Wild Rose Is So Good It'll Lead Even The Most Cynical Viewers To Bellow "Yee-Haw!"

The best country music, like the best music in any genre really, tends to tap into some sort of relatable human emotion. Dolly Parton's Jolene, for instance, captures a sense of romantic vulnerability that we've all experienced at one time or another while Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line encapsulates the personal sacrifices we make for the ones we love. In these tunes and so many others, the genre of country music is used as a way to remind listeners that they aren't the only ones feeling heartbreak, joy, confusion or so many other emotions. Those classic country tunes would certainly be proud of the 2019 movie Wild Rose, specifically the way it uses the story of an aspiring singer for something that channels experiences and emotions straight out of reality.

Toy Story 4 Manages To Be A Worthy Epilogue To The Toy Story 4 Saga

I have been beating the drum on the fact that Toy Story 4 shouldn't exist ever since the project got announced all the way back in November 2014. Toy Story 3 just wrapped up the saga of Woody, Buzz and company so well, was there any need for a fourth one? Having now seen Toy Story 4, I can't say this new entry in the saga is an essential beat, but it does work well as an epilogue to Toy Story 3's conclusion as well as a satisfying movie on its own standalone terms. Plus, instead of just serving up a bunch of nostalgic callbacks to prior films, it primary focuses turns out to be on exploring larger ideas about how to define one's self-worth as a person, a theme covered by most summertime animated kids movies.

Despite The Presence of Danny Boyle and Lily James, Yesterday Is Let Down By A Lackluster Script

You know Summer 2019 is coming up short on quality cinema when even Danny Boyle is delivering average fare. Whereas fusing Danny Boyle’s direction with the writing of Aaron Sorkin turned out to be a match made in heaven in 2015s Steve Jobs, merging his directorial skills with the writing of Richard Curtis (of Love, Actually fame) in the new feature Yesterday turns out to be a match made in…certainly not Hell, but somewhere in between (Milwaukee, maybe?) Though Yesterday has one of the more unique premises for a mainstream movie in a blue moon, the execution of that premise leaves much to be desired.

The Last Black Man in San Francisco is An Emotionally Intoxicating Examination of the Homes That Shape Us

A home is not just a home. Where we're raised becomes a part of ourselves. For good, for ill and for everything in between, wherever we're raised tends to become deeply ingrained into the fabric of who we are as people. We can fight it, we can deny it, but the influences of where we're raised tend to creep in eventually. This part of who we are as people serve as the centerpiece of The Last Black Man in San Francisco, a fascinating tale contemplating the relationship between ourselves and the places we call home. For this particular story, the real-life saga of Jimmie Fails (here portrayed by himself in his first ever feature film performance) and his desire for his childhood home is told against the backdrop of San Francisco.

Too Many Lifeless Aspects Drag The Dead Don't Die Down

In the quiet small American town of Centerville, some strange occurrences are happening. Just when it's supposed to be night outside, the sun is shining as if it's the middle of the day. Animals are vanishing. Did I mention that polar ice caps are being so severely fracked that it's adversely affecting the Earth's axis? Yep, lots and lots of strange occurrences happening around Centerville. Police officers Ronald Peterson (Adam Driver) and Cliff Robertson (Bill Murray) are perturbed by such events and they only become even more concerned once two local citizens are slaughtered in a vicious fashion. Only a zombie could do such a slaying. Oh boy. This is not going to end well.

Late Night Is A Solid Comedy With an Outstanding Emma Thompson Performance

One of my all-time favorite books is The War for Late Night by Bill Carter, a 2010 book chronicling the events leading up to, during and after the whole early 2010 fiasco involving Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show. Lots of great anecdotes about the various American late night shows hosts in that tome including extensive descriptions about what it's like to work for David Letterman. One such description had unnamed employees of his note that Letterman was a distant comic driven by anger and frustration in his work, but whenever he began to verbally beat himself up in front of his staff, they would immediately wish he'd redirect that anger unto them rather than continue to drag himself.

I Am Mother Finds Some Solid Thrills Especially When It Comes To Its Titular Robotic Character

I Am Mother takes place in the wake of the apocalypse. We open on a robot called Mother (Rose Byrne) in a small compound, shielded from some kind of Armageddon that's wiped out humanity, beginning her task of raising a human child. Eventually, she'll have to use the thousands of embryo's stored in the facility repopulate the whole human species, but for now, she's just gotta take care of this one little youngster who grows up to become Daughter (Clara Rugaard). Mother and Daughter get along just fine, but once she turns 18, Daughter begins to become more curious about what's going on in the outside world, which Mother tells her has been contaminated from a virus. Daughter's perception of reality is challenged when a lady only known as Woman (Hillary Swank) emerges from the outside world alive.

The Mysteries of the Cosmos End Up Being Pretty Boring in Men in Black: International

Good luck trying to remember Men in Black: International the moment it’s over, this is one of the most disposable blockbusters I've seen in a good long while. Despite starring two talented actors in a story about aliens living on Earth, Men in Black: International is a movie shockingly lacking in energy or fun. There isn't even a memorably bad movie to be found here, just a massively forgettable one likely to leave even the most undemanding moviegoer yawning. If you thought the day would come where we'd all be nostalgic for two-headed Johnny Knoxville from Men in Black II, well, keep waiting, that day hasn't arrived yet, but Men in Black: International still isn't very good.

Oak Cliff Film Festival 2019: Light from Light Is Thoroughly Committed To A Grim Tone, For Better And For Worse

The Oak Cliff Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Dallas, Texas across multiple movie theaters, including the iconic Texas Theater.

Sheila (Marin Ireland) is the lead character of Light from Light, an employee at a car rental company and also a paranormal investigator. Well, sort of, she isn't working for any paranormal research groups right now, she's merely working her day job and looking after her High School Senior son, Owen (Josh Wiggins). But grieving Richard (Jim Gaffigan), who lost his wife in a plane crash a few months prior, recruits her help to determine if the ghost of his wife is lingering around their house. It's an unorthodox job Sheila takes on without accepting any sort of financial payment just as Owen begins to struggle with his plans for the future, including his potential attraction to his friend Lucy (Atheena Frizzell).

The X-Men Movies Comes To A Close With The Grim Snooze Dark Phoenix

"Make way for the X-Men, an outdated metaphor for racism from the 1960s!" - Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) in Deadpool 2

The X-Men movies have had an erratic track record in their nineteen years of existence but their highest points showed an admirable level of ambition that fit these audacious comic-book characters. Creatively gusto spin-off's like Logan or Deadpool took the American superhero movie into unique terrain while X-Men: First Class used a period era setting and a zippy tone to breathe vibrant life into a tired franchise. In that context, the already disspiriting low-quality of Dark Phoenix becomes extra sad to see, it's such an all-around lackluster production that's as groggy and lifeless as a hungover college student. All of the ambition that marked the best entries in this series is gone, replaced with all the enthusiasm of a new kid forced to publically introduced themselves to all the students in the class.