‘Alien: Covenant’ Review: Prometheus, Now with More Aliens
‘Prometheus’, Ridley Scott’s return to the ‘Alien’ franchise, was supposed to reignite excitement and deepen the series’ mythology. Instead, it was beautiful to look at but stumbled through failed...
View Article‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’ Review: More of the Same,...
It’s almost impossible to remember a time when a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie qualified as a pleasant surprise hinged on an eccentric Johnny Depp performance that audiences couldn’t get enough of....
View Article‘Cars 3’ Review: Better than Necessary
While the ‘Cars’ movies typically divide critics unlike any other Pixar movie, they also routinely rank among the most successful Pixar products and sell the most toys. So here we go again with another...
View Article‘Despicable Me 3’ Review: Another Middling Minions Movie
The relatively young Universal-backed animation studio Illumination created a golden goose in 2010 with its first movie, ‘Despicable Me’, and has been on a successful roll ever since. Unfortunately,...
View Article‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ Review: Masterful Monkeying Around
Somewhere in between all the superhero sequels, ‘Star Wars’ spinoffs, and CGI talking animal silliness, the ‘Planet of the Apes’ reboot has become the most intelligent blockbuster franchise of recent...
View Article‘An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power’ Review: Relevant Info in a...
Eleven years ago, former Vice President Al Gore turned a PowerPoint presentation into an Oscar-winning documentary. That’s not easy and probably shouldn’t have been possible. However, the subject was...
View Article‘Annabelle: Creation’ Review: Better than Bad
If nothing else, ‘Annabelle: Creation’ is at least better than any prequel to a spinoff should be. Like last year’s ‘Ouija: Origin of Evil’, this is better than the movie that preceded it thanks to...
View Article‘The Nut Job 2: Nutty by Nature’ Review: More of This Garbage?
‘The Nut Job’ was one of the worst talking animal animated family flicks in the history of the genre. But it was also one of the cheapest, so it made enough money off undemanding family audiences to...
View Article‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle’ Review: Spotty Spy Sequel
‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ was a pleasant surprise and a kick in the pants for comic book movies when it hit screens a few short years ago. Never has it been clearer just how delicate a line it...
View Article‘Blade Runner 2049’ Review: Run, Don’t Walk
Of all the revived franchise extensions to pop up in recent years, ‘Blade Runner’ felt like the riskiest proposition. While Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi/noir made a huge mark on pop culture with its...
View ArticleWeekend Roundtable: Best Horror Movie Sequels
Multi-movie horror franchises are big business in Hollywood, and the ‘Saw’ series serves up its eighth entry this weekend just in time for Halloween. Honestly, though, how many of these sequels are...
View Article‘Jigsaw’ Review: See Saw, See Saw Run
Seven years after the supposed Final Chapter (in 3D, member that?), the world’s most industrious slasher villain is apparently back. It shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that ‘Saw’ eventually...
View Article‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Review: A Hilarious Hulking Blockbuster
Of all the characters to clog up screens during Marvel Studios’ reign of box office dominance, Thor has always been the trickiest to get right. The last two ‘Thor’ movies were among Marvel’s worst, so...
View Article‘A Bad Moms Christmas’ Review: Unnecessary but Amusing
Last year’s ‘Bad Moms’ felt like a joke pitch that went too far and somehow became a movie. Yet, thanks to a perfectly assembled cast and a script that had enough laughs to overcome a parade of...
View Article‘Daddy’s Home 2’ Review: Passably Bland
There are laughs in ‘Daddy’s Home 2’, just like the original – enough to make it feel like a reasonably entertaining night at the movies. There’s not much substance or purpose, though. In fact, the...
View Article‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Review: Rian Strikes Back
The new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy has finally found its own voice and identity. After the nostalgia-fueled tears and cheers of J.J. Abrams’ relentlessly crowd-pleasing (and pandering?) ‘The Force Awakens’,...
View ArticleSpoiler Warning: ‘The Last Jedi’ Isn’t the ‘Star Wars’ Movie You’re Looking For
When I walked out of last Monday’s press screening for ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ and heard just about every other critic gush over the film’s supposed greatness, I thought, “Well, here we go again....
View Article‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ Review: We Got Fun and Games
Take me back to the beginning of 2017 and ask me which campy and unnecessary Dwayne Johnson movie would be better, ‘Jumanji 2’ or ‘Baywatch’. After hanging my head in shame, I would have grudgingly...
View Article‘Insidious: The Last Key’ Review: Probably Not Really Last, Definitely Least
One-man franchise factory James Wan (‘Saw’, ‘The Conjuring’, ‘Annabelle’) somehow stretched ‘Insidious’ into four films. Unfortunately, he’s rarely involved in his own sequels. ‘Insidious: The Last...
View Article‘Paddington 2’ Review: More Charm Than You Can Bear
2014’s ‘Paddington’ was a little miracle of a movie. Contemporary filmmakers were able to take Michael Bond’s dated and almost impossibly earnest creation and make it work for modern audiences thanks...
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