Film – Chuck Koplinski

I have a feeling audiences are going to respond quite favorably to Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Ready or Not.  Very clever, darkly funny and tautly constructed, the film not only delivers a fair amount of thrills but manages to be merciless in its approach to the 1%, showing what unconscionable lengths they will go […]

Films such as The Peanut Butter Falcon are tricky when it comes to setting the proper tone and treating its subject and story with respect.  Centered on a young man with Down syndrome, works of this sort run the risk of being too cute and using characters as punch lines or becoming so melodramatic that […]

There’s much of what you’d expect in Good Boys and a bit of what you wouldn’t.  Produced by the same crew that brought us Superbad (2007) and concerning three middle schoolers, you know there will plenty of raunchy jokes, physical gags and questionable humor throughout.  The screenplay by Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy certainly doesn’t […]

As a Bruce Springsteen fan, I was really looking forward to Gurinder Chadha’s Blinded by the Light, a film based on the life of writer Sarfraz Manzoor, who cites the musician’s work as a profound influence on his life.  Based on the Boss’s songs, which play throughout, the movie follows one young man’s journey towards […]

It’s rare that I have the reaction to a movie that I had to Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Adapted from the novel by Maria Semple, this story of a woman who puts her career to the side in order to raise her daughter, only to find herself adrift and unstable years later as […]

On July 8, 2002, fate threw 17-year-old Brain Banks a curveball that would alter his life forever.  Falsely accused of rape, he was arrested and ultimately brought to trial as an adult.  On faulty advice from his lawyer, he accepted a plea bargain that would result in his serving six years in jail, five years […]

Surprisingly, there’s more than meets the eye in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, the first of what’s sure to be many spin-offs from the testosterone-fueled franchise. To be sure, there are plenty of car chases and enough things blown up real good to satisfy F & F fans, but there’s a sense of […]

Quentin Tarantino is our most seductive filmmaker.  His ability to frame and execute a scene with a crisp sense of vitality, his sharp-edged writing and the way in which he elicits primal performances from his cast have all become hallmarks of his work, elements that appeal to the many fans who are devotees to the […]

Casey Davies is a loner.  Not by choice, mind you.  The young man is socially awkward and has an unpopular job at the firm he works at – as the company’s accountant, he audits his co-workers expense reports.  He lives in a small apartment with his dachshund and seems, if not happy, secure in the […]

After having seen the trailer for Alejandro Aja’s Crawl, I realized this was the movie I had been for waiting all summer.  I never thought I would suffer from superhero film fatigue, but that certainly has set in. With all of the lackluster sequels and reboots I’ve been subjected to, this summer movie season has […]

You can tell that Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista like each other. They are very much at ease with one another, finish each other’s sentences and laugh at inside jokes while those around them stand amused at their genuine camaraderie.  This was all on display during a recent stopover in Chicago where they were promoting […]

I don’t mind leftovers.  Actually, some things are better the second time around.  I tend to like spaghetti and meatballs after it has sat in the fridge a day or two.  (I have no hard evidence to back this up, but I think the sauce is absorbed by the noodles as it sits, making it […]