Category: Movie Reviews
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Movie Review – Ma – Octavia Spencer in a Creepy Horror Thriller
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If Ma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy! Is that how the saying goes? If not, that’s how it played out in this horror-thriller. I just watched Ma, starring the beloved Academy Award-winner Octavia Spencer. This isn’t a scary movie per se, but it is extremely creepy; Octavia, of course, nails the role perfectly. I didn’t…
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Rewatch Review – A Look Back at The Hunger Games Series
The Hunger Games, My current favorite franchise. Again… Last night I wasn’t in the mood for TV. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch a movie, read a book, play the PS4…On a whim, I started the Vudu app on the fire stick and browsed my digital copy collection. When I saw the cover…
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Movie Review – Booksmart – Whipsmart Nerd High School Anthem
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Booksmart is more smart than bookish, featuring the quirky party-hearty hijinks of a girl duo with genuine chemistry. Moverover, Booksmart, for all its modern nods, felt exactly like a 1980s John Hughes film. I mean that as a compliment. It’s zippy, amusing, pleasant, and sometimes clever. It’s also sometimes raunchy, but never in an…
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Movie Review – Brightburn – An Ingenious Anti Superman Film
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Last night I was thoroughly entertained. Brightburn has something for everyone. There is horror, science fiction, humor, drama, suspense — the list goes on and on. The special effects garnered most of my applause. There were sequences I’ve never seen done before. One scene in particular was a literal jaw dropper. I won’t spoil anything…
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Movie Review – Aladdin (2019) – A Live Action Remake, Good for the Target Audience
The 2019 live-action remake of Aladdin is a difficult movie to review, because I’m not the target audience — that’s mainly young kids. Personally, I found the movie to be occasionally entertaining at best, and barely tolerable for the rest. There were a few laughs here and there, and rarely did the song and dance…
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Rewatch Review – Disney’s Animated Aladdin (1992) – A Classic Film with Deeply Modern Flaws
The animated Aladdin of 1992 is a beloved Disney classic. It’s one of the great films of the Disney Renaissance Era, and features A Whole New World, a TOP EVER song of ever in the the Disney oeuvre. Yet parts of Aladdin are deeply problematic to modern audiences. Disney is going out on a limb…
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Movie Review – The Sun Is Also a Star
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I enjoyed The Sun is a Also A Star more than I thought I would, since romance flicks are not in my current job description. The acting was pretty good, and I will say our two star-crossed lovers had great chemistry. The target audience — teenage girls — will not be disappointed. Charles Melton has…
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Movie Review – A Dog’s Journey – Manipulatively Emotional, But The Least Heart-Rending of the Dog Trilogy
I’m relieved to say this heartrending three-movie schmaltz-fest is over. I did the Peetimes for each movie in the semi-trilogy, and was relieved that A Dog’s Journey made me cry the least. By which I mean I cried only three or four times, and these were little teary moments, not the big gulping ugly cries…
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Movie Review – John Wick Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Not as good as the first two)
I loved the first two John Wick movies, especially the first, which really brought new life to the action genre. But I found myself getting bored by the monotonous action in John Wick Parabellum. I think the movie might have been better if it had been a little shorter. Many of the fight seems felt…
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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Does It Better than The Hustle – A Rewatch Review
Although Dirty Rotten Scoundrels came out 30 years ago, it’s still the movie to beat when compared with the 2019 female-led remake The Hustle. Starring Steve Martin, Michael Cain, and Glenne Headley (who died last year — RIP), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels provides a witty journey with a pair of cons who are as likely to…