Category: Travis
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Review: ‘The Little Mermaid’
Halle Bailey And Melissa McCarthy Weave A Magical Spell In Disney’s Crowd-Pleasing Remake
The most useless question in all of film criticism is “Why does Disney keep doing these live-action remakes”? The answer has been transparent from the very beginning, and I don’t even need to say it. They have for the most part been a mixed bag in terms of quality. For me, The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon, and Aladdin are…
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Review: ‘Kandahar’
Gerard Butler Fights Through Hostile Territory In Ric Roman Waugh’s Surprisingly Nuanced Action-Thriller
When a director and actor truly click as well as Gerard Butler and filmmaker Ric Roman Waugh, expectations are exceeded when you least expect it. Such is the case for Kandahar, a knotty, surprisingly rich war thriller that, on the surface, looks like an action-heavy version of Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant. Certainly that’s what I thought it…
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Review: ‘You Hurt My Feelings’
Julia Louis-Dreyfus And Nicole Holofcener Reunite For A Smart, Funny Comedy About Knowing When To Be Honest With Loved Ones
Successful novelist Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her husband Don (Tobias Menzies), a therapist, share everything. Annoyingly so, or at least to their son Eliot (Owen Teague), who works at a weed dispensary in their Upper West Side neighborhood. Eliot hates that Beth and Don share one another’s meals at lunch, and dare to eat from…
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Review: ‘Master Gardener’
Joel Edgerton Is A Violent Horticulturist Digging For Redemption In Paul Schrader’s Latest
Paul Schrader has found his mojo in this latest act of his storied career, and Master Gardener acts as a thematic companion to his two previous films, First Reformed and The Card Counter. All three center on emotionally-bruised men who have found a sense of balance in their work, only to have the delicate solitude disrupted by passion. They all…
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Review: ‘Sanctuary’
Margaret Qualley And Christopher Abbott Play A Twisted, Psychosexual Game Of Cat-And-Mouse
The interview is going poorly. Rebecca (Margaret Qualley) has a lot of pointed questions for Hal Porterfield (Christopher Abbott), heir to a booming hotel empire. He seems pretty chill aboutt answering her questions, but it’s clear she doesn’t like what she’s hearing. His height and weight is clearly a lie. So she presses him further…
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Review: ‘Fast X’
Jason Momoa Goes Wild As The Franchise’s All-Time Best Villain In Jam-Packed And Entertaining Sequel
While delighting in Fast X like a kid with a giant bucket of popcorn and Milk Duds, I remarked to my friend and colleague Jen Chaney that the moment this franchise broke free from the shackles of logic was in Fast Five. You probably know the scene, too, when Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) and…
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Review: ‘Hypnotic’
Ben Affleck And Robert Rodriguez’s Mindbending Crime Film Gives The Illusion Of Being ‘Inception’-Esque
It’s hard to believe that in today’s cinematic landscape, a new film from Robert Rodriguez and led by Ben Affleck can get as little buzz as the sci-fi actioner, Hypnotic. Short of the word-of-mouth from the festival circuit, there’s a good chance most people have no idea this movie exists. Then again, short of Alita: Battle Angel there…
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Review: ‘Fool’s Paradise’
Charlie Day And Ken Jeong Impress In A Hollywood Satire That Lacks Bite
Charlie Day is a funny dude. We’ve seen it for fifteen seasons on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, the record-breaking series he’s been writing and starring in, plus comedic supporting roles in Horrible Bosses, Pacific Rim, and most recently The Super Mario Bros Movie. But Day is known for a certain kind of motor-mouthed humor. The high pitch…
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Review: ‘Blackberry’
Matt Johnson Crafts A Funny And Brilliant Look At The Rise And Fall Of The One-Time King Of Smartphones
Are we in a sortof mini Golden Era for brilliant, funny, and emotional biopics about game-changing innovations? From the Nike Air Jordan film Air to Apple’s espionage thriller on the launch of Tetris, we’re seeing movies that are crafting entertaining drama while celebrating genius and business creativity. And now joining this impressive group of movies is Blackberry, Matt…
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Review: ‘Love Again’
Priyanka Chopra Jonas And Sam Heughan Lead Absurd Rom-Com Made For Celine Dion And Celine Dion Fans
Let me preface this by saying that I’m a big fan of writer/director James C. Strouse. Two of his previous films, The Incredible Jessica James and People Places Things, both featuring Jessica Williams, are wonderful blends of humor and heart about the way that love can sneak up on you when least expected. His latest, the wildly absurd,…