Hey comedy directors: when your end-credits blooper reel is funnier than the rest of your movie, you’ve failed.
Fist Fight should have at least been decent; its trailers gave me hope. It stars the high-strung,… Read more about Fist Fight (R) ★½…
It’s Oscar Time!
As an avid life-long Academy Award watcher, I’ve always enjoyed attempting to see all Oscar-worthy films, along with selecting my personal winners. The Oscars are my Super Bowl so to speak, an… Read more about Oscar’s BackStage Pass Blog 2017 Part 1-Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor…
The Lego Batman Movie is fun (and funny), but not quite as awesome as its predecessor.
The Lego Movie surprised everyone in 2014. Nobody expected it to be good, much less one of the… Read more about The Lego Batman Movie (PG) ★★★…
Have Faith in Silence
For living legend Martin Scorsese, who spent nearly 30 years trying to get this film made and even contemplated joining the priesthood, it would be an understatement to call Silence a… Read more about Silence (R) ★★★★…
A Mother and Child Reunion?
With the slew of super hero mega films, book to film adaptations and unoriginal American pictures that hope the star power will singlehandedly carry the film, foreign films are often… Read more about Julieta (R) ★★★½…
Upbeat Musical with Beautiful Stars
Opening on a warm California winter’s day, we view a typical LA freeway traffic jam and an over-the-top atypical song and dance number; La La Land thus proclaims itself as… Read more about La La Land (PG-13) ★★★½…
James McAvoy helps save M. Night Shyamalan from himself in Split.
Like many others, I have been frustrated by M. Night Shyamalan’s career. Since I am a big fan of his first five movies—The Sixth… Read more about Split (PG-13) ★★★…
Patriots Day is a powerful reminder of this country at its best.
As I left for the Patriots Day screening, my husband asked me to remind him what I was seeing. After I told him,… Read more about Patriots Day (R) ★★★½…
Raw Emotion Strikes a Chord with Universal Themes
Superficially, one might sum up Moonlight by declaring that it presents three chapters of a gay black Miami man’s life. However, the film delves much deeper than… Read more about Moonlight (R) ★★★★…
Ben Affleck’s really weird gangster film is a dud.
“What. Is. Happening?!?”
While watching Live by Night, I turned to the person next to me and asked this question several times. She was equally… Read more about Live By Night (R) ★½…
Appropriately Titled Feel-Good Feature
In the early 1960s, tensions between the U.S and Russia were so strong that it even spilled over into the space programs. After the Russians jumped ahead in the Space Race… Read more about Hidden Figures (PG) ★★★★…
Portman Brings Jackie to Life
The Kennedy family was nicknamed “America’s First Family” and there has been no shortage of interest in them over the years. America’s obsession with the Kennedy’s has inspired countless books,… Read more about Jackie (R) ★★★½…
I make my annual Top 10 list based on my favorite movies—which are not always the films that I think are the “best” (read: award-worthy). I consider which movies I know I’ll return to… Read more about Erika’s Favorite Movies of 2016…