Greta (2019)::rating::3::rating::3::rating::3

T he script for Greta seems a lot like a Frankenstein golem, a lumbering construct of thrillers plucked from the $1 DVD bin of a Walmart: Fatal Attraction, Psycho, Single White Female, and many others get stitched together, forming a brand new monster in the process. The movie that sits up and lurches off the table may…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 2, 20190Comments

Latest

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)::rating::3.5

M ost modern animated movies have slowly slipped into the same unambitious groove occupied by elevator music. The same adjectives could be sprinkled onto any of them, like pepper onto rice cakes: Most are pretty, well-made, innocuous, and completely forgettable. The How to Train Your Dragon franchise has always been a notch above the rest, mainly because…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 2, 20190Comments

The Drink Menu The Podcast

Cinemavino — Episode 12: Anyway, Roma was Really Good::rating::0

I 've always thought the Oscars are more fun to talk about than they are to watch. Like sports awards, the water cooler debate is just part of it all. So...a mini-episode about the Academy Awards seemed like a Jim Dandy idea. The only problem is we did it on the back end…

ByTodd WoffordMarch 1, 20190Comments

Latest

Fighting with My Family (2019)::rating::3.5

F ighting with My Family takes the sweaty, spandexed bravado of professional wrestling and somehow spins it into a sugary, feel-good movie. It's surprising to find out this story has some basis in fact, and even more startling that everything works as well it does. With its underdog heroine, tough-love mentor, and hissable villains, Fighting With My…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 27, 20190Comments

The Drink Menu The Podcast

Cinemavino – Episode 11: Bruce Willis Needs a Breath Mint::rating::0

F or this episode, Travis, Taylor, and I discuss a few underrated movies and actors, whilst enjoying a little underrated wine: The Beaujolais region of France features some delicious wine, made from the Gamay grape. It doesn't get nearly the attention it deserve, so we're gonna shine a light on it. This is Domaine de la…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 24, 20190Comments

Latest The Archive

RBG (2018)::rating::4

L ate in RBG, we see a telling photograph of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor, the first two women appointed to the United States Supreme Court. They sit in an opulent chamber, pleasant and prim, surrounded by imposing sculptures and paintings of male jurists. These starchy old men, replete with bushy mustaches and flowing…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 22, 20190Comments

Latest

2019 Oscar Picks::rating::0

"T his is the 51st Academy Awards," said that evening's host, Johnny Carson. "Two hours of sparkling entertainment spread over a four-hour show." No one has ever described cinema's biggest night with such dry, succinct brilliance. It seems every minute of glamour or grippingly candid emotion gets matched with another minute of bloated, boring…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 20, 20190Comments

Latest

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)::rating::3.5

All the expansive world-building in Alita: Battle Angel stands as the film's greatest strength and its greatest weakness. James Cameron (co-writer/producer) and Robert Rodriguez (director) deliver a sprawling, digital landscape that boggles the mind in both its grandeur and intensive attention to every last visual detail. Story-wise, so much table-setting happens in this movie that it…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 15, 20190Comments

Latest

Isn’t It Romantic (2019)::rating::3.5

A s I watched Isn't It Romantic, my thoughts drifted to Leonard Maltin's review of a 1948 film of the same name. Maltin set the Guinness World Record for the shortest review with just one word: "No." I may not have Maltin's gift for succinctness, but I think I could boil my opinion of this movie down…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 15, 20190Comments

The Drink Menu The Podcast

Cinemavino – Episode 10 – The Stanley Tucci Chronicles::rating::0

I t's another week, another treat as Taylor Owens joins us for a Very Special Episode of Cinemavino. For this trip aboard the Crazy Train, we discuss our favorite Valentine's Day movies and drink a little Rosê and a bottle of bubbly. Once again, our new Scooby gang veers off on a few wild tangents:…

ByTodd WoffordFebruary 14, 20190Comments