REVIEW: August: Osage County [2013]
“I’ll be sickly sweet” I’m drawn to dysfunction—especially when it’s of the familial persuasion. It’s probably because I didn’t really get exposed to much as a kid growing up with a family most would...
View ArticlePosterized Propaganda November 2014: ‘Foxcatcher,’ ‘Interstellar,’ ‘The...
“Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover” is a proverb whose simple existence proves the fact impressionable souls will do so without fail. This monthly column focuses on the film industry’s willingness to...
View ArticleREVIEW: Penguins of Madagascar [2014]
“Venetian blinded again” Is Penguins of Madagascar a total cash grab? Not quite. It’s one thing when a studio hones in on a successful franchise’s periphery character and deems it worthy of a spin-off...
View ArticleREVIEW: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies [2014]
“One light, alone in the darkness” No matter how entertaining The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is—definitely the best of the trilogy—I still can’t shake the feeling that J.R.R. Tolkien‘s tale...
View ArticleREVIEW: The Imitation Game [2014]
“Shall we leave the children alone with their new toy?” It’s highly unusual for me to get invested in a biography, so when one comes along that enthralls me as fully as The Imitation Game it’s...
View ArticlePicking Winners at the 87th Annual Academy Awards
Things look pretty cut and dry where the Academy is concerned in 2015. The Oscars are always a somewhat watered-down look at what really mattered in the past year of cinema and this installment is no...
View ArticleTop Ten Films of 2014: A deluge of sci-fi doppelgängers and one-word titles
I don’t want to label 2014 as a good, bad, or average year. I want to call it inventive, original, and delightfully dark. Whether it’s doppelgänger paradoxes leading to murderous rage, the bleak...
View ArticleREVIEW: Black Mass [2015]
“If nobody sees it, it didn’t happen” The story of Southie crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger (Johnny Depp) is perfectly suited for a sprawling, character-driven cinematic adaptation because of the...
View ArticleREVIEW: Doctor Strange [2016]
“It’s not about you” People love to complain about superhero origin story trappings and they’re correct. The need to introduce new characters in their own standalone piece forces writers and directors...
View ArticleTIFF17 REVIEW: The Current War [2017]
“Star in a jar” The title is The Current War, but it’s subject is truly more history than battle. It’s flashier to think about our modern day electrical system as a conflict between two geniuses...
View ArticleREVIEW: Avengers: Infinity War [2018]
“He’s never fought me twice” It’s been ten years since we met Tony Stark on the big screen. Ten years of serial storytelling with massive budgets, character crossovers, television offshoots, and Stan...
View Article
