The Guest Is In Touch With The Past And Its Own Distinct Identity

In this prequel to Bill Condon's Beauty and the Beast, David Collins (Dan Stevens) randomly shows up on the doorstep of the Peterson family one day and tells them he knew their deceased son, Caleb. Apparently, David and Caleb worked in the same Army unit, as evidenced by them being in a photo together that lies on top of the Peterson's fireplace. With his twang-infused accent and an emphasis on ending each sentence with "sir" and "ma'am", David Collins is a good o'l Southern boy in every way shape and form and the family, save for Caleb's sister Anna (Maika Monroe), begins to adore David Collins, particularly bullied High Schooler Luke (Brendan Meyer), and they allow him to stay in their home for a prolonged period of time.

Her Smell Marvelously Delves Into the Lows and Humanity of a Rockstar

MILD SPOILER WARNING
We've seen plenty of movies about period era rockstars before, but I truly cannot recall one as intimate as Her Smell, the newest directorial effort from Alex Ross Perry. My first foray into his directorial works goes for small-scale character interactions where most films of this ilk opt for a conventional rags-to-riches story packed with cheeky references to famous songs. Split into five different periods of the life of 1990s singer Becky Something (Elisabeth Moss) that are comprised primarily of conversations between characters (save for one that shifts the setting to Becky's home), this more personal approach to telling her story allow the viewer to truly gets to know what a whirlwind of chaos this performer is as well as understand the more vulnerable human side of Becky Something.

Good Actors Try To Work With An Uneven Script In The Biopic Drama Marshall

Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, finally got a biopic movie to headline. Instead of chronicling him being chosen for the Supreme Court, the movie Marshall concentrates on a 1940 court case that Thurgood Marshall (played by Chadwick Boseman here) served as a lawyer in. This court case involved Joseph Spell (Sterling K. Brown) being accused of raping a wealthy socialite, Elanor Strubing (Kate Hudson), a court case that seems to have the odds stacked against it, especially when Marshall, being an out of state lawyer dispatched by the NAACP, is forbidden from speaking during the trial, leaving all the in-court defense to Sam Friedman (Josh Gad).

The Man Who Invented Christmas Is Fine-ish Festive Fare

That first trailer for The Man Who Invented Christmas invited a good amount of mocking scorn when it was first released and really, can you blame anyone? Just watch this thing, it seems like a parody of what a prospective biopic drama of Charles Dickens would be like:

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.

There's Lots to Unpack And Contemplate Over In The Phenomenal Monster Movie Colossal (SPOILERS!!!!!)

This review contains massive spoilers about Colossal. Seriously, do not read this before seeing the movie. Just know it's an amazing motion picture and you should see it pronto. 

K?

OK, let's get on with the review.... 

Monster movies are usually dismissed as dumb cinematic fodder, stuff reserved for gifs and children only. And, yes, it is hard not to chuckle at the fun gifs emerging from goofy monster movies of yore (King Kong feeding Godzilla a tree will always make me laugh), it's worth noting that many of the biggest monster movies have underlying themes to them that lend weight to the seemingly shallow proceedings. The original Godzilla was all about the nuclear age, the first King Kong movie is all about the dangers of man trying to exploit animals while a more modern day example can be found in Cloverfield was an incredibly prophetic movie about how we react to the unbelievable in the modern day world.

Disney's Live-Action Beauty And The Beast Is Overly Derivative Of The Original Animated Classic But Is Still An Entertaining Musical Romp

This new live-action take on Beauty And The Beast is an oddball little movie. It wants to be so much like the original 1991 animated classic its remaking, yet it also wants to be a more quasi-realistic take on the source material. That sense of realism also rubs up against its desire to be a big splashy over-the-top musical in some spots. When it just goes for being a straightforward fairy tale (not unlike the tone set forth in Jean Cocteau's 1946 take on this tale as old as time), it actually works fine. When it's trying to figure out how to ground things in realism while also being overly slavishly faithful to the original movie, well, that's when problems emerge.

Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb Review

Exhibiting Traits Of Quality

It's...not awful. In fact, it's surprisingly entertaining. Those may sound like statements that are solely damning with faint praise, and they mostly are, but I must admit that with all the elements working against Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb, it turns out OK. A five and a half year long gap since the second movie, sloppy visuals and a middling plot are prominent flaws, but there's at least some moments of redeeming value.