Jurassic World Dominion (**1/2) Wilting under the shoulders of giants
The film is at its best when the original Jurassic Park crew are onscreen.
Little Women (*****) paddle their own canoe
There are so many moments that inspire tears in Little Women. These tears are happy as well as sad. They are a reminder that life is short and it’s the quality of life that matters. In controlling their reactions to challenges, Jo and their sisters begin to own their stories. It’s our luck that they allowed us to share in the glory of their lives. This is one of the year’s best.
Cold Pursuit (****) shows benefit of foreign influence
“The shame of how much one enjoys Liam Neeson’s revenge-based dark comedy is the fact that so many people were distracted by his promotional tour, they may just miss his best film in decades. In all fairness though, most of the people who protested Neeson’s ill-timed decision to tell the truth about his growth as a person are the kinds of folks who would have been offended by the film’s humor anyway.”
Star Wars The Last Jedi – Listening to old voices with a new ear
Star Wars The Last Jedi – 2017 Written and Directed by Rian Johnson Starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Gwendoline Christie, Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, Benicio del Toro After […]
The Founder (****) gives a decent take on who built that
I wish they could have stretched this out to perhaps another film or at least another hour, beyond the reach they allowed themselves. In this way, the movie feels a lot like that restaurant in San Bernardino. It’s fine start, but this story is worth a franchise.
Wild (*****) is a beautiful loser
Vallée has made a vast improvement over his good but not great film Dallas Buyer’s Club. Where the first film made took the warts out of the protagonist’s past and present to make him into a saint-like figure of AIDS research, this film leaves all of Strayed’s bad traits right there, and we benefit from them by seeing someone we can identify with who will not be curing cancer or any other disease. She’s just learning to live with what she’s done and who she is now. This is something we all could learn.
The Fault In Our Stars Extended Edition (****): So much depends…
The Fault In Our Stars – 2014 Director Josh Boone Starring Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe Screenplay Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber based on the book by John Green There is one […]
The Master of none
The Master – 2012 Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ambyr Childers, Jesse Plemmons, Rami Malek, Laura Dern I tried, folks. It sucked. […]
Ebert Did It Better: Gasbag Reviews 