2017 was an interesting year for the DC Extended Universe, or whatever this cinematic universe is called. Wonder Woman was a gigantic success and easily the best movie in the universe. Then Justice League came out, a film that was supposed to be one of the biggest movies ever made, bringing together all the legendary heroes of DC comics, and that film crashed and burned and barely exists now. The DCEU was in a cinematic limbo of…

There is one word and one word only to describe Mary Poppins Returns: delightful.  As soon as you hear Lin Manuel Miranda sing “(Underneath the) Lovely London Sky” on the cobblestone streets of London, you are immediately transported back to Robert Stevenson’s original 1964 film, smacking a cheek-to-cheek smile that doesn’t leave until you leave the theater. Making a sequel over 50 years from the first film is a very Hollywood idea, especially in this current age…

One of the things I try to do as a film critic is keep an open mind during all movies.  There are critics and other film personalities that I follow that see movies before I do and post their reviews or thoughts, which I of course read.  I try my best to not let their opinion set a certain expectation before I even see the movie. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is a movie that took the…

It was impossible for me not to be hyped about Creed II.  For one, it’s another Rocky film, a franchise that I love dearly.  I also loved Creed, which I ranked my number one movie of 2015 and think it is one of the finest films of the decade.  But most of my excitement for Creed II came from the fact that it featured Viktor Drago, the son of Ivan Drago, the infamous villain from Rocky IV, a Cold War film that…

        Going into Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, I had forgotten nearly everything that happened in the first film, Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them.  I remember enjoying the film quite a bit, though.  I liked that it was part of the wizarding world that was introduced in the Harry Potter films, but also liked that it was set in America, away from Hogwarts.  It immersed us more into the world as a whole…

        On paper, Widows sounds like a very simple, basic movie.  It’s about a the wives of criminals who must come together and do a job after their husbands die and they are stuck with their debt.  The premise could have been schlocky or formulaic or generic enough to go directly to video-on-demand.  But what co-writer/director Steve McQueen did with this film is nothing short of extraordinary.  He took a basic premise and…

      Illumination Animation makes animated movies for children.  That might sound obvious, but it really isn’t.  Studios like Pixar and Laika are known for making animated movies that are wonderfully animated, full of action and excitement, yet also have deep themes that resonate with kids and adults.  Just think of this years Incredibles 2, which is rich in themes about gender roles and parenting, yet is also as entertaining as anything in 2018. But…

        The Girl in the Spider’s Web is the fourth book in the Millennium book series, which follows the adventures of anti-social computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and writer Mikael Blomqvist.  The first three books were written by Stieg Larsson and then taken over by David Lagercrantz, who wrote Spider’s Web. However, in American cinema, it is only the second film of this series, following David Fincher’s grungy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo back in 2011. …