ReelTalk

Of all of the Best Picture nominees, I’m finding that Little Womenis the hardest one to write a review for. It was not a movie at the top of my list to see when it was released, and after it was over, I found that I wasn’t enjoying it as much as everyone else seemed to. It’s not that I don’t think the movie was poorly made – there are great performances, wonderfully sweet moments, and good…

Joker – Discussion Over Amusement

The biggest fear that I had – that, I think, everyone probably had – when a solo Joker was announced was that one of Batman’s most mysterious villains would be ruined by a backstory. It’s happened before – the remakes of both Willy Wonka and The Grinchattempted to give their lead characters a sympathetic backstory, and all it did was take the mysticism out of them. To do that to the Joker would…

After seeing almost all of the Best Picture nominees for 2020, I could have told you that Ford V. Ferrari was probably not going to take home the top prize. I could also have told you that, despite that feeling, Ford V. Ferrari was one of the Best Picture nominees I enjoyed the most. Many of its competitors were films that wanted to be artsy, or make a statement, or prove a point, and I’m not…

Sonic: Did You Even Try?

You know what I walked out of Sonicfeeling? Exhausted. It was exhausting to sit through a movie – even one that is, by today’s standards, pretty short – that was nothing but a build up that put all of its effort into redesigning its main character before the film was released. Don’t get me wrong, we all appreciate the fact that Sonic is no longer the little demon-troll that was originally…

1917 : Artistic, Stylistic, but Not Universal

Let’s be honest – being nominated for many awards doesn’t mean that everyone is going to enjoy a movie. Sometimes it’s exactly the opposite, because what usually gets a movie nominated for awards is more for critics who understand the facets of film, rather than the casual moviegoer who is generally looking for an enjoyable evening. But I do think that even the movies that focus on artistry,…

Oscars Line-Up and Trivia 2020

It’s that time of year again – the movies have been chosen, complaints have been made, and ReelTalk is going to cover them one at a time.  Joker leads the pack with 11 nominations; The Irishman, 1917, and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood follow with 10 nominations apiece. 31% of the nominees are women (though this year’s lineup has once again mostly excluded women and nominees of color in the…

Frozen II: Growing Up

It is fitting that the last Disney film of the 2010s is the sequel to one of its biggest hits – in 2013, Frozen hit theaters amid snowstorms and became a menace to parents everywhere when the song Let It Go became all their toddlers could talk (or sing) about. As the decade draws to a close, I believe parents can breathe easy. While Frozen IIis beautifully animated and the story is compelling…

The Rise of Skywalker: Not With a Bang, but With a Sigh

Star Wars is a franchise that has spanned generations, and when it was announced that The Rise of Skywalker would be the last film for awhile (at least the last one in the saga of the Skywalker story), there were mixed feelings. The Star Warsfanbase is extremely passionate about the story (sometimes to the point of being overdramatic), and the newest trilogy has had mixed reviews on all levels.…

21 Bridges: The Word is Refreshing

This was a movie that came and went from theaters rather quickly, so I am glad I got to see it before it was gone, but also sad because it means there are plenty of people out there who missed it. While 21 Bridges is rather straight-forward and, in many ways, nothing new, it is told very well and expertly crafted. What it lacks in surprise or mystique, it makes up for in its attention to detail…

Knives Out: Entertaining Escapism

Rian Johnson has directed five movies (and three episodes of Breaking Bad, just FYI), but Knives Out may be the most important one, because Johnson has been getting flack every since Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out. Johnson even designed a character based on the Star Wars fanboys who constantly trolled Johnson after The Last Jedi. It’s clear, however, that Johnson has talent, as both a writer…

It’s Next Chapter: The Longest Yet

While we’re not in the year where everyone is terrified by clowns outside of the theater (and may we avoid having another clown attack in this decade), we still have to worry about the clowns inside the theaters and on our television screens. The sequel to clown horror of 2017 came when It: Chapter 2hit theaters, somehow managing to feel longer than the 1990 miniseries (and I’m not saying that…

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark: Someone’s Start, Experience’s Disappointment

Do you remember your first horror story? Odds are it wasn’t a paranormal franchise, a teen slasher flick, maybe not even a classic monster show. Most likely it was a campfire story, something simple that could send chills down your spine and keep you awake, quivering in your sleeping bag. Now, a horror movie is a different kind of horror; a big part of the terror they inspire is in the visuals,…

Long Live the King: New is Not Enough

If you go back and read through my reviews of Disney films, you might notice a bit of a pattern – I usually love them. I’ve often wondered if I am being a little easier on Disney films than I am on others because I have always seemed to love them, and even the ones I haven’t loved I’ve at least enjoyed. Now that we’ve reached Disney’s age of remakes, I am definitely being tested – Beauty and the…

Toy Story 4: A Question of Necessity

Let’s just say what we were all thinking when Toy Story 4 was announced – no one particularly wanted it or needed it. Toy Story 3had wrapped up the sagas of our heroes in such a satisfying way (wringing tears and laughs from us in full), that there seemed to be nothing left to say about Woody and the gang. The little vignettes you could catch as shorts, while sweet, were more about fun than…

Brightburn: A Concept That Didn’t Take

Between Marvel’s rapidly growing universe and DC’s scrambling to catch up, it’s not unreasonable to suspect that the superhero genre, while being one of the biggest continuous moneymakers in Hollywood, might also be starting to grate on people. After all, an origin story is still an origin story, no matter what kind of powers you throw into the mix or which relative you choose to kill. To make a…

Detective Pikachu: For Fans’ Eyes (Mostly)

There are some movies based off of existing titles that do their best to make sure that even non-fans can sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. They throw in just enough Easter Eggs that hardcore fans have something to squeal about, but they also want the average movie-goer to be able to feel good about the finished product. It’s like how animated films throw in a couple of adult jokes so that the…

Far From Home Ends the Saga

We’re twenty-three films deep into the Marvel universe now, and we’ve officially reached the end of Phase 3. Comic-Con just announced the movies coming to the line-up, as well as the TV shows coming to the new Disney Streaming Service (which I kind of hate myself for wanting to get). So, when Spider-Man: Far From Homehit theaters, it needed to be the perfect closer; we said goodbye to the…