|
3/4
|
Boys on the Side
(1995)
|
Dennis King
|
Boys on the Side manages at moments to transcend its female-buddy formula and its cookie-cutter climax and reveal something honest and genuine about three unique women and their search for friendship and a peaceful place in the world.
Posted Mar 14, 2023
|
|
3/5
|
Thelma & Louise
(1991)
|
Dennis King
|
It’s not a great movie, but it has some appealing rough edges and definite cult potential. But the nicest thing about it is it gives two very good actresses the chance to get out on the road and go full out.
Posted Feb 28, 2023
|
|
|
Flower Drum Song
(1961)
|
Chuck Wheat
|
Don't look for grand theater, or ambitious improvisation... you can expect, however, to be nicely entertained.
Posted Feb 25, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
The Big Lebowski
(1998)
|
Dennis King
|
After the sharpness and coherence of Fargo, this film seems less a focused narrative than a freewheeling goof on movie conventions. However, even when they're not fully on their game, the Coens seem incapable of being boring.
Posted Jan 20, 2023
|
|
3/4
|
Groundhog Day
(1993)
|
Dennis King
|
Unlike many of today's forced, effects-heavy comedies, Groundhog Day has an easy, natural feeling. It's probably a sign of maturity in Ramis and Murray that they work together so effortlessly and winningly.
Posted Dec 21, 2022
|
|
|
Gladiator
(2000)
|
Dennis King
|
On a story level, Gladiator is solid and engaging but squarely in the dramatic tradition of its forebears. On a spectacle level, Scott's film rises to new heights of visual grandeur and visceral impact.
Posted Nov 01, 2022
|
|
3/4
|
Addams Family Values
(1993)
|
Dennis King
|
Director Barry Sonnenfeld and screenwriter Paul Rudnick (both back from the first film) maintain the perfect graveyard tone throughout. The black humor and ghoulish jokes come on like a hail of daggers. And most find their bloody funny marks.
Posted Sep 22, 2022
|
|
3.5/4
|
Titanic
(1997)
|
Dennis King
|
For all the chatter about Cameron's tyrannical work ethic, his film's delayed release and its reported $220 million-plus budget, Titanic cruises majestically into America's multiplexes and delivers a whopping entertainment.
Posted Mar 16, 2022
|
|
|
Devil in a Blue Dress
(1995)
|
Dennis King
|
[Washington] plays Easy as an honest, decent man with a wry sense of humor trying to do right in a world too often steered wrong. It's a marvelous piece of acting, drawing on equal parts matinee-idol slickness and mean-streets toughness.
Posted Oct 26, 2021
|
|
3.5/4
|
L.A. Confidential
(1997)
|
Dennis King
|
With the relish of brazen headlines splashed across the top of a Police Gazette-type scandal sheet, L.A. Confidential peers seductively into the dark heart of the city and conjures up a grand piece of hard-boiled entertainment.
Posted Oct 20, 2021
|
|
|
Delirious
(1991)
|
Brad Phelps
|
Delirious is what everyone involved with this project must have been when they decided it was a good idea.
Posted Jun 29, 2021
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Joy Luck Club
(1993)
|
Dennis King
|
Haunting and deeply sympathetic.
Posted Dec 17, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Brassed Off
(1996)
|
Dennis King
|
[An] audacious, angry but oddly agreeable screed on the social evils of Thatcherism in 1992 Great Britain.
Posted Sep 09, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
The Astronaut farmer
(2007)
|
Michael Smith
|
The filmmakers employ a good measure of schmaltz and shamelessly set up the rocket man with all of the dream-crushing road blocks you can imagine. But the good-natured affability of the whole thing works
Posted Sep 08, 2020
|
|
|
Tenet
(2020)
|
Michael Smith
|
Nolan's new movie is "Tenet," and it is a big, brassy, brainy spectacle.
Posted Sep 03, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
The Personal History of David Copperfield
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
This "David Copperfield" constantly feels like the novel's "greatest hits" are being wedged into the two-hour running time, and it compromises both the audience and the book's characters.
Posted Aug 27, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
(1990)
|
John Wooley
|
Gremlins 2 works better than its 1984 predecessor for one simple reason: Gremlins was only partially goofy, while Gremlins 2 is totally goofy.
Posted Jun 23, 2020
|
|
|
White Palace
(1990)
|
Dennis King
|
In the end, "White Palace" builds itself into a fairy tale romance that's easy to like and just as easy to forget.
Posted Jun 22, 2020
|
|
3/5
|
Reversal of Fortune
(1990)
|
Dennis King
|
It's a movie that outdoes the seamiest of soap operas. And it's all the more engaging because it's true.
Posted Jun 17, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Paris Is Burning
(1990)
|
Dennis King
|
Although the film has its dark moments, Paris Is Burning is mostly upbeat, and the overall message of the movie is heartening and humane.
Posted May 19, 2020
|
|
|
Seven Days in Utopia
(2011)
|
Michael Smith
|
This religious fantasy has higher production values and a classier cast than similar productions, but little interest in telling a story that goes beyond its Christian message.
Posted May 01, 2020
|
|
2.5/4
|
The Story of Us
(1999)
|
Dennis King
|
In its comfy material trappings and minor-note concerns, "The Story of Us," seems to be less about the universal "us" than about one pair of well- to-do, self-involved yuppies with an overblown sense of entitlement to the perfect life.
Posted Apr 07, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Wendy
(2020)
|
Michael Smith
|
Consider this "Wendy" review a pan.
Posted Mar 13, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
EMMA.
(2020)
|
Michael Smith
|
Rejoice because it's a witty, sexy, visually breathtaking version of the Regency-era tale.
Posted Mar 06, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Invisible Man
(2020)
|
Michael Smith
|
"The Invisible Man" is a new kind of monster movie, and it is really creepy because it knows what makes us afraid today. It knows what a modern monster looks like.
Posted Mar 02, 2020
|
|
2.5/4
|
Selena
(1997)
|
Dennis King
|
Writer-director Gregory Nava... relates the singer's story on a touchingly human scale, particularly focusing on the father-daughter dynamic.
Posted Feb 27, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Downhill
(2020)
|
Michael Smith
|
This is a movie that should have had much more pitch-black humor and shown much more insight into the matters of mortality, family, failings and the human heart.
Posted Feb 14, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
(2020)
|
Michael Smith
|
You don't go to "Birds of Prey" looking for depth of meaning in women's continuing fight for equality with men. You go for bad men being beaten senseless with a bit of style - and a lot of glitter.
Posted Feb 07, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Clemency
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
Woodard is still at the top of her game...
Posted Jan 23, 2020
|
|
2.5/4
|
Just Mercy
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
"Just Mercy" is a valuable lesson told in a just-OK way.
Posted Jan 10, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
1917
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
[O]ne of the finest war movies in years, and among the most outstanding that will ever be made about the increasingly distant World War I of a century ago.
Posted Jan 09, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
A Hidden Life
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
This is a movie so gorgeous that every image seems suitable for framing, but it's not enough.
Posted Jan 02, 2020
|
|
1.5/4
|
Uncut Gems
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
It's one of the year's most annoying movies.
Posted Dec 26, 2019
|
|
4/4
|
Bombshell
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
Important, informative and entertaining: "Bombshell" ticks all the boxes.
Posted Dec 23, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Honey Boy
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
"Honey Boy" is a testament to the gifts of this artist, and to his continuing journey to good health and better choices.
Posted Dec 06, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Waves
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
There are family dramas, and then there is "Waves," an intense film that understands the depth of emotions, from the worst kind of pain to the zenith of love and joy that parents and children can experience.
Posted Dec 06, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Marriage Story
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
For all of its focus on the process of divorce, "Marriage Story" is really an expression of love.
Posted Dec 01, 2019
|
|
2/4
|
Knives Out
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
I left not caring what the future held for a single one of these characters.
Posted Nov 26, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
The Report
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
"The Report" doesn't need to go overboard on shock value. Not when the truth is this shocking.
Posted Nov 15, 2019
|
|
2.5/4
|
Jojo Rabbit
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
It's a good joke for a while, but after two hours it felt like beating a dead unicorn.
Posted Nov 07, 2019
|
|
2.5/4
|
Love Actually
(2003)
|
Dennis King
|
A trim here, a tuck there, a couple of extraneous characters being shown the cutting-room floor and "Love Actually" might actually have emerged as a genuine, warmhearted holiday classic.
Posted Nov 05, 2019
|
|
2.5/4
|
Harriet
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
At a minimum, the movie earns high marks for its attempts at historical accuracy in telling her story.
Posted Oct 31, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
The Lighthouse
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
Harrowing, haunting and suspenseful.
Posted Oct 25, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Joker
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
"Joker" effectively tells a story with themes borrowed, but not stolen, from movies like "Taxi Driver" and "Network" and makes them its own platform through its own disturbed form of avenging angel.
Posted Oct 04, 2019
|
|
|
Heidi
(1993)
|
Kay Gardella
|
This Jeanne Rosenberg adaptation of the timeless 1881 classic by Johanna Spyri is family entertainment at its best.
Posted Sep 30, 2019
|
|
2/4
|
Judy
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
If only we could click our heels together and make the movie measure up to Zellweger's stellar performance.
Posted Sep 27, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Downton Abbey
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
It's not a remake, and it's not a reboot, but a continuing story, and I want more.
Posted Sep 20, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Hustlers
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
"Hustlers" is less about these two women's relationship than it is about the ensemble friendship, a wild story told well, a killer soundtrack and a powerhouse performance by Lopez, who's always in control.
Posted Sep 13, 2019
|
|
2.5/4
|
It: Chapter Two
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
The great news is that Tulsa's Bill Hader is the best thing about this sequel.
Posted Sep 07, 2019
|
|
1.5/4
|
Ready or Not
(2019)
|
Michael Smith
|
So beyond not developing its characters or being original, "Ready or Not" is never scary. It's never smart. It's never good.
Posted Aug 23, 2019
|
