movie reviews
Movie Review: Summer of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
4 stars out of 5Well, it turns out a lot more people watch a documentary if it’s also airing on Hulu. But I love movie theaters and a trip to one can seem like a mini summer vacation (in this case, also time travel). So I went to see Questlove’s Summer of Soul on the […]
Movie Review: A Rainy Day in New York
4 stars out of 5 I generally don’t review movies that are on streaming services (in this case, Amazon Prime Video), but I did not have the option of watching A Rainy Day in New York in a theater. What is this, Communist Russia?!? Now, there are those who will dismiss out of hand anything […]
Movie Review: The Sparks Brothers
4 stars out of 5Like many in my general age range (mesozoic), my first encounter with the band Sparks was their semi-hit collaboration with the Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin, “Cool Places,” in heavy rotation on MTV in 1983. For many that would indeed prove to be the only encounter. But we, the proud and shamed music […]
Movie Review: The Conjuring — The Devil Made Me Do It
3 stars out of 5At some point in the past few years, I watched The Conjuring on HBO, and liked it well enough that I soon watched The Conjuring 2. I was suitably amused/creeped out by these based-on-actual-bullshit tales of real-life spook searchers Ed and Lorraine Warren (of Amityville Horror fame), plus I’m a fan […]
Movie Review: A Quiet Place part II
3.5 stars out of 5Have you been back to the movies? Talk about a quiet place! As we crawl back to some semblance of normalcy, I noticed this was the first flick since before-times to have multiple afternoon showings. Like, a regular schedule! However, we’re quickly reminded that things have been a little “off” when […]
Movie Review: Godzilla vs. Kong
3.5 stars out of 5Of the pandemic-era theatrical releases I’ve attended, Godzilla vs. Kong is the first one that really needs to be seen on a big screen. Too bad, then, that it’s not a better movie. Which is not to say it’s awful. The vaguely intertwined Godzilla and Kong films from 2014 on have […]
Movie Review: Nobody
3 stars out of 5I’m trying to support the open movie theaters. The only problem is, there are no damn movies! So a while back, when I read that Godzilla vs. Kong would be released on March 26, I thought to myself, “There’s something I’d enjoy doing on my second pandemic birthday weekend.” Except it […]
Movie Review: Minari
4 stars out of 5I didn’t even know that determining the sex of baby chicks was a job. But for Jacob and wife Monica, who emigrated from Korea, this is their profession. By the early 80s, they’ve left the more high-stakes chicken sexing hatchery scenes in Seattle and California, and with their young children, relocated […]
Movie Review: Nomadland
4.5 stars out of 5 IMAX on Sunday, or my laptop on Friday? God help me, I love that big screen. And thus warranted my first trip of the pandemic to Paramus. Not quite a nomad, but, it’s a start. I’d heard positive buzz about this movie for months now, and was wondering when I’d […]
My Highly Subjective List of the Best Movies of 2020
A couple of introductory comments this year:• Obviously 2020 was seriously messed up in many, many regards, just one of which was closed movie theaters and rescheduled/re-planned releases. As a result, I only saw 16 new releases either in a theater or via streaming/TV, and did not officially review many of them. Also, I have […]
Jack Silbert, curator