Rating: PG-13Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes Director: Joe Penna Quick Impressions:Mads Mikkelsen is so cool, especially when he’s in the Arctic Circle fighting off a polar bear. (Sometimes I think I’m drawn to Mikkelsen just because I love his awesome alliterative name. He should do a movie with Stellan Skarsgård, …
Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 2 hours, 2 minutes Director: Robert Rodriguez Quick Impressions:“Look on the bright side, at least your tears are working.” When I heard that line (perfectly delivered by Christoph Waltz), I decided, “Okay, this movie is beginning well. Maybe it actually has something to say.” But then almost …
Rating: PGRuntime: 1 hour, 38 minutesDirector: Jon S. Baird Quick Impressions:I’m an Oscar enthusiast, but we’ve reached that magical time of year (February, I guess) when I can’t wait to buy all the nominated films on Blu-ray just so I can hurl them through the nearest window and be done …
Rating: PGRuntime: 2 hoursDirector: Joe Cornish Quick Impressions:When I first saw the theatrical trailer for this movie, I was sold. A guy sneezes into bird form and flies away?!! Some present day British school boys finds Excalibur and fight Morgana?!! Merlin hides out as a teen who works in a …
Rating: RRuntime: 1 hour, 29 minutesDirector: Pawel Pawlikowski Quick Impressions:Do you believe in God? I wish I knew writer/director Pawel Pawlikowski’s answer to that question. I can’t tell if Cold War ends on a note of bitter irony or tragic hope. Is the ending nihilistic or comforting? It can be …
Rating: PG-13Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutesDirectors: Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi Quick Impressions:I can’t remember the last time I saw a documentary that so inspired me to create a work of fiction. Well, okay, everything I watch, read, and experience feeds into the fiction I write. But Free Solo …
Rating: R Runtime: 2 hours Director: Karyn Kusama Quick Impressions: Nicole Kidman is everywhere lately. I keep seeing her clapping at the Golden Globes, giving birth to Aquaman, interviewing Amy Adams, rescuing her gay son from conversion therapy, eating bugs, appearing on the movie poster for that unnecessary remake of …
Rating: RRuntime: 1 hour, 59 minutesDirector: Barry Jenkins Quick Impressions:I’ve never read James Baldwin’s classic novel If Beale Street Could Talk, but I will soon. Inspired by The Favourite, I’m currently reading a biography of Queen Anne, about whom I was previously indifferent thanks to deliberate ignorance. Now that I …
Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 2 hours, 23 minutesDirector: James Wan Quick Impressions:I went to Aquaman with a group of nine family members–my husband, our three kids (aged almost 16, almost 10, and 3 1/2), my parents, my younger sister, and her boyfriend. Reactions were decidedly mixed. My younger son declared afterwards …
Rating: R Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes Director: Adam McKay Quick Impressions: So often I’ve written to Santa Claus, “You know what I’d really love to watch with the family this Christmas? A dark comedy about former Vice President Dick Cheney. Hurry Santa! Make my Christmas wish come true.” Obviously …
