Film Reviews
Netflix’s The Lovebirds Brings Out the Best in Kumail Nanjiani and Issa Rae: Review
The Pitch: Jibran (Kumail Nanjiani) and Leilani (Issa Rae) are four years into a relationship that’s on the fritz. They snip at one another. They argue over the littlest things. They can’t even imagine themselves winning The Amazing Race. All of that drama is put on hold, however, when the two fading lovebirds fly right into a maddening murder mystery that takes them all across New Orleans. Even worse, they’re the prime suspects. Can they solve the crime before they’re taken in to do the time? That all depends on whether or not they can set aside their differences and find a way to be a team again. The Big Schtick: The Lovebirds reunites director Michael Showalter and Nanjiani, who both leveled up with 2017’s heartfelt and hilarious The Big Sick. It’s a strong collaboration and this latest...
Scoob! Is The Avengers of Hanna-Barbera Movies: Review
A New Mystery: Following a prologue that shows how Shaggy (Will Forte), Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker), Daphne (Amanda Seyfried), Fred (Zac Efron), and Velma (Gina Rodriguez) met and formed Mystery Incorporated, the film flashes forward 10 years as the gang is trying to find funding for their new base of operations. They are approached by potential investor Simon Cowell (yes, really), who refuses to fund the group after declaring Shaggy and Scooby inessential to the team. Soon after, the teenage hippie and his dog are attacked by a squadron of chainsaw-wielding robots before they are saved by the Falcon Fury and its inhabitants: Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg), Dee Dee Sykes (Kiersey Clemmons) and Dynomutt (Ken Jeong). Together, they are trying to find the three skulls of Cerberus (yes, that Cerber...
Tom Hardy’s Capone Is an Absolute Horror Show of Decaying Tropes and Hungry Ghosts: Review
The Pitch: Alfonse Capone (Tom Hardy) was once the scourge of the FBI and law enforcement across the nation. He was Public Enemy Number One, the king of Chicago’s underground, the scourge of FBI agent Elliot Ness, who lived high on the hog and killed people with a gold plated Tommy Gunn. Now? It’s the mid-40s and untreated syphilis has caught up with the aging Capone, decrepit before his time and the FBI is getting sick of surveying him at his home on Palm Island, Florida. Supervising Agent Crawford (Jack Lowden) thinks there’s something Capone still knows, that he’s still hiding. Capone, now going by Fonzo to keep his profile low — even as he lives on a sprawling estate with his wife (Linda Cardellini), full battery of protection, and serving and gardening staff — starts to imagine he can...
Shudder’s Z Capitalizes on Parental Nightmares: Review
Spelling It Out: Parents Kevin (Sean Rogerson) and Beth Parsons (Keegan Connor Tracy) notice their eight-year-old son, Josh (Jett Klyne), has begun to play with a mysterious imaginary friend he calls Z. What at first seems like a childish phase quickly becomes destructive and dangerous. As Z causes chaos in Josh’s life and those of his friends and family, we learn that Z may have more sinister origins and desires. Real-Life Parent Horror: While the titular monster is the main source of horror, director-writer Brandon Christensen’s Z features prime examples of everyday parental nightmares. Josh doesn’t seem to have many friends and he’s not doing well in school. Parents will connect with the pain of worrying that their child is an outcast and struggling to know how to intervene. Particularl...
