Action fizzle: Mile 22 builds it up but cannot deliver
If Peter Berg was more interested in emulating Michael Mann than Michael Bay, Mile 22 might be something. An international thriller based around getting a high-value asset from point A […]
The Spy Who Dumped Me gets smart in the end
Don’t judge The Spy Who Dumped Me by its first 20 minutes, because if you bail on what seems like another forgettable high-concept frenemy gross-out fest, you’ll miss the best […]
Taking the lead: Fallout is an MI franchise standout
For a series where every installment feels more like a product of inevitability than inspiration, credit is due to the Mission: Impossible series for its commitment to one-upping itself. If […]
The Equalizer 2 can’t match its predecessor
Denzel, by his presence alone, has the ability to make a bad movie good and a good movie great, and director Antoine Fuqua is best known for swinging for the […]
Sorry to Bother You is seriously entertaining
Revolutions are always messy affairs, and so is revolutionary art. But without the trailblazing, reckless spirit of innovation and true inspiration, you don’t get works of originality and beauty like […]
Movie review: The First Purge offers catharsis through crisis
Credit to those responsible for the Purge series for recognizing its potential for redemption. What began as yet another movie with a promising premise but disappointing execution has become the […]
Movie review: Badassery undermines Sicario: Day of the Soldado
The U.S. government’s current definition of terrorism, according to Sicario: Day of the Soldado’s Secretary of Defense James Riley (Matthew Modine), is the use of violence to achieve political ends. […]
Jurassic’s Fallen Kingdom careens off beaten path
Why is it that sequels so bent on continuing stories and fleshing out backstories are much more confusing? It’s a curious thing that Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom places such a […]
Movie review: Tag misses the mark between laughs
Is a bad movie made better because it’s funny, or is a funny movie made worse because it’s bad? And if it’s occasionally hilarious but totally dead in the water […]
Movie review: Hereditary taps the dark side of the psyche
Ari Aster’s Hereditary may be the best, scariest, and most effective American horror film in years. Not because it has the loudest scares, not because its ghosts have the creepiest […]