10s movies
Movie Review: Father Mother Sister Brother
3.5 stars out of 5 I was initially disappointed learning that this wasn’t a feature length exploration of Richie Cunningham’s fake fraternity, Mama Papa Sister. But I was even more disappointed to discover that this is Jim Jarmusch’s most boring film by a long shot. Now, I love Jim Jarmusch, going back to his 1980s […]
Movie Review: Blue Moon
4 stars out of 5 That I went to see Blue Moon in the theater shows two things: One, that I trust Richard Linklater as a filmmaker and two, that I’ve come a long way in my reappreciation of Ethan Hawke. (It was Linklater’s 2014 opus Boyhood which in fact ended my quarter-century Hawke boycott.) […]
Movie Review: The Conjuring — Last Rites
3.5 stars out of 5If you’re keeping score: First I watched The Conjuring, The Conjuring 2, Annabelle Comes Home, and Annabelle: Creation on cable. In 2021, I went to the theater to see The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. Since then on cable I’ve watched Annabelle and The Nun. I returned to the […]
Movie Review: Caught Stealing
3 stars out of 5 I’ve seen Caught Stealing, once, when I was 55. Whoops I mean 56. Hi Darren Aronofsky. Big fan. Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, The Wrestler, Mother!: awesome. The Whale, Noah: pretty good. The Fountain was incomprehensible garbage but, hey, you tried. Caught Stealing is… average. Innocent likable guy gets […]
Movie Review: Eddington
3.5 stars out of 5Dear Ari Aster: I promise I’ll attend your next movie while remembering that it is written and directed by you, the same guy who made Hereditary, Midsommar, and Beau Is Afraid, all of which I liked. Hey, it’s partially your fault for putting your credit at the end, and for making […]
Movie Review: Jurassic World—Rebirth
4 stars out of 5 Hot take: Jurassic World is more entertaining than Superman. There, I said it. I chalk it up to filmmakers who really know what they’re doing. Director Gareth Edwards earned his sci-fi stripes with 2014’s Godzilla and Rogue One. And writer David Koepp not only did the screenplay for the original […]
Movie Review: Superman
3.5 stars out of 5If you’re looking for a really well-made, well-performed film, this is not so super. But if you are a 12-year-old boy, or in charge of some 12-year-olds on a humid or rainy day, you could do a lot worse than seeing Superman. I will say, this is a better movie than […]
Movie Review: Mission Impossible—Final Reckoning
3.5 stars out of 5Well, it’s the final Mission: Impossible, I reckon — until they decide to reboot the series in two years with an extended cameo from Tom Cruise as Jim Phelps. Or it’s a prequel reboot streaming show focusing on Phelps’ early days, to air on Amazon Prime. Principal photography will likely begin […]
Movie Review: The Shrouds
4 stars out of 5In 2022, I gave a positive review to Crimes of the Future, written and directed by the then-79-year-old David Cronenberg. Showing that the apple doesn’t fall far from the fucked-up tree, I gave an equally positive review to 43-year-old son Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool. Ah, but the senior Croney wasn’t quite […]
Movie Review: The Friend
3.5 stars out of 5I’ll tell you what the ads won’t: Bill Murray is barely in this movie. His presence is in the movie, but the physical Bill — not so much. So if he’s your only reason for seeing it… don’t. For everyone else, this is a solid, slow-paced, grown-up movie about grief, loneliness, […]
Jack Silbert, curator