★★ It is finally time for the colorful, magical, musical return of Giselle, post happily ever after! Revisiting the kingdom of New York City a long time since we last caught up with these characters is a rush that unfortunately wears off too quickly. In spite of a nearly fifteen-year-long wait, Disenchanted fails to live … Continue reading Film Review: Disenchanted
Film Review: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
★★★★★ Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio has been in the works for so long that I can barely fathom its release is finally imminent. Containing all the stunning beauty that only stop-motion animation can bring, this version of Pinocchio is dark, disturbing, and deeply moving. I have not felt this strongly amount a stop-motion movie since … Continue reading Film Review: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
Film Review: The People We Hate at the Wedding
★★★★ Who doesn’t love a good dysfunctional family comedy? The People We Hate at the Wedding comes gifted at a perfect time of year, just before Thanksgiving and well in advance of the commercialized inundation of Christmastime. Bringing together an ensemble of excellent actors, I was instantly drawn in by their chemistry with one another. … Continue reading Film Review: The People We Hate at the Wedding
Theater Review: Almost Famous, The Musical
The layers upon layers of metatextual implications over a critic reviewing a play based on a movie where a critic writes about a band are certainly not lost on this writer. In fact, it is this aspect specifically that helped draw me to my seat at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, where Almost Famous: The … Continue reading Theater Review: Almost Famous, The Musical
Film Review: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
★★★★★ Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is a standout amongst the rest of his filmography. An easily franchise-able murder-mystery in the style of Agatha Christie and the old-school whodunnit, Knives Out is unique in that it can carry over Daniel Craig’s bumbling genius of a detective Benoit Blanc into any given scenario. This time around, gone … Continue reading Film Review: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Film Review: The Menu
★★★★ (Written by Allison Brown) The Menu is a deliciously refined social satire that reveals the darkest nature and most shallow attributes of the elite class. With involvement from Adam McKay, who directed one of my favorites from last year, Don't Look Up, I knew this film would be a biting attack on ego. Sarcasm … Continue reading Film Review: The Menu
Film Review: Slumberland
★★ 1989’s Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland has been a favorite of mine for years, so to say I was ambivalent about a live action remake would be an understatement. Still, I am always willing to give these types of films a proper chance, viewed on their own, separate from their animated superiors. Aladdin and … Continue reading Film Review: Slumberland
Film Review: Spirited
★★★★ For something I was expecting to be a generic holiday film, Spirited comes as a breath of fresh air. How exactly does one make A Christmas Carol feel new and exciting once more? Director and co-writer Sean Anders collaborates with John Morris to present a unique viewpoint we have not followed before: that of … Continue reading Film Review: Spirited
Film Review: The Estate
★★★★★ Evoking a variety of dark comedy greats like Drowning Mona, Heartbreakers, and Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Estate came virtually out of nowhere to become a late-in-the-game contender for the best comedy of 2022. I should have known it would be in the running just based on the ensemble cast assembled alone, which includes Anna … Continue reading Film Review: The Estate
Film Review: The Wonder
★★ Ever since experiencing Florence Pugh’s explosive performance in Ari Aster’s masterful Midsommar, I have followed along to see literally anything she does next. Though Pugh has yet to star in any film on quite the same level, the closest until now has been her turn in 2019’s Little Women. Thus brings us to the … Continue reading Film Review: The Wonder