Superman (2025) is punk goshdarn rock
I'm not gonna say "immigrant" a lot here, but this is totally a movie about how immigrants are the lifeblood of the United States no matter what social media tells you. That's the text.
Read MoreBallerina (2025) danced into my heart oh no that's a knife
Sliding down to my seat a little late for the film, I forced a mother to move away from her husband to sit by her children. She was in my seat. I was not just breaking up parental date nights at a violent action movie for the fun of it just because. This time.
Read MoreThunderbolts* (2025)
Successful Marvel properties (comics, movies, toilet paper, etc) center on the characters. The plot, humor, action, all of it in the best they offer is driven by the characters and their motivations. Since Endgame, Marvel has struggled to pull together compelling characters that propel good plots. Thunderbolts gets the studio back on track, yet much of the meta-story shows they have not learned that much.
Read MoreNight of the Hunter (1955)
The old Universal horror movies like Wolfman and Creature from the Black Lagoon get more love as trendsetting genre films rather than as quality pictures, but Night of the Hunter homages their stark black and white images with a more horrible creature than they ever could have conceived. A beautiful film that did not get its due back in the day, Night of the Hunter is fucking awesome.
Read MoreBlack Snake Moan (2007)
I saw this movie in the theater when it was released and remembered two things: the chain and the nudity. The rest kinda floated away on a cloud of booze and hundreds of other movies released that year, and it was not a good year for movies. What I did not remember was the musical about trauma and healing that Black Snake Moan becomes.
Read MoreSouthern Comfort (1981)
Having seen that life close up for half my life as well as living in the bayou of Louisiana for a time, Southern Comfort is an accurate depiction of the effectiveness of the National Guard.
Read MoreReflecting Skin (1990)
Spending time with people tends to bring out all those little eccentricities, but in the case of Reflecting Skin it brings out all the dark, weird shit swirling beneath.
Read MoreSinners (2025)
A deep southern gothic musical vampire movie, Sinners is about how failure and success are thrust up on you by the simple choices you make, even one as simple as letting go or holding on to a guitar. Get a handkerchief to wipe away the sweat of the hot summer sun and turn on some blues while we talk about this titanic film.
Read MoreBlack Bag (2025)
How much do you trust your partner? Are you a spy? Do those two questions make you uncomfortable? Love and trust form the chewy center of Black Bag's hard candy shell of pop music and spy intrigue.
Read MoreIn Bruges (2008)
With a gun, it's as easy as pushing a button and seeing a man fall. What that does to someone is a whole other ball of blood, though.
Read MoreThe Wonder (2022)
The Wonder sets out right front in telling the audience that they are watching fiction, a trickery, yet does that make it real?
Read MoreThe Commitments (1991)
The main issue of The Commitments is not the drive or talent of the band being formed, but the fact that they are almost a dozen people. Jimmy (Robert Arkins) formed the group to play damn good soul music and for the most part the people do that.
Read MoreByzantium (2012)
Neil Jordan's Byzantium updates his earlier work on Interview with a Vampire, telling the story of a vampire mother and daughter finding a place in the world.
Read MoreSecret of Kells (2009)
Secret of Kells exemplifies that life changing feeling of art and culture. Brendan, a young monk, lives in a small monastery his uncle, the abbot, is fortifying against the oncoming Viking hoard.
Read MoreMagdalene Sisters (2002)
For over two hundred years, the Magdalene laundries in Ireland operated by taking in young women deemed to have loose morals. The women were slave labor in the laundries, often run by the Catholic church but with state sanction, only released by death or the signatures of two adult men.
Read MoreThe Quiet Girl (2022)
"You don't have to say anything. There's many a person missed the chance to not say anything, and lost much by it."
Read MoreEurotrip (2004) I wish I had taken
Twenty years ago, the best "not real" song from a movie was released. "Scotty Doesn't Know" may or may not have rocketed up the charts (I didn't care enough to look) with its pop-punk message about fucking another guy's girlfriend. The movie that delivered us this gem, Eurotrip, was also released because that's how time works. Get your shit together, reader.
Read MoreTake Me Home Tonight (2011) spends all night spinning its wheels
A mess can be enjoyable. Something about watching a story competently fail is worthy of consideration. Take Me Home Tonight is my idea of a good mess, blending realistic outcomes to wacky hijinks and some pretty dumb shit.
Read MoreThe Rule of Jenny Penn (2025) will hopefully not be with you at your end
Getting old seems like a giant pain in the ass. Your body and mind fail you, your support structures become few, and someone in better shape than you will terrorize you with a plastic doll. Life in a nursing home can be hell if you don't fall in line with The Rule of Jenny Penn.
Read MoreThe Monkey (2025) will kill you or somebody near you
The Monkey's plot is a haphazard string of events created to get us to the bloody parts. Twin brothers find an evil toy monkey that kills people when it is wound up using the method of mysterious coincidence. The Monkey exists to entertain an audience with over the top splatter, not caring about who will die or really even when.
Read More