Smile (2022)::rating::3.5::rating::3.5::rating::3.5

M uch like Taken, the 90s horror flick with Denzel Washington, Smile presents the most terrifying killer imaginable: A virulent, incorporeal monster, traveling invisibly on the breeze. It randomly lights on a victim, cursing them until they either end their life or murder someone else. In their final moments, the afflicted wears the wide, unconvincing smile of…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 21, 20230Comments

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Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)::rating::2.5

S o many Marvel movies have been made that if you ran a mile for every one, you'd be well into your second marathon by now. That's a long haul, and we haven't even factored in the plethora of tangential shows on Disney+ yet. Now, Quantumania kicks off the next big phase of MCU flicks, complete…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 17, 20230Comments

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Aftersun (2022)::rating::4

A s with the best coming-of-age dramas, Aftersun makes the correct decision to simply step back and let life wash over its characters. There’s very little screenwriting artifice on display here, almost every scene feels carved from reality. Yes, we see flash-forwards, but those only appear in micro-doses. In truth, this is a character study that examines…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 10, 20230Comments

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M3GAN (2022)::rating::3.5

M 3GAN might not set the world on fire as a horror flick, but it burns bright and kinda brilliant as a whacked-out social satire. Look long enough into its shenanigans and you'll find riffs on the increasing encroachment of artificial intelligence, and how parents use gadgetry to distract unruly children. (Count me guilty of the…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 8, 20230Comments

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All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)::rating::4.5

A ll Quiet on the Western Front takes place during the final agonal gasps of World War I. As the armistice threatens to answer an ugly war with an ugly peace, young German recruits mass on the shell-pocked moonscape of Northern France. We focus on a small group of schoolboys as they pile into smoldering,…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 4, 20230Comments

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A View to a Kill (1985)::rating::2

B ond aficionados have long bagged on A View to a Kill as the nadir of the franchise, and their complaints aren’t without merit. The villain is more boring than a sleeve of rice cakes. 007’s main squeeze is supremely annoying. Many of the film’s lame jokes make Hee Haw sound like…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 1, 20230Comments

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Triangle of Sadness (2022)::rating::3.5

M uch like this year’s The Menu, Triangle of Sadness takes aim at the pinkies-out dilettantes who punish the world with their platinum-coated sense of entitlement. Despite this similarity, the two films are actually defined by their differences: Triangle is broader, bolder, and more sweepingly ambitious than its satirical cousin. That’s not to say it’s the better film.…

ByTodd WoffordJanuary 26, 20230Comments

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To Leslie (2022)::rating::4.5

T o Leslie sent my thoughts back to a similar film, Hillbilly Elegy. In that middling, piddling, manipulative hooey, millionaire actors slap on prosthetics and moth-eaten flannel. For two hours, they bark at each other in flimsy redneck accents in a blatant attempt to chase down Oscars. It was hollow, predictable, poorly-written tripe, a fact made…

ByTodd WoffordJanuary 24, 20230Comments

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The Menu (2022)::rating::3.5

I managed a wine store for almost fifteen years, and I affectionately remember some of the pretentious wine reviews that hung from the shelves. My favorite was attached to a Spanish red, which boasted it had a “firm international structure.” Now, if anybody anywhere knows what in the holy honey-baked hell that means, I…

ByTodd WoffordJanuary 17, 20230Comments

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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)::rating::3.5

E ven amongst the crowded field of obligatory sequels, Glass Onion stands out, like a shimmering, whinnying unicorn. Writer-director Rian Johnson somehow replicates everything that made Knives Out a real hootenanny, while also steering that familiar story deep into left field. Once again, Johnson riffs on Agatha Christie, but he also builds a story that's hilarious,…

ByTodd WoffordJanuary 11, 20230Comments