1st Reviews

Life finds a way, and once again, Universal finds a way to leave me disappointed in another Jurassic World movie. There was so much potential here - A back to basics premise, an A-list cast, the original Jurassic Park screenwriter returning, and a director who specializes in immersive VFX. Rebirth shows constant glimpses of a good or even great movie, but the final product is far less than the sum of its parts.  The setup is solid, paving a potential path for an exciting survival thriller, but it’s not long before the film bogs us down with generic character backstories and bland dialogue in a transparent attempt to get us invested in the new cast. Actually, backstories aside, the characters themselves are mostly dull and unlikable. I have no shortage of problems with the last two JW movies, but at least the characters were kind of interesting. Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey and Mahershala Ali do what they can with their stock characters and underwhelming dialogue, but no amou...

Few American directors have come close to putting together the body of work that Joel and Ethan Coen amassed over 34 years from their first feature (one of the all-time great debut films)  Blood Simple  in 1984 through to 2018’s  The Ballad of Buster Scruggs . As a duo, the Coens have done it all, putting together a widely varied body of work where each film is always, unmistakably, a Coen Brothers movie. When the two went their separate ways following the  Ballad of Buster Scruggs,  audiences and critics couldn’t help but try and read into what each brother brought to the table in their collaboration. Their first two solo efforts seemingly made this quite easy. Joel’s  The Tragedy of Macbeth  and Ethan’s  Drive Away Dolls  co-written and directed (DGA credit be damned) with his wife Tricia Cooke suggested that Joel is the brooding visual stylist preoccupied with the cold indifference (if not outright hostility) of the universe while Ethan is...

  The   Alien  franchise has always been centred on building suspense in the vast dark galaxy we call space. Most of the time, humans and cyborgs are trapped in a spaceship with a Xenomorph or other strange alien creatures.   Throughout the franchise, each filmmaker has left their mark in choosing which new creatures to develop with practical effects. As technology advances, it’s interesting to see where the  Alien  franchise takes the artificial intelligence and cyborgs. However, the creatures they introduce will always return to the original foundation and keep the practicality of it all.  In the new series  Alien: Earth,  Noah Hawley gives audiences and fans of the franchise an epic sci-fi/horror that combines everything from its predecessors perfectly. Hawley presents a unique visual approach when creating the intensity in atmosphere on the spaceship with the crew on their way back to Earth.  Similar to Ridley Scott’s steady pacing i...

  When’s the last time you watched a movie that truly delivered on its potential, exceeding your every expectation? I’m talking about a one of a kind experience that gave you exactly what you were looking for, right when you needed it most - kind of like the way Amazon Prime delivers packages quickly and efficiently to millions of people around the world, every day. Yeah, War of the Worlds is not a movie that delivers anything, on any level. Actually, it’s barely a movie at all. This embarrassing adaptation must have H.G. Wells spinning in his grave. Very loosely based on his original novel, and blatantly stealing from past adaptations, this movie shows us a side of the story nobody asked for. We get to see the whole thing play out from a government official’s desktop computer and webcam.  In a career worst performance, Ice Cube reacts to stock footage and glitchy shaky cam video for a full hour and a half. The highlights include watching him chat on Microsoft Teams, lurk peop...

  Zach Cregger’s Weapons is a triumphant sophomore feature, catapulting him into the ranks of the most talented filmmakers working in horror today. Ambitiously structured, deliriously twisted and entirely absorbing, this is not only the best horror movie so far this year, but the best movie - period.  Broken into chapters, with each following a different character, the film plays out as more of a mystery crime drama than a traditional horror (at least, it does at first). There are some jump scares here and there, and a constant, eerie feeling of dread, but this isn’t your textbook scary movie. With each passing chapter, we’re given a new perspective, while also unearthing more answers surrounding the kids’ disappearance. The mystery burns slowly, but the revelation of crucial details, and their placement within each chapter is brilliant. You know there’s something sinister at play, but the film deliberately makes you wait quite some time before its first big, heart dropping re...

  Created by Maddy Foley,   Becky Swannick and Katelyn McCulloch.  The series follows Meg, an awkward millennial played by Maddy Foley. Meg is a very anxious, talk out-laud kind of girl who like the title says is very relatable. Meg goes through many issues that an average Millennial woman goes through in life from Loosing her job, to having to interact with people from high-school, trying new trends like spin classes; the list is endless. Meg also speaks out loud and says the things that people usually don’t say in a particular setting which makes her character that much more spectacular. The genius behind the series is the one location specific episodes dedicated to a particular issue or socially awkward moment. It is never easy crafting dialogue that can hold an audience without changing locations but Everybody’s Meg does it in brilliant fashion.  I had the privilege of interviewing Katelyn McCulloch a few years ago for a short film she created titled I Do(n’t)....

  Weapons  is a film that bids farewell to all the tropes we’re used to in even the best of modern horror movies, throwing us first into how a community is affected by such cruel and unexplainable loss. Julia Garner is at the film’s heart as a gentle teacher who suddenly loses all but one of her students — and is quickly blamed by her peers for it. Garner is immediately bondable with the audience due to her desire for answers and peace amidst her unfair situation. But on the other side of the public tensions is what comes off as rage but reveals itself to be fear and desperation in Josh Brolin’s performance as a father hellbent on finding his missing son. His hardness reveals itself as pain and vulnerability and stands out among many others of the actor’s roles. Though writer-director Zach Cregger sets out to make  Weapons  feel far more patient than other horror films, he also goes for broke structurally, stylistically, and graphically. The editing, score, and cinem...

  The Secret Agent is an outstanding balance of tone, telling a story that’s equal parts exciting, tense, and somber. Wagner Moura shines in the magnetic leading role he’s deserved all his career, a noble and seemingly ordinary man risking everything for the right thing. Moura is tender yet hardened and courageous in a role we can connect to and easily root for in every frame of this 158-minute film. But the entire cast is stellar here, creating a marvelous community of allies (and a few foes) around Moura. The film reflects on a dark era in Brazil’s dictatorship, including “forced disappearances” — the regime quietly murdering anyone who speaks out against or disobeys them. It fully conveys its serious matter that resonates, while also having moments of fun. The maximalist style, including the colorful camerawork and score, plays out like a nail-biting caper, and even boasts lots of unexpected humor that allows for personality, humanity, and exhalation.  The final few minutes...

  When’s the last time a movie made you laugh so hard you almost peed your pants? The Naked Gun is unapologetically silly - a comedy that prioritizes showing its audience a hilariously good time. This legacy sequel (which might be the funniest movie of the year so far) is a pitch-perfect successor to Police Squad and the original Naked Gun trilogy.  It would be easy to nitpick the film’s plot, because if you’re going into this expecting an engaging or innovative narrative, you’re gonna be sorely disappointed. The story essentially acts as a means of delivery for the constant onslaught of jokes and visual gags. The comedy rarely lets up, and the generic plot beats hardly matter when the entire theatre is erupting in frequent laughter. As I said, this movie prioritizes humour over everything, and I can guarantee you’re gonna laugh… like, a lot.  In the same spirit as its predecessors, this film dares to be constantly silly, fully leaning into its distinct brand of spoof com...

  Tourist towns are really interesting when you think about them from a local perspective. Especially in film, it’s always focused on the tourist but real people live in towns like Niagara Falls and being a product of your environment, it must make for some really interesting folks. That is where Cloudy Falls comes in.  Rita (Susan Berger) is a elderly custodian at Cloudy Falls Motel and our tour guide on this adventure through all of the wacky and quirky people living all around her that she gets to interact with on a daily Basis. Her commentary, like any good tour guide is full of puns, sarcasm and light-hearted entertainment.  The drama that unfolds is all thanks to our lovely ensemble cast of misfits that make it their job to lie, cheat, steal, and gossip. All of their personalities are amplified by this location. It must be all of the wax in the air.  The Legacy of Cloudy Falls is a really fun ensemble, dark comedy that focuses on the cast of characters, their e...

  Well, fourth time’s the charm I guess. First Steps is far and away the very best Fantastic Four movie (not a high bar to clear, I know), and a refreshing back-to-basics comic book movie to launch the MCU’s phase six.  It’s fitting that Marvel’s first family is the one to wipe the messy multiversal slate clean and take the formula back to its roots. This is wholly and refreshingly its own contained story that isn’t cramming MCU cannon down audiences’ throats at every turn. Is it a revolutionary, game changer for the genre? No, but its narrative and structural simplicity feel like a welcome breath of fresh air in a franchise set on constantly connecting its dozens of entities. The potential world and family ending stakes feel appropriately high, and we’re able to focus on this group of characters without being concerned with how they might tie into a larger picture. Yes, I know it’s coming eventually, but for now, this project functions wonderfully on its own.  Taking pla...

  Together ’s metatextual casting works wonders for its film, with strong direction and visionary moments of body horror. Dave Franco and Alison Brie shine, bringing their real-life chemistry into the film’s smoother and rockier moments of their relationship. The body horror and atmospheric tension cleverly never overshadow the relationship drama that doesn’t hold back, whether awkward or hysterical. The twists or eeriness may not set it apart from other contemporary horror films of similar vibes. However, what it sometimes lacks in humor and originality, it certainly makes up for in gruesome horror and great fun throughout. 4/5 Written by: Gal Balaban