Tag: cinema

REVIEW: Middling romcom is all to be found in ‘The Lost City’

This might be the most intense adventure a character played by Sandra Bullock has been on since “Speed 2: Cruise Control.”

In “The Lost City,” Bullock portrays Loretta Sage, an author who’s made a career out of writing steamy romance/adventure novels. She was once passionate about history and exploring, but she lost her drive when her husband passed away.

Loretta isn’t excited about her latest book tour, either, as she’s tired of dealing with Alan (Channing Tatum), a book cover model who takes a lot of the attention. Loretta ends up having to rediscover her passion for history, and find some courage, though, as she’s kidnapped by a billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe), who’s searching for a treasure referenced in one of her books.

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Great (fictional) coaches in sports movies

The NCAA Final Four and Frozen Four both take place in the next week.

Then, the NBA and NHL playoffs are right around the corner. As is the NFL Draft, with the Super Bowl in the rear view. Simply put, there are a lot of sports events taking place this time of year.

With that in mind, I decided to take a look at some of the best fictional coaches featured in sports movies. I mean completely fictional, too, so no made up coaches for films inspired by true stories.

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94th Academy Award Predictions

The Gotham Award nominations came out in late October. Nearly five months later, we’re finally toward the conclusion of the 2021-2022 award season.

It’s been an entertaining season for sure, with the Best Picture front-runner shifting a lot, from “Belfast,” to “The Power of the Dog” and now, seemingly, “CODA.” We’ll know the winner of this category and all the others on Sunday during the Academy Awards ceremony.

Until then, we can only predict what will happen. So here are my predictions for who will win on Sunday, who could maybe play spoiler, my choices for who should get the Oscar and a few snubs.

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2022 Oscar Docs: A Look at the Nominees

The 94th Academy Awards ceremony is right around the corner and five movies from across the planet are up for top prize Sunday night.

As award season is wrapping up, I caught all of this year’s nominees for Best Documentary Feature and had some thoughts about each one. Of all the nominees, I enjoyed “Summer of Soul” the most, but there are certainly others I’d recommend, too.

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REVIEW: New horror ‘X’ delivers mix of old and new thrills

What happens when you cross “It Follows” with “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre?” It’s probably something like this movie, “X.”

Set during the late 70s in rural Texas, “X” follows a group of six characters who’re working on an adult film. To shoot the production, the filmmakers have rented themselves a small cabin on the property of a secluded farmer.

The group gets to work and things start off fine. However, when the property owners learn what kind of work is going on, they take great offense to the actions and the situation escalates to a deadly level.

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REVIEW: Visually appealing ‘Outfit’ bogged down by plotting issues

The Chicago crime scene of years gone by is brought to life on a small scale in this bottle film.

Graham Moore makes his feature directorial debut with “The Outfit,” which centers on Leonard (Mark Rylance), an Englishman who owns a tailor shop in Chicago. The film’s protagonist runs an honest business, with the help of his secretary Mable (Zoey Deutch).

However, he has also set up a post box at his establishment used by crime organizations to communication. One night, this decision becomes a problem, as mafia members who’re customers of Leonard’s store begin using the shop as a place to go during a gang war. Leonard is then placed in a tense situation with dangerous men.

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A collection of caped crusader cars: Ranking the Batmobiles

The Batmobile has been through a lot of changes in just over three decades

From modified cars to full on armored vehicles for war, Batman’s main mode of transportation through the years has been a diverse mix. The latest Batmobile was featured in the new 2022 film, “The Batman.”

With a new car added to the mix, it seemed like a good opportunity to rank the Batmobiles I’ve seen in movies. Here’s my ranking from worst to best.

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REVIEW: ‘Turning Red’ absolutely rocks

Pixar has went back-to-back with great coming of age films, following up last year’s “Luca” with this superb animated feature.

Domee Shi, who helmed the Academy Award-winning short film “Bao”from 2018, directed and co-wrote this Pixar film. The movie is set in Toronto during 2002 and centers on Mei (Rosalie Chiang), a straight-A student who works hard to meet the high standards set by her mother (Sandra Oh).

At the same time, Mei is also a typical 13-year-old. She hangs out with a group of best friends and they enjoy boy bands and have crushes. She has a pretty good balance going on, but that begins to change when a mystical family spell that passes generation-to-generation turns her into a giant red panda.

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REVIEW: ‘The Batman’ is a brilliant caped crusader story

Some of the best elements of the “Batman” interpretations by directors Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan are melded into the new crime epic featuring the Dark Knight.

In director Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” Robert Pattinson stars as Bruce Wayne, who spends his nights out in Gotham City as the caped crusader. The film picks up with him meeting with Lt. James Gordon (Jeffrey Wright) after a night of fighting criminals to consult on a murder case.

The victim is the city’s mayor, and the suspect is the Riddler (Paul Dano), who leaves behind haunting clues. The killing sets Batman on an investigation, where he partners with Gordon and a cat burglar, Selina (Zoe Kravitz). The investigation brings him in conflict with the city’s underbelly, with the likes of the Penguin (Colin Farrell) in his way.

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REVIEW: Road movie ‘Dog’ succeeds with emotion and humor

Channing Tatum plays Jackson Briggs in this new dramatic comedy. Not to be confused with the Jackson “Jax” Briggs from the “Mortal Kombat” series.

Briggs is an Army Ranger who, since being discharged, has found it difficult to adapt to life back home. He’s tried to get work in military-related roles, but is often denied because of his post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis and other injuries.

At a memorial gathering for one of his friends and fellow soldiers, though, Briggs is able to ask his commanding officer to put in a recommendation for him to help get a job. The officer agrees, but in return, asks Briggs to take the late soldier’s military service dog to the funeral, being held in Arizona. Knowing it’s a long drive from the Washington state to Arizona, but wanting the work, Briggs reluctantly agrees.

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