2019

[7] In this ensemble drama from writer/director Lulu Wang, Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians) plays a New Yorker who learns her grandmother in China is dying. But only the family knows — grandmother does not. The extended family comes together at the grandmother’s house for an impromptu wedding to spend time with their beloved matriarch before she is gone. While Awkwafina struggles to keep a brave …

[7] First off, know that I have never seen an episode of the Downton Abbey TV series. I went into the feature film completely cold, but despite having no history with these characters or their melodrama, I found the feature film surprisingly fast-paced and engaging, beautiful to look at, and irresistibly charming. The film centers around the King and Queen of England’s visit to Downton …

[6] Three sixth-grade boys (Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, and Brady Noon) embark on a serendipitous adventure, encountering plenty of sex and drugs on their way to a classmate’s party. Good Boys banks on our desire to see cute kids doing naughty things, which is a safe bet for sporadic gags, but Good Boys‘ gutter-wallowing becomes a little fatiguing after a while. The talented young …

[7] Samara Weaving (Hugo’s niece) leads an ensemble cast in this dark comedy about a young woman marrying into a wealthy gaming dynasty. As per tradition, the newlywed must participate in a randomly chosen game with the family at midnight following the wedding. Weaving goes along, but soon discovers that the innocuous round of hide-and-seek is actually a deadly game of hunt-and-kill — with Weaving …

[9] Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as a television actor and his care-taker stunt-man. The men are close-knit and more dependent on each other than either are able to admit. During the span of just a few days in 1969, they come to terms with the mortality of life and careers while unwittingly stumbling under the shadow of the infamous …

[7] Jesse Eisenberg and Alessandro Nivola star in this pitch-black comedy about a socially awkward young man (Eisenberg) who joins a karate class after he’s assaulted in the street one night. His instructor (Nivola) is a curious character who at first inspires Eisenberg’s character to ‘man-up’ and take charge of his life. But as Nivola’s tactics become more questionable, Eisenberg starts to wonder if his …

[6] Tom Holland is far and away the best reason to ever see a Spider-Man movie these days. He’s charming, charismatic, funny and incredibly watchable. So as long as he’s our Spidey/Peter Parker, I guess I’ll keep watching these spider flicks. What else is good about Far From Home? It’s nice to see parts of Venice and Prague. Some of Peter Parker’s friends have cute …

[7] Writer/director Ari Aster left an impression with last year’s Hereditary and follows up with another slow-burn, visually beautiful movie with incredibly similar structure and subtext. Midsommar is about a young woman named Dani (Florence Pugh) who experiences the tragic death of her parents and sister shortly before embarking on a trip to Sweden where her boyfriend and his college buddies are going to study …

[6] Himesh Patel stars as a struggling singer/songwriter who wakes up from a street accident to learn the world is just a wee bit different than it was before he blacked out — The Beatles no longer exist. There are other changes, too, but Patel’s character decides to make the most of everyone’s collective amnesia and starts performing The Beatles’ songs. Before long, he’s a …

[2] The days become unnaturally long in the town of Centerville, where two cops played by Adam Driver and Bill Murray drive around protecting the community. But when zombies begin roaming the streets, they find themselves in over their heads with only a strange new Scottish mortician (Tilda Swinton) to help them… or not. In any case, as Adam Driver’s character says throughout the movie, …

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