20s movies
Movie Review: The Beast
3.5 stars out of 5I didn’t know much about The Beast going into this: Léa Seydoux (I’m a fan) time-travels, and keeps meeting the same man. I was hoping — and even told the concessions staffer — that the movie would be more weird than romantic. I think I got what I wanted. Just a […]
Movie Review: Civil War
4 stars out of 5 This film rattled me so much, I fully expected to exit the multiplex and find that civil war had broken out in the Harmon Plaza parking lot. As soon as I had seen the trailer, I knew I wanted to see this movie: U.S. states seceding, government cracking down on […]
Movie Review: The First Omen
4 stars out of 5 The Exorcist came out when I was 4 years old, followed by The Omen when I was 7. These movies seemed to be mentioned quite a lot during my childhood. Sure, I had my little ghost stories and such, but there seemed to be some truly scary stuff out there […]
Movie Review: Problemista
4.5 stars out of 5 I first heard of Julio Torres as an SNL writer, but it was with the series Los Espookys that I truly appreciated his unique, surreal, gentle brand of comic ingenuity. MAX’s penny-pinching new ownership canceled The Spookies after two seasons, but the very bright side is this motion picture written […]
Movie Review: Imaginary
1 star out of 5 I wanted to see a movie to clear my head, and I probably should’ve chosen the Dune sequel, as I’d been waiting for it, and it had been well reviewed, but… it just seemed like too much work. So I rolled the dice with Imaginary. And I crapped out. The […]
Movie Review: Drive-Away Dolls
3.5 stars out of 5 “Does anybody remember laughter?” as Mr. Plant once asked. The comedy film, once a reliable staple of the multiplex, has become nearly extinct. Sure, there are humorous elements in the increasingly crummy Marvel movies, and there are rom-coms but they more rom than com. For those of us who truly […]
Movie Review: Madame Web
3.5 stars out of 5In late December, I saw a confusing trailer for Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson. No interest whatsoever. In late January, however, when Ms. Johnson hosted Saturday Night Live, I learned that her Madame Web character mentors Sydney Sweeney’s character. Total interest; saw the film on opening day. This is one of […]
My Highly Subjective List of the Best Films of 2023
Over the past couple of months I’ve noticed people in pajamas at the movie theater. At first I was annoyed (“People used to dress for Broadway!”), but I suppose whatever gets people to the cinema these days is OK by me. And I dare say that crowds are slowly returning even though A) films are […]
Movie Review: The Iron Claw
2.5 stars out of 5The Von Erichs were heroes to some but didn’t mean shit to me. I was a WWF kid: Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka, Mr. Fuji & Mr. Saito, etc. When I was a bit older there was some second-rate wrestling federation on WTBS; I associate that with Saturday nights, […]
Jack Silbert, curator