2015 Movie Review

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Flexes The Power Of Escapism (And The Light Side)

Film: Star Wars: The Force Awakens Starring: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Adam Driver Directed By: JJ Abrams I’m not going to sit here and reflect upon the personal relationship I had with the Star Wars franchise as a kid. We grow up, move on, get a job and the magic in life fades a little […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ Fleets Over Scorched Earth

Film: Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Starring: Dylan O’ Brien, Barry Pepper, Kaya Scodelario, Alan Tudyk Directed by: Wes Ball “Another YA movie, another day.” Images ripped from The Hunger Games and Divergent danced around in my head before the seeing the second entry in the Maze Runner series. Authoritarian governments, dystopian or apocalyptic society, […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Sicario’ Plunges You Into The Dour Heart Of A Drug War

Film: Sicario Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro Directed by: Denis Villeneuve In the US and Mexico, the war on drugs rages on. The line between cop and criminal has become blurred in a battle that takes any and all prisoners. The ethical rot brought on by the ever-rising body count pushes people to […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Sleeping With Other People’ Is Romantic Comedy Gold

Film: Sleeping with Other People Starring: Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie Directed by: Leslye Headland Director Leslye Headland burst onto the film scene with her vulgarly hilarious women-being-assholes film, Bachelorette, in 2012. She proved then that she could salvage genuine emotion from the most vapid of characters, no matter how they crossed each other. Or maybe […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Visit’ Is A Tepid Return To Form For Shyamalan

Film: The Visit Starring: Peter McRobbie, Ed Oxenbould, Olivia DeJonge Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan M. Night Shyamalan, purveyor of all things plot twists and bizarre oddities, goes back to the basics with The Visit. The numbing silences of tension that overtake most of his other films take a backseat to blunt dark comedy and […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Blind’ Is A Striking And Haunting Debut

Film: Blind Starring: Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Henrik Rafaelsen, Vera Vitali Directed by: Eskil Vogt The human mind recedes to some dark places when things important to us are taken away abruptly. In Blind, a middle-aged woman from Oslo loses her sight. The power to see is lost and her power to visualize the world she […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Mend’ Is Life, Warts And All

Film: The Mend Starring: Josh Lucas, Stephen Plunkett, Mickey Sumner Directed By: John Magary “You got a hairball, bro!” Mat (Josh Lucas), the hedonistic drifter brother of Alan (Stephen Plunkett), screams at his sibling in the heat of a physical quarrel. They’ve had just about enough of each other. The binge they’ve been on subsides […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Cop Car’ Delights Then Runs Off The Rails

Film: Cop Car Starring: Kevin Bacon, Shea Whigham, Hays Welford, James Freedson-Jackson Directed by: James Watts I fondly look back on all of the dangerous things my brother and I did as a kid, whether it was jumping off the roof of our childhood home onto a trampoline or trespassing on the local cranberry bog. […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Vacation’ Isn’t Worth The Trip Down Holiday Road

Film: Vacation Starring: Ed Helms, Christina Applegate, Chris Hemsworth Directed by: Jonathan M. Goldstein, John Francis Daley Vacation–the successor to the last entry in the National Lampoon comedy series–opens on a series of pictures depicting seemingly idyllic families enjoying their vacations. In ye olde National Lampoon fashion, there are also a few visual gags centered […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Spy’ Will Covertly Send You Into Uncontrollable Laughing Fits

Film: Spy Directed by: Paul Feig Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jason Statham, Rose Byrne Director Paul Feig has been sneaking his way through genres with mixed results. Bridesmaids was a refreshing take on the female buddy comedy. The Heat produced a couple of laughs amidst a backdrop of a ’70s cop comedy. With Spy, Feig develops […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘San Andreas’ Crumbles, Explodes And Dulls

Film: San Andreas Starring: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Carla Gugino, Alexandra Daddario Directed by: Brad Peyton The disaster movie is a sub-genre that works almost solely off of nostalgia. I remember watching The Poseidon Adventure as a kid and was shook in awe by the power of natural forces and how humans may react to […]

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Aloha’ Means Goodbye To Cameron Crowe In Hawaiian

Film: Aloha Starring: Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams Directed by: Cameron Crowe Director Cameron Crowe, the guy who brought us the masterpiece that is Almost Famous, has been on a sharp decline in quality ever since that 2000 effort. Vanilla Sky was an ambiguous mess and Elizabethtown was the most self-indulgent road movie to […]