I’m a pretty quiet person. If I go to a party, I’m the guy you’ll see standing by the ficus tree. If I go to a rock concert, I’ll be the one sitting down, clapping politely. Being a movie critic is about the perfect job for someone like me. I just watch and write, watch and write. Who knew that watching a movie and writing about it could draw so much attention? I reviewed Fifty Shades of Grey for Plugged... Read more
I’m scheduled to attend a screening of Fifty Shades of Grey tonight. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it. But it will, if nothing else, be an interesting review to write. I can’t think of a film that has stirred up so much ire within the Christian community–and yet paired it with such intense curiosity. Searches for the movie at Plugged In have been high, and a blog that my associate Adam Holz wrote on the subject has drawn some significant... Read more
Jupiter Ascending, the Wachowski siblings’ newest sci-fi romp, hasn’t exactly wowed us. Critics hated it. It bombed at the box office I didn’t like it much, either. Sure, it looked pretty impressive—but so does a tornado. Doesn’t mean you want to be in the middle of one. But while the flick didn’t hold together very well for me, Jupiter still has a bit of (ahem) gravity to it. The Abrasax siblings are some of the richest folks in the galaxy.... Read more
Late last year, Ridley Scott unveiled his ambitious, controversial epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, with Christian Bale as Moses. It was the story of a man who had it all, lost it all, found something better and dragged a whole nation to a strange land promised to them by God. It was not nominated for an Academy Award. Not even for Best Performance by Locusts. But Exodus: Gods and Kings actually shares a bit in common with most of the... Read more
“This is the worst day of my life.” So says Mason’s mother near the end of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. She implores him to take a picture with him to school—the first picture the aspiring photographer ever took. He doesn’t want it, though, and she breaks down in tears. She’s trying to process 18 years worth of motherhood and memories, ticking off the milestones one by one: Marriage. Divorce. New careers. New experiences. And she sits there wondering if they mean... Read more
Have you heard of the movie Hoovey? Probably not, I’m guessing. Hoovey is a little Christian flick directed by Sean McNamara (Soul Surfer) and starring some familiar actors (Cody Linley from Hannah Montana, Lauren Holly from NCIS and Motive, Patrick Warburton from the greatest car rental commercial of all time). It’s not a breakthrough in Christian cinema, but it is a sweet, competent story worth some attention—at least in Christian circles. It opens Jan. 31, but it’s probably not playing... Read more
Roger Moore, who played an ever-so-suave James Bond in the 1970s and ’80s, told Fox News yesterday that he doesn’t think he was a particularly good Bond at all. The 87-year-old said that Sean Connery and Daniel Craig were/are the best Bonds in history. He ranks himself “a little big behind George Lazenby, I suppose.” Now, Fox News took that to mean that Moore thought himself the fourth-best Bond, which isn’t what he really said. Lazenby? The guy who was... Read more
Disney has given us some pretty unlikely heroes: A wooden marionette; a flying elephant; a worry-prone fish. But maybe none has been quite as unlikely as Baymax, the inflatable robot from Big Hero 6. The robot looks like a cross between John Candy and a ping-pong ball. He’s a robotic, vinyl healthcare provider—more a digital Mrs. Doubtfire than Dr. Manhattan. He’s about as intimidating as a fresh marshmallow. Clearly, Baymax doesn’t look like a superhero. But in the end, that’s... Read more
As you might expect of a movie critic, I watch a lot of movies. Denver hosts most of the advanced screenings in my neck of the woods, which means I drive up to the Mile-High City a couple of times a week. Sometimes I’m rewarded with a good movie. But even when the movie’s not so hot, I at least have the pleasure of a good book beforehand. Tonight, I’m reading John Steinbeck’s East of Eden. There are certain writers... Read more
American Sniper, Clint Eastwood’s biopic of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, scored six Oscar nominations on Thursday and made $90 million this weekend—a January earnings record. It’s already a critical and commercial smash—one of the most successful R-rated films ever. Weird for a movie that people seem to hate so much. Never mind the praise: Criticism of Sniper has been withering. Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore went on Twitter and called snipers “cowards” (though he later denied his tweets were a direct... Read more
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