AMONGST THE ASHES– 4 STARS When the camera introduces us to the two men that will occupy Matthew Weinstein’s short film Amongst the Ashes, we don’t know quite what to make of them. The first
JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION– 2 STARS Maybe it’s the school teacher day job filling my mind, but Jurassic World Dominion comes across like those brown rolls of school-issued paper towels. Do you remember them? Some rambunctious
LIGHTYEAR– 4 STARS There is a tremendous dichotomy of thought and talk amid Pixar’s Lightyear. Within the movie, we are granted a dramatic hero truer than the memorable action figure caricature we have come to
SPIDERHEAD– 2 STARS LESSON #1: THE TURN ON OR TURN OFF OF MOOD CONFUSION– In both keen and ineffective ways, mood confusion is the slant of choice for Joseph Kosinski’s Spiderhead opening on Netflix this
GOOD LUCK TO YOU, LEO GRANDE— 5 STARS Playing like an intimate single-set stage production, Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is built on the comfort and discomfort that come from conversation. The romantic circumstances
ELVIS– 3 STARS LESSON #1: WHO WAS ELVIS PRESLEY?— With the rhinestone-adorned arrival of Baz Luhrmann’s biopic Elvis, one may ask how relevant or revered is “The King” nearly a half-century after his death at
PRESS PLAY–4 STARS LESSON #1: WHICH SONGS TAKE YOU BACK?— The phenomenon of memories evoked by songs is irresistible. It only takes a few chords or notes. Be it Rick Blaine in Casablanca, Rob Gordon
THE FORGIVEN– 2 STARS Pedigree meets purpose with The Forgiven, the newest film from notable director John Michael McDonagh. Throughout his career, the Englishman has switched back-and-forth with a specialty for embedding foreboding darkness within
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON– 5 STARS Don’t let the rudimentary aesthetic of Marcel the Shell With Shoes On cause you to overlook the ever-wide possibilities that come from simplicity. Plenty will look upon
THE PRINCESS– 1 STAR LESSON #1: SOME ACTORS CAN’T PLAY IN PERIOD OR COSTUME PIECES– Simply put, some performers cannot convincingly play characters in period or costume pieces. They always stick out like a sore