Tag: universal

Bean Bags On screen, it’s risque to center pre-teens in an R-rated comedy. No one wants to admit kids talk like this, but avoidance is a social lie. Good Boys …

Someone’s Overcompensating It figures that in this current and cursed timeline, something like Hobbs & Shaw speaks sensibly. As a brazen, idiotic, muscle-driven action flick, it’s necessary to spell …

Cutting Gangster Cinema’s Mold Released at the tail end of American prohibition, 1932’s Scarface, at times, is more a plea than movie. The Chief of Police (Edwin Maxwell) verbally …

A Cockroach in Miami’s Midst Scarface is both reactionary and alarmist. Oliver Stone’s screenplay slams the Carter administrations chaotic immigration policy, induces immigrant fears, this while blaming communism’s stranglehold …

Dubios-er It’s difficult to create a more non-manly archetype than Stu (Kumail Nanjiani). He doesn’t use guns. He works at a retail store. Nutrition matters to him. Stu cried …

BFG (Bogus Financial Grab) Per Doom lore, there’s a scientific base on Mars’ moon Phobos. It’s one of those sci-fi places where smart people do dumb things like tinker …

Hole in the Desert The final moments of Casino show old Vegas being torn down. Implosions send once grand buildings to rubble. Sam Rothenstein (Robert De Niro) opines about …

Fauxbots While The World’s End lacks Shaun of the Dead’s comedic cleverness, it instead chooses a more somber, richer topic to finish the Cornetto trilogy. In that, The World’s …

It Was the Swan Inserting American action values into prim, proper, and friendly rural Britain is a comedic masterstroke. As Hot Fuzz picks up energy, Simon Pegg chases down …

A Funny Sort of Day When Simon Pegg and Nick Frost finally grasp Shaun of the Dead’s zombie outbreak, Frost runs in the house and grabs a box of …

Dogs and Cats (and Babies) Living Together Like its predecessor, Secret Life of Pets 2 is best when satirizing pet ownership from the animal’s perspective. The cat that knocks …

Hulking Mad Control. Everything in the Ang Lee-directed Hulk concerns control. Emotional control. Government control. A parent’s control. Memory control. It’s an interesting take on the comic book hero, …