|
3.5/4
|
Da 5 Bloods
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Not only a powerful, elegiac tribute for the black soldiers who served in Vietnam, but a haunting and complex examination of the war's dark legacy, both for America and for people of Vietnam.
Posted Jun 15, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
The King of Staten Island
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Disarmingly strong; a perceptive and smartly written love letter to Davidson's family that feels like a comedic revelation.
Posted Jun 09, 2020
|
|
2.5/4
|
Fourteen
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Consistently filled with wise insights into the nature of human connections and the general ennui of millennial life, seeking stability where there is none to be found.
Posted Jun 09, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
AKA Jane Roe
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
As fascinating, as frustrating, and as full of life as she was. It's a moving, must-watch experience.
Posted Jun 01, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Spaceship Earth
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
A mildly diverting documentary that makes for some intriguing quarantine viewing, painting a big picture but ultimately failing to ask big questions.
Posted May 12, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Downhill
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Takes a troubling and uncomfortable study of human relationships and turns it into mildly entertaining sitcom.
Posted May 08, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Bad Education
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
An engaging tale of corruption, vanity, and hubris that gives Jackman one of his meatiest roles to date.
Posted Apr 28, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Wendy
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
A film of muddled mythology and listless characterization, burying its sense of childhood magic in drab new trappings that feel bland and uninspired.
Posted Apr 21, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Wild Goose Lake
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Diao wraps his scathing indictment of Chinese state capitalism in a package of sensationally choreographed action and nearly operatic violence.
Posted Apr 14, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Onward
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
There's something strangely comforting in this time of national uncertainty to be found in this film about rediscovering simple magic in a world governed by technology.
Posted Apr 07, 2020
|
|
2.5/4
|
Stargirl
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Its themes of being unique and true to yourself feel lost in a film that's trying so desperately to fit in.
Posted Mar 31, 2020
|
|
0/4
|
The Hunt
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
This one's not worth risking the spread of coronavirus - stay home and avoid this film like the plague.
Posted Mar 16, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Sciamma seems to be inventing love anew, giving us something at once familiar, like the lingering memory of lovers long past, and vibrantly, thrillingly new.
Posted Mar 10, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Invisible Man
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
As Whannell builds tension past the point where other films would have offered a cheap payoff, he instead continues to turn the screw, resulting in a film that's not only scary, but genuinely surprising.
Posted Mar 03, 2020
|
|
2.5/4
|
The Call of the Wild
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
An old school adventure about a big dog with an even bigger heart that feels tailor-made for the old cliché - "they just don't make 'em like this anymore."
Posted Feb 24, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Sonic the Hedgehog
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
The epitome of soulless studio product, a paint-by-numbers action comedy that feels like the reheated leftovers of an early 2000s buddy comedy.
Posted Feb 17, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
Gretel & Hansel
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Feels right at home amongst the work of such Italian masters as (Dario) Argento and Mario Bava, whose films often felt like they took place inside a nightmare where plot didn't matter so much as atmosphere and mood.
Posted Feb 03, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Dolittle
(2020)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Everything about it feels bland and conservative, a made-by-committee Hollywood product that's about as generic and flavorless as movies get.
Posted Jan 20, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Just Mercy
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Buoyed by strong turns by Jordan and Foxx, Just Mercy treats stock characters like human beings, centers the victim's story, and refuses to ignore the collateral damage of wrongful convictions.
Posted Jan 11, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
1917
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Its technical aspects are so uniformly remarkable that one almost becomes so caught up in the nail-biting high-wire act on display that it's easy to miss the more human elements of the story it sought to illuminate in the first place.
Posted Jan 06, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Bombshell
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Doubles down on many of the issues that plagued Trumbo, in many cases substituting "Saturday Night Live" style caricatures for real people in such a way that distances the audience from the human elements of the story.
Posted Dec 12, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Uncut Gems
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
The Safdies have designed Uncut Gems with knife's edge precision to tear audiences' nerves to shreds, and the results are as gripping as they are exhausting.
Posted Dec 12, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Richard Jewell
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Paul Walter Hauser is a revelation, turning in a truly extraordinary performance that lifts him up into a new realm.
Posted Dec 09, 2019
|
|
4/4
|
The Irishman
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
In Scorsese's masterful hands it becomes an American tragedy writ-large, a sweeping portrait of great potential cut down by greed and corruption, and a road to hell paved by the best of intentions.
Posted Dec 03, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Frozen II
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Tackles real world issues in a way that's both entertaining to children and palatable to adults. In short, Frozen II is Disney's best film of 2019.
Posted Nov 25, 2019
|
|
1.5/4
|
Ford v Ferrari
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Bloated, over-long, and celebrates the achievements of men only as they live to serve the capitalist machine, leaving anything resembling actual human drama in the dust.
Posted Nov 18, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Harriet
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
There's something undeniably rousing about the way Lemmons directs this, as if she's directing a superhero film with Tubman as the hero.
Posted Nov 11, 2019
|
|
2.5/4
|
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
You have to give them credit for taking on relevant themes...but in the context of a bright and sunny family-friendly Disney film, it never really has the chance to dig down as deep as its ideas require.
Posted Oct 19, 2019
|
|
2/4
|
Gemini Man
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
There are parts of Gemini Man that look so tangible and real that it's as if we could reach out and touch Will Smith - but this fidelity to absolute realism seems to erase the cinematic artistry.
Posted Oct 14, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Parasite
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Bong masterfully blends these divergent genre elements into one wildly original whole, crafting an incisive indictment of income inequality and the wide gulf between the classes that is as bitterly funny as it is achingly sad.
Posted Oct 11, 2019
|
|
2/4
|
Downton Abbey
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Downton no longer feels like a window into a bygone world from which we've progressed, but a regressive longing for a simpler time when people knew their place and never asked for more.
Posted Sep 18, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Ad Astra
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Whether it's over the rainbow or beyond the reaches of Neptune, Gray can't help but remind us that nothing is so grand and mysterious and worth our time as love.
Posted Sep 17, 2019
|
|
2/4
|
It: Chapter Two
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Goes off the rails in the second half, featuring a loud, garish extended climax that's so bathed in CGI effects that it becomes numbing, an unpleasant visual assault rather than than a creepy funhouse.
Posted Sep 06, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Nightingale
(2018)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
An uncompromising howl of righteous fury anchored by a haunting performance by Franciosi, whose grim determination comes to represent the plight of all oppressed peoples who have at long last had enough.
Posted Sep 01, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Ready or Not
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
A delightfully demented comic romp, short, sweet, and nasty - a gleeful fantasia of over-the-top gore and outlandish action that takes direct aim at the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy.
Posted Aug 27, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Good Boys
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
While Good Boys doesn't exactly feel like a comedy classic in the making the way Superbad did, it's got a lot of heart and plenty of laughs thanks to the talent of its young cast.
Posted Aug 20, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Øvredal turns the film's creepy funhouse aesthetic into a surprisingly adept commentary on our national obsession with clinging to false narratives about of our past.
Posted Aug 10, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Maiden
(2018)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
It's an inspiring tale, to be sure. But without its strong emotional core it would likely be just another sports documentary.
Posted Aug 07, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Easily Tarantino's most deeply felt film to date. Beneath his instantly recognizable sense of dark humor, it's a pensive and haunted reverie of the fading shadows of old Hollywood."
Posted Jul 30, 2019
|
|
2/4
|
The Lion King
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
For a film full of such breathtakingly real images, the musical numbers are often flatly staged, the realism constantly undercutting the story's vibrant emotions and narrative drive.
Posted Jul 23, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Spider-Man: Far From Home
(2019)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Rather than wiping out half of all life in the universe, this villain seeks to wipe out truth itself. And in 2019, there's nothing more terrifying, or more relevant, than that.
Posted Jul 09, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Kung Fu Panda 3
(2016)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
These are surprisingly strong but incredibly relevant themes for a children's movie, and Yuh continues to relay them with humor and grace.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
4/4
|
The Revenant
(2015)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
A bold, brutal, beautiful movie and an impeccably directed work of art.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
4/4
|
Carol
(2015)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
A major work by a major filmmaker, working at a level of narrative grace and elegance that is almost unmatched in contemporary cinema.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
The Danish Girl
(2015)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
A work of tremulous beauty buoyed by two of the most powerful screen performances in recent memory.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
2.5/4
|
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
(2016)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Bay handles the action sequences well, but his sense of patriotism often trumps his sense of moral complexity -- something that is sorely missing amid all the explosions in 13 Hours.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
3.5/4
|
Anomalisa
(2015)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
It's deceptively simple for a Kaufman film, but there's a devastating sense of truth in its melancholy portrait of mid-life ennui.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
The Good Dinosaur
(2015)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
It works fine on its own and is an entertaining and occasionally moving children's film, it just feels a bit more anonymous than the high quality we've come to expect from Pixar.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2
(2015)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
The filmmakers saved the best for last, pulling out all the stops and delivering a film that is both heart-stopping and heartbreaking.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
|
3/4
|
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
(2015)
|
Mattie Lucas
|
Hums with the constant energy of a film trying desperately to please, and while it doesn't always hit every note perfectly, it hits them with such gusto that it makes up for its faults.
Posted Jul 05, 2019
|
>