Jim Cummings is a star. Writing, directing, and starring in what can only be called cringe porn at its finest, Cummings gives us one of the year’s best independent achievements in Thunder Road, a full-length expansion […]
Tag: Comedy
BlacKkKlansman (Lee, 2018)
Spike Lee’s passion is unmistakable. He knows just how to get at the heart of the issues and blaze them to the masses with ferocity, his films acting as missals for his faithful to fight […]
The Other Side of the Wind (Welles, 2018)
The myth of The Other Side of the Wind has outgrown the film itself, to the point where you have to keep reminding yourself that it now exists for our consumption. Welles scholars have pored over this […]
The Old Man & the Gun (Lowery, 2018)
By now, I think we can say David Lowery’s ideal vision of cinema is one that takes its time to form in the viewer’s imagination. With a little patience, and with a little luck, people […]
Paddington 2 (King, 2017)
We are lucky to have a film so pure, so in tune with what is right and decent, and so hugely entertaining as Paddington 2 is. I remember being similarly enchanted by the first film, despite initially […]
The Boss Baby (McGrath, 2017)
There’s a clever concept here. The story has an anti-capitalist bent, revealing the exhausting impact of mass commoditization and empty corporate hierarchies. In such a culture, there is no time—nay, no room for the nuclear family, and […]
Game Night (Daley & Goldstein, 2018)
There is not much originality in Game Night. It quickly devolves into a bunch of dupes running around like chickens with their heads cut off, caught up in a kidnapping plot that they initially believe is […]
Ferdinand (Saldanha, 2017)
Ferdinand is a difficult film to dislike, what with its sympathetic hero and the colourful characters supporting his journey. I quite like its firm stance against the barbaric spectacle of bullfighting, and if you dig […]
The Party (Potter, 2017)
I think, with a little more time and a few more twists, The Party could’ve come together as a truly splendid chamber farce. The cast is there. Sally Potter is one of Britain’s more underrated filmmakers working […]
Isle of Dogs (Anderson, 2018)
It’s hard to articulate just why Isle of Dogs came up short for me. The backlash regarding the translation/non-translation dynamic of the Japanese dialogue is worth contemplating, though since this is a polemic from the eyes of Othered victims, […]
Life of the Party (Falcone, 2018)
It’s too bad Melissa McCarthy is caught up in the stale comedy machine, churning out these kinds of predictable crowdpleasers instead of hunkering down and doing something really special. She’s a big enough name now […]
Book Club (Holderman, 2018)
Geared toward the twilight set, Book Club delivers a fair amount of laughs courtesy of its cast of American treasures. It’s a bit like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in the sense that its concerns are about the […]
Ocean’s Eight (Ross, 2018)
This insanely talented cast deserved much better than this kind of straight-down-the-middle filmmaking that gives them only the bare minimum to shine. The pedestrian nature of this endeavour was a big shame. I, quite shamefully, […]
Let the Sunshine In (Denis, 2017)
It’s only words, and words are all I have to take your heart away.—The Bee Gees Claire Denis continues to be nothing less than fascinating with her first film in four years, a far cry from […]
Love, Simon (Berlanti, 2018)
Love, Simon reminded me a little of last year’s Wonder, which was (if you remember) about the child with the facial disfigurement. Both are very safe and “clean” uplifters about self-acceptance and tolerance that are fundamentally structured […]
The Lonely Film Critic 