Author: Jill Florio
-
Movie Review – Death on the Nile
—
Really disappointing, especially as I liked Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (2017) so very much. As in Orient, Death on the Nile is fabulously scenic and lush, with a great cast that seems to be trying to make a better movie out of this. Maybe at two hours and seven minutes, the movie is just too long…
-
Movie Review – The King’s Daughter
—
Adorable, charming, lush, great storytelling. I was super surprised at the loving care shown to detail in this little movie. The King’s Daughter was incredibly good-natured. I found myself smiling the whole way through; a rarity. That’s when I realized this might be A+ territory. Pierce Brosnan (as the Sun King, Louis XIV himself) has never been…
-
Movie Review – Redeeming Love
I went into this thinking it would just be work and that I’d watch Spider-Man: No Way Home again afterward for my reward. To my great surprise and pleasure, Redeeming Love is a wonderful film about the Wild West, the Gold Rush, and women’s agency. It’s never boring, the characters are well-drawn and acted, the costumes are perfection,…
-
Movie Review – Hotel Transylvania 4: Transformania
A solid B movie in terms of animation values, high-quality celebrity voices, low-key warm humor, and a fun direction the plot spins off into. It’s damn hard to get a franchise right in every iteration, but somehow the under-the-radar work in the Hotel Translyvania oeuvre manages to make a good little story each time. They aren’t up…
-
Non-Christmas Christmas Films: Home Alone 2 – Lost in New York (1992)
It’s another Christmas, a year later, and young Kevin is lost again. I’m not sure if there’s some intensely bad parenting involved, or if the kid just attracts trouble, but so it goes. It’s basically Die Hard 2, with a ten-year-old, and everyone in-universe pretty much knows it. “Not again” is the theme, which I…
-
Classic Christmas Rewatch – Home Alone (1990)
So I’ve been thinking about my favorite Christmas movie category – the ones I call Non-Christmas Christmas Films. This fun category includes such classics as Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and Gremlins. Iron Man 3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I have a useful list going here. But in that post, I ask if Home Alone deserves…
-
Movie Review – Sing 2
Sing 2 is an ADORABLE movie with spectacular song and dance numbers, great animation, and a lot of heart and humor. The story is a fine follow-up to the lives of the animals well-loved from the original, with some cameos of minor roles in the first few minutes…so try not to be late. Where Sing 2 falls down…
-
Movie Review – West Side Story
I love West Side Story, even though it’s a sad, “bring tissues” type movie. My love, however, seems restricted to the 1961 West Side Story movie, and the play. While I haven’t seen this on Broadway (and there’s a sly nod to Broadway in the first three minutes of the 2021 film — did you…
-
Movie Review – Poms (2019)
Poms is a cute little flick if you want something light and fluffy to while away an evening where there’s nothing more interesting on your daily watch docket. I caught this on an airplane seatback recently, and it did the job of keeping me mildly entertained while I sipped my tiny bottle of red. What…
-
Ghostbusters 3: Afterlife – An Original Cast Ghostbusters Teaser Trailer
I’m on board for the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Also, it might make me rewatch Ghostbusters 2. MAYBE. Not sure I can stomach it — number 2 was that bad. But really, this is the time to pull this series out of the dust bin, since most of the main players are still at large and…