Wilson is one fascinating guy.  From his days as the brilliant singer and song writer of The Beach Boys, to being a strung out, paranoid schizophrenic who’s lost everyone, he is as interesting and compelling a human being I have ever seen on screen. Unfortunately, this biopic is not as interesting as the man. Love & Mercy follows Wilson at…

Welcome back Pixar! After three less than stellar films with Cars (2011), Brave (2012), and Monster’s University (2013) it looked as though Pixar was on the decline and may have already peaked. Well, they haven’t.  Inside Out is a new classic for the studio.  A brightly colored, lively film that touches on all of our emotions. Inside Out throws us literally into the mind of a young 11 year old girl named Riley.  There we meet Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis…

On paper, Dope sounds like a movie we have all seen before.  An urban teen struggles to stay out of the gang life and pursue a better life outside of the projects.  We have seen it in Boyz ‘n’ the Hood (1991), Menace II Society (1993) and countless other movies.  But what writer/director Rick Famuyiwa has done is something special. Dope is a unique vision on a classic tale.  It’s a funny, entertaining, gripping, wild ride with stellar performances…