Published April 8, 2022 at ZekeFilm.org. Michael Bay’s Latest Bit of Majestic Chaos is High on Speed DIRECTOR: MICHAEL BAY/2022 Bay is back, baby! Okay, it hasn’t technically been that long since a new installment of Michael Bay’s singular vision of mayhem was released, but it’s been at least a decade since one felt like an event—perhaps the …
Published February 3, 2022 at ZekeFilm.org. Comedy Meets Tragedy in Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker Biopic DIRECTOR: MICHAEL SHOWALTER/2021 “Because he created everything, nothing he has created could possibly be needful to him for his existence. If it were, then like him, it would have always existed. Our God is self-sufficient, needed by all, needful …
Published January 9, 2022 at ZekeFilm.org. Adam McKay, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence Return for Disaster Comedy DIRECTOR: ADAM MCKAY/2021 Don’t Look Up is too long, too loose, and too heavy-handed, but with a cast like this, even a messy film can find great moments. Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence return to the screen for the first …
Published November 1, 2021 at ZekeFilm.org. Wes Anderson’s Latest is Feast of Flavor and Fun DIRECTOR: WES ANDERSON/2021 Upon leaving my screening of The French Dispatch, the first thing I did was stop by the grocery store. Never mind that it was after 9 p.m.—I wanted fresh bread. After reviewing what was left in the bakery …
Published October 4, 2021 at ZekeFilm.org. George Peppard and Mary Tyler Moore Spread a Pandemic Worth Catching DIRECTOR: GEORGE SEATON/1968 BLU-RAY STREET DATE: AUGUST 24, 2021/KL STUDIO CLASSICS I cannot imagine a weirder movie to watch in 2021. The premise: An airborne virus appears in New York City thanks to a flying animal traveling from …
Continue reading "BLU-RAY REVIEW // What’s So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)"
Published April 18, 2021 at ZekeFilm.org. A Promising Debut from Emerald Fennell DIRECTOR: EMERALD FENNELL/2020 Here’s the first thing we learn about Cassandra Thomas: She’s an actress. We meet her in a pulsing nightclub, her bangs falling into glassy eyes and her head drooping into a skirt suit. She can’t find her phone and hops …
Published March 15, 2021 at ZekeFilm.org. Inside Out Meets Mr. Holland’s Opus in Pixar’s Latest—And Greatest? DIRECTORS: PETE DOCTER AND KEMP POWERS (CO-DIRECTOR)/2020 Plenty of thought (and many a joke) has been put into Pixar’s standard “what if” plot engines: What if monsters and superheroes were real? What if toys and cars were alive? What if bugs or fish or rats had feelings? Heck, what if feelings had feelings? …
Published Jan. 4, 2021 at ZekeFilm.org. Wonder Woman Brings the ’80s Back on HBO Max DIRECTOR: PATTY JENKINS/2020 Wonder Woman 1984 is the kind of movie you’re taken with start-to-finish but doesn’t hold up entirely upon reflection. Not that this is a “he loved Big Brother” realization, if for no other reason than the ties to …
Published April 13, 2019 at ZekeFilm.org. A Small Miracle of a Documentary in a Large Refugee Crisis DIRECTOR: HASSAN FAZILI/2019 On paper, I can’t believe this documentary works. A three-year journey? Sounds like an editing nightmare. Shot on mobile phones? Sounds like a headache to watch. One of life’s most difficult journeys from a first-person …
Published December 13, 2018 at ZekeFilm.org. You’ve Already Read This Review Because You’ve Already Seen Mortal Engines DIRECTED BY CHRISTIAN RIVERS/2018 (Insert attention-grabbing opener here.) I usually try to open with a plot summary, a question, a quote, a Hollywood trend, perhaps a personal anecdote. But with Mortal Engines, what’s the point? I’ve already written this review—several …
Published May 14, 2018 at ZekeFilm.org. Reverse Taken Thriller is Cliché Fun DIRECTOR: JAMES MCTEIGUE/2018 “You have no clue what I’m capable of.” Oh, Shaun, but we do. Shaun (Gabrielle Union) is spending the weekend packing up the house she grew up in after her father’s death. Since her husband (Jason George) is stuck at work, …
Published Feb. 12, 2018 at ZekeFilm.org. J.J. Abrams's Surprise Sequel Has That Cloverfield Je Ne Sais Quoi DIRECTOR: JULIUS ONAH/2018 When I wrote about 10 Cloverfield Lane almost two years ago, I marveled at J.J. Abrams pulling off a plot twist in real life. Releasing a surprise sequel with just two months of advertising? How novel! …
Published Jan. 28, 2018 at ZekeFilm.org. Each month, ZekeFilm critics contribute to a group feature called Film Admissions, in which we each admit to watching classic films for the first time with a similar theme. In January 2018, we each watched a Billy Wilder film we'd never seen before. Film Admission: The Apartment I get a …
Published Jan. 4, 2018 at ZekeFilm.org. Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon Tell the Best Love Story of 2017 DIRECTOR: MICHAEL SHOWALTER/2017 Before you start this review, you know what would be lovely? Listening to the soundtrack for The Big Sick while you read. Hey, I’ll make it even easier for you—here’s it is on …
Published Jan. 1, 2018 at ZekeFilm.org. Netflix's New Drama Sets a Greek Tragedy in the Deep South DIRECTOR: DEE REES/2017 “When I think of the farm, I think of mud.” And when I think of Netflix’s new drama Mudbound, I think of Greek tragedies. Everything on the farm is covered in mud; every moment is …
Published Oct. 29, 2017 for the film's Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. 1943 Films Says More About the Makers Than the 1912 Disaster DIRECTORS: WERNER KLINGER AND HERBERT SELPIN/GERMAN/1943 STREET DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2017/KINO LORBER STUDIO CLASSICS Do I need to explain the events on the RMS Titanic in 1912? If “big boat …
Published Oct. 15, 2017 for the film's Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. Matt Dillon Stars in Quintessential Garry Marshall DIRECTOR: GARRY MARSHALL/1984 STREET DATE: OCTOBER 10, 2017/KINO LORBER STUDIO CLASSICS It's 4th of July Weekend in 1963 Brooklyn, and Jeffrey Willis swelters on the street corner. Since it's too hot to do anything, …
Published Sept. 18, 2017 at ZekeFilm.org. Reese Witherspoon Charms in Her Return to Romantic Comedies DIRECTOR: HALLIE MEYERS-SHYER/2017 Alice Kinney is starting over. After separating from her husband of 15 years in New York, Alice (Reese Witherspoon) has moved back into her childhood home in Los Angeles. She’s trying to settle her two grade school …
Published Jan. 6, 2017 for the film review site I created, Crowd vs. Critic. Each film is reviewed twice, once from the Crowd perspective for its entertainment value (Popcorn Potential) and once from the Critic perspective for its Artistic Taste. CROWD REVIEW // November 22, 1963. If you’ve lived long enough to study a at …
Published Dec. 13, 2016 for the film review site I created, Crowd vs. Critic. Each film is reviewed twice, once from the Crowd perspective for its entertainment value (Popcorn Potential) and once from the Critic perspective for its Artistic Taste. CROWD REVIEW // Welcome. Here is your room with a single bed. Here are your …
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