Film and TV Reviews and Podcasts
Now that 2024 is behind us, it’s time to reflect on the past year and share my thoughts on the best films of the year and some stand out moviegoing experiences. Below are my honorable mentions and my top ten movies of the year, along with links to the coverage I provided on the title.
Director: Trish Sie Writer: Whit Anderson Cast: Gina Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr, Tom Ellis, Augustus Prew, Joel Courtney, Lisa Koshy, and Ego Nwodim For sportswriter Mack (Gina Rodriguez) and her tight knit group of friends, the best way to unwind after a long day working in a struggling industry is to hit the bars and run various “plays” on patrons in […]
Director: Laura Chinn Writer: Laura Chinn Cast: Nico Parker, Laura Linney, and Woody Harrelson Suncoast deftly juggles the story of a teenager’s burgeoning friendships and social drama with her single mother’s harried behavior at the hospice center where her son is approaching the end of his battle with brain cancer. Set in 2005 against the backdrop of the high profile Terri […]
Director: Molly McGlynn Writer: Molly McGlynn Cast: Maddie Ziegler, Emily Hampshire, Djouliet Amara, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Ki Griffin Molly McGlynn’s Fitting In is a teen coming of age film with a lot of heart and a unique perspective. When 16 year old Lindy (Maddie Ziegler) is diagnosed with a reproductive disorder called MRKH, which essentially means she was born with an underdeveloped […]
Director: Matthew Vaughn Writer: Jason Fuchs Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston, Sofia Boutella, with Ariana DeBose and Catherine O’Hara and Samuel L. Jackson Argylle, Matthew Vaughn’s latest espionage centered action film, doesn’t match the heights of his Kingsman franchise and is hampered by a plot that’s not engaging enough to warrant the […]
Premise: Follows Orion, a young boy who is afraid of heights, pets, and rendered nearly catatonic by the worst of all perils: the dark. The Dark takes Orion on a nighttime trip to prove to the youngster that the only thing to fear is fear itself. Director: Sean Charmatz Writer: Charlie Kaufman (Based on the book by Emma Yarlett) Cast: […]
Premise: Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as a conflict breaks out on Earth. Reeling, the US and Russian astronauts receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary. Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite Writer: Nick Shafir Cast: Ariana DeBose, Chris Messina, John Gallagher Jr, Masha Mashkova, Costa Ronin, and Pilou Asbæk […]
Premise: Struggling prog-rock musician William Brown finds himself in a living nightmare when he accidentally kills Vlad, the neighbor from hell. Director: Josh Forbes Writers: Charles Pieper and Jared Logan (Story by Charles Pieper and Mike Benner) Cast: Jonah Ray Rodrigues, Alex Winter, Kiran Deol, Christian Calloway, Randee Heller, DeMorge Brown, Jon Daly, Phil Hendrie, Ryan Kattner, and Thomas Lennon […]
As 2023 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the past year and share my thoughts on the best films of the year and some stand out moviegoing experiences. Below are my honorable mentions and my top ten movies of the year, along with links to the coverage I provided on the title.
Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire (2023) Premise: When a peaceful settlement on the edge of a distant moon finds itself threatened by the armies of a tyrannical ruling force, a mysterious stranger living among its villagers becomes their best hope for survival. Director: Zack Snyder Writers: Shay Hatten, Kurt Johnstad, and Zack Snyder Cast: […]
Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is an intense meditation on the impact of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s work on the Manhattan Project and the immense weight he carried following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The film naturally incorporates several tried and true trademarks of Nolan’s filmmaking toolkit such as a nonlinear structure, practical effects, IMAX film, and an absorbing sound design. With Oppenheimer, these staples of Nolan’s filmography yield some of the most visceral images he has ever put to film in a movie that is jaw dropping in its profound look at the burden cast upon the man who created the atomic bomb.
In Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club, four women from a small community in Ireland make a pilgrimage to Lourdes, each in search of their own miraculous spiritual and physical cure. While on their trip, they gain much needed perspective while also hashing out their differences and confronting longstanding grudges among themselves.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is not only a near perfect culmination to the MCU’s most heartfelt group of characters. It’s also the best Marvel movie since 2019’s Endgame (with Spider-Man: No Way Home being a very close second). The heart and emotion on display in this film will stick with audiences for a while and will likely leave many weeping in the theater.
Despite a couple choices that don’t particularly gel with the overall franchise, the majority of Scream VI works well to deliver the fun slasher frights for which the franchise is known. Though it’s not the franchise love letter that Scream ’22 was, Radio Silence is still breaking new ground in one of the genre’s most beloved and entertaining franchises.
As a sub-franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Ant-Man is a strange anomaly. Initially the many years long passion project of Edgar Wright, Ant-Man was handed off to Peyton Reed in 2014 when Wright exited due to creative differences. The trajectory of the MCUs “little guy” from his humble and heist-driven first film through one sequel, one Civil War, and one saga-concluding Endgame is substantial. But it’s the humor and extreme likability of Paul Rudd’s work in the franchise that makes it all make sense within its greater placement within the MCU. Now Reed is at the helm of his 3rd Ant-Man film and charged with bringing the Multiverse Saga’s big bad, Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conquerer, to the big screen.
