I watch kids movies in theaters to gauge the vibe of the so-called slop being peddled to the youth; very happy to report that DOG MAN is a genuinely good movie for the family with smart humor and Real Heart. Just so earnestly silly I couldn’t keep from smiling

DOG MAN is assuredly a comedy for little kids, but I was surprised by the rapid fire gag-a-minute pace of the jokes, like a Kidz Bop version of POLICE SQUAD!/NAKED GUN,…

FLIGHT RISK needs no qualifiers. It’s not “good for a January movie” or “good for a small budget” or “good for a disgraced star”. It’s a genuinely good thriller. Mark Wahlberg embracing the true scumbag we all knew him to be yields potentially the best performance of his career.

I’m thrown off by some negative reviews. Obviously, you have to address the hate crimes in the room, but as a film FLIGHT RISK is perfectly functional. As cohesive as 2023’s…

As theologically schizophrenic as I was expecting. American individualism is fundamentally at odds with the core tenets of Christianity. Its abuse by the powers that be over the centuries is not new, but it is a particularly hideous version of the faith that served as the impetus for western expansion and frames our current empire of hypocrisy.

The most frustrating thing as it applies to this film is there *does actually* seem to be some recognition of this friction -characterized…

THE PROSECUTOR is one of the better latter-era Donnie Yen movies for a few reasons, but chief among them for me is that it works just as well as a legitimate courtroom/legal drama as it does a hard hitting action burner. Both aspects embellished of course, but they really work.

Yen also really comes into his own as a director in THE PROSECUTOR, and part of that might be because he seems to have tempered his ego somewhat. The ing…

I got just what I wanted, in ways I wasnt expecting. It also denied me something in a way that's ultimately true to the spirit of Noir it pays homage to. On top of it all, it gave me something I didn't see coming: heartbreak. Falling in love with DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA

I lived in Korea when Korean New Wave cinema broke through. In I gained awareness of European cinema. DEN OF THIEVES 2 reflected the experience…

WALLACE & GROMIT: VENGEANCE MOST FOWL is a real good time, though honestly it does feel like some of the madcap magic is lost from the previous adventures. Looks like more might be in store for the duo though, which is always welcome. That said, I think the recent SHAUN THE MOTHERFUCKIN SHEEP movies have carried on the spirit of the zany spark and real heart that I felt was missing in VENGEANCE MOST FOWL. Which is to say, I dont…

There a lot to say about LIFE AFTER FIGHTING but the main thing to know is that this DTV ion project somehow excels as a serious, legitimate indie slice of life/crime drama that has -without question-the best fight sequences in a western/English language film of 2024.

Actor & martial artist Bren Foster pours his soul into LIFE AFTER FIGHTING as director/writer/star, but this is no vanity project. Mainly because…well, He’s That Damn Good. The power of Michael Jai White + agility…

While techniques and storytelling methods evolve and change through time, It's good to know that classic martial arts epics such as 100 YARDS still persist.

I had a feeling of 100 YARDS having a wild disted pace and narrative flow, but I also had a sense that I was missing some critical cultural context about this specific era of Chinese history that contributed to that feeling. Even if that's not the case and its just the usual issues of writing…

Really dug CARRY-ON, feels a bit like Jaume Collet-Serra is shaking off the rust but he ultimately returns to form with another hard boiled concept thriller like the kind that made him famous in the first place.

How to put this…CARRY-ON is “unremarkably remarkable”; films like this used to be a regular vital part of the cinematic landscape alongside tentpoles. “Functional quality” was the expectation, not a backhanded compliment. It delivers on that front.

Films like CARRY-ON were how you…