Tag: Family

  • The Irishman

    The Irishman

    Christmas movies are overrated. Why not spend the holidays with a film full of sociopaths instead? That was Netflix’s gamble when they released Martin Scorsese’s latest offering on their streaming platform in December. According to them, 26 million people have streamed the movie to date. Clearly, the gamble paid off. Scorsese has made a lot…

  • Traverse City Film Festival 2019: Top Films

    Traverse City Film Festival 2019: Top Films

    After a leave of absence of reviews from last year’s Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) even though I was there, I return with short reviews of the most impressive films that I saw this year. I have only reviewed films that are scheduled for distribution now or later this year. So rather than write about…

  • A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich

    A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich

    Politicians, journalists and experts rarely agree, but they have all named the current opioid situation a plague. It’s an appropriate word, with historical and biblical connotations; in every generation, our country has been marred by the misapplication of drugs. Morphine after the Civil War, opium in the late 1800s, cocaine in the 1900s, amphetamines in…

  • Hereditary

    Hereditary

    Despite the billing it has received, Hereditary is not primarily a horror film. Yes, it continues A24’s unsettling run of hybrid horror successes, along with The Witch and It Comes At Night. And yes, it is the scariest, most unsettling movie to hit theaters in years. But at the heart of Hereditary’s blackened soul lies…

  • Disobedience

    Disobedience

    The death of one’s last remaining parent can be impactful beyond one’s expectations. For most of us, it signals the end of the generation from which we learned who we were and that gave us our initial values. Some of us cling to those values without exception but most of us in our teens (Erik…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Coco

    Coco

    Pixar’s latest is a masterpiece of animation and storytelling with it’s characteristic warmth and humor wrapped in a no-cliches, culturally-specific narrative. The story takes place in Mexico, features an all-Latino cast, fluidly switches between Spanish and English, and introduces cultural elements that will be unfamiliar to white audiences — often with no narrative explanation. In…

  • The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

    The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

    Holiday movies are often based around the importance of family and the simple truth that family is often more dysfunctional than we’d like. Consider A Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life and the discontent drawn from family relationships therein. Or if you prefer, look no further than a more modern offering such as Christmas…

  • Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

    Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

    I’ve never been a big fan of the term, “guilty pleasure,” especially because of its use in popular culture. Obviously, it implies the presence of guilt when enjoying something — movies, music, food etc. But aside from legal and moral codes, should anyone have to feel guilty about liking something? Most examples include your one…