MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE FINAL RECKONING feels just a little too long, but that’s okay. It’s as though all involved were not quite ready to say goodbye in what may or may not be the last foray by Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt. To be honest, neither are we, and by we, of course, I mean… Read More »
SOUL
Pixar’s SOUL is as slyly unpredictable as it is playfully brilliant. Nothing less than a deconstruction of what life means, it is both raucous and Zen as it tells the story of a jazz musician who is not ready for the Great Beyond, thereby becoming a perfect koan, and possibly the best movie of the… Read More »
BLACK PANTHER
BLACK PANTHER is the standard by which all other superhero movies this year will be measured. Maybe this decade. Showcasing the expected show-stopping special effects, a rich mythology from the Marvel comic on which it is based, and plenty of rousing action that is both imaginative (weaponized rhinoceroses) and genuinely suspenseful, it gets the most… Read More »
LONDON HAS FALLEN
Full disclosure, I was not a fan of OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN, the previous film exploring the victim/savior relationship between President Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) and crack Secret Service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler). Thus, I was not hoping for much when I approached LONDON HAS FALLEN. The trick to staying sane in this business is… Read More »
MR 3000
There is something undeniably heartening about being pleasantly surprised by a film, especially when was feeling particularly dubious going in. Thus it is with MR 3000, a sweet and funny film that avoids being saccharine, stupid, or over-burdened with schtick. This isnt to say that what we have here is a classic, but its far… Read More »
MEET THE ROBINSONS — DVD
MEET THE ROBINSONS is a whiz-bang terrific flight of fancy that is a paean to both the creative impulse that drives inventors, and the boundless optimism that keeps them going in the face of long odds and the skepticism of their less imaginative fellow creatures. Thinking so far outside the box that its very existence… Read More »