Shazam! movie review: unmarvelous
Nothing matters in this literal adolescent-male power fantasy, a cheesy mishmash of nonsense and low stakes. Anyone who needs at least a bit of meat in their superhero tales will be disappointed.
Star Wars
Mortal Engines movie review: it’s got no rev
Like the book it’s based on, the worldbuilding is intriguing, but the characters and story are strictly cliché. A lazy, confused, and derivative disaster, with plot points and visual and thematic motifs shamelessly stolen from far better movies.
The Christmas Chronicles movie review: the Kurt Russell–as–Santa Claus movie you didn’t know you needed
Kurt Russell’s hot biker Santa is naughty and nice, but this otherwise discount holiday schmaltz is only half onboard with him.
The Darkest Minds movie review: seeking a prom date for the end of the world
The YA dystopia is now just another fantasy setting for teen romance. We have normalized the apocalypse. Superpowered kids are being held in concentration camps, but OMG, will Ruby and Liam get together?!
dreaming of a female-gazey Han Solo movie…
…maybe one directed by a woman who understands why we love this scoundrel.
thank the Maker, the Brian Daley Han Solo novels are available on Kindle
I haven’t read these since I was a kid, but back in the day, they did fulfill my tween hankering for more Han Solo.
Solo: A Star Wars Story movie review: where has our scoundrel gone?
A Star Wars–flavored juice drink* of a movie (*contains 10% real juice) that tells us nothing of significance we didn’t already know about Han Solo, in an incarnation that lacks his essential charisma and precarious danger.
Ready Player One movie review: trivial pursuit*
A nightmare of nothingness, of empty, soulless wankery, that serves only to reassure male dorks that their pop-culture obsessions make them special, and will make cute girls like them.
Mary Magdalene movie review: the Gospel of Mary
A fiercely feminist and proudly revisionist historical drama that offers a powerful and much-needed rebuke to modern Christianity. Enrapturingly beautiful and intensely emotional.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie review: a great disturbance in the Force
Upends expectations, demythologizes the mythos, and takes an iconic series in a bold new direction with a story full of humor, courage, and dazzling imagery.
