Hacksaw Ridge

Mel does it again. What an excellent addition to the WWII film canon. Hacksaw tells the story of a conscientious objector who serves in the military without even holding a gun. And since they made a movie about him, you can imagine that there are some heroics involved. Andrew Garfield plays Desmond in a manner […]

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

This was a big surprise for me. I really didn’t know what I was expecting with this movie, but what I got was a sometimes hilarious, sometimes touching story about a man and a foster child reluctantly forming a bond. Meanwhile, everyone else thinks the boy was kidnapped and are on the hunt. What we […]

Rogue One

Okay, here we go. I’m a big Star Wars fan, and if you are a regular reader on my site (if I even have any of those) you will likely know this.  Last year I fell in love with The Force Awakens as it recaptured the magic of Star Wars.  This year we got the […]

Arrival

*NOTE: This is a full spoiler review It seems like there has been a lot of these serious sci-fi movies lately which have dominated the theaters over the last few years: Gravity, Interstellar, The Martian, Oblivion, Ex Machina, Edge of Tomorrow, etc.  And so I sort of find myself excited about them, yet resisting them, […]

Finding Dory

Pixar movies are usually about more than they are about. A movie about a fish that gets lost? Whatever. A story about how that fish represents those who live with various disabilities, and about how parents cope with their children having disabilities? More interesting. So there is certainly a lot of value in a movie […]

Gods of Egypt

You will often hear generalizations about how movies are “nothing but mindless action and special effects these days”.  If you are wondering what kinds of movies those people are talking about, Gods of Egypt is a great example.  Gods of Egypt is set in the background of Egyptian Mythology (just in case the title didn’t […]

Dr. Strange

Marvel has gone all in on embracing their weirder side, hey? Imagine if this movie came out 15 years ago, as the superhero craze was just starting. It would have been a laughing stock. But this is what a successful movie franchise allows and Marvel keeps seeing how far into their oddities they can go. […]

The Jungle Book

I’ll be honest, I didn’t expect much from the new version of Jungle Book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Visually, I was concerned that this would be a CGI overload in which the visuals are so in your face that they become essentially meaningless, but I found they worked quite well. The realism of the […]

Jason Bourne

Jason Bourne is a Jason Bourne movie alright. Its got everything you would expect from a Bourne film; a juggernaut of frenetic pace and action, a minimal spy plot, and a stoic yet effecting performance from Matt Damon. It takes us to locations like Athens, Berlin, London and Vegas this time around. I particularly enjoyed […]

Star Trek Beyond

I think I’ll do a like/dislike analysis for this one. Likes: – Interactions between the cast members. The story opened these up a little more this time around, and these characters and their relationships are a big part of why this was an enjoyable watch overall. They especially played up the Bones/Spock team, which I […]

Ghostbusters

For being one of the biggest movies of the summer with a massive pre-release buzz, I actually don’t have a whole lot to say about the 2016 Ghostbusters. I mean, its a remake and those are rarely interesting, but the cast here had a chance to make it interesting. It is clear that there is […]

Trumbo

Not necessarily an outstanding biopic, but certainly an interesting one. Trumbo delves into the period of Hollywood blacklisting through the character of Dalton Trumbo, a Communist writer. Bryan Cranston gives a compelling performance as we see him try to work the injustice of the congressional hearings and still manage to write despite the ban. Its […]

Independence Day Resurgence

I have a long history with ID4.  I was 15 when it came out and was big into nerdy stuff like The X-Files and had a number of friends who were as well.  When we saw the preview for this new alien invasion movie, I became instantly excited.  A group of us made a plan […]

The Legend of Tarzan

I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about this movie, honestly. It has all the ingredients for entertaining summer fare: a well-known character, a strong cast, great visual effects, and a sense of adventure. This is a well-made movie which piques the imagination thrills the senses. The Legend of Tarzan does not tell the usual Tarzan […]

Hail, Caesar!

I was looking forward to Hail Caesar. But now that I’ve seen it, it just kind of came and went. There’s really no lasting effect. The story simply evaporates into nothing, and there’s no payoff with any of the threads. I did like seeing the Coen’s explore 50’s Hollywood and try to recreate it, but […]