Director Stephen Chbosky broke through with 2012’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, followed by powerful family film (and box office and awards hit) “Wonder”. His adaptation of Broadway musical “Dear Evan Hansen” was met with mostly negative reviews. I was a little kinder to it than most critics, but the third act is very […]
I was most intrigued to see “Old Guy” because of the cast. Two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz stars as Danny, an aging hitman with a recently injured right hand, who is reluctantly training Wihlborg (played by Cooper Hoffman, fantastic in “Licorice Pizza” and “Saturday Night”). Danny’s longtime friend Anata (Lucy Liu) is also in the […]
“Ex-Husbands” is a mildly pleasant and occasionally charming dramedy that works more often than it doesn’t. Much of the credit goes to star Griffin Dunne, who keeps you engaged, delivering a great performance as Peter. He’s a dentist in the midst of separating from his wife, and his dad (who divorced his longtime wife at […]
“Red One” is a holiday sci-fi action comedy, though I don’t particularly think it’s funny… though I don’t particularly think that’s a problem with the movie. This is Amazon-MGM’s big, $250 million holiday extravaganza starring Dwayne Johnson as Cal, the bodyguard and assistant to Santa Claus (“Red”), played by J.K. Simmons. He’s definitely jacked. They […]
“Skincare” is set in Los Angeles in 2013 and stars Elizabeth Banks as longtime esthetician Hope Goldman — a very interesting character. One of my favorite aspects of the film is the introduction of how we get to know Hope. She’s a dynamic, multi-layered woman who’s about to finally launch her own skincare line. One […]
The French film “Driving Madeleine” is primarily about two characters. Madeleine is 92 years old. She gets into a taxi cab with a driver named Charles, who’s 46 — exactly half her age. They go through Paris and must get from one place to another, and we soon realize there are going to be a […]
Rev up your engines for “Ferrari”. Adam Driver gives a confident performance as legendary racer turned car maker Enzo Ferrari… once this movie gets away from its kind of soap opera-y, dreary, interpersonal squabbles and conflicts heavy first half. It shifts into a second half with some pretty good car racing scenes from the 1957 […]
Marvel legend Stan Lee lived to the age of 96. He created some of the most iconic comic book (turned big screen) characters of all-time. He appeared in many of the movies. And he was the face of the entertainment company for most of his life. Stan Lee is one of the most well-known media […]
When I first heard about “80 For Brady”, one thought crossed my mind (along with, as a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan, why would anyone want to make a movie about Tom Brady?): Is this concept based on a true story? And I learned the answer is Yes – sort of. Five Massachusetts women of a […]
It was Saturday March 14th, 2020. The world had shut down the day before. I was looking for something to do at home, so I watched “Stargirl”, which had dropped on Disney+ the day before. The feature film adaptation of the popular 2000 novel by Jerry Spinelli starred “America’s Got Talent” winner Grace VanderWaal in […]