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 June 18, 2015 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 // “There are no rules in filmmaking. Only sins. And the cardinal sin is …
Published Apr. 29, 2017 at ZekeFilm. Or, Tom Hanks and Internet Privacy in 2017 DIRECTOR: JAMES PONSOLDT/2017 Imagine Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook—all combined into one. Now call it The Circle. Mae Holland (Emma Watson) shakes off a string of dead end temp jobs the first chance she gets to taste the potential and prosperity of …
Published Apr. 3, 2017 at ZekeFilm. Hollywood, Politics, and World War II: Inseparable From the Start DIRECTOR: LAURENT BOUZEREAU/2017 Say what you will about Hollywood’s influence in politics (or interference, depending on how you see it), but the two have intertwined for so many decades they’re difficult to dissociate. Oscar speeches like Sacheen Littlefeather’s upon Marlon …
Published Jan. 7, 2017 at ZekeFilm. Washington and Davis Show Their Range in Wilson’s Play DIRECTOR: DENZEL WASHINGTON/2016 Pittsburgh, 1950s. Troy Maxson arrives home from work with his friend Bono. His wife, Rose, is setting the table for dinner. His grown son Lyons arrives for a visit, and his son Cory will come home after football practice. This …
Published Dec. 20, 2016 at ZekeFilm. A Popcorn Flick, not an Oscar Contender (and that’s nothing to complain about) DIRECTOR: MORTEN TYLDUM/2016 Could any place be lonelier than space? Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) and Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence) are about to find out. They’re the only two people woken up from hyper sleep on the Starship …
Published Nov. 17, 2016 at ZekeFilm. Pentalogy. It might be word you’re about to become more acquainted with in the movie world. In the lead-up to the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, J.K. Rowling confirmed on Twitter in October that the Harry Potter spinoff is spinning off into five different chapters: …
Continue reading "FEATURE // Fantastic Beasts, Harry Potter, and the Death of the Trilogy"
Published Nov. 7, 2016 at ZekeFilm. Or, What Might Be This Decade’s English Patient DIRECTOR: KENNETH LONERGAN/2016 When The English Patient was rounding the awards circuit in late ‘96/early ’97, the romantic drama must have seemed like a sure bet to moviegoers. With heaps of praise and 12 Oscar nominations, it should have been an easy choice for …
Published Oct. 21, 2016 at ZekeFilm. Tom Cruise Secures This Sequel a Sunday Afternoon Cable Slot, Not Much Else DIRECTOR: EDWARD ZWICK/2016 Jack Reacher is a drifter. We learned this in his inaugural 2012 movie—at least, I think so. I saw Jack Reacher, and my vague memories include him breaking into a construction trailer to rescue…wait, …
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Published Sept. 2, 2016 at ZekeFilm. Alicia Vikander and Michael Fassbender Shine in a Story of Loss DIRECTOR: DEREK CIANFRANCE/2016 Janus Rock may be a tiny island between two seas, but it holds a most important lighthouse—and a secret. After fighting in World War I, Tom (Michael Fassbender) finds solace in a quiet life as the new …
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