You are not prepared for The Substance. I could tell you everything that happens in this movie and it still would not prepare you for what happens in the film. It is an epic, fearless, gross, shocking film featuring two dynamic performances. It’s as visceral a filmgoing experience as I have had in 2024. Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, an aging celebrity whose star has diminished since she peaked in the 80s. After getting…
Read More
John Mackenzie’s London crime thriller The Long Good Friday has been given a 4k restoration from the Criterion Collection. A combustible performance from Bob Hoskins is the fuse that lights this underworld saga, a landmark of British crime cinema. Hoskins plays Harold Shand, an ambitious London mobster who, just as he attempts to close a major real-estate deal with the American Mafia, finds his crime empire rocked by a string of attacks, sending him on…
Read More
Alien: Romulus was a conflicting watch. I love the Alien franchise. It is one of my all-time favorite franchises. The world Ridley Scott built, and the unique sequels have made it one of the greatest sci-fi franchises of all time. But Alien: Romulus is not a great Alien film. It’s a fine Alien film that had some cool moments but didn’t expand the world as much as it could have nor did anything original….
Read More
James McAvoy gives a terrifying and brilliant performance in Speak No Evil, James Watkins’ American adaptation of Christian Tafdrup’s 2022 Danish thriller of the same name. Speak No Evil is almost beat for beat the same as the original until the film’s final act. Louise (Mackenzie Davis) and Ben (Scoot McNairy) are an American couple on vacation with their daughter in Tuscany. They befriend a British family, Paddy (James McAvoy) and Ciara (Aisling Franciosi),…
Read More
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is one of the best times I have had at the movies in 2024. Director Tim Burton returns to a form we have not seen from him in over a decade to give us an entertaining, hilarious, and heartfelt film that features spectacular sets, costumes, performances, and practical effects. Picking up 36 years after the original film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice introduces us to adult Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder), a paranormal hunter with a successful…
Read More
Jean-Pierre Melville’s iconic crime film Le Samouraï recently got a 4k upgrade from the Criterion Collection. In a career-defining performance, Alain Delon plays Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts. After carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him. An elegantly stylized masterpiece of cool by maverick director Jean‑Pierre Melville, Le samouraï is…
Read More
The Merc with the Mouth and Wolverine have entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in truly spectacular fashion. Deadpool & Wolverine is an awesome comic book movie. An action-packed blockbuster that is full of bullets, blood, humor, and even some heart. It will satisfy the cravings of the IP-obsessed who are looking for cameos and easter eggs as well as be an entertaining watch for those who like big summer movies with movie stars at…
Read More
Twisters is a classic summer blockbuster. It’s a big, loud, silly, entertaining spectacle that features action, drama, comedy, and romantic tension. It features scenes that will have your jaw on the floor in amazement and scenes that will have your eyes rolling to the back of your head because of its corniness or stupidity. It’s the kind of summer blockbuster we don’t see much of anymore. Twisters opens with a harrowing sequence that finds…
Read More
We are at the halfway point of 2024, which means it is time to look back at the best movies of 2024 so far. I have seen 64 new release movies so far in 2024 (92 total including film festival movies and movies that will be released later this year. Overall, 2024 has been an interesting year for movies. Due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes last fall, a lot of movies in production were…
Read More
Director Ti West’s MaXXXine is the third and seemingly final installment of his X Trilogy (though he has hinted in being interested in a fourth film) and the film is entertaining, twisted, and violent, something we have come to expect from this series of movies. But it suffers from something a lot of third films suffer from in that it has an over-stuffed and rushed plot that takes away from what made the previous…
Read More
