Category: GENRE
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Nocturnal Animals [2016] ★★★
I’m ashamed to say that I’m a bit late coming to this movie, but having witnessed Amy Adams in one of the best performances of her career in Denis Villeneuve’s masterpiece “Arrival”, I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into “Nocturnal Animals”. And I wasn’t wrong: this is a scary, stylish, and terrifically twisted film…
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Kong: Skull Island [2017] ★★★
Behold: One of the oldest and most iconic monsters in film history returns to the big screen. Kong has come a long way since he starred in the 1933 classic movie that spawned many spinoffs and reboots (the last of them being Peter Jackson’s majestic 2005 “King Kong”). “Skull Island” was produced by the same…
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Before I Fall [2017] ★★
In this teen flick based on Lauren Oliver’s bestselling book, Zoey Deutch plays a young woman who wakes up every morning to discover that she is reliving Groundhog Day all over again. I’m kidding, of course, but no one can deny the similarities between the two films, which is why it’s so easy to dismiss “Before I…
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Logan [2017] ★★★½
Hugh Jackman’s final outing as Logan is everything you would want from a Wolverine movie: violent, compelling and incredibly entertaining. And yet it seemed too good to be true: the previous two Wolverine adventures were fun, but they lacked soul. Which is why writer-director James Mangold (“Walk The Line”, 3:10 To Yuma”) had to spice…
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A Dog’s Purpose [2017] ★★
The greatest trick “A Dog’s Purpose” tried to pull was convincing its audience that “no animals were harmed during the making of this film”. Prior to the film’s release, a video emerged online, showing a German Shepherd being forced into a water tank to shoot a scene. I tried to ignore this incident as I…
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The Kid Brother [1927] ★★★★
Today I take a trip down memory lane. One of my earliest memories was watching “Harold Lloyd’s World of Comedy”, a compilation of silent comedian Harold Lloyd’s very best moments. Lloyd actually edited the film himself, in 1962, exactly 40 years since his first feature film “Grandma’s Boy” was released. But there’s no doubt in my…
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T2 Trainspotting [2017] ★★★
It took writer John Hodge and director Danny Boyle 20 years to cook up a sequel to “Trainspotting”, one of the most talked about movies of the 90’s and a cult classic. Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller and Ewen Bremmer were in their mid-20’s when the first film was released. Now they’re all back in “T2”,…
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Hidden Figures [2016] ★★★
I don’t pretend to understand everything about “Hidden Figures”, about three brilliant women who worked for NASA in the early 1960’s, but instead of being put off, I found myself intrigued, even wanting to know more about the work they did following the events of this film. Taraji P. Henson is perfectly cast as a mathematical genius…
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Dalida [2016] ★★★
I can’t remember a time when my mom didn’t play Dalida records in our house. As far as I knew, Dalida has enjoyed enormous popularity all around the world, largely because of hit songs like “Laissez-Moi Danser”, “Helwa Ya Baladi”, “Salma Ya Salama” and many more. But what I didn’t know is that off stage,…
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Gold [2017] ★★½
I can’t imagine anyone other than Matthew McConaughey in the role of Kenny Wells, a Nevada prospector who teamed up with a mining engineer in the 1980’s to dig for Gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. McConaughey is fully committed to his role, transforming himself once again, both physically and mentally. I’d call the…
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The Last Face [2016] ★
How can a movie have a powerful message and still suck so bad? Director Sean Penn’s attempt at telling a love story amidst a political conflict in Africa is a slow, stupefyingly dull mess from start to finish. What’s even worse is all the talented people who wasted their time on this. Javier Bardem and…
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Fist Fight [2017] ★★½
I did not expect to laugh as much I did. Director Richie Keen usually specializes in made-for-TV comedy (“It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”), which means this is his first feature film. Though it has that “TV” feel, I have to admit: “Fist Fight” is likable and funny, even as it covers familiar territory. It earns…
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Listen (Ismaii) [2017] ★★★
After a series of disappointing Lebanese movies (even “Nuts” was a crushing disappointment), it’s refreshing to encounter a local movie that I can genuinely recommend. Filmmaker Philippe Aractingi (“Bosta”, “Under The Bombs”, “Heritages”), who has been making feature films for over a decade, said that he wanted to tackle something completely different this time, and…
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Movies to watch this Valentine’s day (or any other day)
I’m not here to tell you to watch a Nicholas Sparks movie or (God forbid) “50 Shades of Grey”. This is a list of good movies that you can enjoy alone or with your partner over beer (yes, beer) and pizza (why the hell not?).As far away as possible from the Hollywood formula, the “Before”…
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Fifty Shades Darker [2017] ★
I can think of 3 ways to torture your Valentine date this year: buy them a crappy giant teddy bear from Malik’s bookshop, force them to read/watch any Nicholas Sparks story, or just take them to see “Fifty Shades Darker”, the sequel to the equally terrible “Fifty Shades of Grey“, released a couple of years ago.…
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John Wick: Chapter 2 [2017] ★★★
Rule number one: Check your brain at the door. Rule number two: Don’t ask questions. That’s the best way to enjoy this tense, ass-kicking sequel to the 2014 surprise hit “John Wick”. Like its predecessor, this one relies on non-stop gun fights to satisfy fans of B-action movies. You know who you are. I admit:…
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Rings [2017] ★½
It’s the curse of the horror sequels and reboots. You get one or two decent films and the studio decides to fuck it all up by releasing one pointless sequel after the other (I’m looking at you, “Saw” and “Final Destination”). I’m a huge fan of the original Japanese film “Ringu”, and I welcomed its…
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Arsenal [2017] ★
The first real bad movie of 2017 stars non other than the legendary Nicolas Cage and…wait for it… John Cusack! Though they’re both reduced to supporting roles, you still can’t help but feel sorry for them for starring in almost anything these days, just for the sake of a quick buck. “Arsenal” is a travesty,…
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The Lego Batman Movie [2017] ★★★
To say that Lego Batman was the funniest character in 2014’s “The Lego Movie” would be an understatement (at least for me). Naturally, they had to give him his own “Lego” movie, and it’s everything I hoped it would be: fast-paced, action-packed and a lot fun to watch. But all this wouldn’t mean a damn…
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The Autopsy Of Jane Doe [2016] ★★★
Up until the crazy climax, this horror movie starring Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox allows Norvegian director Andre Ovredal to earn his stripes as a master of terror. He does a fine job at creeping the hell out of us, telling the story of a father and son who work as a team of coroners…
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