The following is a review of Før Frosten (also known as ‘Before the Frost‘) — Directed by Michael Noer.
Før Frosten is Michael Noer’s fifth narrative feature film. Noer, whose last feature film was the remake of Papillon starring Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malek, has returned to his native country to make a dirty and cold period drama about the pursuit of happiness and survival in 19th Century Denmark. Continue reading “REVIEW: Før Frosten (2019)”
The following is a review of The Last Laugh — Directed by Greg Pritkin
Greg Pritkin’s Netflix film, The Last Laugh, which is dedicated to the late filmmaker Paul Mazursky, follows Al Hart (played by Chevy Chase), an elderly man who used to be the manager of comedians, as he somewhat reluctantly agrees to stay at the retirement home ‘Palm Sunshine.’ At the retirement home, he meets his old client Buddy Green (played by Richard Dreyfuss), with whom it is decided that he must go on tour in an effort to stay alive and realize a dream. Continue reading “REVIEW: The Last Laugh (2019)”
The following is a review of Brexit: The Uncivil War — Directed by Toby Haynes.
HBO’s latest TV-film, Brexit: The Uncivil War, comes from the director of a number of Doctor Who-episodes as well as the brilliant Sherlock-episode “The Reichenbach Fall,” Toby Haynes, who has now reteamed with Sherlock-star Benedict Cumberbatch to retell the story of the infamous portmanteau term, the solution for which still confuses and frustrates many people around the world. Continue reading “REVIEW: Brexit: The Uncivil War (2019)”
The following is a review of Mary Poppins Returns — Directed by Rob Marshall.
Whether P. L. Travers liked it or not, Robert Stevenson’s Mary Poppins is a recognized children’s’ musical classic. Though not exactly timeless, I think it is remarkable that both my mother and my sister and I all grew up watching Stevenson’s film. When I rewatched Mary Poppins recently, I must admit that I did not love it like I’ve been told I did when I was a child. Continue reading “REVIEW: Mary Poppins Returns (2018)”
The following is a review of Destroyer — Directed by Karyn Kusama.
In the first scenes of Karyn Kusama’s Destroyer, a seemingly inebriated LAPD detective, Erin Bell (played by Nicole Kidman), walks onto the scene of a crime to investigate what colleagues of her’s think of what happened to a murder victim with three dots in the back of his neck. What follows is a labyrinthine narrative complete with twists and shoot-outs as we learn what events made Bell, a former undercover officer, into a disheveled and visibly weathered revenge-seeking rogue detective. Continue reading “REVIEW: Destroyer (2018)”
The following is a review of Creed II — Directed by Steven Caple, Jr.
Back in early July this year, I watched and reviewed the highly anticipated sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario. The sequel subtitled Day of the Soldado was directed by Stefano Sollima and his film provided us with a perfect example of just how wrong it can go when you make a change in the director’s chair for a sequel. Day of the Soldado was offensive and hollow, and it is one of the biggest film disappointments of the year for me. Continue reading “REVIEW: Creed II (2018)”
The following is a review of Bird Box — Directed by Susanne Bier.
The post-apocalyptic novel upon which Susanne Bier’s film of the same name, Bird Box, is based came out in 2014. So, let’s just get one thing out of the way, its ideas, though perhaps stale in a world where A Quiet Place just came out months ago, do not deserve to be cast aside just because Krasinski beat Bier to the punch. Besides, A Quiet Place isn’t even the film Bird Box resembles the most. Continue reading “REVIEW: Bird Box (2018)”
The following is a review of Roma — Directed by Alfonso Cuarón
There was something very nice and special about my experience of watching Alfonso Cuarón’s latest drama on Netflix, the sole distributor of this film. This is a streaming platform that hopes to be able to take this Mexican heartbreaker all the way to the Academy Awards. Netflix gets a lot of criticism from the film community and, for a lot of it, it is well-earned. Their logo is bright red-on-white, its logo’s sound effect is loud and intrusive, and once the film comes to an end you are yanked away by the service to watch the trailer for some other Netflix Original, thus rushing you out of the experience of sitting with a film, taking it in properly, during the final credits. Continue reading “REVIEW: Roma (2018)”
The following is a review of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse — Directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman
The late, great, legendary film critic Roger Ebert opened his review of my favorite Spider-Man film, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2, with the line: “Now this is what a superhero movie should be,” a sentence that feels pretty appropriate to use today when describing the first of, likely, many theatrically released Sony Pictures Animation Spider-Man-related films because Into the Spider-Verse is a special movie in virtually every way imaginable.
Continue reading “REVIEW: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)”
The following is a review of Aquaman — Directed by James Wan
If you are reading this as a die-hard Aquaman-fan, I’m sorry but I have to start off my review like this: I’ve never thought that highly of the character. I didn’t make dumb water-jokes about him, but, for the longest time, the first things I thought about when I heard someone mention ‘Aquaman’ was, first, Alan Ritchson in CW’s Smallville and, then, the fake James Cameron film from HBO’s Entourage. Continue reading “REVIEW: Aquaman (2018)”
I'm Jeffrey Rex 