Reviews 1040 results

Night School Movie Review

The film’s most valuable player is Tiffany Haddish, who carries every scene she is in. The woman is just plain funny. The story as slight as it is revolves around Kevin Hart’s character who was a high school dropout that goes back to school to get his GED. Haddish is his teacher and the leader of the misfits that make up the night school class.   //   The comic moments while inconsistent, have a decent strike rate and when they truly deliver, it fills the room with ...

McKellen: Playing the Part Movie Review

Told mostly in taped interviews with the man himself, his early years are illustrated by humble beginnings and then finding his true calling at quite a young age. He is reserved in delivery but there is often a twinkle in the eye that denotes a sense of pride and stature.   //   He also goes into some detail about his work in helping to overturn unfair laws in England in regards to the age of consent between gay couples. He was fearless in a time before enlightenment. He ...

Ladies In Black Movie Review

It was a straight jacketed life for the women who had to follow their man’s lead even if it meant a life spent in the kitchen while the man of the house runs down to the local pub. In the context of the slowly emerging freedom that women would have to work so hard to achieve, the main players here are forbearers of a better time.   //   Foreigner Julia Ormond as Magda is married to Stefan (Vincent Perez) and together they form an unusually equal union. Lisa (Angourie ...

Johnny English Strikes Again Movie Review

The story revolves around technology while actually using very little of it. All the top secret British Intelligence agents have been outed and are now useless so they have to recruit some of the old school spies and put them back into the field. This gives the exiled Johnny English (Atkinson) a way back in. It also leads to a wonderful scene with a surprise trio of classic English acting veterans who unfortunately meet a quick demise as a result of English and his blundering ways. &nb...

19th Lavazza Italian Film Festival Preview Reviews

This year’s festival will feature a fantastic selection of films like the comedies Put Nonna In The Freezer, a dark comedy about an up-tight policeman that changes his ways for love and My Big Gay Italian Wedding, that illustrates the power a loving mother has in garnering acceptance for her gay son with his homophobic father. It also ends with a great song and dance number. And on a more serious side there are films like The Order Of Things that takes a look at the contentious subject ...

Beast Movie Review

Moll (Jessie Buckley) is a girl with a past, one that is never completely explained. Her life is a dull one punctuated by vividly violent nightmares. She soon meets local Pascal (Johnny Flynn) in the small isolated island community they call home and sparks fly.   //   The film is geared to never letting you off the hook and its creepiness aids in both drawing you in and freaking you out. It establishes both these feelings very well. The story revolves around a series of ...

The Predator Movie Review

He has created a Predator movie for current audience members with a voracious appetite for action. He turns everything up to eleven, more carnage, more guns, more explosions and more stupidity. He gleefully disregards the laws of physics and sensibility and tries his best to overwhelm.   //   With this level of overload, you can’t help but have a rollicking good time. The film takes full advantage of giants screens, giant sound systems and giant cravings for pure ...

Searching Movie Review

It also tells the story of a parent’s worst nightmare, the disappearance of their child. John Cho (Harold and Kumar & Star Trek) is perfectly cast as a father with a rigid adherence to order, one that is truly tested when his daughter goes missing. He is aided in his search by a female detective played by Debra Messing (Will & Grace)   //   Messing’s performance is outstanding and fearless. She sidestep the glamour and is often shown sans makeup and bleary ...

A Simple Favour Movie Review

These talks are stitched together via a sordid tale of insurance fraud and murder. There are some rather large plot holes and elements that make little sense but this is not meant to degrade the experience because this is a fine work of populist entertainment.   //   As such there are a substantial number of unifying moments that had the entire audience on the same page. This lead to a very desirable feeling of shared community. A dark room filled with lots of people who ...

Christopher Robin Movie Review

Now weather those lessons had any longterm positive effect or not, they did provide a lot of feel good moments. Christopher Robin’s lesson is a simple one but it’s told in such a charming and childlike way that it can’t help but draw you in and give you a case of those old time warm and fuzzies.   //   Christopher Robin (Ewan McGregor) has left his childhood dreams and fantasies far behind him after serving in World War II and has become a workaholic. The neglect ...