By Laurie Coker Rating: C Two hours and seventeen minutes – a lifetime in a theater seat – even watching exceptional CGI and astonishingly vivid imagery. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is an energetic, extravagant, and overall a decent experience particularly for ‘tweens and teens. Unfortunately, however, too many parts of the… Continue reading Review: VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS
Category: MAIN
Review: DUNKIRK
By Laurie Coker Rating: A Together director Christopher Nolan and longtime collaborator composer Han Zimmer have created the perfect blend of visual intensity and musical majesty in movie making. Dunkirk, set during World War II when allied troupes were desperately in need of evacuation as Nazi forces pushed them closer and closer to the sea,… Continue reading Review: DUNKIRK
Review: WISH UPON
By Laurie Coker Rating: B- Typically a PG-13 rating on a horror thriller is a tell – too mild for true horror fans, but acceptable to tweens and above. Wish Upon hardly offers an original story, but it does harbor a few shocks and surprises making it worth a look. A strong lead in Joey… Continue reading Review: WISH UPON
Review: BEATRIZ AT DINNER
By Laurie Coker Rating: D+ It makes no sense that in Hollywood, the music industry, and even in general, suicide is seen as heroic. There is nothing honorable about taking one’s life. Perhaps this is a soapbox for another day. In Beatriz at Dinner, Salma Hayek, plays the titular character, an immigrant from a poor… Continue reading Review: BEATRIZ AT DINNER
Review: THE BOOK OF HENRY
By Laurie Coker Rating: C+/B- Certainly, there are methods for stretching the truth and still creating a story that is at its core believable and engaging. The Book of Henry engages, but more because of its cast than its tale. Director Colin Trevorrow and writer Gregg Hurwitz play on every emotion possible but go far… Continue reading Review: THE BOOK OF HENRY
Review: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
By Laurie Coker Rating: C- The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise his in the past provided for a thrill ride at the theatre. Johnny Depp created a memorable, fun character in Jack Sparrow and he reprises the role for Disney’s latest film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales, but he seems less… Continue reading Review: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
Review: BAYWATCH
By Laurie Coker Rating: C+/B- A film that purposely makes fun of itself works, if even on the most asininely inane level. The Baywatch movie, starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron, does just that – with no apologies and none are needed. Director Seth Gordon, working from a script offered by a half dozen writers, uses… Continue reading Review: BAYWATCH
Review: ALIEN: COVENANT (SXSW 2017)
By Laurie Coker Rating: D I often wonder about the “critics” opinions versus my opinion. I am after all a professional film critic myself, but when I look at critic ratings of films and I find that often I sit on the polar opposite side of popular opinion. I can’t help but think – “whaaaaaaaaaaat?”… Continue reading Review: ALIEN: COVENANT (SXSW 2017)
Review: THE DINNER
By Laurie Coker Rating: D Writer-director Oren Moverman’s The Dinner starring Steve Coogan, Laura Linney, Rebecca Hall and Richard Gere starts nowhere and ends in precisely the same place. Touted as a drama, mystery, suspense film, it is none of the above. Instead, it is a dark, muddled mess of nonsense and dysfunction. Based on… Continue reading Review: THE DINNER
Review: THE CIRCLE
By Laurie Coker Rating: D When a film doesn’t screen for press, red flags fly. The Circle starring Tom Hanks and Emma Watson did not, at least not in Austin. It is not difficult to understand why. Riding on the heels of Beauty and the Beast, Watson even coupled with Hanks is given little with… Continue reading Review: THE CIRCLE