Movie Reviews – Page 4

Review – Isle of Dogs

Posted on August 20, 2018February 18, 2019 by Adam

There are very few directors I trust enough to risk buying a movie I have not seen. Wes Anderson is one of those directors. Isle of Dogs was on sale for $10 bucks on Amazon recently. I clicked that Purchase button without even thinking. It's not Wes Anderson's best movie. But who expected it to be? I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and will undoubtedly watch this movie a few mor...

Review – Last Flag Flying

Posted on June 10, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

"Pain is pain." The context of this line is what makes it great. It's so short and simple, and yet it's the main theme of this movie. It's the kind of line that makes this such a Linklater film. Sometimes his dialogue tends to have glaring cliches. But within those cliches lie flashes of brilliance. It's what makes him such an intriguing filmmaker. He shows he has the potential...

Review – Avengers: Infinity War

Posted on April 28, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

It’s hard not to be wowed by this movie. It was made to be a spectacle. The action set pieces, the special effects, the star power. It’s all epic. Which makes it difficult to assess. You have to step back from it a little bit, let those warm fuzzies you get (from watching a big movie in a big theater) dissipate. This is, famously, the culmination of the past 10 years of Mar...

Review – mother!

Posted on February 26, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

Dare I say it? This is a movie about…everything. About life, and death; creation and the apocalypse. About our world, and the destruction of nature as a result of humanity’s greed. It’s about inspiration, and God, and obsession, and art, and the darkness and goodness of humanity. It’s about war. It’s about healing. It’s about the possibility of burning everything ...

Review – Annihilation

Posted on February 24, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

I haven't figured this movie out yet. And that's both a good and bad thing. It's good because sometimes we need to be surprised, and baffled, and dumbfounded, and confused. That's what keeps us interested. That's what sparks our own creativity. It's what makes us keep coming back for more. It's what prolongs the movie-going experience. I'm still thinking about Ann...

Review – The Florida Project

Posted on February 17, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

Half way through the movie I got up to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The film transports you back to childhood, when everything was bright and colorful, when there was nothing to worry about, when you could scream at the top of your lungs as you got into mischief with your friends. I was so transported to that time, in fact, that I stopped to enhance my nostalgia...

Carol, and The Company That Made It

Posted on February 7, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

A review of the 2015 film Carol, and the unexpected cultural impact it has on cinema. They’re right there, emerging from the darkness, before the movie even has a chance to explain itself. Those big three letters: TWC. I can’t help but notice the big TWC letters at the beginning of many recent films I’ve been catching up on. The (now disgraced) Weinstein Compa...

Review – Phantom Thread

Posted on February 4, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

I think this might be brilliant. After finishing it, all I could do was think back over the course of the entire movie, picking it apart in my mind, trying to remember why something happened, or what something looked like, or how something sounded, what something might have tasted like. I feel like I not only HAVE to see this movie again, but I WANT to see it agai...

Review – Hell or High Water

Posted on January 23, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

Was it worth it? That feels like the question each character in Hell or High Water has to grapple with. For Toby (Chris Pine), is this robbery spree worth risking his livelihood? For Marcus (Jeff Bridges), has his career in law enforcement been worth it? Will his life AFTER law enforcement be worth living? Amidst the car chases and stick ‘em ups, there are deeper questions ...

Review – Mudbound

Posted on January 20, 2018October 17, 2018 by Adam

Wow, I was not expecting that. Maybe the fact that it was a Netflix movie made me think it would be something different. But what a hard-hitting, emotionally affecting film. I was really impressed with the execution here. We hop from intimate moment to intimate moment, somehow effortlessly. It helps to paint a picture that is both micro and macro at the same time, exploring...