Well folks, it took about a year and a few months but your amateur film reviewer finally got his ass back in those comfy, warm theater seats! As everyone is very much aware, the last year hasn’t been easy for anyone (except probably The Rich) but if there’s one thing I’m happy to see survive this pandemic, it was movie theaters. To my disappointment and to probably the joys of other people in that theater, I didn’t have a visible emotional breakdown as I walked back into the dark cove that would soon bring me back to my rightful home…
Two Zack Snyder movies in one year? I don’t know who wished for that but that’s what the year, 2021, offers the filmgoing public. Stepping away from his cinematic retribution that was the new and slightly, slightly improved JUSTICE LEAGUE, Snyder takes a victory lap in the genre that put him on the map: the zombie film. …
One of the more pleasant surprises of the past couple of years in the film industry is the emergence of Sony Pictures Animation Studio as a legitimate contributor to the genre. In my eyes beginning with the fast-paced and energetic imagining of CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, Sony found their pupils in the winning duo of Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, who have turned everything they touch (whether that be the hilarious 21 JUMP STREET franchise or the wonderfully animated SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE) into gold. Unsurprisingly, the duo’s next film that they acted as producers on, THE MITCHELLS…
On a faraway planet called Ygam, a world that defies human logic in its own unique alien way, a rebellion brews. The dominant species, the tall, intelligent and at times emotionally cold Draags find themselves at a crossroads with their recent imports: the miniscule yet ferocious Oms, a long descended species of humans from a long ago decimated Earth who now act as the Draag’s pets and toil away at the bottom of the food chain on Ygam. …
Ah MORTAL KOMBAT (2021)…you had me for a moment. You really, truly did but honestly that’s on me for once more falling under the spell of a movie trailer. Whereas that showcased legitimately awesome displays of fantastical and brutal hand-to-hand combat between electric gods, icy/hot demons, and dudes with bladed hats, the actual result of director Simon McQuoid’s feature film debut is about as exciting as one of those typing computer games. Actually, maybe a little less so.
For a film based off a popular fighting video game series that has somehow made it from the 90’s all the way…
The relationship between alcohol and mankind has always been a little complicated. Caught between that energetic burst of “liquid courage” it can offer and the sloppy, unabashed embarrassment it usually serves, a person’s relationship to alcohol can range from love to hate to even obsession and addiction. It’s a constant uneasy relationship that varies from continent to continent, country to country, and family to family that director/writer Thomas Vinterberg brings to life in his bittersweet ode to companionship nurtured and battered by booze.
Set in the beautiful country of Denmark, where the national drinking age is 18 and the idea…
Alright, another cops and robbers movie! And directed by John Hillcoat, the relatively consistent Aussie director responsible for unique genre entries like THE PROPOSITION and THE ROAD? And a truly stacked cast that features the likes of a Russian Kate Winslet, a jacked Chiwetel Ejiofor, and uhh Casey Affleck putting on a southern drawl? This should be great, right?
Not quite. TRIPLE 9, named after a supposed police code that signifies a downed officer, is a cops and robbers film that struggles to carry any meaningful sense of originality in its tale of crooked cops, good-hearted criminals, and villainous Russians…
In Norman Jewison’s delightfully eccentric MOONSTRUCK, the concept of love to our cast of characters is an idea that is equal parts revolting, magical, and unattainable — at least in love’s “pure” form: you know, the love that makes you break into song or dance or hold a stereo over your head as you blast Peter Frampton outside your crushes’ window. For Loretta Castorini (Cher), love might as well be a few inches away from being a curse. A widow of two years, and with her self-imposed era of youthfulness passing by, Loretta approaches love now with more or less…
In this era of blockbuster superhero films, the release of JUSTICE LEAGUE in 2017 came and went with more or less a critical and cultural shrug. A film that would be DC’s answer to Marvel’s THE AVENGERS, Zack Snyder’s third entry in his superhero universe was always wading into uncertain waters against a rapid approaching wave of already loaded up criticism. After all, while MAN OF STEEL was generally appreciated for a new, much more somber and mythic approach to the symbol of peace, the general shift of the character into darker territory was nevertheless a sticking point from certain…
Where did it all go wrong? The pieces were there: a simple story about one girl (Kaya Scodelario) vs a group of gators while trapped in a hurricane (!!), produced by horror legend Sam Raimi, and directed by French gore-hound Alexandre Aja (who dabbled with evil aquatic animals with the wondrously bonkers PIRHANA 3D). I even had like two beers while watching this movie on a Friday night of all nights! Alas, despite the lineup of bullseye pieces, CRAWL lives up to its title because, sheesh, this movie is disappointingly boring.
Like previously mentioned, the story (concocted and written by…
Justin Norris
Aspiring Movie Person. To get more personal follow @DaRealZamboni on Twitter.
