2017

[6] This is a SPOILER REVIEW. Writer/director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream) makes a claustrophobic allegory of the Bible’s story of creation, the fall from grace, all the way up through the birth of Jesus and beyond. He does it with Javier Bardem playing God and Jennifer Lawrence playing a hybrid of Mother Earth and the Virgin Mary (or women/mothers in general?) …

[6] Writer/director Eliza Hittman takes us inside the secretive life of a teen boy trying to figure out if he’s straight or gay. He’s clearly attracted to men and hooks up with several older ones he meets online. But he’s also interested in at least trying to be straight, especially when a girl on the New Jersey boardwalk takes a liking to him. It’s not …

[7] If ever there was something ripe for a remake, I think Stephen King’s It would be near the top of my list. The original 1990 TV mini-series is good, but it begins to fall apart in its second half, partly for budgetary reasons. The feature-film is being remade in two parts, so we’ll have to wait a year to see if ‘Chapter Two’ improves …

[5] Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson star in this tepid action/comedy that feels too inspired by buddy flicks like Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang for its own good. Reynolds plays a down-and-out bodyguard hired to protect an incarcerated hitman (Jackson) while he’s escorted to trial where he’ll testify against a deadly dictator (Gary Oldman). The plot is a hack job if there …

[6] Don’t expect a joke-riddled laugh riot with Logan Lucky. The movie’s more of a quirky ensemble character piece by way of a heist movie. Channing Tatum and Adam Driver star as West Virginia brothers who conspire with a jailed safe-breaker (played by Daniel Craig) to steal cash from a major NASCAR event. Steven Soderbergh directs this fluffy drama/comedy and fills out the cast with Seth …

[7] Christopher Nolan serves up a wartime survival flick about Allied soldiers stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk, France, while the German army surrounds them. The water was so shallow, warships couldn’t pick up the troops, so loading the hundreds of thousands of soldiers was simply impossible. But the battle later became known as ‘The Miracle of Dunkirk,’ as hundreds of civilian boats came to the military’s …

[8] Matt Reeves (Cloverfield, Let Me In) directs his second installment of the prequel trilogy to the famous sci-fi franchise. War isn’t as epic and enthralling as the spectacular Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, but it’s still a damn fine conclusion to the story of Caesar (Andy Serkis). It’s also kinda neat to see how it dovetails into the original film series. The plot is stripped …

[7] Hey, it’s another Spider-Man movie! Before I’ve even finished processing the previous two incarnations of the franchise. Tom Holland takes over the title role after making an appearance as Spidey in Captain America: Civil War. The best thing about this new Spider-Man is Tom Holland. He’s by far the most immature and effervescent Peter Parker/Spider-Man we’ve seen, and I really enjoyed watching his youthful …

[8] I was not looking forward to Baby Driver, because I haven’t especially cared for any other Edgar Wright movie I’ve ever seen. (Watching Scott Pilgrim in the theatre with a full house was actually one of the most depressing movie-going experiences of my life.) Fortunately, I would never have known Baby Driver is an Edgar Wright movie unless you told me. Because unlike Shaun …

[7] Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides) tackles an obscure remake of a 1971 film based on a book by Thomas Cullinan. The Civil War-era story centers around a small group of women and girls who are living in a nearly-abandoned but still operational girl’s school in the deep south. One of the young students discovers a badly injured Union soldier (Colin Farrell) and brings him into the …

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