Category: The Twenty-First Century
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Artemis Fowl [2020] ★
To say that “Artemis Fowl” is Disney’s worst movie in years would truly be the understatement of the year. Having been delayed several times before it ultimately ended up on Disney +, the movie was doomed to fail right from the start. But I wanted to give it a chance, especially with Kenneth Branagh directing.…
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365 Days [2020] ★
Think of every bad movie you’ve seen (including the preposterous “50 Shades” trilogy), dig deeper and there you’ll find “365 Days”, a film so atrocious and so stupid, it shouldn’t be allowed to exist in this day and age. A truly awful Michele Morrone plays Massimo, a member of the Sicilian mafia family who has…
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Da 5 Bloods [2020] ★★★
Up until a chaotic final act, Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” is a potent and powerful film that is also very entertaining. In telling the story of Four African American veterans who return to Vietnam decades after the war to find the remains of their friends and a stash of buried gold, Lee injects his…
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The Son (El Hijo) [2019] ★★
In this half decent Argentinian Netflix thriller, a man becomes convinced that his wife has switched their newborn baby. We don’t know why or how, but we play along, even when our man drowns in a sea of paranoia and confusion. It’s an intriguing idea that sadly doesn’t live up to its full potential. The…
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Wounds [2019] ★½
Netflix’s “Wounds” is 5% intrigue and 95% a waste of a talented cast. It starts out well enough then quickly degenerates into a confusing mess. Armie Hammer is good as always, but he doesn’t have much to work with. He plays a bartender who finds his life spin out of control when he finds a…
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The Lovebirds [2020] ★★
“The Lovebirds” is the kind of generic comedies that’s best enjoyed from the comfort of your own couch (you can actually stream it on Netflix as we speak). You won’t feel guilty that you’ve spent money on it, and you’ll find yourself checking your phone on multiple occasions. I like Kumail Nanjiani (if you haven’t…
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Ingrid Goes West [2017] ★★½
If you want a film that has a few things to say about the digital age but also manages to be silly and amusing, then “Ingrid Goes West” could be that movie for you. Aubrey Plaza nails her role as Ingrid Thorburn, a social media stalker who moves to LA so she could be closer…
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Horse Girl [2020] ★½
“Horse Girl” is yet another Netflix movie that tries to juggle a lot of themes at once, only to end up falling flat on its face. Alison Brie co-wrote the script and stars as a socially isolated woman who becomes convinced that she is the cloned version of her grandmother. A series of increasingly lucid…
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Scoob! [2020] ★★
As someone who grew up with classic Scooby Doo episodes when they used to air on Cartoon Network back in the 90’s, I was kind of looking forward to a modern revival, mainly because it was advertised as an “origin” story. As it turns out, I enjoyed seeing the old gang back together, but I…
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The Decline [2020] ★★
Netflix’s survival thriller “The Decline” had me going for a while, mostly because it relates to the world we live in right now. A bunch of strangers travel to a remote survivalist training camp in order to prepare for the next epidemic/economic crash (how ironic). Then an accident happens halfway through (no spoilers here since…
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Series Review: Hollywood [2020] ★★★
It’s not the best series you’ll ever see about Hollywood, but I can’t say I wasn’t entertained from start to finish either. Creator Ryan Murphy and his collaborators have crafted a lavish limited series about old Hollywood, which feels damn near irresistible. The time is post-World War II and a group of ambitious actors and…
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The Wrong Missy [2020] ★
Wow. Where do I begin? I may have just witnessed the worst movie of the decade so far (“Like A Boss”, you’re off the hook). This lazy, painfully unfunny comedy starring David Spade and Lauren Lapkus will have you cringing for 90 minutes (if you can make it to the finish line). Spade plays a…
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Capone [2020] ★★
It sounds like Oscar bait: Tom Hardy starring in this fact-based story about notorious gangster Al Capone, who spent his final year suffering from dementia and constant paranoia, before his death at the age of 48. It’s a juicy role for Hardy, the kind awards were created for. Except it’s not, at least not in…
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In The Shadow Of The Moon [2019] ★★
In the era of Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve, a science-fiction thriller like Netflix’s “In The Shadow Of The Moon” may seem underwhelming, and understandably so. We’ve been spoiled over and over again with mind-bending movies that kept us talking for weeks (think “Inception”, “Interstellar” and “Arrival”, to name a few). On the other hand,…
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Coffee & Kareem [2020] ★
Netflix’s “Coffee & Kareem” is only 88 minutes long (including the credits). So why on earth does it feel like an endurance test? It has none of the qualities of a decent comedy, and it’s a long way from Ed Helms’ “The Hangover”. He plays a police officer who teams up with the loudest kid…
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Secret Obsession [2019] ★
Yet another preposterous Netflix thriller about a young woman who returns home following an accident that almost ended her life. She can’t remember who she was or how she ended up here, so it’s up to her husband to reintroduce her to her life. If you can’t figure out where this movie is going from…
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Dolemite Is My Name [2019] ★★★
Simply put, “Dolemite is my Name” is one of Netflix’s finest movies. It gives Eddie Murphy the role of a lifetime, playing Rudy Ray Moore, the underground comedian who rose to fame in the 1970’s and inspired a generation of artists. This is Murphy’s territory, and he lets it bleed, giving a comeback performance that impressed…
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Rattlesnake [2019] ★½
The thing about Netflix’s “Rattlesnake” is that it has an intriguing premise (hence the extra half star): a single mother (Carmen Ejogo) seeks help from a mysterious stranger when her daughter is bitten by a rattlesnake. The price? Take another soul before sundown or her daughter dies. Like I said, this sounds like a set-up…
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Fractured [2019] ★★½
Movies like “Fractured” have been around since…well…forever. Want more proof? Check out Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 superior film “The Lady Vanishes” or its 2005 rip-off “Flightplan” starring Jodie Foster as a mother whose daughter goes missing on a flight from Berlin to America. Netflix’s “Fractured” falls somewhere in between. It’s not great, not by a long…
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The Laundromat [2019] ★★
Steven Soderbergh is a director that I’ve greatly admire over the years, which is why it’s difficult for me to admit that I couldn’t entirely enjoy his latest satire “The Laundromat”, streaming on Netflix. It has an all-star cast (including Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, Sharon Stone, David Schwimmer and James Cromwell!)…
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