September 2019

DreamWorks continues the late-September tradition of lackluster animated films with Abominable. While it leads the weekend, it fails to take in anything close to its budget. Downton Abbey, on the other hand, continues to rake in profits with …

If there is any nation on this earth that is truly overdue for awards attention due to their amazing output of quality cinema, it is South Korea. Shockingly, South Korea has never had a film …

I’ve had my eye on Ad Astra for some time now. Brad Pitt has a way of teaming up with very thoughtful and fairly singular filmmakers that always gets me excited. That’s not to say …

The Shawshank Redemption turns 25 this week. Other than the current age of its actors, the film doesn’t show its age. I had the opportunity to revisit it on the big screen for its quarter-century anniversary. …

John Rambo has been a prime example of the muscle-bound eighties action hero for many years, even though the roots of the character were literary and his first on-screen outing had none of the typical …

Focus Features made history with the release of Downton Abbey this weekend which went on to earn approximately $31 million, which became the studio’s largest opening in history — and impressive feat for a well-entrenched …

A teacher engaging in a sexual/romantic relationship with his/her sixteen-year-old student is a subject fraught with a moral quandary — besides the fact that it’s illegal, of course. A fundamental societal norm has been broken: …

I’m a Downton Abbey fan, and I’m not ashamed to say it. Period dramas are rarely my cup of tea, but this show is a prime example of how to make an entertaining one. It …

2017’s It remains one of the most surprising smash hits of the decade. People went nuts over it, and it started another round of Stephen King adaptations in Hollywood. Two years later, we’re back in …

Truth time: It Chapter Two failed me. It (2017) remains one of the biggest surprises and smash-hits of its respective year. I loved it so much that I saw it multiple times in theaters. The …

Sometimes, the Academy of Arts and Sciences leaves you saying, “wait, you chose that as the Best Picture winner?”  People have said this phrase quite a bit over the years, and there’s no doubting that the Academy …

It Chapter Two continues to sink its teeth into the box office with an impressive $40 million second week. It‘s lead isn’t tremendous, however, as Hustlers opens to an unexpectedly high $33 million haul. The …

I’m a huge Stephen King fan so I was quite satisfied with It Chapter Two, despite its numerous flaws. (With all respect to the film magazine, Empire, its five-star rating of the film is quite …

Maybe it’s ignorance or unbridled optimism for things to be different, but it still surprises me any time Hollywood creates another unnecessary sequel. This surprise comes at the hands of a well-received and successful film …

It’s been a while since I last watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009), but I genuinely don’t remember it being as funny as it is. I rewatched it today thinking that I would have to …

ABC’s 1990 It miniseries was the first adaption of Stephen King’s classic novel of the same name and has since become an enduring cult classic. The miniseries put a face to the horrific Pennywise the …

Many of the most high-profile movies of August — Hobbs and Shaw, Good Boys, The Angry Birds 2, and even Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark — were mired in mediocrity, doing a few …

It Chapter Two proves that Pennywise still has some spooks left in him. The sequel to 2017’s biggest runaway horror hit, is back, albeit with somewhat smaller returns. As a result, Angel Has Fallen has finally fallen from …

I’m one of the few moviegoers out there who was actually looking forward to seeing Fred Durst stalker-thriller/wacky John Travolta vehicle, The Fanatic. The fact that it’s already hailed as both a critical and financial …

As the calendar turns to September, the best time of the year in movies begins! Prestigious movies from our best filmmakers begin playing at festivals such as Telluride, TIFF, Venice, and others, while many other …

After Hobbs and Shaw — the cinematic equivalent of an eight-year-old boy smashing toxically buff action figures together for two hours — opened in theaters, the rest of August was full of intriguing projects, many …

Tommy Lee Jones put it best (as Agent Kay) when he said that “People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.“. While being a fan of a particular franchise or series is fun, …

White Heat (1949) rolled out of Warner Bros at an interesting time for Hollywood and its genre circus. It came long after the heyday of the studios’ rise and fall of gangster pictures in the …

Movies love to pad their casts with as many A-listers (and just actors in general) as possible. Just look at Avengers: Endgame (2019), for heaven’s sake. I’m pretty sure 3/4 of the budget was spent on …

It’s never a good sign when a movie shifts release dates multiple times. That was the case for Where’d You Go, Bernadette, the latest film from acclaimed director Richard Linklater. After an initial release scheduled for …

Labor Day Weekend is always a sleepy time at the box office. As the summer closes out, studios are reluctant to release anything but duds. So, there really isn’t much to talk about in regards …

Walking out of the theater in 2013, after watching Olympus Has Fallen, I couldn’t imagine thinking about that movie again. Or that I’d be sitting in a theater six years later for the third installment …