Category: Movies

Solo: A Star Wars Story Review

Written by Tucker R. King on June 2, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

Solo: A Star Wars Story is fan service of the highest order. Everything you expect to see visualized in this film is there: Han and Chewbacca’s first meeting, Han winning the Millenium Falcon from Lando Calrissian in a card game, Han making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs (finally, parsecs...

A Quiet Place Review

Written by Tucker R. King on May 3, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

Director John Krasinski’s third feature A Quiet Place is a crafty little thriller set a few years in the future. The film has minimal dialogue and maximal, human-eating monsters. The origin of these creatures is never discussed or explained; instead, the film takes them for granted. It then...

Taxi Driver Review

Written by Tucker R. King on May 2, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

When one considers Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, the first thing they usually think of is “You talkin’ to me?” It’s easily one of the most quoted lines in cinema history. However, the one line that never gets quoted is the last one in the film: “Well, I’m...

Ready Player One Review

Written by Tucker R. King on April 26, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

Based on the 2011 novel by Ernest Cline, Ready Player One drags us back into the Young Adult dystopia narrative. In this case (as rendered by Zak Penn and co-adapter Cline), the miserably overcrowded Columbus, Ohio in 2045 is the world we are asked to inhabit. There, we are introduced to Wade Watts...

Isle of Dogs Review

Written by Tucker R. King on April 17, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

Wes Anderson’s latest, Isle of Dogs, is worth seeing, an exactingly, fastidiously composed stop-motion venture. This is Anderson’s second stop-motion animation feature, following 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, a film I thoroughly loved. Isle of Dogs is set 20 years in the future, in the...

Phantom Thread Review

Written by Tucker R. King on February 18, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

Phantom Thread opens with a simple title card accompanied by high-pitched tones, followed by a medium close-up of a young woman, her face bathed in firelight. “Reynolds has made my dreams come true,” she says calmly to an as yet unseen figure. The remainder of the film does its best to...

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Review

Written by Tucker R. King on January 4, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

In Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, anger is a pervasive energy; it’s not treated as a disease that needs to be cured. More often than not, Hollywood portrays anger as a sin; only through acceptance and understanding can true happiness be achieved. However,...

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

Written by Tucker R. King on January 4, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is a sprawling, character-driven epic that picks up where Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens left off. Furthermore, this eighth episode guides the series into unfamiliar territory. Writer/director Rian Johnson (Brick, Looper) fills the story with surprises and twists...

Lady Bird Review

Written by Tucker R. King on January 2, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

Lady Bird marks the directing debut of actress Greta Gerwig and stars Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Lucas Hedges, Beanie Feldstein, Tracy Letts, Timothée Chalamet, Stephen McKinley Henderson, and Lois Smith.

The Shape of Water Review

Written by Tucker R. King on January 1, 2018. Posted in Movies. Leave a Comment

The Shape of Water marks director Guillermo del Toro's return to the fantastical and stars Sally Hawkings, Doug Jones, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Octavia Spencer, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Eliza Esposito (Hawkins) is a mute woman working as a member of the cleaning staff at a 1960s American government...