Wonder Woman 1984 is a cinematic superhero spectacle that will thrill audiences despite several discernible flaws. Director/co-writer Patty Jenkins takes a deep character dive into an immortal heroine’s complex personality. Godlike power is both a gift and a curse. This central theme is energetically carried through a rather simplistic storyline. Terrific supporting performances, a comical

George Clooney pulls double duty as lead actor and director of sci-fi epic, The Midnight Sky. Based on the novel by Lily Brooks-Dalton, the film follows a terminally ill scientist and returning spaceship in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event on Earth. The Midnight Sky has impressive production values, but fails to be compelling despite

Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin race against the apocalypse in the middling disaster thriller, Greenland. The film is loaded with eye candy. Desperate people running for their lives, cities blown to cinders, and the requisite countdown to extinction; ticking away in the background. The elements are there for gritty popcorn cinema. But the narrative is

Archenemy is the little hole in the wall restaurant of superhero movies. The kind of joint serving deliciously greasy food that satisfies a certain kind of late night hungry. It’s a comic book adventure unlike any recent release in the genre, done on the lowdown. It’s got an arthouse esthetic matched against a wildly imaginative

Tom Hanks returns to theaters in a well-acted, but predictable and tone deaf western. News of the World is adapted from the Paulette Jiles novel by British writer/director Paul Greengrass. It is the story of a former Confederate soldier returning a girl kidnapped by the Kiowa in Reconstruction era Texas. The film is beautifully shot

Safety is the inspirational and life-affirming true story of former Clemson football player, Ray McElrathbey. He defied all odds by becoming the legal guardian of his younger brother, Fahmarr, when their mother was institutionalized for drug addiction. It is a poignant tale of family bonds, and how the team rallied to support them. Safety reminds

The moment the familiar strains of Nino Rota’s Godfather theme start to play, it instantly envelopes the viewer in the new experience that is The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone. Famed master Francis Ford Coppola has not only recut the third film in the franchise, he’s changed some scenes that have stood for

Chadwick Boseman’s final performance is a blistering, tour de force coda to his luminous career. He and co-star Viola Davis lead a superb ensemble in Netflix’s adaptation of playwright’s August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. The film takes place in 1927 over the course of a tumultuous day at a steamy Chicago music studio. It

Nomadland is a stark and hauntingly poetic portrayal of poverty in America. It is perhaps the most pertinent film of our desperate economic times. Based on the book by journalist Jessica Bruder, Nomadland follows a lonely widower after the 2011 collapse of the United States Gypsum Company in Empire, Nevada. The town was abandoned and

Pixar achieves animation greatness once more with a beautifully uplifting and creative film. Soul will make your heart soar. The story of a jazz musician’s journey into the afterlife is sublimely inspirational. It touches so many aspects of the human experience without being melodramatic or depressing. Soul reminds us that the joy of life is