a handful of new movie reviews

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD (2020)

A fluffy Dickens adaptation. It's charming and has some visual flourishes, but nothing in it really stood out that much to me. 

KAJILLIONAIRE (2020)

A strange deadpan comedy about a family of con artists. This thing really OD's on that indie film quirkiness, but a lot of it works pretty well. The performance by Evan Rachel Wood is a total misfire, but Gina Rodriguez is at maximum scrumptiousness. 

THE SECRET: DARE TO DREAM (2020)

This movie is somewhat of a cross between a faith based film and a Nicholas Sparks film, but manages to avoid the worst aspects of both. It's nothing spectacular, but it charmed me. Katie Holmes is of course terrific.

THE LAST SHIFT (2020)

Richard Jenkins (also in Kajillionaire) is the night manager at a fast food restaurant who is about to retire after 30 some years. I like movies like this that are centered around people working kind of dead end jobs. Jenkins character is so much of a pathetic sad sack that it's hard for him to really hold a movie together, but I enjoyed the interplay with him and the young black kid he is training as his replacement. 

YELLOW ROSE (2020)

My favorite movie I've seen in theaters since the reopening, and I likely never watch it otherwise. A Filipino teen illegal immigrant living in Texas dreams of becoming a country singer. The country music stuff I could take or leave, but the story is really involving, and the ridonkulously cute Eva Noblezada as the lead (she's playing 17 but is actually in her mid 20s so I can say that) is a megastar waiting to happen. 

IRRESISTIBLE (2020)

Jon Stewart-directed political comedy starring Steve Carell as a Democratic strategist trying to help a small town veteran (Chris Cooper) win a mayoral race. It's really hard to do fictional political comedy these days, especially something that isn't deeply cynical, but I thought this was pretty sharp. I laughed a lot. I didn't like the surprise ending at all, which feels like it belongs in a very different film.

THE KID DETECTIVE (2020)

Adam Brody as a guy who was a, well, kid detective, but has grown up to be kind of a joke of an adult detective. But he gets a chance to break a big murder case. I've always liked Brody since The OC and felt he should have had a bigger career. He's good here too, but the movie never quite gels as either a dark comedy or a mystery. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Message Board Classics: 2004 NFL Season

Preseason kickoff post (and other posts): Oh yes, it IS that time again. Training camps are open. The first preseason games are less than a week away. Players are already being idiots. It's the best time of the sports year. It is not yet the time for predictions, but I'll hit on some of the big recent stories. Ricky Williams retires. Well, we know now he did so cuz he was gonna be suspended for using marijuana. He's a little shit as far as I'm concerned. You do not abandon your team when he did. He had every right to retire, but do it at least before the draft. He's left the Dolphins with zero chance of making the playoffs. They couldn't go get Eddie George or Antowain Smith, nor could they draft a RB. The Cowboys cut Quincy Carter. I spent all offseason pleading with Dallas to go get a QB like Warner or Collins or Garcia. Instead they fail to upgrade, and now take a step back. Vinny is 80 years old and has little if anything left. My prediction is that Drew Hen...
Read more

Awful NFL season ends with awful Super Bowl

BUCCANEERS 31 CHIEFS 9 The 2020 NFL season is over. Thank god! A season that was almost across the board unenjoyable, and felt empty and largely felt manipulated, ended with the worst outcome imaginable. With a result that not only continues this 20 year nightmare but that will frankly hurt the NFL for years to come. I was not looking forward to this game. I knew this was going to happen. Maybe not in blowout fashion but I knew the NFL was going to see to it that Tom Brady got his 7th title. The house wins. The game was never fun. Right from the start the Chiefs seemed sleepy, like they weren't really in it. This team plays with swagger, but in this game they had none. Patrick Mahomes was under enormous pressure from the start. The Chiefs grabbed the 1st lead at 3-0 but then from basically the end of the 1st quarter until halftime it was a nightmare. The Chiefs offense remained lifeless. The Chiefs defense did manage a goal line stand that at the moment seemed like it could be a tu...
Read more