Category: Review

  • Take a Giant Step

    Take a Giant Step

    “The truth is the truth and should be spoken at all times,” proclaims Grandma Martin (Estelle Hemsley), from the top of a stairwell, no less. It’s a bold mandate, especially arriving near the beginning, even for a script that boldly chooses some volatile subjects. But Hemsley, who also starred in the Broadway production of the…

  • Deadpool 2

    Deadpool 2

    Deadpool returns in this sequel that promises to be more emotional than Wolverine’s outing in Logan last year. Is Deadpool the hero that we need or deserve right now, though? I admit, I was very nervous walking into Deadpool 2. The character is controversial, and for good reason. One moment he is legitimately funny and…

  • Avengers: Infinity War

    Avengers: Infinity War

    In 2008, Marvel Studios took the gamble of the century. They released Iron Man, featuring a virtually unknown character outside the comic book world and starring an actor with a checkered past and little box office success in Robert Downey Jr. Raising the stakes even higher, prior to the release of Iron Man, Marvel committed…

  • You Were Never Really Here

    You Were Never Really Here

    One of the hardest things to do in a movie theater in 2018 is to surprise. With bloodthirsty marketing campaigns and relentless internet sleuths, any promising movie twist is usually dead in the water months before it hits the silver screen. The rare exception comes in the form of the occasional indie hit or maybe…

  • 6 Balloons

    6 Balloons

    In these times, hardly a family is untouched in some way by the opiate epidemic. As leaders of our church’s youth group, when my wife and I told the teens they could come to us with any issues — even when older and no longer a “youth” — little did we realize we would be…

  • Isle of Dogs

    Isle of Dogs

    “Whatever happened to man’s best friend?” a host of characters woefully opine in Part I of Isle of Dogs. Deprived of context, it’s a funny bit of dialogue, but within the confines of its script, no one would mistake it for comedy. And so it is with Wes Anderson’s latest oddball entry into the film…

  • Ready Player One

    Ready Player One

    We know what you’re thinking. Another Spielberg podcast? Really? Yes, two episodes after The Post we’re back for another discussion on the legendary filmmaker. But his latest outing couldn’t be more different. Ready Player One, based on the novel by the same name, takes place in the year 2045. The world has devolved into a cramped, dirty…

  • Red Sparrow

    Red Sparrow

    Who does not like a good spy story? The Bourne and Bond series (philosophically discussed on this website here), Bridge of Spies, Munich, The Manchurian Candidate (1962 version of course), the Jack Ryan films, the Mission: Impossible films (one is here), and my personal hidden gem that few have seen Farewell. Then there are the…

  • A Quiet Place

    A Quiet Place

    A young family faces the horrors of an unearthly enemy where even the smallest sound means a gruesome death. Actor/director John Krasinski (yes, it’s a bearded Jim from The Office) stars with Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins forthcoming) in a tight, intense thriller that’s equal parts monster movie and interpersonal drama. You don’t have to strain…

  • Mute

    Mute

    When I stumbled across Mute on Netflix, I was fairly excited. Duncan Jones, the man who brought us Moon and Source Code, directed it. Surely it would be an excellent sci-fi noir piece…Right? Silence vs. Loudness Mute centers around an Amish man named Leo (Alexander Skarsgård) who had a terrible accident when he was young…