Short Term 12 Is Still A Masterpiece

Short Term 12 remains one of the best films of 2013 and it was wrongfully snubbed of Oscar nominations, especially Brie Larson’s performance. I was late to watching Short Term 12 because the indie film was too small to open in my hometown. Despite winning major audience and jury awards at SXSW in 2013, it didn’t do much business at the box office. The film opened with a platform release, expanding to 75 theaters at…

"Short Term 12 Is Still A Masterpiece"

Haunted Mansion Is Mostly Forgettable

Haunted Mansion is the newest film to adapt a Disney ride for the big screen but this comedy is too long and fails to deliver the laughs. After having so much fun watching Jungle Cruise in 2001, it pains me to see that the fun is missing in their newest attempt to bring a theme park attraction to the big screen. There’s no reason that this film needed to be over two hours long. Rather…

"Haunted Mansion Is Mostly Forgettable"

The Harder They Fall Helps Right A Wrong

The Western has been making something of a comeback over the years and The Harder They Fall shows that the genre is far from dead. The gist of the film is that an outlaw, Nat Love aka “Deadwood Dick” (Jonathan Majors), learns that legendary outlaw Rufus Buck (Idris Elba) is being released from prison. As such, Nat gets his old gang together to get his revenge against his enemy. Nat’s gang includes Stagecoach Mary (Zazie…

"The Harder They Fall Helps Right A Wrong"

Knives Out: Bring Home The Best Film of 2019

Knives Out, the Solzy Award-winning film of the year, is now available for audiences to bring home on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and Digital. Crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is discovered dead on the morning after his 85th birthday party.  We don’t know whether he was killed or whether he did the deed himself.  What we do know is that members of the Thrombey family are being questioned by Lt. Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield) and…

"Knives Out: Bring Home The Best Film of 2019"

Toronto 2019: Uncut Gems

Saturday Night Live veteran comedian Adam Sandler delivers an Oscar-worthy performance in recently premiered crime thriller Uncut Gems. Every now and then, we get a phenomenal performance from Adam Sandler.  Punch-Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, Funny People, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), and Uncut Gems feature such performances.  We get a career-best in the film.  It helps that he’s able to get out of his comfort zone.  He’s not in a film being written…

"Toronto 2019: Uncut Gems"

Toronto 2019: Knives Out

Knives Out may be a murder mystery comedy but no stone goes unturned in what is certainly one of the best laugh riots in 2019. Crime novelist Harlan Thrombey (Christopher Plummer) is discovered dead on the morning after his 85th birthday party.  We don’t know whether he was killed or whether he did the deed himself.  What we do know is that members of the Thrombey family are being questioned by Lt. Elliott (LaKeith Stanfield)…

"Toronto 2019: Knives Out"

Sorry To Bother You is Wild and Bonkers

Boots Riley’s Sorry To Bother You, one of the most buzzed about films at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, is one of the best feature debuts during the fest. The star-studded cast of Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Armie Hammer, Terry Crews, Steven Yeun, Omari Hardwick, Jermaine Fowler, and Danny Glover was one of the few films that showcased diversity with POC in leading roles.  Much in the same vein as last year’s hit film, Get Out, Sorry…

"Sorry To Bother You is Wild and Bonkers"

Izzy Gets the F Across Town is messy

Izzy Gets the F Across Town may mean well but the small indie comedy tends to be a bit of a mess. Mackenzie Davis does her best to carry the film in the titular role of Izzy but it’s not enough to keep the film going.  Given where she is at the start of the film, it’s as if the film is the indie version of the classic comedy, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.  We go from…

"Izzy Gets the F Across Town is messy"

Get Out is a Psychological Thriller, not a Comedy

Get Out, written and directed by Jordan Peele, is not a comedy but a psychological thriller that–if anything–delves into satirical territory. The whatever-genre-film-it-is stars Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Lakeith Stanfield and Catherine Keener.  The film kicked off a hell of a year for Caleb Landry Jones, who can also be seen in American Made; The Florida Project; Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; and a few episodes of Twin…

"Get Out is a Psychological Thriller, not a Comedy"

Crown Heights: Colin Warner’s Fight For Freedom

Crown Heights tells the true story of Colin Warner and the road he underwent to get his freedom after being wrongfully convicted of murder. Written and directed by Matt Ruskin, the biopic stars Lakeith Stanfield, Nnamdi Asomugha, Natalie Paul, Amari Cheatom, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Nestor Carbonell, Zach Grenier, Josh Pais, Yul Vazquez, Ron Canada, with Bill Camp. It’s 1980 when Marvin Grant gets gunned down in Flatbush, Brooklyn.  The only witness that the police are…

"Crown Heights: Colin Warner’s Fight For Freedom"