Category: Travis
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Review: ‘Selah And The Spades’
Power Overshadows Grades In Tayarisha Poe’s Stylish, Fearless High School Drama
“When you’re 17, you have to grab control whenever you can.” If those words weren’t said by a teenager, you’d be okay with mistaking them for the edict of a mafia don. Take control. Be in charge, no matter what. For brash, overachieving prep school student Selah Summers, power is everything, and her high school…
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Review: ‘Bad Therapy’
A Grim, Unfunny Marriage Comedy In Desperate Need Of Better Counseling
There is so much comic talent in Bad Therapy that you have to put blame elsewhere for the disaster it ultimately turns out to be. Alicia Silverstone, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Aisha Tyler, and David Paymer do their best with this bleak, witless dark comedy in which it turns out to be more dark than…
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Review: ‘The Main Event’
Netflix’s Light-Hearted WWE Film Is A Harmless Jobber
As a professional wrestling enthusiast of the highest order, the first thing I noticed about Netflix’s The Main Event, the streamer’s latest partnership with WWE Studios, was they go deep with the lingo. Superstars’ names are dropped like victims of Randy Orton’s RKO, while one kid talks about the weekly show’s production values. Apparently, WWE…
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Review: ‘Trolls World Tour’
Not As Earworm-Worthy As Before, But Still A Sweet And Glittery Sequel
Who would’ve thought Trolls World Tour to be such an important movie in 2020? The 2016 film, which featured Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake as song-happy, pastel-colored trolls, was a surprisingly enjoyable treat with an earworm-worthy soundtrack. The sequel might’ve come and gone, but in the age of coronavirus, and a ballsy early move straight-to-digital…
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Review: ‘Coffee & Kareem’
No Amount Of Sugar Can Sweeten This Bitter, Stale Buddy Comedy
The buddy cop-comedy used to be a staple of American cinema, but man, has it fallen on hard times. The genre reaches a new low, sadly to the fault of Netflix, with the woefully unfunny, homophobic, and painful Coffee & Kareem. The movie’s bad pun of a title is only the least of its many…
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Review: ‘Clover’
The Luck Of The Irish Isn’t Quite With Jon Abrahams’ Loud, Familiar Mob Comedy
Actor/director Jon Abrahams hasn’t given himself an easy out with the mob comedy, Clover. The genre is so overstuffed with Tarantino stereotypes and cliches that creating something new is a lost art. While there are a few laughs to be had in this darkly comic caper, originality is a target that isn’t even aimed at,…
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Review: ‘The Other Lamb’
Michiel Huisman’s Raw Cultish Energy Isn’t Enough To Make You A Disciple
Do cult leaders ever really go out of style? At least in the world of cinema, there’s always a fascination to the charismatic, Messiah-like figures, especially when it comes to their grip over women. The Other Lamb casts Michiel Huisman (The Invitation solidifying his cultish bonafides) in the role of Shepherd, who rules over his…
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Review: ‘Uncorked’
Mamoudou Athie Delivers A Vintage Performance, But Netflix’s Wine Drama Will Leave You Thirsty For More
Wine connoisseurs have always fascinated me. I’m someone who loves wineries and those who understand wine better than I ever could, but don’t necessarily like it for myself. And yet, movies about wine always scratch a certain itch for me. The same goes for Netflix’s Uncorked, an enjoyable but not exactly full-bodied drama that stars…
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Review: ‘The Banker’
Anthony Mackie And Samuel L. Jackson Invest In A Superheroic True Story Of Black Wealth
Wealth. When institutional racism is discussed, it is the creation of wealth that has long been denied to black people even after the end of slavery. There is a huge difference between being rich, and being wealthy. White people have passed down wealth from generation to generation, whereas black people, through a variety of underhanded…
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Review: ‘Big Time Adolescence’
Pete Davidson Gets The Headlines But Griffin Gluck Truly Wins In This Thoughtful Coming-Of-Age Comedy
Debuting at Sundance in 2019, Big Time Adolescence was the kind of familiar, plucky coming-of-age story the festival trafficks in pretty regularly. What made it stand out from the rest, and thus draw a ton of attention and one of the biggest acquisition buys that year, was the presence of SNL funnyman Pete Davidson in…