By Laurie Coker Rating: C- Keeping the kids entertained these can be nearly impossible and with all the CDC expectations for avoiding normal Halloween activities, parents are trying to get creative. Old favorites in spooky family fun are streaming and on-demand, but Adam Sandler and a host of other familiar faces, like Steve Buscemi, Rob… Continue reading HUBIE HALLOWEEN
Author: Laurie Coker
AVA
By: Laurie Coker Rating: D By virtue of the genre, thrillers should be thrilling and Ava, starring Jessica Chastain falls short in countless ways. Instead of using his exceptional cast better, director Tate Taylor relies on clichés and wow-able international sets. Chastain puts heart and soul into the role of a former drug-abuser turned hitwoman… Continue reading AVA
RATCHED – a Netflix Series
By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ I taught the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as a senior English teacher and many of my students agree that Nurse Ratched is one of the most interesting antagonists ever written. In the 1975 film version of the novel, Louis Fletcher put the perfect pursed puss on the… Continue reading RATCHED – a Netflix Series
TENET
By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ I remember sitting through Inception and leaving confused and unimpressed. I watched it again and some aspects became clearer, but I never really did love the film. With Tenet, the ride, even in reverse action, entertains and engages completely. Action-packed from the first moment, Christopher Nolan’s thriller, like Inception, bends… Continue reading TENET
ENTWINED
By Laurie Coker Rating: D+/C- Entwined demonstrates how a director can lose his way as he tells his story. Minos Nikolakakis’ takes on more than he can handle in his fairytale horror pick set in tiny cabin in an ominous forest. While his imagery is stunning, Nikolakakis delivers little in the way of entertainment. Encumbered… Continue reading ENTWINED
BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC
By Laurie Coker Rating: C- Some thirty-one years after their “excellent adventure” and nearly thirty years post “bogus journey”, Bill and Ted are back facing the music. Reprising their roles as goofy rockers, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter stop at nothing to be Bill and Ted – awkward and seemingly clueless and they do an… Continue reading BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC
THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
By Laurie Coker Rating: A Dev Patel seems an unlikely choice as Charles Dicken’s famous David Copperfield, but director/cowriter (with Simon Blackwell) Armando Iannucci finds gold with his star. Set in first person, we see Copperfield fight for his place in the world as a writer and gentleman. The Personal History of David Copperfield plays… Continue reading THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD
TESLA
By Laurie Coker Rating: B- Most hear the name Tesla and think of electric cars or perhaps the Tesla vehicle that Elon Musk launched into space as part of his SpaceX project. Behind the name is story. Ethan Hawke stars as Nikola Tesla, the brilliant inventor who played with electricity, in Tesla, written directed by… Continue reading TESLA
THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN
By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ I love traveling with my grandchildren and together we enjoy listening to audiobooks. On one trip, my granddaughter and I, both huge animal lovers, listened to The One and Only Ivan, the story of a silverback ape raised in captivity. Disney+ brings the book, based on a true story, to… Continue reading THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN
UNHINGED
By Laurie Coker Rating: B Academy Award winner Russell Crowe graces the screen as an utterly detestable and completely deranged man filled with rage and hatred. Director Derrick Borte with a script written by Carl Ellsworth, delivers an intense, shocking thriller, that speaks to the festering issues that silently plague people until all rationale leaves… Continue reading UNHINGED