|
3.5/5
|
Avengers: Endgame
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
No sequence is a better analog for the pic's ups and downs than its climactic, supersized fight scene, one that amazes one moment and baffles the next.
Posted May 21, 2019
|
|
2/5
|
Shazam!
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
What "Shazam!" does really, really well is pummel us with more aggressive versions of well-worn blockbuster tropes.
Posted May 20, 2019
|
|
2/5
|
Pet Sematary
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
It's a wasted opportunity to kick up some dirt on a well traveled but fruitful horror playground. Instead it plays out like so many neutered genre films before it.
Posted May 20, 2019
|
|
4.5/5
|
Us
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
Most frightening of all is how the film's use of mirrors extends to the audience, holding one up to each and every one of us. What you see just might scare you to death.
Posted Apr 19, 2019
|
|
2/5
|
Captain Marvel
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
Where DC's "Wonder Woman" movie had intelligence and verve to spare, "Captain Marvel" slumps down comfortably into tired origin story clichés.
Posted Apr 04, 2019
|
|
3.5/5
|
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
Surprises in its own way, on its own terms, bringing some surprisingly sophisticated storytelling to the table.
Posted Apr 02, 2019
|
|
3/5
|
High Flying Bird
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
A niche drama fated to fade away amongst Netflix's perpetually ballooning catalogue.
Posted Mar 20, 2019
|
|
2/5
|
Cold Pursuit
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
Audiences would be better served to watch the Skarsgård version. Or, for prime twenty-first century black comedy, Martin McDonagh's "In Bruges."
Posted Mar 08, 2019
|
|
2.5/5
|
Velvet Buzzsaw
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
The story - a dead man's paintings plague glib art hounds - allows for a few nifty effects-driven scares, but the upshot is nearly as superficial as the world it's lampooning.
Posted Mar 02, 2019
|
|
4/5
|
Stan & Ollie
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Perfectly cast and surprisingly touching.
Posted Feb 16, 2019
|
|
3/5
|
Glass
(2019)
|
J. Olson
|
Jackson's unfailing screen presence is just the kick in the pants Shyamalan's uneven screenplay requires to come to life.
Posted Feb 11, 2019
|
|
4.5/5
|
If Beale Street Could Talk
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
One of the most revitalizing moviegoing experiences of 2018.
Posted Jan 30, 2019
|
|
1/5
|
Vice
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Swerves indeterminately between the white lines, swaying like the bar know-it-all after a particularly lusty night of talking down to everyone in earshot.
Posted Jan 22, 2019
|
|
1.5/5
|
Aquaman
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Its infrequent shots of fun aren't worth the headache.
Posted Jan 19, 2019
|
|
3/5
|
Holmes & Watson
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Very dumb and occasionally very funny.
Posted Jan 18, 2019
|
|
3/5
|
Bumblebee
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
A significant course correction for the series but only a modest success.
Posted Jan 10, 2019
|
|
3.5/5
|
Mary Poppins Returns
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
A few more knockout songs might've gone a long way, but as is, the movie passes a tough test.
Posted Jan 09, 2019
|
|
4.5/5
|
The Favourite
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
The kind of spark plug period piece that only comes around once in a queen's reign. Don't miss it.
Posted Jan 04, 2019
|
|
4/5
|
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Directors Persichetti, Ramsey, and Rothman wield their animators' wild talent like a flamethrower, leaving retinas pleasantly singed and optic nerves well-traveled.
Posted Jan 01, 2019
|
|
1/5
|
Vox Lux
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Squint and perhaps you'll see the faint outline of a delectably dark piece of pop art. Open your eyes and they'll roll until Corbet mercifully fades to black.
Posted Dec 28, 2018
|
|
3.5/5
|
Green Book
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Ali and Mortensen are both spectacular.
Posted Dec 26, 2018
|
|
4.5/5
|
Roma
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
"Roma" is magnificent.
Posted Dec 14, 2018
|
|
3/5
|
Ralph Breaks the Internet
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Gets by on the quality of its animation and a few moments of true inspiration.
Posted Dec 14, 2018
|
|
4/5
|
Creed II
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
The dramatic pull of Adonis fighting the son of his father's killer is obvious but riveting all the same, made even more engrossing by the shadow of Rocky Balboa.
Posted Dec 10, 2018
|
|
2/5
|
Widows
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
It's hardly the pulse-pounding thriller suggested by its trailers.
Posted Dec 03, 2018
|
|
2.5/5
|
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Its six disparate chapters - one hysterically funny, most doggedly grim - would be better apart than together, each gnawed on and digested on its own terms.
Posted Nov 28, 2018
|
|
1.5/5
|
The Girl in the Spider's Web
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Foy's real screen presence stands no chance against the banalities of the movie she's in.
Posted Nov 19, 2018
|
|
3/5
|
Bohemian Rhapsody
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
No thanks to disgraced director Bryan Singer, whose terrible fingerprints are all over the project's biggest defects, star Rami Malek makes for an impeccable Freddie Mercury.
Posted Nov 17, 2018
|
|
2/5
|
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
A Christmas turkey.
Posted Nov 13, 2018
|
|
1.5/5
|
Suspiria
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
If "Suspiria" 1977 was the world's most decadent Cherries Jubilee, "Suspiria" 2018 is an oversized glob of gray mystery dessert. Dig in at your own peril.
Posted Nov 08, 2018
|
|
4/5
|
Bad Times at the El Royale
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
One of cinema's more mesmeric murder mystery parties.
Posted Oct 24, 2018
|
|
3.5/5
|
The Sisters Brothers
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Admittedly low-impact, but moviegoers willing to saddle up will be compensated with the company of one of the year's finest casts.
Posted Oct 19, 2018
|
|
2.5/5
|
A Star Is Born
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
If [Cooper] was going for middlebrow musical melodrama in the vein of "The Rose" and "The Bodyguard," bullseye.
Posted Oct 15, 2018
|
|
1.5/5
|
Hold the Dark
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
If "Green Room" was a thrash masterpiece, "Hold The Dark" is bad prog rock: cold, soupy, faux-philosophical miscellany, wielding a few good ideas and oozing bad ones.
Posted Oct 10, 2018
|
|
3/5
|
Venom
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
The expression "I'd listen to him read the phone book" might as well be rewritten forthwith: "I'd watch him in a Venom movie."
Posted Oct 04, 2018
|
|
4.5/5
|
First Man
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Too muted to elicit the kind of glowing takes that play on social media. But let it grow in mind and it will leave its mark on you.
Posted Oct 01, 2018
|
|
3.5/5
|
A Simple Favor
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Lively's take-no-prisoners performance is an absolute triumph.
Posted Sep 28, 2018
|
|
3/5
|
The Predator
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
A waist-high muck of studio meddling that contains some franchise high-points. Wade through and be rewarded accordingly.
Posted Sep 23, 2018
|
|
1.5/5
|
Mandy
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Only midnight movie completists need apply.
Posted Sep 19, 2018
|
|
2/5
|
The Nun
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Plays like a tired game of horror movie bingo where the stakes are spare change and candy corn.
Posted Sep 14, 2018
|
|
4/5
|
Halloween
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
David Gordon Green's "Halloween" may not be perfect, but it's exactly the rough-and-tumble twenty-first century sequel that Carpenter's film deserves.
Posted Sep 09, 2018
|
|
3/5
|
Searching
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
David's tech-based search for his daughter keeps us engaged until the bitter or not-so-bitter end, Cho's performance exposing layers the actor has only begun to access.
Posted Sep 09, 2018
|
|
4.5/5
|
BlacKkKlansman
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Lee's extraordinary film doubles as a visceral entertainment and an urgent reminder of a past we haven't been able to shake.
Posted Sep 01, 2018
|
|
1.5/5
|
The Meg
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
That a concept as high as "Jason Statham versus a giant shark" results in not a single memorable one-liner is borderline actionable.
Posted Aug 25, 2018
|
|
3/5
|
Christopher Robin
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
The likability of the animals is a good tonic for just how curmudgeonly and then saccharine Christopher is; Pooh saves the day and finally the film from itself.
Posted Aug 20, 2018
|
|
4.5/5
|
Eighth Grade
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
The best film of 2018 to date.
Posted Aug 17, 2018
|
|
2.5/5
|
Mission: Impossible - Fallout
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
Tom Cruise fantasy camp.
Posted Aug 15, 2018
|
|
3.5/5
|
The Equalizer 2
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
A marked improvement over its predecessor, packing in a handful of moments of legitimately spine-straightening suspense and, thank goodness, a sense of purpose for its lead.
Posted Aug 13, 2018
|
|
4/5
|
Sorry to Bother You
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
A gleaming signpost of an attention-worthy filmmaker that we didn't know we had. Now we know.
Posted Aug 08, 2018
|
|
3.5/5
|
Ant-Man and The Wasp
(2018)
|
J. Olson
|
After a shaky first act, it becomes the bright, buoyant action-comedy "Ant-Man" should have been.
Posted Jul 30, 2018
|
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