Joaquin Phoenix
Movie Review: Beau Is Afraid
4 stars out of 5I described Ari Aster’s 2018 film Hereditary as “seriously f’ed.” And in 2019, I said his film Midsommar was “100% f’ed up.” But not until writing this review did I realize that those two movies and new release Beau Is Afraid (pretty messed up in its own right) were written and […]
Movie Review: Joker
3 stars out of 5 Joker is not your daddy’s superhero movie. It’s a gritty, artsy, psychological exploration for people who wouldn’t know a gritty, artsy, psychological exploration if it bit them on the ass. I served with Marty Scorsese. I knew Marty Scorsese. Marty Scorsese was a friend of mine. Todd Phillips, you’re no […]
Movie Review: Irrational Man
4 stars out of 5 Every time Woody Allen makes a movie, I go see that movie, and I tend to enjoy them. If that makes me an irrational man in your eyes, so be it. This time around, I was really impressed that, despite the comforting presence of many Allen touchstones, he was still […]
Movie Review: Inherent Vice
3.5 stars out of 5 Twenty years ago, maybe a little more, I picked up a used copy of V. by Thomas Pynchon. I tried to read it, I really did. I like to see things through, you know? But it was really tough going; hard to understand. At some point, I put the bookmark […]
Movie Review: Her
3.5 stars out of 5 Spoiler alert: She ends up cheating on Joaquin Phoenix with the guy from the Amazon Kindle commercials. She is her, the artificial-intelligence-enhanced operating system in the latest offering from Spike Jonze. It’s his first film for adults since Adaptation way back in 2002, and his first directorial effort since slumming […]
Movie Review: The Master
4 stars out of 5 In less capable hands, this could’ve been The All-New Odd Couple. “He’s Lancaster Dodd, charismatic buttoned-down charlatan! He’s Freddie Quell, drunken aimless rageaholic! It’s id vs. ego in a hilarious battle to the finish! Can these two take a cross-country trip without driving each other crazy?!?” Luckily, writer/director Paul Thomas […]
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