Category: drama
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The Irishman [2019] ★★★½
Martin Scorsese has done it again. Decades of experience run through his latest cinematic masterpiece “The Irishman”. So what better way to celebrate than to bring along Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and an incredible supporting cast that includes Harvey Keitel, Ray Romano, Anna Paquin, Bobby Cannavale and Jesse Plemons? “The Irishman” is an…
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The Good Liar [2019] ★★½
In a multiplex filled with mostly blockbusters, it’s not too bad to spend some time with veteran actors in a thriller that keeps coming at you with twists and turns. “The Good Liar” is directed by Bill Condon and stars Ian McKellen as a professional con artist who sets his sight on a recently widowed…
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El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie [2019] ★★★
Alright, bitches, let’s get you up to speed with “Breaking Bad” so far: Walter White died in the series finale, leaving our boy Jesse Pinkman on the run from the police. “El Camino”, written once again by Vince Gilligan and starring Aaron Paul in a role he was born to play, picks up exactly where…
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Joker [2019] ★★★½
At first glance, the man who made such movies as “Old School”, “The Hangover” and “Due Date” seems like an unlikely candidate to direct a standalone film about the caped crusader’s greatest nemesis. But Todd Phillips isn’t messing around here. Fierce, deeply disturbing and gut-wrenching at times, “Joker” is a great movie, probably the best…
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Hustlers [2019] ★★★
Believe the hype: Jennifer Lopez is sensational in “Hustlers”, playing the leader of a former strip club employees who got their revenge on their Wall Street clients following the crash of 2008. How and why? You’ll have to see for yourself. But I will say that I walked in to see this fact-based movie with…
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Ad Astra [2019] ★★★½
This is the science-fiction movie we’ve all been waiting for this year. “Ad Astra”, written and directed by James Gray and starring Brad Pitt in one of the best performances of his career, is a knockout from start to finish. Last year, Damien Chazelle’s underappreciated “First Man” celebrated an intimate bond between Neil Armstrong and…
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The Goldfinch [2019] ★★½
I don’t know what “The Goldfinch” purists will make out of this big screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning book, but even the best ones tend to fall a bit short, especially in the eyes of those dedicated readers. With that aside, I thought the film version was good enough to justify its existence.…
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Where’d You Go, Bernadette [2019] ★★½
It’s not director Richard Linklater’s finest hour, but “Where’d you go Bernadette” benefits from a great performance that makes the overall result worth checking out. Cate Blanchett is sensational as the title character, a manic wife and mother who also suffers from a severe case of social anxiety. I admit: it was hard to warm-up…
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Once Upon A Time In Hollywood [2019] ★★★½
Every Quentin Tarantino movie is an event and should be treated as such. “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”, his 9th movie, is also his first non-Western film since 2009’s “Inglorious Basterds’. But he’s not too far-off (Heck, Even the title of the movie is a nod to Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in…
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The Lion King [2019] ★★★
Much like “Aladdin”, “The Lion King” was a big part of my childhood. Beyond the movie, I’ve played the games, collected figurines, and had pretty much every memorabilia you could think of in the 90’s. Nothing could ever replace that, but I’m always open to a new Disney film, even if it doesn’t add much…
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Midsommar [2019] ★★★½
If there’s one movie that you need to experience this summer, “Midsommar” would be it. This stunning, almost dream-like movie from visionary filmmaker Ari Aster is the year’s most disturbing film. If you’ve seen Aster’s work in last year’s “Hereditary”, you know he’s a director who means business. In “Midsommar”, a film that prides itself…
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The Sun Is Also A Star [2019] ★★½
In modern romantic movies, from the words of Nicholas Sparks to “The Fault in Our Stars”, tears are the ultimate goal. Just get a load of “The Sun is also a Star”. I watched the film version of Nicola Yoon’s novel surrounded by people who probably read the book (I could tell from their excitement).…
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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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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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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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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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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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