Show Dogs movie review: everything is awful
Embarrassingly bad CGI; pratfalls; genital humor; denigration of cat ladies; horrible clichés and stereotypes. This is the cinematic equivalent of stepping in dog poop. You know, for kids!
comedy
Life of the Party movie review: cut this class
The complete lack of conflict overshadows even the cringeworthy attempts at physical comedy. Where’s the story in a woman who positively sails through her midlife crisis? The endearing McCarthy deserves so much better.
Sherlock Gnomes movie review: oh gnome they didn’t… (they did)
A flimsy treasure-hunt plot, a sexy song-and-dance number, and more of the same Elton John songs deployed with trite, lazy tedium. They mean to keep cranking out these dumb, dull movies, don’t they?
Madame movie review: maid up
What starts out as a genial drawing-room satire on class and snobbery soon turns to a sly romantic comedy about the fantasy of romance and the crushing expectations placed on women.
Blockers movie review: the kids are all right
It’s oddly structured, doesn’t seem to know whom its audience is, and indulges in too much distracting grossout humor. But the sex-positive message and the delightful cast make it just about worthwhile.
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: I think the quietly shocking “DeKalb Elementary” may win for its very of-the-moment story about a school office worker’s attempt to de-escalate an invading gunman’s rage via patience and empathy.
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: I suspect that this year’s winner will be “Garden Party,” a spectacular debut from new French animation studio Illogic that I am sure we will be seeing a lot more stunning work from.
Game Night movie review: triumph of the nerds
Absolutely hilarious, full of smart snarksters, comedic suspense, and gleeful smashing of action-movie clichés. Part screwball comedy, part romantic adventure, all pure movie-movie joy.
Peter Rabbit movie review: splat the bunny
Tosses out the very sentiments that make Beatrix Potter’s work so beloved and so enduring in favor of the sullen bratty championing of cruelty and disenchantment. Nihilistic money-grubbing garbage.
Early Man movie review: primordial goop
A huge disappointment, crude and simple compared to Aardman’s earlier, more sophisticated and multilayered work. No satire or subversion, just a bog-standard triumph-of-the-underdog story.
