|
2/4
|
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
(2022)
|
Blake Howard
|
“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is like interrupting that unmistakably joyous and sorrowful feeling at a wake with a live infomercial.
Posted Nov 09, 2022
|
|
|
The Batman
(2022)
|
Blake Howard
|
The Batman is a needless collage of not only better movies, but more egregiously of better Batman movies as director/co-writer Matt Reeves and co-writer Peter Craig create an utterly inferior and infuriating vision of the Dark Knight.
Posted Mar 01, 2022
|
|
1.5/4
|
Scream
(2022)
|
Blake Howard
|
Ghostface is back in "Scream" ("Scream 5" from here on out), and this time it's not just the fresh-faced crop of Woodsboro teens under the knife, but film discourse and especially film Twitter which is ripe for a skewering.
Posted Jan 19, 2022
|
|
2.5/4
|
Finch
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Director Miguel Sapochnik and writers Craig Luck and Ivor Powell muse on the meaning of life with a photogenic dog, a kinda creepy robot named Jeff and the singular Tom Hanks.
Posted Jan 09, 2022
|
|
3/4
|
The Harder They Fall
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
A stylish, hip hop infused, revisionist yet classical collision course tale of revenge on the American Frontier.
Posted Jan 09, 2022
|
|
3.5/4
|
West Side Story
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
"West Side Story" is not so much a 'masterpiece' but rather a "master's piece" - a film so formally and technically assured that it envelopes you.
Posted Jan 09, 2022
|
|
3.5/4
|
Licorice Pizza
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza" embraces the romance of being disconnected, of finding out who you are by pretending who you think you should be, and getting in trouble.
Posted Jan 09, 2022
|
|
1.5/4
|
King Richard
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
"King Richard" is a strange and conflicting beast... at its centre is Will Smith offering perhaps the worst performance of his career.
Posted Jan 09, 2022
|
|
4/4
|
Drive My Car
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Director and co-writer Ryusuke Hamaguchi and co-writer Takamasa Oe adapt a Haruki Murakami short story and create an impactful, nerve exposing rumination on love, the safety of our weaknesses, and the things that we're tethered to in loss.
Posted Jan 09, 2022
|
|
1/5
|
Red Notice
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
In terms of authenticity, "Red Notice" isn't even a passable fake.
Posted Nov 18, 2021
|
|
2/5
|
Eternals
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Academy Award Winner Chloe Zhao's "Eternals" is not good, but unlike the slew of increasingly tiring and formulaic Marvel fare there are some bright spots.
Posted Nov 18, 2021
|
|
1.5/5
|
Army of Thieves
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
...a pointless, pitiless exercise.
Posted Nov 18, 2021
|
|
0.5/4
|
Space Jam: A New Legacy
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Space Jam: A New Legacy" is a deplorable act of IP coercion and grave robbery that is as boring as it is vindictive.
Posted Aug 03, 2021
|
|
3.5/4
|
Pig
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Pig" is the unlikely fusion of incongruous ingredients. It's equal parts the nihilism of "First Reformed," the clear-eyed justice-seeking of "John Wick," and the buffet of grief and cuisine of Teplitzky's lesser-seen "Burning Man".
Posted Aug 03, 2021
|
|
3/4
|
No Sudden Move
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
For masters in any field, the game they play slows down. "No Sudden Move" doesn't need to show its hand; Soderbergh is three steps ahead and not looking like slowing down.
Posted Aug 03, 2021
|
|
3/4
|
Army Of The Dead
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Snyder is an aggregator of inspirations, unabashedly spring-boarding from the giant canonical zombie and action texts. Snyder is a 'Bro' Poet ("Bro-et"), and I, for one, enjoy his predictable rhymes.
Posted Aug 03, 2021
|
|
3.5/5
|
Tom Clancy's Without Remorse
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Tom Clancy's Without Remorse" is a brutal, espionage actioner that side-steps the world-policing impulses of the source material with the help of phenomenal casting and some taut and dynamic action direction from Stefano Sollima.
Posted May 11, 2021
|
|
4.5/5
|
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Writer/directors Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe have answered one of the greatest hypotheticals: what if John Carpenter and "Starship Troopers"-era Paul Verhoeven got the keys to the animation studios responsible for "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse"?
Posted May 11, 2021
|
|
4.5/5
|
Judas and the Black Messiah
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
To quote "The Insider" - fame lasts fifteen minutes, infamy lasts a whole lot longer.
Posted May 11, 2021
|
|
4/5
|
Wrath of Man
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Guy Ritchie's "Wrath of Man" is the movie "Den of Thieves" wishes it was.
Posted May 11, 2021
|
|
|
The Midnight Sky
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
George Clooney's "The Midnight Sky," like "Monuments Men" before it - chokes on a combination concept and a casting slam dunk.
Posted Mar 09, 2021
|
|
1/4
|
Boss Level
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
Watts and Grillo share the chemistry of a mortician and a corpse - both are doing a job, one is dead.
Posted Mar 09, 2021
|
|
3.5/4
|
Raya and the Last Dragon
(2021)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Raya and the Last Dragon," is so affecting and candid about failure and the faith required for second chances that you could be forgiven for forgetting that it's a movie about a girl attempting to save her mystical realm by locating a dragon.
Posted Mar 09, 2021
|
|
|
One Night in Miami
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"One Night in Miami" does something magical in the end. After presenting each of these characters' plight, after exposing their flaws and fears, after showing their vulnerability, they don't even slightly diminish.
Posted Feb 26, 2021
|
|
2/4
|
Capone
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
If "The Untouchables" is the pride, the American myth-making, then Trank's ambition for "Capone" is to draw you into its unceremonious free-fall. It's not pleasant, and it's not trying to be.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
2/4
|
Dirt Music
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Dirt Music" is a film that begs to explore race, environmental impacts of working-class pursuits, and the law's reflex to "look the other way" to influential power brokers...melodramatic romance at the core has the loudest voice.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Extraction
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Extraction" is a bone-rattling, epic fifteen rounds of urban warfare rescue mission with a soulful and redemptive career-best dramatic performance from Hemsworth.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
4/4
|
The Trip to Greece
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
Even thinking about how damned unexpectedly penetrating and existentially resonant this movie and the series is, I want to well up.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
4/4
|
Da 5 Bloods
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
Spike Lee's body of work is a weaponised mirror of Black Lives in America. Nobody does it better.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
0.5/4
|
The Last Days of American Crime
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Last Days" is unwatchable.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
3/5
|
The Trial of the Chicago 7
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"The Trial of the Chicago 7" is a timely film, until the end leaves you with a bitter taste.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
On the Rocks
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
Sofia Coppola's "On The Rocks" is a cathartic diary about the impacts of fathers on daughters. It's beautiful, affecting, magical and makes me well up many weeks after watching.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
Bill & Ted Face the Music
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Bill & Ted Face the Music" is like a gift in a dream. You're visiting old friends, familiar gags, and an aged brand of whimsy gives you a microdose of nostalgia that doesn't make you choke. When it ends, it's an emotional jolt.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
I'm Thinking of Ending Things
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
Charlie Kaufman's "I'm Thinking of Ending Things" is simultaneously specific and profoundly universal; a beguiling dissection of relationships and family in time.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
4/4
|
David Byrne's American Utopia
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"David Byrne's American Utopia" is a soul-enriching experience, closing the impossible distance between the filmed stage and the viewer.
Posted Nov 19, 2020
|
|
|
Tenet
(2020)
|
Garth Franklin
|
The cast are solid talents, but all struggle to breath life into a film already overstuffed and whittled down to the point of leaving no time for any natural humanity to flow though it.
Posted Sep 14, 2020
|
|
3/4
|
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
In 2020 the tired comic book movie genre needs something wired like "Birds of Prey." It's a crude carnival ride; violent, colourful, with subtle and not so subtle elevated empowerment moments.
Posted Mar 08, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Way Back
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"The Way Back" is a triumph as director Gavin O'Connor fashions a tale of the redemptive power of sports and purpose and at its core is a near unbearably personal performance from Ben Affleck.
Posted Mar 08, 2020
|
|
4/4
|
The Invisible Man
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
In the glut of Hollywood reboots, remakes and sequels, Leigh Whannell's new take on "The Invisible Man" comes along and makes a good case for why remakes can work.
Posted Mar 08, 2020
|
|
1/4
|
Spenser Confidential
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Spenser Confidential" is the movie equivalent of the corpse in "Weekend at Bernie's". It is aggressively bad on almost every conceivable front.
Posted Mar 08, 2020
|
|
|
Bad Boys for Life
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
In short "Bad Boys" is incredible. "Bad Boys 2" is insane. "Bad Boys For Life" is an almost instantly forgettable franchise bookend, or is it? Maybe it's time we start reading the title with the upward inflection of Ron Burgundy.
Posted Jan 30, 2020
|
|
|
Underwater
(2020)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Underwater" is a welcome 90-minute panic attack with Kristen Stewart's great articulation of discomfort rippling in her every expression and action.
Posted Jan 30, 2020
|
|
3.5/4
|
The Gentlemen
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
Ritchie knows the rules, knows who he is and owning his storytelling craft - leading to a collision of crassness, class satire and virtuosic application of the word 'c-nt' that I imagine is going to only grow in appreciation with each re-watch.
Posted Jan 15, 2020
|
|
|
The Irishman
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
I feel like Scorsese's saying, "I am never going back." There's one appropriate response, a devastating, absolute, "yeah".
Posted Dec 20, 2019
|
|
|
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
I detested J.J Abrams' "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" (TROS). It's a shell of a film, more machine now than ever. A twisted wreck of fan service, messy assembly of conveniences, lazy echoes and callbacks crashing into an aborted conclusion.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
|
|
|
6 Underground
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
Leave this crew alone to make one of these every year for the next decade. "Fast and Furious" be warned, the Bay is back in town.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
|
|
|
Marriage Story
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Marriage Story" lingers long and scratches synapses that nudge you back towards a rewatch, but I don't know if I'm ready.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
|
|
|
Ford v Ferrari
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Ford v Ferrari" is to James Mangold what "Chef" is to Jon Favreau. Where the latter tells a semi-autobiographical tale of art through the lens of food; Mangold brings the audience into the meat grinder of creation and competition in racing.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
|
|
|
Doctor Sleep
(2019)
|
Blake Howard
|
"Doctor Sleep" is a worthwhile cinematic sequel, that improves on the source by refracting it through Kubrick's superior vision.
Posted Nov 14, 2019
|
|
|
It: Chapter Two
(2019)
|
Gary Dowell
|
For all its rough edges, IT: Chapter Two is largely rewarding.
Posted Sep 26, 2019
|
>