Directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy; Joint Security Area) — Screenplay by Wentworth Miller.
A handful of years before he directed all episodes of the excellent and underseen adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl led by Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgaard, Park Chan-wook made his first film in English with the Hitchcockian thriller Stoker, based on a screenplay from Prison Break-actor Wentworth Miller (under a pen name).
Continue reading “REVIEW: Stoker (2013)”
Directed by Luca Guadagnino — Screenplay by David Kajganich.
Call Me By Your Name was my introduction to the work of Italian auteur Luca Guadagnino. In my review of Call Ne By Your Name, I went to great lengths in emphasizing the power of cinema, the universality and transformative nature of Guadagnino’s film, and a couple of the incredibly well-realized performances in said film. Since then, I’ve seen a few additional films of his, but none of them have reached the heights of his 2017 coming-of-age masterpiece. When I first heard about the fact that Guadagnino had made a new coming-of-age film also starring Timothée Chalamet, I became very curious. When I found out that it was supposed to be a cannibal romance film, my eyes widened in surprise. Bones and All, his cannibal romance, is probably my second favorite film of his. That said, it definitely isn’t as easy of a film to, ahem, ‘eat up’ as his 2017 film was.
Continue reading “REVIEW: Bones and All (2022)”
Directed by John Lee Hancock — Screenplay by John Lee Hancock.
At the time of writing, we are now in October, which means that, for a lot of people, it’s time to focus on horror and Halloween. Streamers such as Netflix have to cater to that crowd, and one of the ways that they are doing that this year is by releasing yet another Stephen King adaptation. Netflix has actually been a pretty decent home for these adaptations, as it has previously released such King adaptations as In The Tall Grass, 1922, and Gerald’s Game, with the last one being easily the best of the Netflix-King films. Like In the Tall Grass and 1922, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone is based on one of King’s novellas, and, like those other two films, while there are things I really like about the film, I think there are a couple of things about it that make it difficult to recommend to general horror fans.
Continue reading “REVIEW: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022)”
Show Creator: Bisha K. Ali — Show Directors: Adil & Bilall, Meera Menon, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
It’s interesting to me that most of the Disney+ shows thus far have really been aimed at the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s mainstream die-hard audience. I sort of expected Disney+ to get into more shows that focused on family fun. I think Hawkeye felt like a family show, but no show has been as close to feeling like a Disney Channel show as Ms. Marvel did. Don’t misunderstand me. That isn’t a diss or a criticism. I think it’s refreshing to see a true young adult family-oriented MCU show. I also think that is the right way to introduce this fan-favorite character to the mainstream audience. I’m glad they gave her a Spider-Man: Homecoming-esque Disney+ show.
Continue reading “REVIEW: Ms. Marvel – Season One (2022)”
Directed by Sian Heder – Screenplay by Sian Heder.
Whenever a film wins the Academy Awards’ Best Picture the spotlights start to assemble on top of it. People wish to poke holes in the film, call it overrated, and, in general, it suddenly has to live up to loftier expectations than it had to back when it was just a popular film. Moonlight was able to handle those spotlights, and it is still one of the previous decade’s great Best Picture winners (even though I preferred La La Land). Green Book, on the other hand, not so much.
Continue reading “REVIEW: CODA (2021)”
The following is a review of Onward — Directed by Dan Scanlon.
Onward is the 22nd Pixar Animation Studios film, as well as Dan Scanlon’s second Pixar film as a director after 2013’s Monsters, Inc.-sequel titled Monsters University. In recent years, Pixar has been focused on making sequels — such as Toy Story 4 or Finding Dory — to several popular original films, but 2020 was meant to be the first time in several years where the animation studios’ two films — Onward and the upcoming Soul — were both new original films. Continue reading “REVIEW: Onward (2020)”
The following is a review of Spider-Man: Far From Home — Directed by Jon Watts.
Do note that this review includes spoilers for Avengers: Endgame.
Isn’t it crazy that Tom Holland has already played Spider-Man in five movies? Holland hasn’t even been Spider-Man for as many years as Tobey Maguire was, and Maguire only appeared in three films. Even though Tom Holland’s first solo film only came out two years ago, a lot has happened since Tony Stark first took Holland’s Peter Parker under his wing and presented him with a snazzy suit powered by Stark Industries technology. Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame happened. Parker was snapped out of and back into existence, he lost his mentor, and, somehow, five years went by in the blink of an eye for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Continue reading “REVIEW: Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)”
The following is a review of Booksmart — Directed by Olivia Wilde.
Before I saw Booksmart, it had been impossible for me to avoid the online bombardment of incessant comparisons between Booksmart and Superbad. The comparison made sense, even when I hadn’t seen the film. This is a coming-of-age film about two best friends who want to have a good time before they leave for college. Also, one of the two leads in Booksmart is Superbad-star Jonah Hill’s sibling Beanie Feldstein. Having now seen Olivia Wilde’s directorial feature debut, I have to admit that it would be wrong to say that it isn’t very similar to Superbad. Thankfully, though, I grew up with Superbad. I love Superbad. So it pleases me to say that any comparison to Superbad is by no means meant to be anything other than a compliment of the highest order. Booksmart is a modern, sweet, and gender-swapped, next-generation version of Superbad and I loved every minute of it. Continue reading “REVIEW: Booksmart (2019)”
The following is a review of Call Me By Your Name — Directed by Luca Guadagnino.
A film as a work of art is a an attempt. It is a risk, but it is a risk that you need to take. Actress and filmmaker Jodie Foster recently said that, for her, filmmaking was about figuring out your place in the world, or, simply, about evolving as a person. In reference to this film, one might say that becoming a filmmaker is choosing to speak. Continue reading “REVIEW: Call Me By Your Name (2017)”
I'm Jeffrey Rex 