The Cinematic Review-verse

Poster of Is This Thing On?, starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern. Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. Hello, Review-Verse fans. Earlier this month, I watched Will Arnett in Bradley Cooper's latest direction, Is This Thing On? . Arnett, who voiced a lot of characters in movies I grew up with, like Monsters vs Aliens , starred as Alex Novak, a husband divorced from his wife of 20 years, Tess, played by Laura Dern of Jurassic Park . Seeing Alex vent about his divorce at open mic nights at a comedy club reminded me of Woody Allen in Annie Hall .  And Dern's character dealt with the divorce by putting passion into some volleyball coaching and getting back into the dating scene.  I liked both Arnett and Dern's performances because they were doing something real-starting over with their social lives late into their adulting. There were fun jokes, there were sad moments, and kind of like Crazy, Stupid, Love, it doesn't explicitly show they call off the divorce and remarry, but it...

Poster of ‘A Star is Born’, taken by William Beavers. Copyright 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures. From  The Hangover to Avengers: Infinity War,  the majority of Bradley Cooper's performances I’ve seen have been humorous. But his directorial debut proved he knows how to sing and direct while demonstrating the hardships of a musician's personal life. A Star Is Born is a starstruck drama with an impassioned chemistry between Cooper and Grammy Award-winning Lady Gaga. The duo were as dynamic in romance and music as Johnny and June Carter Cash in Walk the Line . Another remake of the 1937 classic, alcoholic and crowd-pleasing country singer Jackson Maine (Cooper) and gifted yet underappreciated Ally (Gaga) form a romantic bond as the two begin touring across the United States. The hindrances between them are Maine's addictions and Ally's singing drawing the attention of major record companies. Despite this, the two stay together and prove how special they truly are, not to...

Photo Courtesy of imdb.com Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was an excellent combination of action, humor, and entertainment for me today. The film revolves around Peter Quill/ Star-Lord continuing to discover his heritage, while a mutinous group of Ravagers and an ensemble of bounty hunters, royals, and other aliens come to wreak havoc across the Cosmos. With amazing visual effects, an all cast of reprisals and new additions, classic rock and pop music, and a great piece of direction courtesy of one James Gunn, it was bigger and just enough to match the first Guardians film 3 years ago. A- for all the performance. Marvel, keep up the good work.