Category Archives: Reviews
REVIEW: “Spider-Man: Far From Home” is a fitting epilogue to the saga of Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Spider-Man: Far From Home is a solid piece of story-telling about the burden of carrying on a legacy that defines you in the eyes of others and aspiring to be your own man. As the epilogue to Phase 4 of
REVIEW: Midsommar (2019)
Posted by Kirby Nelson
Directorial debuts, especially in the horror realm, tend to be the definition of hit or miss. The knockout entries in the former category (classics like George Romero’s, “Night of the Living Dead,” David Cronenberg’s “Eraserhead,” Tom Holland’s “Fright Night” and
REVIEW: Annabelle Comes Home (2019)
Posted by Kirby Nelson
“Miss me?” With barely two years passed since the surprisingly excellent sequel, “Annabelle: Creation” and a scant half decade of life for the franchise, the titular deadly doll has finally come home to haunt the family of Ed and Lorraine
BLU-RAY REVIEW: Us (2019) Blu-Ray Release from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (2019)
Posted by Victor Moreno
A film with great ideas and a flawed execution; Jordan Peele’s Us hits Blu-Ray with a plethora of special features that really open up the ideas involved in the execution and fundamental themes in the film. Going into 2019, one
REVIEW: 5B opens a window to the nascent era of the 1980s AIDS epidemic and spotlights the unseen human element that rose up in its wake.
Posted by Victor Moreno
While directors Dan Knauss and Paul Haggis’ film 5B does an amazing job of putting the viewer in the midst of the xenophobia and fear surrounding the rise of the AIDS epidemic, the true wonder spotlighted is the human spirit
REVIEW: SHAFT is a throwback to the buddy cop comedies of the 80’s and the original blacksploitation classic.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Black-ish creator and Girls Trip co-writer Kenya Barris along with Family Guy’s Alex Barnow craft a script that follows the too cool to suffer fools blueprint of the original franchise, while embedding it with a sense of the urban culture
REVIEW: TOY STORY 4 brings an emotional close to the story of Woody and the gang.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Loyalty to those we care about and knowing when to let go are central themes in this bittersweet entry in Pixar’s signature series. I think growing up, most people have a toy or blanket or plush that they carried everywhere
REVIEW: THE DEAD DON’T DIE – an exercise in the zombie film genre that fails to truly spring to life.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Director Jim Jarmusch continues to play with the idea of genre deconstruction with his work; this time tackling the zombie film canon. Yet, despite some impressive names & Jarmusch’s signature wryness, the film disappoints and struggles to utter what defines
REVIEW: THEY COME KNOCKING makes an attempt to spin a new kind of ghost story for Father’s Day.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Blumhouse’s latest for Hulu’s monthly Into The Dark series melds elements of The Hills Have Eyes & Poltergeist but suffers from largely unlikeable characters acting against their own best interests to the nth degree. Upon the first watch of They
REVIEW: I AM MOTHER is an intriguing post-modern take on the idea of a robot apocalypse.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Wearing its influences on its sleeve, I Am Mother plays on the notion of robot apocalypse with the flavor of James Cameron’s Terminator by way of Children of Men. By and large, the most effective and critically reviewed science fiction
REVIEW: Black Mirror Season 5 hits on some provacative points in Striking Vipers, but provides overall mixed bag of social commentary in Smithereens and Rachel, Jack & Ashley Too.
Posted by Victor Moreno
The latest season of Black Mirror hit Netflix on Thursday, June 5th with three new and highly anticipated episodes in a truncated fifth season. This season was something of a surprise as most of us thought that Netflix’s Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Black
REVIEW: X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX brings Fox era of X-Men Films to close with strong team ensemble film that frustrates with potential of what could have been.
Posted by Victor Moreno
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX, writer/director Simon Kinberg’s directorial debut, delivers what fans have asked for years: an actual X-Men team ensemble comic book space opera that feels authentic to the comic book despite Fox’s mishmash of timeline jumping and missing characters.
REVIEW: BRIGHTBURN conjures up a new genre: the superhero sociopath slasher.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Director David Yarovesky directs this dark spin on Man of Steel from writers Brian & Mark Gunn that plays with the Superman myth in interesting ways but loses its way due to characterization by plot. It’s not anything new in
REVIEW: GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS shines when kaiju action takes center screen, but dims when human element is the spotlight.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Godzilla: King of The Monsters presents the monster movie battle spectacles that you always wanted to see and movies like Rampage failed to deliver. But much like Godzilla (2014), it’s the bridge sequences between those fights with some puzzling acting
REVIEW: JOHN WICK CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM delivers visceral thrills and rich world-building worthy of the franchise.
Posted by Victor Moreno
John Wick 3 continues the tradition of epic world-building and spectacular stunt-driven setpieces established in previous films in the franchise while delivering a highly serialized third entry into its pantheon. John Wick 3 picks up exactly where John Wick 2
FILM REVIEW: LIFE LIKE subverts expectations and delivers human drama about the nature of one’s insecurities.
Posted by Victor Moreno
While initially appearing to be a film in the mold of Ex Machina that teases the fine line between humanity and A.I., Life Like instead delivers a look at the void of ennui in modern life. When I first started
FILM REVIEW: ALL THAT WE DESTROY is an interesting modern take on the Frankenstein mythos.
Posted by Victor Moreno
Blumhouse’s film anthology series on Hulu ‘Into the Dark’ serves up a new entry that may seem similar to Happy Death Day on the surface but bears more of it’s DNA from Mary Shelley’s classic horror tale. Hulu and Blumhouse’s
FILM REVIEW: POKEMON DETECTIVE PIKACHU is this generation’s answer to Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Posted by Victor Moreno
With a generation weaned on the cartoons and various video and trading card games featuring Pokemon, their first live-action film appearance transcends their mythology in a noir-inspired mystery that engages non-fans and fans alike. There’s something to be said when
