James Berardinelli

Most rom-coms take vague stabs at humor while focusing on the romance. Here, the balance is shifted. There’s enough chemistry between Day and Slate to get us to root for their coupling but both are comedians by trade and that serves them well.

In terms of storytelling, excitement, and overall entertainment value, Blacklight is a black hole.

There’s nothing worthwhile here; the landscape of wretched banality offers only wasted time and a sense of despair.

Throughout the entire production, there’s an excellent sense of place with both the touristy and less friendly aspects of Acapulco contrasting with one another. These real-world contradictions are less compelling than those in Neil’s personality but they make for a fascinating backdrop to the unveiling of the truths about one man’s psychological dissolution.

Allen almost seems to be going through the motions – his jokes are flat, his stories are poorly focused, and the sense of zany energy that characterized his best films is absent.

As a streaming offering available as part of a subscription package, it might be considered an adequate way to pass 90 minutes but as a reason to venture out to a theater, it’s hard to imagine anyone willing to go to those lengths for something this forgettable.

If Scream is intended to re-start the franchise, things are off to a rocky start. This is what happens when Hollywood refuses to give up on a series that has run its course.

It employs the power of tragedy to enrich.

The special effects are suitably impressive and mostly understated (or at least as understated as is possible for a high-tech spy thriller) and the stunts are expertly executed. But it’s all in the service of a generic package.

Despite some of the seemingly obtuse screenwriting decisions made by Almodovar, Parallel Mothers is a strong, affecting drama that asks tough questions for which there are no neat, clean answers.

Macbeth may be among the Bard’s weakest popular plays (opinion is, of course, divided) but this is one of the better cinematic conversions.

The Lost Daughter uses tone, location, and a string of expert performances to leave an impression, even if the story itself is unremarkable.

The Matrix Resurrections is a waste of time and money. For fans of the series, it’s a betrayal that deserves to be ignored and forgotten as soon as possible.

With a generic cast, Don’t Look Up would have been a disappointment. With this star-studded cast, the classification of a “missed opportunity” doesn’t do it justice; it feels closer to a tragedy.

A warm and loving Valentine to the San Fernando Valley of the 1970s, it never allows nostalgia to overwhelm narrative, although there’s plenty of the former to go around.

As either a 007-inspired spy film or a comic book adventure, The King’s Man feels stale.

Kids will have fun, parents probably won’t be bored, but will anyone really care? Sing 2 is a product and, like many products, it exists mostly to distract and make money.

The escapism on offer here isn’t of a light and airy nature but instead provides insight into the darker, obsessive aspects of the human experience.

The supercharged CGI effects are fine and the battles are eye-popping, but the character interactions make No Way Home work.

Cyrano is a disappointment. The set design and camera work are first rate, as are the performances of Dinklage and Bennett. It causes one to wonder whether, had the songs been excised in favor a straightforward telling, Cyrano might have played better. As it is, however, it’s merely a handsome looking period piece with too many mediocre songs and a major downer of an ending. Not exactly a great way to ring in a new year.

The darkness isn’t skin-deep; it permeates the material. Nightmare Alley may not be the feel-good film of 2021 but it leaves a lasting impression.

The meandering nature of the screenplay causes the movie to seem overlong as it noticeably loses momentum following a key coming-of-age moment. The episodes that follow don’t seem as fully realized as the ones that come before and, by the time The Hand of God ends, it’s floundering. On the whole, however, this is a charming and at times moving reminder of what it meant to be young in the 1980s.

Spielberg’s West Side Story is a resplendent entertainment and a reminder that at least some of cinema’s great classics can in fact find new life in the hands of a master director who is more concerned about crafting a movie than making a blockbuster.

National Champions remains effective as an ode to cynical realism but it’s uneven at best as a slice of drama.

It’s a perfectly enjoyable piece of movie-making and a treasure for those who want a better understanding of how old TV shows were made.

Fascinating, garish, and compelling even with an overlong 130-odd minute running time, Benedetta dabbles in some of Verhoeven’s career-long weaknesses while highlighting a great many of his strengths.

Overall, The Power of the Dog probably isn’t as powerful or wrenching as Campion intended for it to be but it remains an unsettling piece of cinema. It’s also a reminder that the Western is a broad enough genre to encompass much more than just “Cowboys and Indians.”

Viewed from the straightforward perspective of a narrative-based motion picture, writer/director Nathalie Biancheri’s sophomore feature never gains traction. There are some interesting ideas but it becomes increasingly difficult to relate to the characters or the situation the more obviously divorced from reality things become.