“Eighth Grade” is an A+ Examination of Middle School, Zits and All
Kayla Day (Elsie Fisher), the 13-year-old at the center of “Eighth Grade”, is a teen with a YouTube channel. She has only a handful of followers, but the young girl wants to give others her pearls of wisdom. Kayla cajoles young girls, via self-shot videos filmed in her bedroom, to be themselves and act confident. […]
Little Things Make a Big Difference in “Ant-Man and the Wasp”
Of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe properties, Ant-Man is inherently the most comical. Tony Stark may be a glib smart-ass, and Thor, a vain-glorious beef head, but a superhero who can shrink down to the size of a dime immediately trumps all comers with physics. And despite the more serious tones in the MCU’s “Black […]
Film Review: “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” is an Effective Nail-Biter Despite Plot Holes
“Sicario”, meaning hitman in Spanish, was lauded critically and a modest box office movie hit in 2015, raking in around $85 million worldwide. That was enough to warrant a sequel, and it’s entitled “Sicario: Day of the Soldado.” That one translates to “Hitman: Day of the Soldier,” not the best of titles, but the follow-up is exceptionally tense […]
“Boundaries” Is Driven by Its Eccentric Characters
In a summer of ginormous tentpoles and multiple franchise entries, it’s nice to see a modestly budgeted, original film like “Boundaries” appear in Cineplexes. More and more, this kind of film is vanishing from the landscape, but if they’re done as well, as this one, hopefully, it will encourage more such productions. Say what you […]
The “Westworld” Season Finale Opens the Door to a New World
HBO’s “Westworld” series ended its second season June 24th with an enormous opportunity to chart completely new territory, as well as course-correct some of the problems that plagued this year’s 10 episodes. There is no question that the show remains one of TV’s boldest and smartest offerings, but its multiple timelines and fragmented narratives have […]
