Like a pig in the mud, it starts low, and blissfully revels in its emptiness. Not nearly as self aware as it wants you to think, the movie magic is sparse as Ford reaches for story-within-a-story and fails on both levels.
All in Reviews
Review: Manchester By The Sea
Nothing is heavy-handed in Kenneth Lonergan's somber meditation on family, loss and moving on. Couple the quality of the material with the veritable masterclass acting on display and the result is a gut-punch with the potential to leave you reeling.
Review: Loving
This is a film to be admired for its restraint.
Review: Rules Don't Apply
More than anything, this film just feels like a jumbled mess. The film had four editors, and it shows. The only thing that would have been more obvious is if the film had also had four screenwriters and four directors, but the deficiencies in each of those areas are solely due to Mr. Beatty.
Review: Arrival
The final product here could certainly be divisive. Like the underlying events of the film, nothing is one thing. But it would be hard to argue there isn't much here.
Review: Ouija: Origin of Evil
Most of its appeal is built on my second favorite Doris of 2016, but the filmmakers do their part as well and the result is a mildly satisfying horror experience.
Review: Moonlight
To say this film is a masterpiece would be an understatement. Masterpieces are the result of all involved being at their very best. With every crisp shot, immaculately delivered line and emotive thread in the breathtaking tapestry, that the people involved are at their very best quickly becomes a foregone conclusion.
Review: 13th
This feels like two films and neither is very good.
Review: The Birth Of A Nation
The Birth of a Nation is not some elevation of the form; nor is it a bastardization of it. It is instead an ambitious vanity project made without the skill necessary to really do the story justice.
Review: Snowden
While entertaining in spots, the film leaves us with a lopsided portrait of a clearly complicated man, and robs the subject matter of the tension it deserved.
Review: Blair Witch
While undoubtedly scary, nothing here is so inventive that it warrants raves.
Review: When The Bough Breaks
There is nothing here beyond what is on the screen and what is on the screen is an unbalanced, ill-conceived, melodrama that is wholly lacking anything that feels fresh or original.
Review: Hell Or High Water
It is no small feat to make something that feels authentic and Hell Or High Water feels as real as the Texas justice that drives its story.
Review: Morgan
Nothing about this is particularly smart, and yet there it is--defiantly offering scene after scene of indefensible nonsense. Its fatal flaw is that it is perfectly comfortable with how little it is saying.
Review: Don't Breathe
I can't really say I blame them for not reinventing the genre. If it were easy, every movie would do it. But at the same time, I can't help but feel like they squandered an A+ idea with a C+ effort.
Review: Florence Foster Jenkins
Meryl Streep makes this film sing and it is a beautiful tune.
Review: Sausage Party
It is a cross between The Secret Life of Pets and Toy Story, but with a brand of humor that might make Ted blush. If you don't know who Ted is, you probably have no business anywhere near this one.
Review: Suicide Squad
If you are someone who just loves these characters, you might indeed have fun with this one. But you aren't going to get much more depth than if you had played the trailer 30 times instead.
Review: Jason Bourne
This is the Finding Dory of action movies--I can't remember why we wanted this, our main character can't remember anything and I hope we are finally done here.
Review: Nerve
Picture Truth or Dare meets Pokémon Go meets Facebook Live. Now, add in a healthy dose of teenage angst and unpredictability and you will have a sense of the game at the center of Nerve. As the stakes increase, the story hums like the neon Tron: Legacy-inspired lights that fill the frame.