Rating: R Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes Director: Ari Aster Quick Impressions: I feel like I know so much about Ari Aster from watching his movies. He has a fascination with cults, particularly their group rituals. He’s weirdly obsessed with mystical reincarnation rites, delights in audience reaction to brutal, blunt …
Rating: PG-13Runtime: 1 hour, 54 minutesDirector: Ron Howard Quick Impressions:I’ve been thinking about Pavarotti ever since I saw Amazing Grace and remembered the time Aretha Franklin filled in for him (literally) last minute to perform “Nessun Dorma” at the Grammys in 1998, which triggered a cascade of fond memories of …
Rating: GRuntime: 1 hour, 40 minutesDirector: Josh Cooley Quick Impressions:I thought the early teasers for Toy Story 4 looked terrible. I love Tony Hale and all, but remember Toy Story 3, those agonizing moments of solidarity in the incinerator, and the bittersweet, heartwarming, sob-inducing scene featuring Andy playing with his …
Rating: RRuntime: 1 hour, 59 minutesDirector: Luc Besson Quick Impressions:I was torn between so many movies this week. I’ve heard Emma Thompson is snarky and hilarious in Late Night. Though I’m not big on horror, sheer love of Octavia Spencer and Mark Hamill tempted me to try Ma or Child’s …
Rating: RRuntime: 1 hour, 45 minutesDirector: Jim Jarmusch Quick Impressions:This deliberately strange, star-studded zom-com hooked us instantly with its odd-yet-charming theatrical trailer. (By the way, who would have guessed twenty years ago that the zom-com would have developed into such a teeming sub-genre of film! Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, …
Rating: RRuntime: 2 hours, 1 minuteDirector: Dexter Fletcher Quick Impressions: When I learned that Taron Edgerton was playing Elton John in Rocketman, I thought, “Yeah, of course he is. He essentially auditions in the movie Sing.” Remember Sing? It’s like Zootopia meets American Idol. There’s this koala played by Matthew …
Rating: PG-13Runtime: 2 hours, 11 minutes Director: Michael Dougherty Quick Impressions:This movie would be better as a music video staring Millie Bobby Brown. I can see that making a present day FX thrill ride about all these monsters must have been a Herculean labor of love. (You can tell that …
Rating: RRuntime: 1 hour, 42 minutesDirector: Olivia Wilde Quick Impressions:My knee jerk reaction to the first trailer I saw for Booksmart was not positive. “What?” I whispered to my husband in outrage. “This looks just like Superbad with girls! That’s even Jonah Hill’s sister!” But then the movie started promoting …
Rating: PG Runtime: 2 hours, 8 minutes Director: Guy Ritchie Quick Impressions: Robin Williams casts a very long shadow. I’ve said that so often this weekend that I’m starting to feel like a professional raconteur. I mean, doesn’t that sentence sound rehearsed (especially after I say it six hundred times)? …
Rating: RRuntime: 1 hour, 31 minutesDirector: David Yarovesky Quick Impressions:What if Superman were evil? That’s the question Brightburn asks. My question is, “Why has no one made this movie before?” Maybe someone has. I mean, yeah, yeah, sure, we all know Superman can temporarily be turned evil (sometimes by accident, …
