Tag Archives: movie review

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

10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Movie Review

March 11, 2016 Alex Brannan

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), in the process of leaving her boyfriend, suddenly becomes party to a car wreck. She awakens in a concrete room chained to the wall. An effectively desperate Winstead struggles just to reach her phone in a tense scene that culminates in the menacing introduction of Michelle’s captor Howard (John Goodman).

This early standoff between Winstead and Goodman is fascinating, although it would have played better with Continue reading 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Drama, Like It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) Movie Review

March 4, 2016 Alex Brannan

Kim Baker (Tina Fey) is a low-on-the-totem-pole journalist sent to Afghanistan to cover the war there. While there, she deals with gender and cultural politics, as well as personal relationships with military and press personnel.

In Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the acting performances are Continue reading Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Indie Films, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Romance

Tell Me Sweet Something (2015) Movie Review

March 4, 2016 Alex Brannan

Tell Me Sweet Something follows young author Moratiwa (Nomzamo Mbatha) through the trials of artistry and romance.

Mbatha holds down the fort at the head of the film well. Her character the most well-rounded of the lot, she is given a lot more to work with. But, all the same, she embodies the character well.

Fulfilling the obligatory role of comedic relief male sidekick is Thomas Gumede as Gordon. Albeit a tired character, Continue reading Tell Me Sweet Something (2015) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Indie Films, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words), Short Films

The Talk (2015) Short Film Review

February 22, 2016 Alex Brannan

The Talk, from director Joe Otting, is a two-person short depicting a conversation between a father and his young daughter. This conversation begins with an innocent confession, one that every child needs to hear at some point in their life, but then it takes a nosedive into a frank, awkward realm.

The short features performances from John Hoogenakker and Isabella Crovetti-Cramp, who is most recognizable from her appearance in Continue reading The Talk (2015) Short Film Review →

All Movie Reviews, Drama, Like It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

Race (2016) Movie Review

February 19, 2016 Alex Brannan

Race is the biopic of Olympic athlete Jesse Owens. The film follows Owens (Stephan James) as he tackles adversity in 1930s America and Germany. It also explores the relationship between Owens and his down-and-out coach Larry Snyder (Jason Sudeikis).

What it boils down to is that this film is a Continue reading Race (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

The Witch (2016) Movie Review

February 18, 2016 Alex Brannan

The Witch follows the trials of a 17th century New England family banished from society to a home on the outskirts of a threatening woods. They struggle to survive: the crops die, the hunting traps bear no food, the chicken’s eggs bear stillborn chicks. But what is to blame for the family’s misfortune? For the Puritanical family, their misfortune becomes a hysteria over religious heathenism.

The film is marked by quiet. At the film’s outset, we get a flurry of Continue reading The Witch (2016) Movie Review →

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

Zoolander 2 (2016) Movie Review

February 12, 2016 Alex Brannan

Sequels can be many things. They can be good…sometimes. Or they can be superficial rehashes. Or they can be pure nostalgia pieces. Or they can be re-imaginings with topical insertions to try and bring an old property into the present day, where these insertions take the place of original comedy.

Zoolander 2 falls mostly into the latter category. Justin Beiber, Uber, and Susan Boyle are featured in early gags, in moments meant to hook the viewer in. These “topical” moments (Susan Boyle = topical?) feel Continue reading Zoolander 2 (2016) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Love It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

Deadpool (2016) Movie Review

February 12, 2016 Alex Brannan

From minute one of Deadpool, it is clear that we are dealing with a wholly unique film. If you didn’t know what you were getting into with this film, the opening credits sequence explains it for your rather efficiently.

Given a film that never Continue reading Deadpool (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Hail Caesar! (2016) Movie Review

February 5, 2016 Alex Brannan

In Hail Caesar!, the latest from the Coen Brothers, Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) is an actor during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He is introduced on-screen in a meta framing—a screening within a screening—portraying a Roman leader in a historical epic a la Spartacus. During filming of this movie, Whitlock is drugged and kidnapped.

Hail Caesar! is the Coen Brothers’ love letter to classical Hollywood cinema. The standard genres of the period are represented: Westerns, historical epics, Broadway musical adaptations, bourgeois romance, etc.

The structural issue of this love letter is that Continue reading Hail Caesar! (2016) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Comedy, Documentary, Indie Films, Love It, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words)

Taxi (2015) Movie Review