New year, new movies. Now that the fireworks have faded and the first week of the 2019 is in the books, let’s look to the rest of the year.
Some franchises are closing their current chapters like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Disney looks to continue their silver screen dominance with live action retellings and there will be those small films that aren’t making much noise for now that will roar with larger crowds through audience word of mouth. These lists are always fun to predict what could be really good and what could potentially bomb (I really hope nothing on this list does).
When I look back at 2018 in film, I will remember a few things: this was a great year for documentaries; foreign and world cinema are on the rise; smaller studios are creating the majority of original content and interesting projects right now; the superhero genre continues to grow and still has the ability to break the hearts of their fans, both positively and negatively. Overall, I’d like to think that 2018 was a very strong year for film – filled with its ups and downs, successes and failures. Many studio films balanced monetary and critical success excellently and smaller films challenged many perceptions we have and placed them under a sometimes uncomfortable microscope.
Big is a movie about wish fulfillment done right. A refreshingly sweet and funny film that is multi-layered with comedy, drama, fantasy, and a small subplot of romance. Plus, how can you replicate the charm of Tom Hanks as a big child? Looking at the films of today, I can’t immediately think of one that has this magic that can be relate to not just children but adults.
I never watched this Tom Hanks classic until a few weeks ago but how relatable this movie is makes it timeless.
I didn’t grow up watching the original Mary Poppins. The legendary Disney film was left out of my viewing collection until this year as I prepared for the new film featuring the perfect nanny. The movie is practically perfect in every way, just like Mary Poppins. How could Disney live up to the legacy that Julie Andrews set as she drifted down from London skies and into Disney legend? More than half a century later, remake-happy Hollywood touched on the legacy and built upon it with Mary Poppins Returns.
Aquaman has never been the strongest or well-received superhero in DC comics. I mean, come on; a guy who can swim and talk to sea animals? He has always been seen as a second-tier superhero in comparison to the likes of the DC Trinity. With an entertaining but ludicrous story and good old fashioned fun, Aquaman has the DC Extended Universe continuing on the right course it started with Wonder Woman.
The first Spider-Man film debuted in 2002. Since then, we’ve had seven feature films about Marvel’s webslinger. Out of all of them, this is the first in the series since Spider-Man 2 that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. Spider-Verse begins like all the others: the tragic origin story of Peter Parker. But we get hit with a zinger: Peter Parker isn’t the only one to wear the mask.
The Rocky franchise spans nearly forty years with eight films. Shocking, I know. When it comes to a boxing movie, most don’t get a sequel; much lass spawn other sequels and a spinoff. When you thought that every corner of this universe had been excavated for narrative gold, Creed II shows that there are still stories to tell and some fight left in the franchise. Read More »
When I saw Green Book‘s first trailer, I instantly drew comparisons to Driving Miss Daisy. With two actors whose work I’ve enjoyed of the years, I didn’t have to be oversold on how good this movie could be. In this type of film, the movie doesn’t work without a balance between the two main actors. Viggo Mortensen and his counterpart, Mahershala Ali, found the elegant, understated balance that made this film even more beautiful.
I am…a Potterhead. I own two sets of the books, reading each book of the series at least twice. I’ve seen the movies multiple times, either on Blu-Ray or when they come on cable. The only thing that I haven’t done yet is go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida or go to London (trust me, it’s on the list). With that being said, it should come to no surprise, that I was going to be watching this movie the week of its release.
As a fan of the amazing world that J.K. Rowling has created and being an inspiration for myself as a writer, I can say that I enjoyed the magic returning to the silver screen again, but as an overall movie, it missed the mark. I enjoyed the first movie in this prequel series, but disappointed that this second one could not build upon the momentum its predecessor had. Read More »
For the past 22 years, Pokemon has been a successful media franchise of video games, anime series, and movies. The craze has recently been revived with the launch of the mobile game, Pokemon GO. In case you are bored with Pokemon GO, there is some fresh Pokemon material coming our way: the first trailer for Ryan Reynolds’ Detective Pikachu.” class=”wp-more-tag mce-wp-more” title=”Read more…” data-mce-resize=”false” data-mce-placeholder=”1″ />
In the Pokemon universe, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) is a failed Pokemon Trainer and the son of prominent detective Harry Goodman. When his father disappears in a car crash, Tim arrives in Ryme City and ends up meeting Detective Pikachu (Ryan Reynolds). They discover Tim is the only human who can understand the Detective and reluctantly team up to find Harry and uncover the mystery surrounding his disappearance, while also solving various mysteries around Ryme City.
The Deadpool star turns in his red suit and R-rated, fourth wall-breaking humor for a digital yellow body and a badge (along with a cap) in the first-ever live-action Pokemon film, based on the 2016 video game. This is probably the closest we’ll ever get to seeing a human-Pokemon partner film that doesn’t have the assistance of colorful animation.
As a huge Pokemon fan, it makes my heart happy to see “live-action” Pokemon in action and interacting with humans. This might be the perfect blend of humor and adventure as we see the most iconic Pokemon is given a live-action makeover that he richly deserves. Detective Pikachu, which also stars Kathryn Newton (Blockers) and Ken Watanbe (The Last Samurai), is on the case on May 10.
