Category: The Twenty-First Century
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All Marvel Movies Ranked
Iron Man 2 [2010] Following the huge success of 2008’s “Iron Man” (which also kicked-off the Marvel Cinematic Universe), I personally had high expectations for this sequel. To say that I was disappointed would truly be an understatement. With half-baked ideas and a villain that didn’t really bring anything new to the table (Mickey Rourke…
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After [2019] ★½
You can see it coming a mile away. Naive young college girl (Josephine Langford) meets and falls in love with a bad boy (Hero Fiennes Tiffin). They embark on a somehow “impossible” relationship (I believe the word I’m really looking for is “toxic” but who am I to judge?). Then something draws them apart. You…
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The Perfect Date [2019] ★★
I may have tweeted about my hate for Noah Centineo’s Netflix movies (he really is the same character in every film), but if you’re looking for a guilty pleasure that you’ll probably end up forgetting the next day, “The Perfect Date” may well be that movie for you. It’s corny and predictable, and you’ve probably…
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Hellboy [2019] ★★
If you’d told me last year that I would be reviewing a “Hellboy” movie in 2019, I would have wanted it to be a sequel directed by Guillermo Del Toro. His two films were nothing short of entertaining, and Ron Perlman fully embodied the character of Hellboy (to a point where I failed to see…
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Pet Sematary [2019] ★★★
To say that this version of Stephen King’s “Pet Sematary” surpasses the 1989 original would be an understatement. The old one was a product of its time and never truly rose above the routine. The new one doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it’s well-made, perfectly cast, and it left me shattered. For that, credit director…
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Shazam! [2019] ★★★
In a DC universe already crammed with so many superheroes, “Shazam!” emerges as something fresh and unique. What’s more, Zachary Levi is fully up to the task (incidentally, he also starred in one of Marvel’s funniest films, “Thor: Ragnarok”). Armed with superpowers and a smart-ass attitude, Levi has a blast playing 14 year old Billy…
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Dumbo [2019] ★★★
Alright, let’s take care of the elephant in the room right away (I’m giggling all alone here but I swear no pun was intended): this live-action version of “Dumbo” was never going to replace the beloved 1941 classic. The old one means so much to me to let any version ruin it. And there’s no…
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Us [2019] ★★½
Writer-director Jordan Peele follows up 2017’s surprise hit “Get Out” (which landed him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay) with yet another ambitious horror movie. I say that with full confidence because “Us” has all the ingredients that made “Get Out” so successful. So why did it not fully satisfy me? It can’t be the…
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Hotel Mumbai [2019] ★★★
Movies based on horrific real events tend to be hit and miss, but it didn’t take “Hotel Mumbai” more than 5 minutes to pull me in and keep me on the edge of my seat. Writer-director Anthony Maras isn’t content in telling things as they were. He wants us to be spectators to the horrors…
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Five Feet Apart [2019] ★★
I bet you couldn’t wait for the next movie about two sick teens who fall in love. I’m kidding, of course, but if you’ve seen “The Fault in our Stars”, then you probably know what to expect from a movie like “Five Feet Apart”. Personally I’ve enjoyed the former and I don’t mind sentimentality in…
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Captain Marvel [2019] ★★★
By now, you probably know that “Captain Marvel” will play a major role in the upcoming “Avengers: Endgame”. So it’s only natural that Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers gets a standalone film at this stage in the Marvel cinematic universe. And you couldn’t ask for a better movie to make your mouth water before the highly…
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Isn’t It Romantic [2019] ★★
Sometimes movies that were originally scheduled for a theatrical release end up on Netflix, and for a good reason. I’m not saying that “Isn’t It Romantic” is a complete disaster, but it’s not worth 10 bucks either. I like Rebel Wilson, and I was rooting for this to be good. Alas, after an intriguing premise,…
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Escape Room [2019] ★★½
If you’re a sucker for escape rooms, then this movie was especially designed for you. It’s formulaic for sure, and it borrows a lot from such movies as “Cube” and “Saw”, but it kept me on the edge of my seat. You can practically picture the filmmakers plotting their next move as soon as the…
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Happy Death Day 2U [2019] ★★½
“Happy Death Day” caught me off guard with its intriguing premise and constant twists and turns. If you remember clearly, Jessica Rothe played a college student who keeps reliving the day of her murder over and over again. The “Groundhog Day”/Horror crossover worked well enough, and I found myself recommending it to a lot of…
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Alita: Battle Angel [2019] ★★★
Judging from the early reviews, you’d think that “Alita: Battle Angel” is bound to flop. But now that I’ve seen it, I can tell you that it has enough visual effects and production values for two movies, and I had a good time with it. For one, it’s hard not to admire producer James Cameron’s…
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Velvet Buzzsaw [2019] ★½
If you’ve seen Jake Gyllenhaal in Dan Gilroy’s terrific directing debut “Nightcrawler“, then you know why I was looking forward to their next collaboration together, this time on Netflix. But unlike their previous film, I couldn’t stand “Velvet Buzzsaw”. I admire what Gilroy was trying to do this time around, but I just couldn’t buy…
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What Men Want [2019] ★½
“How bad can it be?” I kept asking myself before I walked in to see this movie. The 2000 movie “What Women Want” starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt wasn’t innovative in any way, but it was light and charming. But as soon as “What Men Want” started, I had an immediate reaction of annoyance…
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Cold War [2018] ★★★½
This stunning movie from Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski is up for 3 Academy Awards, and deservedly so. Shot in beautiful black and white and set against the backdrop of the 1950’s Cold War in Poland, Pawlikowski tells an impossible love story between two musicians: Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a jazz musician putting together a traditional folk…
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BlacKkKlansman [2018] ★★★½
I missed “BlacKkKlansman” on two occasions: first time in Montreal last summer and the second time was around a month ago when it was briefly released locally. So I might be coming late to it, but having heard all the good buzz (including the 6 Academy Award nominations), I expected nothing less than a good…
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Stan & Ollie [2018] ★★★½
First a personal story: for as long as I can remember, Laurel and Hardy were always a part of my life. When I was a kid my grandfather made it his mission to introduce me and my cousins to the famous duo. Needless to say, we were all hooked. So on my way to see…
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