What John thought about ‘Attack of the Clones’ in 2002 (Movie review)
Just for fun — and to round out the “Star Wars” film reviews on my blog – I decided to look back at what I thought of “Episode II: Attack of the Clones” upon its release in […]
Movies
‘Star Trek Beyond’ is distractingly loud and stupid (Movie review)
In 2009, J.J. Abrams rebooted the “Star Trek” movie franchise by making a “Star Wars”-style movie with “Star Trek” trappings. The second entry, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” was perhaps closer to “Star Trek,” but it […]
Appealing leads give heart to funny but formulaic ‘Bad Moms’ (Movie review)
Whereas “Bad Teacher” and “Bad Santa” played up the jokes in their titles – wouldn’t it be funny if a teacher or a Santa was monumentally bad at their job? – “Bad Moms” goes a bit deeper. […]
‘The Boy’ a respectable entry in ‘creepy doll’ subgenre
Movie review: The filmmakers get a lot of mileage out of a creepy-as-hell doll in this masterfully designed, and somewhat amusing, horror riff.
‘Allegiant’ moves ‘Divergent’ series into heady sci-fi territory (Movie review)
The third entry of a four-part saga, “Allegiant” — now available on DVD – moves the “Divergent” series into heady (and sometimes head-scratching) science fiction territory. Young future readers of classic sci-fi such as Arthur C. Clarke’s […]
‘Mike and Dave’ need wedding dates, but have no shortage of laughs (Movie review)
“Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates” takes a clever premise, casts the right actors and peppers the narrative with solid gags for an hour and a half of exactly the kind of stupid humor the trailer […]
‘Elstree 1976’ is for serious ‘Star Wars’ fans only (Movie review)
“Elstree 1976” is a perfect title for this documentary about “Star Wars” bit players, because serious fans will immediately recognize it as the studio and year in which “A New Hope” was filmed. Casuals might not […]
‘The Driftless Area’ eschews linear storytelling, and it’s as weird as you’d expect (Movie review)
With his recent unfortunate death at age 27 in a vehicle accident, Anton Yelchin takes a spot in film history similar to Heath Ledger, where lots of people will celebrate his catalogue, but we’ll wonder […]
‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ advances the saga while essentially remaking the original (Movie review)
“Independence Day: Resurgence” is what a summer blockbuster should be: the kind where after watching futuristic aerial dogfights (in 3D if you pay a couple extra bucks), you drive home as if your Honda Civic is […]
‘The 5th Wave’ tells an alien invasion yarn for the Disney Channel set (Movie review)
Later this week, “Independence Day: Resurgence” will likely deliver the biggest alien invasion spectacle in what is turning out to be the year of the alien. In addition to the return of “The X-Files,” we […]