Author: Rob Dean

While age ain’t nothing but a number, there are still certain markers that signify the passage of time — and I don’t mean being able to legally drink alcohol, rent a car or any such milestone of privilege granted by birthdate. Rather, I’m talking about when you no longer recognize the names of half the charting musical acts; or that automatic pause your body takes before standing up; or when entertainment is now nostalgic for your childhood, meaning your generation has arrived at the age where they call the shots in Hollywood. Though the ‘80s have long reigned dominant on…

In writer/director Alex Garland’s new film, “Men,” Jessie Buckley stars as a young woman named Harper who escapes from her city apartment to a rental house in the English countryside. The property’s caretaker, Geoffrey (Rory Kinnear), is an awkward bumbling sort, which is a fair sight better than most of the other dodgy village people whom Harper encounters. Besides the memories of her ex-husband (Paapa Essiedu) and the occasional FaceTime call with her friend Riley (Gayle Rankin), Harper’s sole companion is the silence and solitude in the lush pastoral area. But the townsfolk seem unaware, or unintentionally ignorant, of the…

Every time a filmmaker with a distinct style embarks within the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), questions swirl about how their vision will gel with that of Disney. After all, they’re tasked with telling a story using characters and a world that belong to other movies and shows while creating something that appeals to the widest audience possible and appeases diehard fans. Though Chloe Zhao’s “Eternals” was a mixed bag that found her ill-suited for that project, and Edgar Wright famously broke ties with Kevin Feige and gang due to their meddling with his “Ant-Man,” James Gunn and Taika Waititi found…

Michael Bay’s unique approach to making action movies is often referred to as “Bayhem,” in which the director uses massive spectacle and sweeping cinematography to depict epic scenes of violence and destruction in the most grandiose manner possible. Essentially, take John Woo’s bullet-ballet style, stretch it over a city block and add a ludicrous amount of explosions and collateral damage, and you get the picture. Bay has no interest in verisimilitude, or even physics, in his films; he wants to evoke big emotions through accomplishing seemingly impossible stunts. That indulgence has served him well (“The Rock,” “Bad Boys II”) and…

By all rights, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” should feel less like a movie and more like a commercial, similar to the “toyetic” films of the ‘90s where Batman had to go through several costume changes to justify selling different action figures. However, Sonic’s second outing doesn’t feel like an advertisement for the latest video game, new line of toys or other crass piece of merchandise. Those may exist in conjunction with this movie — I wouldn’t know — but there’s no hint of venal cross-promotion to be found. In fact, there is little in director Jeff Fowler’s new film that…

The worst cardinal sin that a film could commit is being forgettable. Bad movies at least evoke an emotional response and stay with viewers, if only out of petty anger, while good ones enrapture audiences and engage various feelings, creating a memorable experience and an emotional association that remains for years. But the worst is when a film dissipates in the mind shortly after watching it. The Spider-Man-adjacent “Morbius” isn’t totally unmemorable, as it has a few affecting moments that should elicit some response from viewers, but a lack of character arcs and interesting relationships dilutes most of its better…

This review is based on the first four episodes of the series as provided by Disney+. The new Disney+ series “Moon Knight” has massive deviations from many of its comic book counterparts, but so did “Hawkeye,” and that ended up being possibly the best MCU series so far. The main issue isn’t that the show isn’t representative of what made me a massive fan of the character but that the creatives behind it choose to substitute those elements with something far inferior simply from an execution standpoint. Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) is an awkward British man working in his unassuming…

The Academy Awards take place this Sunday, with ten films vying for the night’s biggest prize: Best Picture. While this crop of Oscar hopefuls seems diverse, covering multiple genres, stories and even countries of origin, they break down into very familiar subsets of movies that are often nominated. But which film will take home the gold? Figuring out the next Best Picture winner is rarely reflective of the quality of the movie nominated; instead, it’s a weird amalgam of campaigning, voter demographics and other factors that are barely linked to the actual picture itself. There is some math to help…

Let’s get this out of the way: “The Lost City” is essentially a remake of 1984’s “Romancing the Stone.” There are tweaks and updates, but the same basic structure exists wherein a homebody romance novelist is suddenly embroiled in a jungle adventure alongside a mismatched love interest while pursued by villains over some artifact. There’s even a sequence in “The Lost City” involving dancing and a small village that occurs at almost the exact same point in the story and plays out the exact same way as it does in “Romancing the Stone.” This is hardly the first time that…

Twists are easy to insert into a story but hard to do them well. The measure of a good twist is how it lands with the audience. It requires setup without overplaying the hand about where the story is going. Furthermore, such a turn must be of some measure of consequence, otherwise it’s merely superfluous and needlessly coincidental. The best films with such knotted plots are those that telegraph that there will be a twist to come in the tale yet still comes off like a clever surprise. Director/co-writer Graham Moore’s “The Outfit” is exactly this type of film, and…