Reviews

Body Double is Hitchcock by way of pornography and lots and lots of cocaine. It encapsulates the 80s in many ways and modernized several suspense/thriller cliches for the, then, current times. Craig Wasson is an appealing everyman who can't seem to catch a break when he's let go from his latest acting job due to claustrophobia and he finds his girlfriend cheating on him. He meets a nice friend who sets him up with a comfy house to sit that comes with an alluring beauty across the way who he develops a voyeuristic obsession with. Before long, Wasson is caught up in a murder mystery and has to take a detour into the realm of adult film to get to the bottom of it all. It's enjoyable, over the top sleaze and some exceptional suspense set pieces. The plot won't stand up to any major logic tests, but it goes by at such a brisk clip that you won't have time to ask too many questions until once the credits are rolling.

Book Club: The Next Chapter is a film so lazy it almost feels as if it were written by AI instead of living, breathing human beings. It's got plenty of zingers and the cast tries their best to deliver them as best they can, but even the finest thespians in the world can't make this dialogue sound realistic. The story is non-existent as the four lead characters go from tourist spot to tourist spot, drinking wine, telling corny sex jokes, and offering up cliche proverbs about friendship that are so stale and tired that they're gag inducing. The first film was no fine masterpiece, but it at least had a little more substance to it. This is simply a waste of a fine cast, but I hope they enjoyed their trip to Italy.

Dear Evan Hansen gives us a character so morally bankrupt and asks us to care for them. This would be a struggle for even the best and most likable of actors, but the filmmakers have gone out of their way to make sure Ben Platt looks as bizarre and off putting as humanly possible and it just makes him seem all the creepier. The story itself is interesting and some of the songs are alright. It's far from the trainwreck everyone's saying it is, but it's not ready to share a seat next to The Sound of Music or Chicago.

Jessica Chastain captures the warmth and spirit of Tammy Faye even if the film around her is unsure of what's it's trying to say or how it even feels about its subjects. At the very least, it has the good sense to keep the pacing perky so that it's never boring.

There are a lot of great things about Being the Ricardos and you can feel the effort throughout. It's beautifully shot, the acting is mostly good, and a few individual scenes are great, but the story as a whole doesn't really need to be told. It's mostly things we all know about Lucy and Desi and it doesn't add enough new info to make it compelling. As acting goes, Bardem comes across the best even though he looks nothing like Arnaz, but he captures his spirit alarmingly well.

Steven Spielberg gets a lot right with his adaptation of West Side Story. His whole cast can sing, dance, and act and it hits all the right emotional beats while being visually stunning. DeBose and Zegler were the two highlights for me.

Anna Faris gives a master class in comedy here even if the story surrounding her is on shaky ground at times. Faris keeps the whole thing both funny and grounded and her characterization is warm and memorable.

Any charm the original film had has been drained out of this lifeless remake. The actors have next to no chemistry, the retooled soundtrack is flat, and the whole affair leaves you wondering why anyone wanted to remake this in the first place. There's nothing new or innovative here and no stirring need to retell this story on the part of the filmmakers. Just a cash grab.

If your Cinderella retelling doesn't feature Jennifer Coolidge as the wicked stepmother, why even bother? She steals the entire movie, but the film around her is inoffensive and cute. Nice rainy day movie.

Emma Stone proves her worth as one of the true modern movie stars as she takes on the legendary Cruella de Vil character with delicious relish. She and Emma Thompson appear to be having a competition as to who can chew up the most scenery and it's one of the most dynamic and exciting on-screen pairings in recent years. The story itself is refreshingly dark and adult for a Disney film and is a great example of how these live-action remakes/origin films should be done.

Though the pacing can drift over to the sluggish side at times, Next of Kin is a very effective Australian thriller that deftly makes use of the spooky retirement home setting to creep out the audience. Once the action packed finale rolls around, any pacing issues will be forgiven.

Strong visuals and a mesmerizing music score lull the audience into Nia DaCosta's new vision of Candyman. While never truly terrifying, Candyman still casts its spell over the audience and features several clever tie-ins to the original film. A few moments don't convince and moments feel as if they were trimmed or edited altogether, but at least it's a far better sequel than the ones that came before it.

Didn't expect this one to be as engrossing as it was. There's a little too much police procedural for my taste and it doesn't help that the lead cop isn't the most compelling actor, but the stalk/death sequences are alarming and intense even if they're not the most explicit. The filmmakers should give themselves a pat on the back for managing to make a horror film that feels incredibly gory and violent as you're watching it, but the more you think about it, the more you realize that there's very little actual gore in the film. It's all created through sound, music, editing, and performances.

If you're looking for a disposable 80's slasher, you can do a lot worse, but you can certainly do way better. A high school runner dies and someone starts killing everyone on the team. They try to make you think it's her estranged sister, but it seems too obvious. They throw in a few more red herrings and a whole lot of meandering filler scenes in between the somewhat inspired death sequences.

Indie horror films can be hit or miss. The ones who look great usually have lousy scripts and the ones that have great scripts usually look like they were shot in someone's basement with a cast of non-actors. How refreshing it is to see an interesting story well told with great acting. Barbara Crampton and Larry Fessenden are terrific as the husband and wife battling a terrifying vampire who wants to take Crampton away. The comedy mostly lands and the creepy parts do inspire some goosebumps, but it's the performances and relationship drama you'll end up remembering the most and those are the scenes where Crampton and Fessenden are really allowed to let loose and have a good time.

A stuffy professor heads to Reno for a quickie divorce and becomes infatuated with a young woman who lives at the ranch where she's staying. Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau have sizzling chemistry as the romantic leads and this film has a nice distinction of being one of the few lesbian themed films that doesn't end in appalling tragedy or sugary sweetness. It's down to earth, smart, sexy, and incredibly entertaining.

A warm, nostalgic piece of heaven. Meet Me in St. Louis doesn't have evil villains or big explosions for conflict, but it captivates anyway. The musical numbers are wonderful and its message about love and family is still relevant all these years later.

Wonder Woman 1984 can't help but disappoint after the previous film. At nearly 2 1/2 hours, it feels at least 30 to 45 minutes too long. The story is simply too slight to justify a runtime like that. Kristen Wiig initially sparkles, but she stops registering altogether as she turns inhuman later in the story and all the focus goes to a cartoonishly ridiculous villain who's far less interesting to watch. It's not the worst movie you'll ever see, but it's a forgettable one.

A charming, frequently funny female-dominated Christmas movie that has enough gags, heart, and funny performances to recommend it. It's not the most thought provoking or profound movie, but it knows what it wants to be and runs with it. I was definitely never bored.

In spite of some pacing issues during the 2nd half of the movie, The Prom is a great time and one of the better movie musicals of the past 20 years. The cast is great and Meryl Streep hasn't been this funny in ages. I was also surprised by how much her singing voice has developed. Maybe these songs are just more in her range, but she's never sounded better. I laughed, I cried, I smiled from joy - it gave me everything a movie musical is supposed to and I can't understand where any hate is coming from.

A woman who pines for her dead lover/brother in law accidentally raises him from the dead from the blood that was seeping out of her husband's nail wound and he wants her to bring him victims to devour so that he can become whole again. There's also the matter of the devilish puzzle box that got him into this whole situation to begin with. The demons who come out of the box aren't very happy that one of their victims has escaped and they want him back.

Clive Barker's gory tale of lust might not be for everyone. There are a few first time director issues here and some the effects and performances are better than others, but there's so much imagination here and I'll bet you've never seen another film quite like it.

Scream Bloody Murder is one of those movies that could have only been made in the early 70's. Every frame reeks of cheap trash and I mean that in the best possible way. A killer with severe mommy issues and a hook for a hand murders his mother and stepfather before embarking on a bloody rampage across the country before he kidnaps a woman and traps her in a house he's broken into. It's a bit like Misery for the grindhouse fans. Acting isn't always great and the pacing can lag at times, but there's a fun indie spirit throughout that keeps things engaging.

Reese Witherspoon gives one of her best and most memorable performances as Elle Woods, the terminally blonde sorority girl who gets into law school just to show a snooty ex how he's no better and smarter than her. Along the way, she makes a few friends such as Jennifer Coolidge's Paulette and finds her true calling.

The script could easily have fallen into a cheesy territory, but Witherspoon's performance is believable every step of the way and she creates someone who you have to root for.

The Last Kiss can't hold a candle to the fun of Hello Mary Lou, but it tries its best and there are some funny gags throughout the film. Mary Lou's spirit continues to haunt the halls of Hamilton High and, this time, she's in the mood for a new male companion, so she murders a bunch of people and makes it look like he did it so that he can join her in hell forever.

The tone is goofy, but the film ends on such a downbeat, sour note that comes out of nowhere.

Although a project like Strait-Jacket could be deemed beneath her at the time, Joan Crawford treats it as if she was given the best Oscar-bait script in the world and brings a lot of pathos to her role. She plays Lucy - a woman who's just been released from an asylum after murdering her cheating husband. Lucy goes to stay with her daughter and a string of brutal axe murders start up, making Lucy think she's going insane again.

There's more than enough scenery chewing from Crawford to appease those who are interested in that sort of thing, but she's so committed and sincere that it never feels phony or forced.