I saw the original Star Wars Holiday Special on television. I remember seeing it; I remember as a nine-year-old kid sitting down and enjoying it — being nine years old, my taste in what was good or bad was pretty fluid — and then wondering why it never played again. As I grew older, the …
Movies
Millie doesn’t have a lot going for her. She’s unpopular at school. She’s bullied by other girls as well as her teacher. Her mother is an alcoholic. And as the school mascot, even the football players pick on her. Her only comforts are her friends Nyla and Josh. As if things weren’t bad enough, there’s a serial …
For a character and a comedian whose brands were both built on smashing expectations of not just the permissible but the expected, it’s strange that the second Borat film is exactly what you’d think it would be. Again, taking easy potshots at the conservative America it skewered 15 years ago, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm attempts some …
Vital Thrills recently attended the virtual AFI Q&A for the Netflix adaptation of Rebecca. The thriller stars Lily James, Armie Hammer, and Kristin Scott Thomas and is based on the 1938 novel by Daphne du Maurier. (Check out our review here.) Attending the event were director Ben Wheatley, along with stars Lily James and Armie …
Honest Thief is not honest at all. It sells itself as the latest in the modern line of post-Taken Liam Neeson action vehicles. The ones that trade on his gravitas and high-octane set pieces in lieu of coherent plots or strong dialogue. Honest Thief only has half of that, with a budget and production design …
Adapting a classic with a classic reputation is always tricky. Almost as tricky as a director with a settled style stretching himself into new directions. Both are treacherous, filled with pitfalls and observers eager to point out how the earlier stuff was better. And there’s a lot of risk, too, because there’s a lot of …
Aaron Sorkin is a writer’s writer. That doesn’t mean he routinely writes excellent dialogue (though he often does) or complexly crafted characters (though he sometimes does) or even that his work is accoladed or influential to other writers (though some of it is). It means he does what all writers do, only more so. Sorkin …
Mulan was a film that so many of us were waiting to see back when it was supposed to debut in March. The premiere was held right before the shutdown. Then, it was put off because of the global health crisis. With things being so dicey in terms of theaters, Disney decided to release it …
It is perhaps fitting that, like the rest of us right now living through (gesticulating wildly) All This, Bill S. Preston, Esquire (Alex Winter), and Ted “Theodore” Logan (Keanu Reeves) in Bill and Ted Face the Music are pining for simpler, happier times. After all, their greatest moments were 25 years ago, when they saw …
More than 19 years since the second installment debuted in theaters, Bill Preston (Alex Winter) and Ted Logan (Keanu Reeves) are finally back! Bill & Ted Face the Music will be available On Demand (pre-order at Amazon) and in select theaters on August 28. The movie also stars Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Kid Cudi, Kristen …