The following is a review of Darkest Hour — Directed by Joe Wright.
Darkest Hour — not to be confused with The Darkest Hour, a 2011 alien invasion movie set in Russia — is the newest film from British director Joe Wright, who is behind such films as 2007’s beautiful, heart-wrenching, and soul-crushing Atonement. Continue reading “REVIEW: Darkest Hour (2017)”
The following is a review of the debut season of This Is Us.
This is Us is a television dramedy about five characters, the way they are connected, and obstacles in life. You have Jack (played by Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca Pearson (played by Mandy Moore), a married couple expecting triplets. Randall (played by Sterling K. Brown), an affluent commodity trader looking for his biological father. Kate (played by Chrissy Metz), an obese woman who is traumatized by the death of her father. And, finally, Kevin (played by Justin Hartley), a sitcom actor who is tired of not being taken seriously as an actor. Continue reading “REVIEW: This is Us – Season One (2016-2017)”
The following is a review of The Open House – A Netflix Original Film.
A couple of months ago, I had my first genuinely effective nightmare in my adult life. In it, I was watching television when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing in the doorway. It wasn’t just anyone. It was a figure that seemed to have been constructed from different images from Stephen King adaptations. Imagine something of a mix between the leper from Andy Muschietti’s adaptation of IT and the moonlight man from Gerald’s Game.
In the nightmare, I was unable to move as this figure kept moving towards me ever so slowly. Needless to say, home invasion movies have a strong effect on me. A home invasion is one of my biggest fears. Therefore, as you might imagine, The Open House was a horror film I had on my radar. Continue reading “REVIEW: The Open House (2018)”
The following is a review of All the Money in the World – Directed by Ridley Scott.
All the Money in the World is, easily, one of the most talked about films these last couple of months. It isn’t because it is one of the big favorites for the Academy Awards (it isn’t), and it isn’t because it was one of the most anticipated films of 2017 (it wasn’t). No, actually, the reason why people couldn’t stop talking about this film is for the simple fact that controversy is all over this film like moths around a flame. Continue reading “REVIEW: All the Money in the World (2017)”
The following is a review of The Polka King – Directed by Maya Forbes.
The Polka King is a comedic biopic that tells the true story about Jan Lewan (played by Jack Black), a Polish polka band leader and con artist, who became a convicted criminal while exploring the depths of the American Dream. The film is far more interested in his successes and deceptions than in his time in prison, however, and that gives us plenty of time to see surprisingly strong supporting cast of actors like Jenny Slate — playing his wife, Marla Lewan; Jacki Weaver — his mother-in-law, Barb; and Jason Schwartzman — his good friend and one of the band members in his polka band.
Continue reading “REVIEW: The Polka King (2018)”
The following is a retro review of Guillermo Del Toro’s modern classic El Laberinto del Fauno
Fairy tales and all things magic exist right at the very edges of what we consider to be real. The wonder and horrors of the world equally represent the emotional current with which magic — light and dark — resides. There is much to be said about the horrific nature of our collective understanding of fairy tales. There is a brutality that flows through many true fairy tales. Continue reading “RETRO REVIEW: El Laberinto del Fauno (2006)”
The following is a review of The Five Obstructions.
The Five Obstructions is a Danish documentary about a very particular friendship between directors. Danish auteur Lars Von Trier is a big fan of Jørgen Leth — a Danish director — and his 1967 Danish short film The Perfect Human — a very literal examination of a couple. So, Lars Von Trier has this idea — what if we took this gem of a short film and absolutely ruined it? Made a mess of it. Continue reading “RETRO REVIEW: The Five Obstructions (2003 – Documentary)”
The following is a review of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh
To say that you’ve seen Martin McDonagh’s entire filmography isn’t all that impressive. The Irish playwright’s filmography only includes his excellent Oscar-winning short film Six Shooter and now three feature films. But in these few films McDonagh has already established some trademark elements that are always in his films. Unstable and impulsive male characters that are often marked by their previous misdeeds, some kind of stable mentor or friend to the impulsive male, lots and lots of curse words, oh and he’s a big fan of joking about little people. Continue reading “REVIEW: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)”
The following is a review of The Greatest Showman — Directed by Michael Gracey.
It’s the end of the year, so let’s give it a go with a Christmas analogy. Imagine you’re about to open this great, big present covered with gorgeous wrapping paper. But as you rip off the wrapping paper, and open the box that contains your gift, you start to sense the disappointment as the great, big gift is much smaller than the box and the wrapping paper made it seem.
What did you get? Oh, it’s this neat little plaque with some inspirational quote on it. It’s about as generic as possible. That’s The Greatest Showman. A good-hearted hoodwink so disappointing that you question why you ever got excited at all. Continue reading “REVIEW: The Greatest Showman (2017)”
The following is a review of Wind River – Written and Directed by Taylor Sheridan.
When Taylor Sheridan gets one of his screenplays made, you pay attention. The first two films in his so-called ‘frontier trilogy’ — Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario and David Mackenzie’s Hell or High Water — were amazing films that both ended up on my top ten films of the year lists in 2015 and 2016 respectively. And although Sheridan’s presumably last film in his frontier trilogy — Wind River, the first in the trilogy that he has directed himself — won’t be among my ten favorites of 2017, this modern western is still one hell of a movie. Continue reading “REVIEW: Wind River (2017)”
I'm Jeffrey Rex 