Movie Reviews

Abominable, the latest offering from DreamWorks Animation, has a lot going on in its 97 minutes. It also requires you to sit through every one of those 97 minutes due to photos included in the end credits. Yet the film doesn’t make you feel like it’s an obligation to do so; instead, you want to […]

Here’s all you need to know about Judy: Renée Zellweger was born to play this role. A more powerhouse characterization of one of America’s most beloved entertainers, there was not. There will be times when your senses will cross up and you’ll lose track of who you’re watching – an actor playing Judy Garland or […]

What Running With The Devil has working in its favor is a high-profile cast and its low-key, typical-everyday manner. But the film’s objectivity and matter-of-factness has the effect of making it come off dry and flavorless, with its didactic tones overpowering its performances and vibe. Writer/director Jason Cabell’s dramatization of the cocaine trade, from cultivation […]

Most horror movies take long, circuitous routes setting up their characters so we can get to know them right before they’re brutally taken away from us. Almost all teen slasher films are guilty of this, from Halloween to Friday the 13th to latter-day classics like Saw (just the first one) and Scream. (Well, maybe not that […]

(DC-area readers: this film will be playing at the Alamo Drafthouse at One Loudoun starting on October 2, 2019. Make every effort to see this during its engagement.) Every now and again, you run into a movie which reminds you that things are okay with the world, people’s hearts are usually in the right place, […]

Hellmington – stylized as HELLmington in early press materials – is a mixed bag. By no means is one to expect a well-polished indie thriller, but one also doesn’t expect the gritty story out of a low-budget affair like this. The effort put forth by fledgling filmmakers Justin Hewitt-Drakulic, Alex Lee Williams, and their entire […]