It’s very common for members of Hong Kong (HK) cinema to take on multiple career paths through their lifetime. Many start as stunt people, working their way up to actor and then, often, to the position of writing and/or directing,… Read More ›
Reviews
Have the touch and the power with “Transformers One” on 4K UHD home video.
August 8th, 1986, is a big day for Transformers fans. It’s the date that the fully-animated The Transformers: The Movie would release in theaters, beckoning its many young fans to come see its Autobot hero Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter… Read More ›
Aardman’s signature duo Wallace and Gromit return in family comedy “Vengeance Most Fowl.”
In the world of animation, most know names like Walt Disney, DreamWorks, Illumination, and Studio Ghibli. Either in hand-drawn or CG animation, they have created stories that move audiences by stirring their emotion. But there’re also studios like LAIKA and… Read More ›
“A Complete Unknown” fails to define the undefinable.
Director James Mangold does not make bad movies. He makes good movies (The Wolverine; Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) and great movies (Ford V. Ferrari; Copland; Logan). He’s a class-act craftsman but he’s no revolutionary, and neither is… Read More ›
“Nosferatu” beckons you to have yourself a gothic horror Christmas.
In the liminal space between myths and truth, magic and science, lie all the things that go bump in the night, the things that exist to haunt us, to unnerve us, to compel us to question our reason despite evidence… Read More ›
With “The Invisible Raptor,” you’ll never see it coming.
The Invisible Raptor is absolutely absurd, completely outlandish, and an undying love letter to Steven Spielberg. If you were of a certain age in 1993 like me, then Spielberg’s Jurassic Park probably was a major paradigm shift in your developing… Read More ›
Before you “Get Away,” be sure to stow your colonialistic tendencies under your seat.
In an always-on world, there’s something beautiful about traveling somewhere without easy access to tech. It helps one recenter and, if with others, reconnect. Traveling is, of course, a privilege and should be treated as deferential to the place one… Read More ›
Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller “Babygirl” reinvigorates the genre. [TIFF]
Going from directing a whodunnit millennial comedy in Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) to creating a power dynamic that blends Fifty Shades of Grey (2015) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999) (maybe that’s just because of the lead actress, but there are… Read More ›
Andrew DeYoung’s cringe comedy “Friendship” provides endless joy. [TIFF]
In his first time writing and directing a feature, Andrew DeYoung manages to craft the quintessential perfectly unhinged cringe comedy of the 21st century, Friendship. It’s a movie that is so absolutely and unabashedly insane, it causes the audience to… Read More ›
Hoult, Law, and Sheridan enthrall in Justin Kurzel’s latest project, true crime thriller “The Order.” [TIFF]
From Zach Baylin, the writer of Creed III (2023), King Richard (2021), Gran Turismo (2023), Bob Marley: One Love (2024), and The Crow (2024), and Justin Kurzel, the director of Macbeth (2015) and Assassin’s Creed (2016), comes one of the… Read More ›
See what happens when the clock strikes midnight in “Watchmen: Chapter II” on home video.
Whether literally or metaphorically, nostalgia is always for sale. By tapping into your rose-colored memories, companies have you ready to buy anything under the guise of it helping you escape the hardships of the present for even a moment. Doesn’t… Read More ›
“Alien: Romulus” bursts out on digital with a worthy clutch of special features.
The Alien franchise has become a staple in horror and science fiction genres. Granted, after 1979’s Alien and 1986’s Aliens, the series had a rocky track record. Films like Prometheus (2012) and Alien Covenant (2017) had some hoping they could… Read More ›
Arise. A new quest awaits in your local theater for “Solo Leveling” in the composite film “–ReAwakening–.”
Life is not like a video game. Sure, you can improve your health through exercise and your wealth through education, work, and luck, and you shouldn’t smash some bad guys and collect their purse or take their clothes and/or belongings…. Read More ›
The Farrelly Brothers take a swing and a miss at a holiday classic in “Dear Santa.”
The Farrelly brothers have brought us a range of works including There’s Something About Mary (1998), Osmosis Jones (2001), Shallow Hal (2001), Fever Pitch (2005), Dumb and Dumber (1994), and more. Their newest outing starring Jack Black (Shallow Hal; Kung… Read More ›
Adapted for the silver screen, “The Piano Lesson” is a haunt of a good time.
As fireworks turn the ground red, white, and blue during the Fourth of July, 1911, it becomes immediately obvious that Malcolm Washington (Benny Got Shot; The Dispute), the younger son of Denzel Washington (Malcolm X; Training Day), was the right… Read More ›
A strong cast cannot lift “The Last Showgirl” above its mundane tropes. [TIFF]
Movies are like baseball, three strikes and you’re out. Every artist has a bad outing or something that gets lost along the way, not communicated as intended to their audience, so benefit of the doubt has to be instilled. However,… Read More ›
New “The Crow” adaptation is a tale of gods and monsters that never coalesces to reach the heights it aspires to.
Remakes and adaptations are constants in entertainment. For one, they offer safety for skittish executives worried more about their bottom line and upsetting stockholders than taking risks with an unvetted intellectual property (IP). For two, sometimes there are stories that… Read More ›
Meet Me at the Movies: Swords, Sandals & Sequels – Noel & Thomas Manning Review “Gladiator II.”
Noel and Thomas Manning sharpen their swords and dust off their sandals to tackle Gladiator II, Ridley Scott’s long-awaited return to the coliseum! This legacy sequel from Paramount Pictures features an all-star cast, including Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal,… Read More ›
“The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” is a grade-A atomic-age blast.
Based on evidence over the last few years, it seems pretty clear that Warner Bros. Discovery Entertainment CEO David Zaslav either hates being a success, doesn’t understand the industry he’s involved in, or merely wants to ensure he gets a… Read More ›
“There Was, There Was Not” keeps the reality of a recently-gone homeland from fading into fairytale. [NOFF]
In our era of perpetual information, it’s nearly impossible to keep track of all the horrific embattlements going on across the world. The two most top of mind are the Russo-Ukrainian War and the Israel-Gaza War, but there’s also violence… Read More ›