Belfast (2021)::rating::4::rating::4::rating::4

As with Alfonso Cuarón's brilliant Roma, Belfast serves as a conduit for writer-director Kenneth Branagh to explore his own childhood. Both films feature the fading, fragile innocence of youth, juxtaposed with the terrible socio-political upheaval swirling around. At the same time, Branagh infuses his work with a deeply personal passion and aching nostalgia that elevate it…

ByTodd WoffordJanuary 12, 20220Comments

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Being the Ricardos (2021)::rating::4

F ew TV stars, past or present, could breathe the same rarified air as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. As a power couple, they dominated the Nielsen ratings throughout the 50s, often commanding an audience of over 60 million. At the same time, Aaron Sorkin's wonderful Being the Ricardos also shows the great and terrible burden…

ByTodd WoffordJanuary 7, 20220Comments

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Don’t Look Up (2021)::rating::3

S ome satires are so precise in their humor, they feel like a ninja catching a gnat with chopsticks. On the other hand, the jokes in Don't Look Up are about as subtle as a slobbering ogre chasing frightened peasants with an unhinged barn door. Every gag in this film essentially pounds on the same theme:…

ByTodd WoffordJanuary 5, 20221Comment

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The Matrix Resurrections (2021)::rating::2.5

I ronically, The Matrix Resurrections trades heavily on nostalgia for that pioneering first film, while also embodying many of the same flaws that doomed its sequels: For all the explosions and throat-punches, much of this movie's runtime is an uphill tromp through low-grade philosophical claptrap, hokey dialogue, and obnoxiously cute riffs on its own self-awareness. That's…

ByTodd WoffordDecember 30, 20211Comment

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Sleepless in Seattle (1993)::rating::2.5

In fact, this film suffers as much as any “classic” that I’ve ever seen. Somewhere between ’93 and now, Seattle probably lost a full star on this rating.

ByTodd WoffordDecember 28, 20210Comments

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Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)::rating::4.5

It captures everything great about the Spider-Man franchise thus far, while also deftly smoothing over a few glaring flaws.

ByTodd WoffordDecember 22, 20210Comments

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Die Hard 2 (1990)::rating::3

If the first film was great, then this one rates as pretty good. As inevitable movies go, Die Hard 2 could’ve been a lot worse.

ByTodd WoffordDecember 22, 20210Comments

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Die Hard 2 (Cinemavino)::rating::3

The debate about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie should be deader than disco. It is, and it always has been. If anything, this Bruce Willis classic is a delightful piece of counter-programming to the sticky fluff we have to deal with this time of year. 34th Street can keep its miracles, and Jimmy…

ByTodd WoffordDecember 22, 20210Comments

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The Power of the Dog (2021)::rating::4.5

L ike many of the greatest Westerns, Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog is a film built on paradoxes. Phil Burbank (Benedict Cumberbatch) is an eccentric cowboy who somehow projects charisma and insecurity, intelligence and ignorance, all at once. He is strong and aloof, but also brittle and easily broken. Every character in this story finds…

ByTodd WoffordDecember 21, 20210Comments

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The Holiday (2006)::rating::3

I agonized over how to rate this movie--probably a lot more than I should have. Yes, The Holiday is absolute piffle, but schmaltzy comfort films definitely occupy an important place in the world. Not everything needs to be A Passage to India or Hiroshima, Mon Amour, you know? At the same time, I have a dorky, analytical side that…

ByTodd WoffordDecember 16, 20210Comments