A Simple Favor is a Gleefully Icy Comic Noir
I have a confession to make: When I saw Paul Feig’s A Simple Favor, I assumed it was written by Gillian Flynn. It’s not. I was mistaken. The screenplay is actually credited to Jessica Sharzar […]
Wynonna Earp is Scratching the Buffy Itch I Didn’t Know Needed Scratching
Spoiler Warning for all Three Seasons of Wynonna Earp Last week’s episode of Wynonna Earp did something risky with its narrative. It took the season’s most overtly comedic episode and ended it with a gut […]
Review: There’s No Resisting Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again
It would be so easy to be snobbish about Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. It’s a sequel to Mamma Mia!, the 2008 adaptation of the Broadway musical that crammed as many Abba songs as was physically […]
Mission: Impossible-Fallout is a Mission Worth Accepting
Is there a franchise more remarkable than Mission: Impossible? It began in 1996, with director Brian De Palma at the helm, constructing a spy film that trafficked in complicated conspiracies and paranoia and felt like […]
Deadpool 2 Ups its Budget and Stakes but Maintains its Anarchic Edge (Spoiler-Free Review)
Walking into my screening of Deadpool 2, I had some trepidation. After all, 2016’s Deadpool worked because it felt so fresh and different from every other superhero film surrounding it on the release calendar. Much […]
The Death of Stalin Depicts the Absurdity of Life Lived in Terror
No one understands the cynical, selfish drives of the political leaders who represent us better that Armando Ianucci. Best known for the series The Thick of It and Veep, he presents a political maelstrom of […]
Phantom Thread Weaves Its Own Beautiful Magic
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread stitches itself together with the threads of different genres: It’s part bitter romantic comedy, part gothic horror, part chamber drama, and all glossed with a surface level delectability. Its mood […]
Film Review: Paddington 2 Is a Complete Delight
There’s a moment in Paddington 2 in which Phoenix Buchanan (Hugh Grant), a once-celebrated Shakespearean actor, is seen on television. Rather than performing a Hamlet soliloquy or Henry V’s St. Crispin’s Day speech, he’s dressed as a […]
How Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri Became the Year’s Most Divisive Critical Darling
This is a spoiler-filled discussion of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the current Oscar front-runner and a film that a lot of people have a lot of problems with. When I saw Martin McDonagh’s Three […]
The Shape of Water Is a Hopeful Fairy Tale for Our Darkened Times
Guillermo del Toro is a director of boundless passion and zeal. You can feel his enthusiasm and eagerness wafting off the screen. Whether it’s mainstream fare like Pacific Rim or the Hellboy movies or more […]
