[NOTE: Film previously viewed as part of the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival] Queen. Elton John. The Beatles. Even Motley Crüe. And now Bruce Springsteen. You probably know where I’m going with this. Classic Rock is becoming a precise cinematic trend where either the biographical or the experimental sorts of filmmaking are reaching a mild fever. And in Gurinder Chadra’s …

A mere three years have come and gone since the arrival of the first Angry Birds Movie, an inevitable screen adaptation of Rovio’s still-popular mobile video game IP. 2017’s The Emoji Movie, the immediate followup for their Sony Animation partners, would cause a disastrous low for both audiences and critics. Of course, it didn’t take long for the cartoon house …

Films involving our closest four-legged furry friends, ones we bear the greatest affinity to, they’re obviously nothing new. Dog films to be based on a novel, we’ve already had a pair in 2019 that have managed to go well overshadowed against much bigger box office draws. There’s a third now joining those ranks, and it may be welcome company after …

The summer’s final comic book movie is perhaps the least expected as far as its source material and whether it’d been worth manifesting into a full-length feature. Look at The Kitchen for at least five minutes, and it wouldn’t be easy to determine exactly where its origins lie. Surprise (but not really), it’s based on a 2015 DC/Vertigo graphic novel …

[Note: This film presented initially during the 2019 Seattle International Film Festival] Every family is a little different, so many will tell say time and again. In size, shape, strength, race, a multitude of criteria. But of course, the ways we differ can’t stack well against those we’re similarly unified by. The best families will have to lie to protect …

The summer box office oft never leaves enough room for any fresh air product to breathe through. Heavy franchise fare whose fans are either reassured or polarized aside, original standalone works are strikingly less common, compared to, say, five years ago. For that to be a major studio comedy, one R-rated, and one distributed by Disney (a Fox production inherited …

The summer movie season usually isn’t complete without at least one horror plot involving dangerous animals (ala Jaws or last summer’s The MEG), dangerous weather (The Perfect Storm), a dangerous building structure of any size (Skyscraper), or a welcome combination of the three. Alexandre Aja’s Crawl is sure to fulfill all three on anyone’s summer flick bingo card, knowing those …

If there’s a studio that knows how to strategically mine valuable IP to the best advantage, clearly Sony’s tracking the most productive pulse, and there’s certainly no disputing their track record. However, determining just what product people want is equally important. Men in Black International, the fourth in a sci-fi franchise built at the mammoth strength of Barry Sonnenfeld, Will …

[AN OFFICIAL SELECTION FROM THE 2019 SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL]   Late night television isn’t so much cutthroat nowadays as it would’ve been during the Leno/Letterman wars of the mid-90s. Yet, if you’re venerable English comedienne Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson), her own war has just begun. The host of Tonight with Katherine Newbury has been in the chair a long …

We all remember where we were when Frozen Fever hit the world in late 2013. It started out with a mammoth opening weekend, but only grew bigger through insane word of mouth and merchandise sales through 2014. Fast forward five years, and Disney’s Arrendellan invasion has not ceased one iota, between a pair of theatrical shorts, regular theme park presence, …