Featured A&E
Just in time for the fall weather transition, James Wan released his latest horror homage, “Malignant.” Unlike his signature supernatural chillers, “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” — along with their subsequent sequels and spin-offs — this splatter mystery doesn’t draw from the familiar well …
After 13 years and 23 movies, it’s difficult to be surprised by a Marvel Studios production. This year alone, we will have been treated to “Black Widow,” a spy flick starring one of the Avengers’ veteran cast members, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” a martial arts action fantasy,…
2016’s “Suicide Squad” was a mess. Warner Bros lost faith in director Davis Ayer’s initial assembly and hired a trailer company to recut the film with more pop music needle drops and reshoots that added more comedic one-liners to fit the bubbling trend toward snarky superhero fare like “Dead…
Disney struck gold when it released “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” back in 2003. The film launched a blockbuster franchise and injected new life into Disney’s live-action studio. Unfortunately, they have been unsuccessful in recapturing that lightning in a bottle ad…
Whatever you do, do not watch “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” Do not take your kids to see “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” You might have residual feelings of nostalgia about the original 1996 “Space Jam,” starring Michael Jordan and the cartoon cast of the "Looney Toons," but do not let this cloud yo…
Disney Pixar recently dropped their latest animated feature, “Luca,” a folksy summer fairy tale about a fish boy who braves the surface land disguised as a human to learn more about the greater unknown world. Sound familiar? Yes, there’s a lot of “The Little Mermaid” in this conceit, but wit…
It’s an understatement to say the last year has been difficult. Whether you’re a front-line worker risking your health in a public-facing job, or you worked from home while your kids did their school assignments via Zoom, the pandemic took a mental toll on our collective well-being. Comedian…
John Krasinski’s 2018 creature feature, “A Quiet Place” was a surprise hit for fans of the actor’s previous film and television roles. These acting credits would not suggest the craftsmanship and directorial efficiency that shaped his almost-wordless thriller that was built on pulling tensio…
Taylor Sheridan established his brand as a screenwriter of rural crime fiction with a series of tense thrillers such as “Sicario,” Oscar-nominated “Hell or High Water” and “Wind River,” which he also directed. These hard-boiled stories capture morality struggles among amoral circumstances, c…
Haunted pants. That is the premise of the new independent film acquired by the horror streaming app, Shudder. “Slaxx” aims to critique the inherent contradictions within compassionate capitalism or the fluffy PR surrounding conscious corporatism. Terms like “non-GMO” and “fair trade” are sla…
Godzilla versus King Kong is a concept that does not need much justification. They’re massive animals who destroy cities, and even though you have to shrink Zilla or add a few hundred feet to Kong’s stature to make it work, audiences deserve to see these beasts battle on the big screen. In 1…
Ever since Disney transitioned from 2-D cell animation to computer-generated animation, they’ve fiddled with their Disney Princess formula. “Frozen” eschews a romance for a story about sisterhood, “Moana” introduces the legend/quest element to the mix, and with “Raya and the Last Dragon,” we…
Chloe Zhao paints a moody landscape of the American West with her new film “Nomadland.” Her latest project, now available to stream on Hulu, captures the lives of communal travelers who willingly live their final years on the road. They work odd jobs to supplement whatever income or Social S…
Emerald Fennell’s debut feature “Promising Young Woman” is a pitch-black comedic tragedy that will certainly divide audiences but keep them talking for weeks. The film deals with difficult subject matter like sexual assault, misogyny and revenge porn, and it takes a hard stance against abuse…
Pete Docter has become the emotional guy over at Disney’s Pixar. Starting with “Monsters Inc” but fully realized with the devastating “Up” and the complex yet tender “Inside Out,” Docter’s voice within the studio — generally known for its emotional storytelling — is singular and impactful. W…
The core of every great story is a character arc. For this reason, most screenplays focus on a point where the main character learns something about themself or the world they inhabit. In this regard, nothing could be more immediate and personal than the story of a man’s journey from rock mu…
Sweet, delightfully cheesy, and fun, Hulu’s newest release “Happiest Season”, is a sweet, funny Christmas rom-com. Starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis as the leading couple, the film is a perfect, escapist holiday flick. Charming and idyllic, “Happiest Season” finds itself right at …
Aneesh Chaganty’s latest thriller, the Hulu original film “Run,” combines the claustrophobic intensity of “Misery” and “Rear Window” with the complicated and sometimes over-the-top mother/daughter dynamics of “Mother Dearest.” These influences come together to form a 90-minute potboiler that…
Recently released to Netflix with much anticipation, “The Devil All the Time,” based upon the book of the same name by Donald Ray Pollock, follows the story of a boy and his family in a small town in the middle of the 20th century. With Tom Holland as the lead character, the strong supportin…
Netflix recently revived Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking play, “The Boys in the Band,” one of the first productions to portray gay characters living gay lives and discussing contemporary gay issues. After premiering off-Broadway in 1968, William Friedkin (“The Exorcist”) directed the film adap…
