movie reviews
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 […]
Movie Review: News of the World
4 stars out of 5Movie theaters reopened in New Jersey, at limited capacity, on September 4. Since then I’ve seen three films at my local cinema here in Hoboken: On the Rocks, Let Him Go, and Mank (which, unfortunately, turned out not to be a biopic of my long-ago crush Krys Mankowski). But a couple […]
Movie Review: Shorts 6 — It Hurts to Laugh (comedy; Chicago International Film Festival)
Blocks (USA) 3 stars out of 5 Not affiliated with the Lego Movie series, but the popular connecting blocks do play a role here. We have a stressed-out mom and something strange starts happening. It’s basically one joke, but likable enough. Play Schengen 2.5 stars out of 5 Cute and timely concept — gamers pitching […]
Movie Review: On the Rocks
4 stars out of 5A bunch of people seemed surprised that I went to a movie theater. They’re perhaps forgetting that for the overwhelming majority of films I go to see, the attendance has always been well under 25% capacity. Regardless, going to the movies was one of the main things I’ve missed during the […]
Movie Review: Uncle Peckerhead
4 stars out of 5A lot was different when I saw Matthew John Lawrence’s first feature, Two Pints Lighter, back in 2013: no pandemic, the president wasn’t a corrupt fascist moron, I had feet, the writer/director billed himself simply as Matt Lawrence, etc. But, upon watching his newly-released second feature, Uncle Peckerhead, it’s clear that […]
Movie Review: VHYes
4 stars out of 5In the grand tradition of The Kentucky Fried Movie, SCTV, and Too Many Cooks comes… VHYes. This anthology of 80s pop-culture spoofs is the feature-length debut from director/co-writer Jack Henry Robbins. Two of the executive producers, who also appear in the movie, are Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, coincidentally the parents […]
Jack Silbert, curator