I’m a fan of Bob’s Burgers. It took a while for it to hit me, but when it did, I dived in with a cannonball. It’s the music that did it – there are so many songs in the show that it’s difficult to keep track of them all. Creator Loren Bouchard seems to live …
Alan Cerny
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is Too Much, Too Little. For all the bombast and activity in this movie, the film feels strangely empty, a story in search of thematic meaning and spiritual resonance. This movie isn’t really about anything, while the first one, though smaller in scale, has more on its mind. …
In a world of superheroes, cinematic universes, sequels, prequels, sidequels, and reboots, Nicolas Cage is his own intellectual property. Constantly working, making an on-the-cheap genre film one month and a sensitive actor showcase the next, one cannot say that Cage hasn’t kept it interesting these 40 years since he burst on the film scene. He’s …
Critics (and I’ve been guilty of this myself) historically dismiss Michael Bay movies. The humor is lowbrow, the noise is cacophonic, the editing feels like the film reels (when they were shot on film) are being sliced up with a razor like a pile of cocaine on Scarface’s desk, and there are more explosions than …
I don’t normally write my reviews with too much personal reflection; I tend to talk about a film’s emotional resonance, whether the filmmakers succeed in their intentions, or if they fall short. I’ll get into a bit of plot synopsis, and I normally wrap it up with examinations of the performances and the film’s overall …
Matt Reeves’ The Batman is bold, operatic, and swings for the fences. It is huge in scope and goes as big as it needs to be to tell its story. This is not a subtle film, nor does it want to be. Reeves directs this film like it will be his one and only chance …
As one does not simply walk into Mordor, one does not simply review Jackass Forever without context. These movies and television shows are the definition of “Not for everyone.” If there’s any story arc that links these films, it’s all that has happened offscreen. One of the members has passed away. Another was involved with …
So what, exactly, is The Matrix Resurrections? Is it a reboot, a remake, or a sequel? Well, it’s all three. After almost twenty years, we get both a progression of the story from The Matrix Revolutions and a new beginning of sorts, where everything gets wiped clean. It’s both a continuation and a commentary – …
Like a fly in amber or one of the doomed creatures in the formaldehyde jars in Clem’s (Willem Dafoe) cabinet of curiosities, the sepia tones of Nightmare Alley force us to examine, dispassionately, the destruction of a man. Like the original 1947 film, we watch the spiritual and moral decay spread across the face of …
West Side Story is spectacular. Steven Spielberg’s long-awaited musical is one of his finest films, and with a career like Spielberg’s, that is saying something. It all feels so effortless – the dazzling dance sequences, the passionate vocal performances from the actors, the marvelous camerawork from Janusz Kaminski, and through it all, you can feel …