Thor: Love and Thunder – Movie Review

After watching Thor: Love and Thunder, I really have no idea what the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s current “phase 4” (of which this movie is the midpoint) is really all about. For the most part, it’s been a bunch of new characters that haven’t exactly made a huge splash, and a few middling stories/sequels with established…

Top Gun: Maverick – Movie Review

I hadn’t watched the original Top Gun until last night, but I’m glad I did and even gladder that I watched this amazing 35-year-later sequel today. As a teen in the 80s, I never understood the love for Top Gun. Its cocky, rule-breaking hero; its macho, slogan-filled dialogue; and its dizzying, testosterone-fuelled cockpit action sequences…

Downton Abbey: A New Era – Movie Review

The obvious reaction to this movie (and even I, a huge Downton Abbey fan, thought this way) is that it’s just another cash-grab sequel with an irrelevant plot that keeps these aging characters around as long as they can make a buck. The title, “Downton Abbey: A New Era”, suggests a big transition, but it’s…

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore – Movie Review

Oh, how the mighty have fallen! When a new Harry Potter movie came out, it was sold-out, top of the box office for weeks, but this was the second weekend for Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, and I was just in a theatre with only three others in the audience! (You probably don’t even…

Oscar Schmoscar 2022

I originally started these posts to express my tongue-in-cheek disinterest in the Oscars, especially who the winners were (since I’d watched so surprisingly few). However, over the years, I’ve shifted to genuine interest in the nominees (though I still don’t care that much about who wins) and look on them as a checklist of films…

Spider-Man: No Way Home – Catch-up Movie Review

I’m probably one of the last people to see this movie, which has been out for almost two months. But at least this way I can comment freely without fear of giving anything away about this movie because you’ve all seen it, right? Nevertheless, just in case, I’m still issuing a spoiler alert for this…

Dune – Movie Review

Many times have I tried (and failed) to get into Dune, the seminal, Hugo and Nebula award-winning, science fiction classic. After watching the 1984 David Lynch film, the 2000 TV mini-series, and the listening to the 1993 audiobook, I still wasn’t there, but Denis Villeneuve’s stunning, absorbing film has finally won me. I had read…

No Time To Die – Movie Review

No Time To Die is special in a few ways: not only is it the last time Daniel Craig plays James Bond, but also this time Bond is married (I know!) and retired (which seems to happen a lot) and working for (or maybe “with”) the CIA. Those clues may seem to suggest that this…