Ghost World Comes Alive Thanks To Sharp Writing & Performances

It took me a minute to fully get into Ghost World. At first, the pervasively jaded sensibilities of this Terry Zwigoff directorial effort just were rubbing me the wrong way. Maybe it was just the fact that I was watching a movie about characters who don't care about anything when there were so many real-world events to care about? Timing is everything, including when you watch certain movies. Anywho, it wasn't long before Ghost World won me over just as it's proved irresistible for so many others in the nineteen years since it debut. Turn out there's a lot more going on underneath its jaded surface beyond just teenage nihilism.

Con Air Is Anything-Goes Ridiculousness, Which Is A Good Thing

Con Air begins and ends as a music video for How Do I Live by Trisha Yearwood. In between, a lot of recognizable actors dodge explosions. This is the aptest summary for the directorial debut of Simon West, which might be the epitome of the 1990's American action movie filmmaking if Face/Off didn't exist. That doesn't mean Con Air is the absolute best American action movie made in this era, but it does embody a number of the traits found in abundance in this era. A plot clearly aping Die Hard. Lots of R-rated action. Dialogue that runs the gamut from cornball to unbelievably hokey. Recognizable landmarks going boom. Oh, and it's also pretty fun to watch.

Giddy On Up With Andrew Haigh's Emotional Rollercoaster Lean on Pete

Assistant editor turned director Andrew Haigh has quickly become well-known for working on films that carry a harrowing emotional quality to them, whether it's 45 Years or Weekend or Shanghai Knights. His newest directorial effort, Lean on Pete, carries on this tradition by telling the story of Charley Thompson (Charlie Plummer), a 15-year-old kid who lives with his single father, Ray (Travis Fimmel), in a trailer home in Portland, Oregon. Charley's life is one filled with struggles as his dad, who's still emotionally recovering from Charley's mom walking out on the both of them years prior, barely makes ends meet financially, spurring Charley to make some money at the local racetrack doing odd jobs for Del Montgomery (Steve Buscemi).

The Week Of Is A Middling Comedy That At Least Improves On Recent Adam Sandler Vehicles

As far as general comedies go, The Week Of is just kind of "eh". It's more pleasant than funny, it's plot structure of revolving around the week leading up to a wedding gives it some form of narrative focus, but it totally stumbles in trying to create a schmaltzy third act around characters who haven't qualified as all that humorous let alone worth engaging in emotionally. But since Adam Sandler is playing more of a human being here than a wacky vocally high-pitched caricature rejected from Saturday Night Live, plus the bathroom humor has been limited to just an old man constantly needing his diaper changed, it isn't all that grating and that makes it practically a masterpiece compared to most of Adam Sandler's leading man efforts and especially when compared to his other Netflix efforts.

The Death of Stalin Finds Humor In Real-Life Horrors

"How can you run and plot at the same time?"

After eight years, writer/director Armando Iannucci has returned to the world of feature films (he's been busy the last few years working on the highly acclaimed HBO TV show Veep) with The Death of Stalin. Like his 2009 film In The Loop, The Death of Stalin is a dark farce comedy depicting people in positions of noteworthy political power acting scummy in the name of personal gain. Instead of coming off as merely reheated leftovers of In The Loop though, The Death of Stalin takes this basic concept and clearly charts its own terrain. This is a film with its own distinct personality to its name, one that aids greatly in making The Death of Stalin as highly humorous as it is.

The Slipshod Boss Baby Only Show Flashes Of Creativity In Some Of Its Visuals

DreamWorks Animation used to have some real ambition as a studio, or, at least, the promise of ambition. If the radically different tones and aesthetics of their first two films (Antz and The Prince Of Egypt) suggested a studio that could create a wide variety of animated motion pictures, well, they've been inconsistent in fulfilling that promise over the course of the next two decades. For every Shrek (only the first two!), How To Train Your Dragon or Kung Fu Panda that showed real imagination and artistic promise, you also had stuff like The Road To El Dorado, Bee Movie and Trolls that had them chasing other popular animated family movies for quick and easy profits. When it comes to creating worthwhile cinema, ya win some, ya lose some in the world of DreamWorks Animation.

Wish Upon Is Thoroughly Forgettable And Anemic Horror Fare

Wishes always lead to trouble, whether you're wishing to be a prince to impress a princess or you're wishing for a turkey sandwich on rye bread or you're wishing for whatever the characters in that Wes Craven produced Wishmaster movie were wishing for. Taking this mystical shortcut always generates all sorts of unintended consequences which is likely why it's become a horror movie plot mainstay over the years. The newest usage of this recurring storyline comes in the form of the horror movie Wish Upon, an anemic horror film direly lacking in the way of scares and one you'd want to wish away from your memory except it's highly likely you'll forget about mere seconds after it's done.

Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer Fixes Up Some Well-Written Money-Motivated Mayhem

The world of politics is tricky to navigate for sure. For instance, recent American political developments seem to pain a gloomy picture in terms of the kind of leaders many people in our country want, with racist sexual predator reality TV show hosts with no political experience winning the highest seat of power in the country over a woman with decades of political experience while a man who assaults reporters is able to win a seat in Congress. Yes, the world of politics is not for the faint of heart and it's one that Nathaniel Oppenheimer, the titular character of Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer, finds himself very much in the middle of.

The Cobbler Review

It wouldn't be shocking if the high concept premise of The Cobbler had been the story for a late 90's-early 2000's comedy starring Jim Carrey in the fashion of Liar, Liar or Bruce Almighty. Instead, it's the plot for not just easily the lowest grossing feature of Adam Sandler's career, but also a film that had the most anemic box office career of any movie in 2015 (it grossed under $25,000 domestically in an extremely limited theatrical release). Adding insult to injury, the motion picture was savaged by critics, and after finally seeing this infamous entity, I can now add my voice to the chorus of dissatisfaction The Cobbler has garnered.

The Big Lebowski Review (Classic Write-Up)

Dude, Where's My Car...And The Money...And My Tapes

Narration is a common element found in cinema that's frequently utilized for numerous purposes. Perhaps the goal of the narration is to set up the tone of the motion picture, or to deliver exposition or even just to set up a joke. The Big Lewboski uses narration as a way to accomplish that first objective, with Sam Elliots distinctive vocals describing the landscape of  Los Angeles and the films main character, The Dude (Jeff Bridges), though eventually his narration disintegrates into him losing his train of thought.

Fargo Review (Classic Write-Up)

The snowy environment of Fargo, North Dakota makes the landscape look massive, sprawling, unending. It's a winter dominated setting populated by folks whose vocabulary is as polite as it is upbeat. It seems like a cheerful, serene location....which makes a sudden kidnapping that escalates into murder all the more shocking. Juxtaposing this wholesome location with such a vicious crime is the framework of The Coen Brothers 1996 feature (which is directed solely by Joel Coen) Fargo, which has rightfully become a well-known classic.

So, I Was On Netflix: Reservoir Dogs Review

This is quite a monumental review for me, for you see, this is the very first Quentin Tarantino movie I've ever seen. And when one is going to start watching one of the most iconic directors of all-times work, why not start at the very beginning? In this case, that is indeed a very good place to start, as this movie not only shows why the director is so beloved, but is also just a damn fine piece of cinema on its own merits. Gripping, terrifying, unflinching, shocking, astounding; those are the words that come to mind when considering this movie like no other.