The beautiful, storied tale of magical nanny Mary Poppins is brought to a new generation with this long-awaited sequel. Julie Andrews, original star steps aside here to allow for formidable, cheeky star Emily Blunt to step into the famous, magic shoes. Blunt does Mary Poppins justice, in an Oscar-worthy turn. This is a toe-tapping, smile-inducing…

Jennifer Lopez hits the big screen for the first time in three years with romantic comedy Second Act, a second-rate film that benefits from her first-rate performance. Her audacious charm and Jenny From The Block attitude are back, and Lopez doesn’t skip a beat as a grocery store manager who can’t progress in her career…

Oscar season is upon us, which means sporadically brilliant films with standout  performances are here to test viewers. At Eternity’s Gate, the ambitious, sometimes-engaging latest from auteur Julian Schnabel is far from perfect, but Willem Dafoe is arresting as tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh. The film follows the now-famous painter as he works in a…

At first look, a Clint Eastwood-helmed film depicting the true story of a 90-year-old cartel drug smuggler seems like a sure bet. This thought is bolstered by the fact it was written by the same man he teamed with for Gran Torino a decade ago. So imagine my disappointment when The Mule turned out to be…

Robin Hood is one of the most-maligned, hated films of 2018. Critics and audiences alike have largely ignored it, and yet, it’s one of my biggest surprise hits. It’s a bit cheesy, with slow-mo action that sometimes isn’t at all contextual. It’s not a perfect film by any means. Yet director Otto Bathurst brings the…

Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them was the perfect prequel to author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter universe. The 2016 film was a wonderful, whimsical, and fantastical look into Rowling’s beautiful mind, and an unforgettable cinematic experience. Given the money it brought in, it was no wonder a sequel was ordered, with Johnny Depp replacing…

American country singer Blaze Foley gets the redneck red carpet treatment by admirer/director Ethan Hawke here. It’s an uneven little feature, and yet, Hawke’s admiration for the unorthodox musician comes through in each and every frame. Clearly influenced by directors from his own acting career — Hawke uses the simple, independent flair from filmmaker Richard…

The only thing better than a film about Queen is the fact that they cast the perfect person to personify everything that is frontman Freddie Mercury. Rami Malek — known from TV show Mr. Robot — is a ravishing, radiant and revolutionary sight as the eccentric, flamboyant Mercury. He is so good — he embodies…

Hollywood long ago learned to take mumble-mouth, top-heavy Sylvester Stallone seriously. He was nominated for Best Actor in 1977 for his role as boxer Rocky Balboa, in a film for which he also received a nom for writing. It spawned four more sequels.  Then, not long ago, Stallone had a comeback. With The Expendables, he…

Emily Rose. Hannah Grace. The problem with all these young girls, all these hauntings and all these possession films is after a while, we just can’t tell them apart. The Possession of Hannah Grace is certainly not a bad horror film by any means, but it adds nothing to an overwrought genre. With a crucial,…