Tag - movie reviews

Freeze Frame: “Midway” (PG-13), “Playing With Fire” (PG), “Tel Aviv on Fire” (Not rated), “Pain and Glory” (R)

Hollywood's 'Master of Disaster,' director Roland Emmerich, is best known for big screen spectacles like “Independence Day” and “The Day After Tomorrow.” He gives the famous South Pacific WWII battle "Midway" that same splashy, special effects-heavy treatment. While the action sequences are impressive the human drama is soapy and superficial....

Take Two: “Joker” (R)

Joaquin Phoenix portrays Batman's mad nemesis in “Joker,” undoubtedly one of the more controversial and provocative movies of the year. This character study serves as an ultra-violent origin story. Writer/director Todd Phillips, who is best known for his broad comedies like “Old School” and the “Hangover” trilogy, makes an unorthodox...

Freeze Frame: “Motherless Brooklyn” (R), “Jojo Rabbit” (R)

Actor Edward Norton wrote, produced, directed and stars in the moody film noir melodrama, "Motherless Brooklyn." Norton is excellent as a gumshoe with Tourette’s Syndrome who uncovers a web of fraud and racial exploitation in 50s New York City when he investigates the death of his employer, played by Bruce...

Freeze Frame: “The Current War” (PG-13), “Black and Blue” (R), “Honeyland” (Not rated), “Paradise Hills” (Not rated)

With a great cast and a riveting true story to work with, “The Current War” should have been an electrifying movie. It tells the tale of the bitter competition between Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse during the early days of electrical power. Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon and Nicholas...

Freeze Frame: “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (PG), “Lucy in the Sky” (R), “Greener Grass” (R), “Villains” (R)

Disney’s Halloween season offering is a sequel to a 2014 hit that flipped the script on “Sleeping Beauty,” turning the evil sorceress into a heroine. Angelina Jolie is back in the titular role of the gargantuan production, “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Apparently, the filmmakers wanted to make a kiddie version...