The Cinematic Review-verse

Poster of 'Sinners.' Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.   'Sinners' was not your typical Southern period drama. That's because it included vampires on the hunt in 1930s Mississippi while Michael B. Jordan ran a juke joint whose set design reminded me of 'The Color Purple' (1985). Despite the horror scenes throwing me off, I enjoyed the powerful performances of Jordan and Miles Caton and the powerful direction by Ryan Coogler. Besides those two things, I really enjoyed the Southern blues soundtrack. I first learned about the connection between the blues and African Americans back in college, and it felt great to see some black pride in the music of a dark time. Taking place in 1932 in Mississippi, twin brothers Smoke and Stack Moore, played by Jordan in dual roles, are opening their own juke joint with money stolen from gangsters. They recruit their cousin Sammie, played by Caton, to play, and pianist Delta Slim, played by Delroy Lindo, as a performer. Their ...

Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, Ava Starr/Ghost, Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Yelena Belova/Black Widow, and John Walker/U.S. Agent, played by David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Sebastian Stan, Florence Pugh, and Wyatt Russell, respectively from ‘Thunderbolts*.’ Courtesy of Marvel Studios. You've seen the Marvel Cinematic Universe's attempts at superhero misfit madness with the original Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy. But it took a dark-toned yet humorous turn when they released 'Thunderbolts*' this weekend. It was funny how the titular team had sitcom-like trouble working together, specifically in the friction between Yelena Belova, played by Florence Pugh and John Walker, played by Wyatt Russell, and how Julia Louis-Dreyfus of 'Seinfeld' fame rose to the occasion of playing an adult snob/mean-girl stereotype in her reprisal of Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Humor aside, I enjoyed seeing Pugh, Russell, and Hannah John-Kamen fight using judo and kickboxi...

Poster for 'The Amateur.' Photo by William Beavers. Good afternoon, readers. On Friday afternoon, April 18, I crossed ' The Amateur' off my watchlist. Rami Malek produced and led the film as a CIA employee new to the field. While I enjoyed Malek's character's intelligence and Volker Bertelmann's good score, I felt 'The Amateur' should've shown Malek's character using hand-to-hand combat. Rami Malek and Rachel Brosnahan as Charlie Heller and Sarah Heller, respectively, from 'The Amateur.' Courtesy of 20th Century Studios.  Malek played Charlie Heller , a mild-mannered CIA cryptographer with a lovely wife named Sarah, played by Rachel Brosnahan from 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'. But Charlie's quiet life ended when Sarah was killed on a business trip. Teaming with a blunt Colonel Henderson , played by Laurence Fishburne , Charlie is forced to take the role of a killer to find the people responsible for Sarah's murder. O...

Meghann Fahy as Violet Gates and Brendan Sklenar as Henry Campbell in "Drop." Courtesy of Universal Pictures. The last time I saw Meghann Fahy was when she was the mother in "The Unbreakable Boy." On Wednesday, I saw her in a vulnerable and headstrong combination in her leading role in "Drop", directed by "Heart Eyes" producer Christopher Landon. Because I'm still new at watching suspense films, I didn't think highly of the film until it bypassed the "awkward first date" story between Fahy and Brandon Sklenar's characters and transitioned to the action towards the climax. Besides that, the good parts of the film were the camera work and the scoring by Bear McCreary, which sounded reminiscent of the scoring from "Jaws." Fahy played a widowed therapist mother in Chicago named Violet Gates who went on her first date in years with a photographer named Henry Campbell, played by Brandon Sklenar. As if her nerves about a ...

Hell of a Summer poster. Courtesy of 30West. On Friday, April 4, 2025, I witnessed Finn Wolfhard and  Billy Bryk 's directing debut of Hell of a Summer . The cast was led by Fred Hechinger, who played the " camp leader " of Camp Pineway and tried to keep his younger counselors safe from a serial killer who crashed the bonfire. There were dark moments from the killings to the offbeat humor of the younger cast, but Hell of a Summer  was a good movie with fun, sentimental moments between the cast, Wolfhard's assembling of sound and production designers, songs from bands such as The Turtles or The Animals , and throwback to old-timey things such as the camp itself with its arts and crafts center or it's non-working landline phone. Fred Hechinger played Jason, a 24-year-old man who returned to his childhood summer camp, Camp Pineway, as head counselor. His sweet, optimistic nature was not to be deterred by his age, the offbeat humor of his mentees--be it a goth, vegan...

Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America in "Captain America: Brave New World." Courtesy of Marvel. Star-spangled butt-kicking by Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez acting like Goose from "Top Gun", running like one was in "Three Days of the Condor", alien-like make-up on Tim Blake Nelson , a suave bad guy played by Giancarlo Esposito, and Harrison Ford going from a gruff grandpa to an angry Red Hulk are all the things that emphasize the  brave  in  "Captain America: Brave New World."  Contrary to the mixed reviews from others, I enjoyed watching  Brave New World  because of the impressive character development of Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson/Captain America , more people of color in the cast, SFX in the case of Captain America and the Red Hulk, costuming, and musical scoring by Laura Karpman . Sam Wilson had to live up to the Captain America mantle the hard way, and he did great. Taking place a few years after The Falcon and the Winter Soldi...

Poster of ‘A Complete Unknown.’ Taken by William Beavers. Copyright ©️ 2024, Searchlight Pictures. Before watching Timothée Chalamet as iconic singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, I didn’t know much about the man aside from his birth name or his being an icon of the 60s counterculture era. While it seemed like director James Mangold retold the story of 'Walk the Line' with more R-rated language and folk music as opposed to rockabilly and country, ‘A Complete Unknown’ still had some good powerful moments. Not only did it show Bob Dylan wanting to prove he wasn’t some nobody; other famous singers such as Pete Seeger or Joan Baez, played by Edward Norton and Monica Barbaro, were helping people cope with 60's troubles such as JFK’s death or the March on Washington, through the power of heart and music. Beginning in 1961, ‘A Complete Unknown’ chronicles Dylan’s adulthood from meeting folk legend and his idol, Woody Guthrie, played by Scoot McNairy, at Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospit...