Inspired by real life martial artist Yip Man, the Ip Man series of films conveys not just the man, but his impact on his community. Beginning in 2008 with the first film, Ip Man starred Donnie Yen (Rogue One: A… Read More ›
home release
Now may be the best time to curl up at home with a modern adaptation of the classic “Little Women.”
The art we engage with critically shapes who we become as adults. It molds how we view and engage with the world. It shapes our perspective, often subconsciously guiding us through the choices we make. For this review, it was… Read More ›
The minimalism in indie drama “Stray” is both its greatest strength and weakness.
Writer/director Dustin Feneley’s feature film debut, Stray, is a bold swing. An exercise in minimalism, the dialogue is scant, pans are few, scoring is largely absent, and narrative points are inferred more than directly stated. Aspects of this does translate… Read More ›
With the home release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” the Skywalker Saga comes to a close.
Excluding television programs, there are 14 films and one holiday special that are considered canon within the Star Wars universe. Each one adds new perspectives to the larger universe, but all of them are connected by a single storyline explored… Read More ›
Civil War story “Union” is a missed opportunity.
The Civil War is a time period that doesn’t get explored in most movies. Sure, we love to see our World War II movies, whether it’s Saving Private Ryan, Dunkirk, or Hacksaw Ridge, but the Civil War is full of… Read More ›
Bring the immense theatrical scale of “1917” home now.
Of the films to drop in 2019, none impressed this reviewer more from a technical perspective than Sam Mendes’s 1917. Designed, shot, and edited to create a seamless one-take feel, 1917 became one of the year’s most immersive experiences without… Read More ›
Criterion gives the special treatment to another Spike Lee joint, the 2000 satire “Bamboozled.”
When it comes to provocative storytelling, there really is no one else like writer/director Spike Lee. More than any modern artist, Lee minces no words with his films, cutting straight through the bullshit each and every time. In his 2015… Read More ›
Pick up “Spies in Disguise” on home video and join Team Weird.
When the world seems literally about to fall apart, what we need is to remember that we’re all in this together. That, perhaps, the way we’ve been doing things hasn’t been the right way all along. As humans, we tend… Read More ›
Director Clint Eastwood raises the question of social justice in “Richard Jewell,” now available on home video.
In 1996, during the Summer Olympic games, a bomb went off in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, killing one and hurting many others. Though it was security guard Richard Jewell who found and alerted police to a suspicious package at the… Read More ›
Nothing marks “First Love” like drugs, gangs, and absolute mayhem.
There’s something about first love that can be hard to quantify, even when looking back on it. The simultaneous excitement of being attracted to someone else, the endless internal questions trying to figure out what it means, the unyielding terror… Read More ›