Review| Teen Titans GO! To The Movies
(Insert your own poop or fart joke to the title) For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. With the avalanche of superhero movies and TV shows and comics and graphic novels and web comics and action figures…
Review| Won't You Be My Neighbor?: A Snappy New Imago Dei
Won’t You Be My Neighbor is a story about a singular, unique man. He was vilified by some as coddling or a trifle; he was held up by others to be, as his son put it, the “second Christ”; but…
Review| Superfly
The subgenre known as “blaxploitation film”–a term coined by the Los Angeles head of the NAACP, Junius Griffin–rose to prominence in the 1970’s as a direct response to the need for black actors on-screen. Representation mattered in the 1970’s, and blaxploitation…
Review| The Incredibles 2
Pixar’s The Incredibles has taken on whole new dimensions of meaning for me since I’ve been married and become a father. While it’s long been one of my favorite films, hearing Mr. Incredible tell his wife “I’m not strong enough”…
Review| Ocean’s Eight
Ocean’s Eight makes you feel cooler for having seen it. Of course, it’s a heist film; and in a heist film, you first have to have a devious mastermind who came up with the whole thing. In the case of…
Review| Deadpool 2
Let’s just start by acknowledging that I really enjoyed the original Deadpool and have found the comic book character a guilty pleasure for some time. I had hopes for this movie but tried to temper them because sequels are almost…
Review| First Reformed
Paul Schrader, director of First Reformed and famed screenwriter of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ grew up in the Calvinist Christian Reformed Church with a strict family home. He attended Calvin College and graduated with a minor in theology. A…
Review| A Quiet Place
Day 4 I’m still hugging my family extra tight. I’m still extra-conscious about how much noise I’m making while walking. I’m still on edge anytime there’s a loud noise. And it’s been four days since I saw A Quiet Place.…
Review| Isle of Dogs
I found myself with a great deal of trouble trying to get to a showing of Isle of Dogs by Wes Anderson. My first attempt took me a great deal further away than my usual Cineplex. But even then, I…
Review| Bomb City
Amarillo, Texas is not one of those places that finds much representation within cinematic landscapes. We are vaguely West Texas in name only so many of us who live in these flatlands look on films like There Will Be Blood,…