Tag Archives: Jennifer Lawrence

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Dark Phoenix (2019) Movie Review

June 13, 2019 Alex Brannan 2 Comments

Dark Phoenix, instead of soaring into theaters with a fiery majesty, landed to roost with an unceremonious whimper. Battered by poor reviews and poorer box office returns on its inaugural weekend, this final (unless The New Mutants ends up finally getting a release) Fox X-Men release is limping its way to the finish line.

But Dark Phoenix is by no means the worst X-Men film of the franchise. In fact, it succeeds in crucial ways at which the previous film Continue reading Dark Phoenix (2019) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Red Sparrow (2018) Movie Review

March 3, 2018 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

In Red Sparrow, Jennifer Lawrence plays ballerina Dominika Egorova, who, after a less-than-accidental accident leaves her leg broken, is brought into the world of the Russian secret service by her uncle (Matthias Schoenaerts). She is sent to a special school that trains “Sparrows,” government agents who are trained to seduce their targets and to withstand any amount of force.

And, mostly, it’s uncomfortable. But it’s not uncomfortable in any productive way. We see Lawrence’s Dominika be subjected to Continue reading Red Sparrow (2018) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Horror, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Mother! (2017) Movie Review

September 15, 2017 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

In the New York Post review of Darren Aronofsky’s new feature film Mother!, critic Sara Stewart calls the film “a Rorschach test of a movie to interpret however you like.” Not only is this statement accurate, but it is the fatal flaw that sinks this unwieldy monster of a film.

There is so much to unpack with Mother! that it becomes not a question of “what?” but a question of Continue reading Mother! (2017) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Leave it, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Passengers (2016) Movie Review

December 21, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

The Avalon II is on a 120 year course to a second Earth: Homestead II. 5,000 passengers sleep in hibernation pods until four months of the voyage remain. Except, Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) wakes up 90 years too soon.

Passengers wants to be a lot of things. A Castaway story. A Titanic story. A 2001: A Space Odyssey story. What it fails to be is Continue reading Passengers (2016) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Movie Review

May 29, 2016 Alex Brannan Leave a comment

In Ancient Egypt, a god is buried. But it is not a god, it is a mutant. Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac). Apocalypse can unlock the true potential in any other mutant, and then use those powers for his own design. That, and he can turn people to dust. After his resurfacing in the 1980s, mutants must band together and reform the X-Men in order to take down Apocalypse and his Four Horsemen.

The first act of the film sets up strong characters and their motivations. We get to see a young Scott Summers (Tye Sheridan) as a teen growing up with uncontrolled powers. Magneto (Michael Fassbender) gets a strong emotional arc to once again Continue reading X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) Movie Review →

2016 Academy Awards, Award Ceremonies

2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Actress

January 16, 2016 Alex Brannan 3 Comments

I’ll start this prediction article with my personal bias. I loved Brie Larson in Room, although I never saw her as a frontrunner for the Golden Globe. As such, I was pleasantly surprised to see her take home the award, and it has given me new hope that she could win the Oscar.

Larson still faces tough competition, however. Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence (both Academy favorites) could easily Continue reading 2016 Academy Awards Predictions – Best Actress →