Excerpt: My five favorite movie musicals span almost 70 years and include three MGM offerings. That’s no surprise because MGM made so many glorious musicals.
Excerpt: What makes Lessovitz’s film so great isn’t that she allows these truths into what could have just been a sweet, inclusive romance, but that she lets their impact be felt.
Excerpt: There is not a millimeter of extraneous footage in A QUIET PLACE 2. This is lean and mean filmmaking at its very best that will leave you breathless.
Excerpt: Krasinski really surprised with his directing prowess his third time behind the camera and he continues to do the same with his technically assured sequel, even if, this time, the narrative is a little spottier.
Excerpt: Producer Michael Bay should be forced to watch on repeat the scene in which the marauding extraterrestrial meanies destroy small town main street. Mayhem is always better when it’s coherent, Mike…
Excerpt: I still wish that these films had a bit more meat on their bones, but as a simple and straightforward genre exercise, it bring a lot of thought and care into the craftsmanship that you don’t often find in a lot of studio horror films.
Excerpt: There’s more monsters and even more quiet – if less scares and emotional crescendos – in John Kransinski’s still-effective horror sequel ‘A Quiet Place Part II’, which moves the story of The Abbott family surviving sound-hunting monsters by passing the baton on to the next generation. Expanding the world to new threatening places in unexpected ways, this follow-up doesn’t always give us more of what we want but still tells the story Kransinski wants to tell very effectively.
Excerpt: Despite its plot shortcomings – of which there were also a few in the original A Quiet Place – Krasinski’s follow-up to his smash-hit mostly works. The satisfying action and horror here is an almost non-stop thrill ride. A Quiet Place Part II is as memorable and fun as its predecessor.
Excerpt: There are so many things right about Disney’s latest villainous spin on the origin story it’s a shame that one thing that is very, very wrong indeed casts a shadow over the proceedings.
Excerpt: Folks familiar with the 1961 animated version, who understand the 1970’s aesthetic, the character based on David Bowie, and are primed to absorb the best soundtrack attached to any live action Disney film from the modern era will appreciate Disney making a film for those of us with at least a few decades under our belts instead of just one.
Excerpt: If you ask whether it’s enough to be entertaining, however, the answer changes to the affirmative. It flaunts its refusal to know what subtlety means.
Excerpt: Emma Stone is simply incandescent in this Cruella De Vil origin story that exceeds the reach of its potentially lame premise. With a pair of head-turning performances from Stone and Emma Thompson, a script that’s as freewheeling and fun as it is invested in character, stunning costume design, and an exhilarating soundtrack of classic hits to back it all up, ‘Cruella’ represents the best that Disney live action movies have to offer, particularly because it actually feels new.
Excerpt: Director Joe Wright (“Atonement,” “The Darkest Hour”) has made a valiant attempt to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear with his A-list cast and theatrical production… But with a cast like this, it is disappointing that so few performances stand out and that one central one is badly miscast.
Excerpt: As talented a director as Joe Wright is, he’s no Alfred Hitchcock. Woman in the Window is cheap Hitchcock pastiche. By the gory final reel, it becomes rather distasteful Hitchcock pastiche.
Excerpt: Amy Adams with a sad face and baggy clothes looks a disgrace. But that helps her with this hard part. She nails the role — and that’s pure art.
Excerpt: A powerfully recalcitrant ode to romantic love lost and the broken families in that wake, ‘The Killing of Two Lovers’ is an intense human drama that showcases a powerful Clayne Crawford performance and a breakout stage for writer-director Robert Machoian.
Excerpt: While psychological horror fans won’t mistake “Beyond Dream’s Door” for a masterpiece, it’s a charming underdog of a chiller that well rewards viewers willing to risk becoming trapped inside its 1980s VHS reality.
Excerpt: Rather than subvert things as a rule, Barrett often leans into tropes to lull us into a false sense of security before adding a deviation that surprises enough to stay fresh.
Excerpt: There aren’t a lot of surprises in Dream Horse, but the village characters are genially eccentric, the Welsh countryside is beautiful, the racing action is convincing, and the montages are efficient.
Excerpt: If it sounds formulaic, it is, but elevated by Toni Collette’s passionate performance, and a director Euros Lyn, who understands how to film a horse race for maximum suspense
Excerpt: Those motions are as familiar as the struggles on the track, but what else were you expecting from a feel-good movie giving an obscure yet heartfelt tale the Hollywood treatment?
Excerpt: Toni Collette leads this equestrian crowd-pleaser that doesn’t meddle with a well-trot formula so much as jockey it to safe, green pastures. Though saddled with cliché, ‘Dream Horse’ succeeds in spite of its narrative irons because of its guileless charm and forthright sincerity.
