Tag: three stars

Television Event (2020)

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Television Event (2020)

[This review is part of my ongoing coverage of the films screened at Birmingham Alabama’s 23rd Annual Sidewalk Film Festival] I have a persistent theory that every movie is a window onto the times in which it was made.  This is perhaps illustrated no better than with The Day After, a widely publicized scare drama […]

| August 28, 2021
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Unholy Relics: Appreciating the Goofy Charm of ‘Batman the Movie’ at 55

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Unholy Relics: Appreciating the Goofy Charm of ‘Batman the Movie’ at 55

As a movie and as a TV series “Batman” belongs in a time capsule, not of Batman lore but of a loving tribute to the pop sensation of the swinging 60s.  To watch it again after almost 50 years is to be reminded of a time when television – and for that matter pop culture […]

| February 22, 2021 | 0 Comments
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American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story (2017)

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American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story (2017)

Oh, that word.  That strange, naughty, tantalizing word. If you were a kid growing up in the 70s or 80s – or basically any time between the end of World War II and the birth of the internet, “Playboy” was a word you didn’t dare utter.  It fit comfortably on the list of swear words […]

| June 3, 2019
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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

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Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

One of the things that I really wanted from the new Spider-Man movie was a fresh approach.  Please, oh please – I screamed quietly to myself – don’t tell his origin story again . . . not again!  My exasperation is due in part to the fact that this is yet another reboot.  There is […]

| July 8, 2017
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The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

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The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

Reporting on The LEGO Batman Movie is a little tough on your average critic.  There’s nothing heavy to report on this hurricane of jokes and self-referential humor except to tell you whether I laughed or I didn’t laugh.  And yes, I laughed – quite a bit in fact.  As a matter of fact the whirlwind […]

| February 10, 2017
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The Oscar nominees: La La Land (2016)

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The Oscar nominees: La La Land (2016)

From now until February 26th, I will be taking to be taking a brief look at the nominees for The 89th Annual Academy Awards, one film at a time in several categories. Nominated for: Best Picture | Best Director | Best Actor – Ryan Gosling | Best Actress – Emma Stone | Best Original Screenplay […]

| February 9, 2017
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Moana (2016)

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Moana (2016)

Disney’s Moana finally crosses my path almost a month after its national debut, right here on Christmas Day – a little mele kalikimaka from America’s unofficial dream factory. My first observation: It’s Disney, it’s very very Disney, from top to bottom.  This movie couldn’t be Disney if you showed it in the theme park in […]

| December 25, 2016
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016)

There is an uneasy dual identity to the whole Harry Potter world that no self-respecting super-fan might ever want to admit.  The cute spectacle of mail owls and Bowtruckles have always had to fight for space amid Death Eaters, torture spells and portents of doom fit for a horror show.  In the books, it is […]

| November 26, 2016
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