First Man is the kind of picture that can be attractive on the surface simply based on the moments. That’s true even when you know it will not include the iconic and historic act of planting the American flag on the moon. For some, these moments being brought to life might be enough to at least check it out one …

Blade Runner (The Final Cut) is an odd one for me because while I didn’t love it, it stayed on my mind after I saw it. Aside from its looks, I guess the reason for that is due to me believing that it could have been much better than it actually is. That’s kind of how I feel about Blade …

With a massive number of people breaking into song and dance in its opening moments, La La Land proves that it knows how to capture the attention of its audience. That’s fine and all, but the meat of any movie is in the second act. What I found here isn’t just that the director has an ear for music and …

Amidst a cocktail of cigarette smoke, booze, Yoo-hoo, blood, morality and slapstick, we find The Nice Guys—Shane Black’s latest Los Angeles crime yarn, set in the late 70s, about a duo of investigative idiots following the trail of a missing girl to discover both conspiracy and corruption.

Beyond blatant social and political flubs, one of the worst offenses a film can commit is assuming its audience is made up entirely of idiots. Films that talk down to the audience, or over explain the plot, feel like having a conversation with a person who is certain they are smarter than you and want you to know it. They …