The Invitation (2022): movie review & film summary
During these last, lazy days of summer, there isn’t a whole lot to do. Still, you’re probably going to want to RSVP “no” to “The Invitation.” It had such potential, too. Director and co-writer Jessica M. Thompson establishes an unsettling mood that…
577 total views
Samaritan ‘Sylvester Stallone’: movie review & film summary (2022)
“25 years ago the world’s greatest superhero vanished,” according to the poster for Prime Video’s “Samaritan.” The narration by Sam (Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton) that opens the film gives us the Cliffs Notes version of how he did. Samaritan had a…
692 total views
Me Time (2022): movie review & film summary
You have to hand it to Kevin Hart for his prolificacy at the very least, keeping the middle-brow, upper-middle-budget studio comedy going on his own terms. After the tortured (but admittedly, quite watchable) “The Man From Toronto,” Hart—alongside Mark Wahlberg—headlines another Netflix bromance…
596 total views
Echoes (2022) Netflix Miniseries: Recap & Ending Explained
Echoes (2022) is the new limited series streaming on Netflix. Created by Vanessa Gazy, the show stars Michelle Monahan, Matt Boomer, Daniel Sunjata, Ali Stroker, and Karen Robinson. The story revolves around two identical twin sisters, Gina and Leni ((played…
786 total views
Beast movie review & film summary (2022)
Director Baltasar Kormákur’s “Beast” is better than most mid-August releases. It executes its wild-animal-gone-rogue premise in just under 90 minutes. Veteran cinematographer Philippe Rousselot shoots some gorgeous views of the South African wilderness. There’s a formidable foe that seems omniscient and indestructible, not…
749 total views
Day Shift Review: Jamie Foxx Rises Again As Dad, The Vampire Hunter
“Day Shift” is about vampires, but it’s one of those Frankenstein-like movies stitched together from used parts, with Jamie Foxx as a family man version of Marvel’s Blade, mashed up with horror and buddy comedy. It’s the kind of star-driven vehicle…
648 total views
Honor Society review: a sharp, surprisingly dark high school comedy
The Paramount Plus film about a high school girl singularly obsessed with getting into Harvard is an enjoyably fanged journey through senior year Honor Society, a dark comedy about prestige-obsessed high school students, opens with familiar faces of pop feminism:…
2,924 total views
Thirteen Lives Review: Ron Howard’s Thai Cave Rescue Film Is Tense but Dutiful
Viggo Mortensen and Colin Farrell star as divers in Ron Howard’s drama about the harrowing 2018 rescue of a Thai soccer team trapped in an underground cave. The most haunting frame in Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives shows a huddle of bicycles, hurriedly deposited…
773 total views
Not Okay Review: Zoey Deutch Dazzles in Better-Than-OK Social Media Satire
In the sophomore feature from ‘Blame’ filmmaker Quinn Shephard, Zoey Deutch stars as a wannabe writer whose fake travel posts backfire on her. Danni Sanders, the transparently needy protagonist of Not Okay, has goals, but no real grasp of the work…
672 total views
Gone in the Night Review: Winona Ryder and the Case of the Vanishing Boyfriend
Eli Horowitz’s Sonoma-shot debut feature has a potentially intriguing mystery whose complexities it seems hapless to manage. A tricky narrative requires deft execution, something that turns out to be well beyond the capabilities of “Gone in the Night.” Presented at SXSW earlier…
653 total views