Author Archive
Film Review – Shotgun Wedding
Shotgun Wedding (2022) contains enough screwball antics to forgive its ridiculous story. It blends both romantic and action comedy genres, going through the hijinks of both, and having fun doing so. The characters are bit too wacky to be believable – frankly, most of the actors…
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Film Review – Rye Lane
Raine Allen Miller’s feature length directorial debut, Rye Lane (2023) is an exuberant romantic comedy. Along with writers Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia, Miller creates a portrait of two twenty-somethings that feels like a throwback and a modern update at the same time. There are odes to the past, with…
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Film Review – The Son
Fresh off his award-winning work in The Father (2020), writer/director Florian Zeller has returned with yet another tale of familial strife in The Son (2022). However, the success of his previous outing does not translate this go around. In fact, it’s the opposite. This is a shockingly dreary story of broken…
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Film Review – When You Finish Saving the World
There’s a difference between good characters that have weaknesses and those that are simply obnoxious. That is the inherent issue with Jesse Eisenberg’s writing and directing debut, When You Finish Saving the World (2022). Even the title has a condescending ring to it, in the way a parent…
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Film Review – Alice, Darling
Alice, Darling (2022) marks a turn for Anna Kendrick. Most of her career has been filled with comedies and musicals, with the occasional exception sprinkled throughout. Here, we see her in a deeply serious drama involving abuse, trauma, and toxic relationships. While we haven’t seen her in…
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Film Review – Sick
Fans of Scream (1996) will find a lot to like in Sick (2022). The most obvious connection is screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who is responsible for penning both. Acute viewers will notice the similarities – Williamson goes so far as to copy the opening prologue nearly beat for beat. While this…
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Film Review – M3GAN
M3GAN (2022) takes the classic “Killer Doll” premise and adds its own unique twist. The most well-known example of this horror subgenre would be the Child’s Play (1988) series, featuring everyone’s favorite toy murderer, Chucky. Here, director Gerard Johnstone and screenwriter Akela Cooper put a new spin on familiar material, incorporating technological advancements…
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Top 15 Films of 2022 – Allen’s Picks
2022 proved to be a transition year for the movies. As Covid restrictions lifted and audiences returned to theaters, studios faced the challenge of deciding what films get wide releases while reserving others for streaming platforms. The result was confusion – should a person make…
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