2020 Reviews

[7] Writer/director Alice Wu tells us in the beginning of The Half of It that none of the characters will get what they want, and she’s not lying. But that won’t stop you from rooting for all three characters in this love triangle. Leah Lewis plays Ellie, a Chinese-American who writes love letters for a jock named Paul (Daniel Diemer) to help him woo Aster …

[3] Scoob! marks the first time Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Incorporated gang have been brought to life via computer animation, which is a great way to reboot a classic franchise. The film starts with a 10-minute origin story of how Shaggy met Scooby, and then how the duo teamed up with Fred, Daphne, and Velma while trick-or-treating (Velma’s costume is awesome). We see them solve …

[6] Elitist liberals hunt and kill redneck conservatives in this satiric take on The Most Dangerous Game. Betty Gilpin heads up the cast as our hunted protagonist (the horror genre’s ‘final girl’, if you will), while two-time Oscar winner Hillary Swank leads our pack of villainous hunters. Gilpin’s droll, reticent, but kick-ass performance reminds me of an old Clint Eastwood anti-hero. We never quite know …

[2] This is the worst adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma I’ve seen, with Gwyneth Paltrow’s middling 1996 version coming in ahead, and Amy Heckerling’s Clueless easily taking the crown. This newest incarnation is directed by Autumn de Wilde, a first-time feature director with a string of music videos in her filmography. But don’t expect any visual or aural panache on that account. This Emma suffers …

[8] With this reinvention of Universal’s classic monster movie, writer/director Leigh Whannell (Saw, Dead Silence) delivers a superbly crafted thriller anchored by a compelling performance from Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale). Moss plays a battered woman who escapes her all-controlling boyfriend only to learn that he has taken his own life. She grows suspicious about his death when a strange presence begins to haunt her. …

[5] After being part of an ensemble in The Suicide Squad, Margot Robbie returns in the role of Harley Quinn — a character that really isn’t built to carry her own movie. She’s a former psychiatrist who fell in love with the Joker and turned to the dark side. In other words, she’s nuts and dangerous. She can only function as a funny, charismatic villain, …

[7] Matthew McConaughey plays an American marijuana dealer looking to sell his lucrative British production and distribution system. But when one of the bidders sabotages him to drive down the value, everyone has to watch their backs. Charlie Hunnam co-stars as McConaughey’s right-hand man, and Hugh Grant is featured as a smarmy, investigative screenwriter who attempts to blackmail them. The Gentlemen is a twisty-turny crime …

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