Sad Affleck: The Movie, ‘THE WAY BACK’, a Dour Character Study Dressed Up as a Sports Drama

March 5, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ben Affleck, Brad Ingelsby, Gavin O’Connor, Janina Gavankar, Michaela Watkins, Out in Theaters, Reviews, The Way Back Leave a comment

My man Ben Affleck just can’t catch a break. His career has been a series of precipitous rises and steep plunges. From a breakout Oscar win with Good Will Hunting to the critical depths of Gigli in his whole Bennifer period, onto his comeback directorial streak (which ended in a Best Picture win for Argo) which then led into a second slump following his turn as Batman in the largely maligned DCEU. Ben’s trajectory is like the stock market during a pandemic. It just can’t decide whether to float or flounder. Read More

Trauma (and Push-Pins) Are Buried Deep in Cringy ‘SWALLOW’

March 2, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Austin Stowell, Carlo Mirabella-Davis, Elizabeth Marvel, Haley Bennett, Horror, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Swallow Leave a comment

An experience that’s both lurid and cathartic, Swallow is not the movie you think it’s going to be and yet its unpredictable journey is one that’s well worth taking. Focused on sedate young housewife Hunter’s relationship with her family, old and new, and her newfound habit for swallowing non-food objects (a psychological disorder called ‘pica’ that gives people an appetite for normally ”inedible” things like cat hair or pins and needles), Swallow is a delicately-told, well-acted, and often-cringe-inducing tale of identity and reclamation at death-defying costs. Read More

Victorian Love Lives Matter in Pampered, Prissy, Punctuated ’EMMA.’

February 27, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Amber Anderson, Anya Taylor-Joy, Autumn de Wilde, Callum Turner, Emma, Jane Austen, Johnny Flynn, Josh O’Connor, Mia Goth, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

Thank Black Phillip that Anya Taylor-Joy accepted the devil’s bargain to live deliciously, otherwise we would have been spared the scrumptious spreads of Emma’s delectable buffet of baked goods and mouthwatering treats. From the nimble macaron to the towering croquembouche, just gazing at the saccharine foodstuffs of Autumn de Wilde’s Jane Austen adaptation is enough to give the viewer a diabetic flair-up. Read More

“Not the Bees!”: ‘CANDYMAN’ Returns in First Trailer for Jordan Peele-Produced Sequel

February 27, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Candyman, Jordan Peele, Trailers, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Leave a comment

1992’s Candyman embodied the idea that good horror movies touch on greater social issues of our times. To an almost unwavering degree, the horror film spoke to racial superstition, director Bernard Rose using the projects as a backdrop to deliver an underrated supernatural slasher with something real on its mind. Leave it to Jordan Peele to pick up the ball nearly 30 years later and run with these ideas.

Believing Women and The Power of ‘THE INVISIBLE MAN’

February 26, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Most Popular, Out in Theaters Tagged Aldis Hodge, Elisabeth Moss, Harriet Dyer, Horror, Leigh Whannell, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Storm Reid, The Invisible Man 1 Comment

The idiom of the wolf in sheep’s clothing is a particularly terrifying one. By virtue of his unassuming appearance, the predator becomes non-threatening. He can hide in plain sight and hunt with all the privilege of inconspicuousness. If looks could kill. The only thing worse than a predator in sheep’s skin is one with no skin at all. Those who lurk not in the shadows, but in the light of the lord. Luring the unsuspecting into their hidden traps. Predators do live among us but thankfully they are visible. With visibility comes consequence, accountability. The hunters have to at least make an effort to conceal their predatory behavior. We can, at the very least, see their fangs. And we can fight back. Read More

Comeuppance Is a Bitch in Gritty Midnighter ’BLOOD ON HER NAME’

February 25, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bethany Anne Lind, Blood on Her Name, Don M. Thompson, Elisabeth Röhm, Jared Ivers, Jimmy Gonzales, Matthew Pope, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Will Patton Leave a comment

In the same vein as an early Coen Bros crime yarn or a blood-stained Jeremy Saulnier shoot-em-up, Matthew Pope’s Blood on Her Name is a homegrown working-class tale of bungled domestic criminality and the hefty price of conscience. With similarities to homegrown crime fiction like Blue Ruin, Cold in July, Calibre, and A Simple Plan, Pope’s Blood on Her Name begins with accidental death and quickly spirals beyond the realm of control. Read More

Pixar’s Quest To Pull the Heartstrings Continues With Solid But Unremarkable ‘ONWARD’

February 24, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Ali Wong, Chris Pratt, Dan Scanlon, Jason Headley, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Keith Bunin, Lena Waithe, Octavia Spencer, Onward, Out in Theaters, Pixar, Reviews, Tom Holland Leave a comment

I knew from the very onset that Onward was going to work my tear ducts like a German milkmaid squeezing at a bovine’s teat. It didn’t matter that the blue teenage elves looked more like the brainchildren of Dreamworks than Pixar, or that some of the comedy was a bit low-brow and slapstick, or even that Onward settles more in the mid-to-lower tier ranking of the once-unflappable animation studio’s filmography, this movie was always gonna turn me into a mushy adult sniveling away in a dark theater. And that it did. Read More

Murray, Chalamet, McDormand, Swinton, Moss, and Many Many More Assemble for Wes Anderson’s ‘THE FRENCH DISPATCH’ Trailer

February 12, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Elisabeth Moss, Frances McDormand, Jeff Goldblum, Jeffrey Wright, Lea Seydoux Owen Wilson, The French Dispatch, Tilda Swinton, Timothée Chalamet, Tony Revolori, Trailers, Wes Anderson Leave a comment

Bill Murray, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Saoirse Ronan, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Timothee Chalamet, Frances McDormand, Benecio del Toro, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Elisabeth Moss, Tilda Swinton, Lea Seydoux, Owen Wilson, Henry Winkler, Rupert Friend, Jeffrey Wright, Tony Revolori. When you have Wes Anderson behind the camera, you know the cast is gonna be God-status but my lord is The French Dispatch absolutely stacked. This could quite honestly go down in history as one of the very best casts in history and they’ve joined Anderson to tell the tale of a fictional American newspaper in a fictional French city. Read More

Anarchic and Dumb ‘BIRDS OF PREY’ is Pure Fun-Loving DCEU Bombast

February 6, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Birds of Prey, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), Cathy Yan, Chris Messina, DC Extended Universe, DCEU, Ewan McGregor, June Smollett-Bell, Margo Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez Leave a comment

I’m only going to write out this whole title once so enjoy it while it lasts. Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a movie that’s as excessive, unedited and utterly ridiculous as its title; a go-for-broke, R-rated, comic-book-inspired joyride through the most colorful, femme fatale-populated corners of the DC Extended Universe. Led by a cutesy head-butt of a performance from superstar Margo Robbie, Birds of Prey is a do-over of sorts for the much-maligned Suicide Squad, preserving its annoying pinball storytelling structure (the editing in this movie often stops momentum dead in its tracks) but delivering on the promise of unruly antiheroes actually being quite a bit of fun to watch. Read More

First ‘SPIRAL’ Trailer Reboots the ‘SAW’ Franchise With Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson

February 5, 2020 by Matt Oakes Posted in Trailers Tagged Chris Rock, Darren Lynn Bousman, Horror, Josh Stolberg, Samuel L. Jackson, Saw, Spiral, Trailers Leave a comment

In 2010, Saw VII was touted as “The Final Chapter” only for a Jigsaw movie to emerge 7 years later. As the Iron Islanders say, what is dead may never die and in 2020, a franchise twice put to bed reemerges once more to concoct elaborate death machines. In the sparse first look at Spiral, Chris Rock plays a detective joined by a rookie partner played by Max Minghella. Playing Rock’s father, Samuel L Jackson pops in to say “motherfucker” because Sam Jackson’s gotta Sam Jackson. Spiral looks to direct the grudge and gore a different direction this go-around the circular saw, with the intended target (at least in this first glimpse) to be police officers rather than people who have bungled up their lives in the eyes of a deranged cancer patient. Could make for an interesting fresh take or could be yet another rehash of mindless torture porn. Read More