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.
We Need To Talk About Nate
Oscars are extra. Wealth and fame are extra. Those are trappings we should (if we can) afford only to the best among us.
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.
Review: Lights Out
What even is this?
Review: The Secret Life of Pets
Very little lies beneath the surface here, which is a shame because there was definite potential for more.
Review: The Fits
Told through a lens of competition and desire, this experience is singular--you will not see anything else quite like The Fits for a very long time.
Hollywood's Role In Making Black Lives Matter
In light of recent events, many are asking why certain institutions fail to see Black Americans as human beings. While that is not necessarily on the Black community to solve itself, it is apparent that we are in dire need of a radical realignment of public perceptions.
Review: The Purge: Election Year
If you know you are stupid and own it, stupid can be good. And like the hard driving prosecutor with a mean streak, this series has learned to channel what would otherwise be a flaw.
Review: Weiner
In some ways, Weiner succeeds whether it is an accurate portrayal of the former New York Congressman or not. If it is all a façade, then that almost tells us more about the man than if he had let us in. As is, there is no way to really know, but Weiner entertains regardless.
Mid-Year Oscar Checkin
Are there any films from this year that have a chance to do the same? Have we already seen something that might make the Best Picture lineup? One of the acting categories? Something else?
Review: The Neon Demon
What happens when your mockery of something is as empty, shallow and vapid as the subject?
Review: The Shallows
On the surface, The Shallows is a thoroughly competent thriller that extends the lineage of Jaws. However, if you dip a metaphorical toe beneath the surface, there are definite problems here, no matter how tightly the story is told.
Review: Finding Dory
The film offers a thoughtful examination of the concepts of family and home, but it could have taken an all of the above strategy and given audiences a less conventional narrative.
Review: X-Men: Apocalypse
There is a lot to like here, even if it sometimes can't help but feed the CGI fueled, product-placement machine that is the genre at large. Overall, it works, but it is hard to say much more than that.
Hollywood's Sequel Problem
Dear Hollywood, help us help you.
Review: The Conjuring 2
Beautifully shot, beautifully rendered and fully imagined, it earns its 134-minute runtime by filling the experience with unnerving terror.