JUSTICE LEAGUE Review — More Flash and Wonder, Please
JUSTICE LEAGUE Review — Dark with flashes of Wonder by Lisa Johnson Mandell DC Comics movies, especially those directed by Zack Snyder, have always been darker than their Marvel counterparts, so I wasn’t expecting the whimsy and humor of Thor or Ant Man. But Justice League starts out on an intriguing right foot, with Superman doing…
AMERICAN ASSASSIN Review: Jason Bourne Light
AMERICAN ASSASSIN Review by Lisa Johnson Mandell Move over Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. There’s a new CIA black op in town, and he’s younger, tougher and almost as pretty as you are. If American Assassin, based on the popular Vince Flynn novel of the same name, doesn’t quite have the gravitas or brutal artistry…
DUNKIRK Review — VALERIAN Review – 2 Astounding Movies in Very Different Ways
DUNKIRK Review — VALERIAN Review — Two Great Directors, One Masterpiece by Lisa Johnson Mandell DUNKIRK Review — The Most Significant and Original War Movie in Years Beautiful and intense from start to finish, Christopher Nolan‘s Dunkirk is not what you’re expecting. It’s more lyrical than linear, try to hold on too hard and analyze…
BABY DRIVER Review — DESPICABLE ME 3 Review
BABY DRIVER Review – Best Movie of the Summer DESPICABLE ME 3 Review – Minions: What’s Not to Love? by Lisa Johnson Mandell BABY DRIVER Review — Best ride of the season! I dare anyone over 40 not to start singing… “My daddy was the family bassman My mamma was an engineer And I was…
THE BIG SICK Review — THE BEGUILED Review — Two Fab Indies
THE BIG SICK Review — THE BEGUILED Review — by Lisa Johnson Mandell Because you don’t need me to tell you that Transformers: The Last Knight is loud, annoying and nonsensical, I think I can best serve you by giving you the skinny on a couple of ambitious indies opening this weekend, in hopes that…
THE LEGEND OF TARZAN REVIEW — He Swings, He Misses
The Legend of Tarzan review, by Lisa Johnson Mandell I was prepared to give The Legend of Tarzan the benefit of the doubt, because, hello? Alexander Skarsgard swinging through the wet and wild jungle, shirtless and with pants so perilously low-slung they’re they’re constantly threatening to fall off. And for the guys there’s the plucky…
FINDING DORY Review — Absolutely Adoryble!
I always like to take a precocious child or two with me when I review animated films, because no matter how much I love or loathe the script, animation, music, etc., in the end, all that matters is whether it can capture the heart of a child. And my Finding Dory review will assure you that Pixar’s…
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE Review — Little Hart, Big Johnson
Slap my face and call me puerile, the new buddy comedy from Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson had me giggling and guffawing throughout. And no, it had nothing to do with “The Rock’s” perky pecks, although I’m with Melissa McCarthy in her response to them. Her Central Intelligence review would probably be the same as…
NOW YOU SEE ME 2 Review — Not as Magical as the First, But Still…
Now You See Me 2 Review — By Lisa Johnson Mandell A movie based on glitzy, glamorous magic tricks performed by magicians played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Lizzy Caplan (the Masters of Sex star filling in for Isla Fisher) can’t help but be some fun. Especially when they’re back as the fabulous…
ME BEFORE YOU Review — A Whole Lot of Crying Going On
ME BEFORE YOU Review by Lisa Johnson Mandell If you liked Jo Jo Moyes’ novel Me Before You (which I did) and if you’re semi-obsessed with Emilia Clarke’s Daenarys Targaryan in Game of Thrones (which I am), you are SO going to love this movie! Sure, it’s as treacly sweet and sunshine saturated as the weepiest Nicholas…
