Pixar’s racecar hero is blindsided by a faster generation Cars 3 ** 1/2 of 5 | 109 min. | G Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) has to train like a champ Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) has to train like a champ Aging is inevitable, but to see it manifest in a talking […]
Lightning strikes again Read More »
Horrors are outside and within in the stellar It Comes at Night It Comes at Night *** 1/2 out of 5 | 97 min. | R Paul (Joel Edgerton) goes to terrible lengths to protect his family Compassion kills in dire times. That’s the widdershins message of director Trey Edward Shults’ sophomore feature, a severely
At last, a DC Comics movie that has it all: heart, thrills and humor Wonder Woman **** out of 5 | 141 min. | PG-13 Gal Gadot as Diana, AKA Wonder Woman As the first female superhero and archetype of strong women, Wonder Woman crossed boundaries in 1941 when she debuted on the pages of
Hail to this princess Read More »
A sick teen trapped in her house falls for the boy next door Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson in Everything, Everything Everything, Everything ** ½ out of 5 | 96 min. | PG-13 by Marc Savlov Based on the YA novel by Nicola Yoon, this above-average, young love weeper manages to hit all the genre
There’s too little magic in this fifth POTC tale Film Frame HERSCHEL_06051621_2k_p3_R Johnny Depp returns as Jack Sparrow, but again without compelling sidekicks Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales * ½ out of 5 | 128 min. | PG-13 This amusement-park ride has gone on long enough. Audiences adored the original Pirates
Pirate delight sinking Read More »
Latest Alien can’t decide whether to get philosophical or homicidal Alien: Covenant *** out of 5 | 123 min. | R If you’re befuddled by what the Alien movie franchise has become, get in line. What began nearly 40 years ago as a creepy, extraterrestrial slasher movie with a memorable tag-line (“In space, no one
Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer make chemistry in this LOL comedy Snatched *** ½ out of 5 | 91 min. | R This slightly bawdy, occasionally gross mother-daughter comedy comes with a message: Family ties trump temperamental differences. It brings together a likable pair of protagonists in Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn. Daughter Emily is
Mother and daughter mayhem Read More »
Jarrod Crooks’ new indie movie played Saturday at Cosmo Theatre. In the coming years, you’ll likely see big screen adaptations of Stevens Point author Pat Rothfuss’ novels and Wausau-area native Tim Seeley’s comic book Jarrod Crooks of Wausau was in the middle of making his latest film, Indie Guys, when he saw a chance he couldn’t
Central Wisconsin Film connections Read More »
124 min. | R For a movie about war, Allied displays an impressive quietude. The opening few minutes especially are remarkably serene… and remarkably tense. A man in World War II-era fatigues parachutes into a desert at dawn, hikes along the dunes, then along a deserted road, until dust on the horizon announces a car’s
SPIES are SO romantic Read More »
113 min. | PG “There must be more than this provincial life!” So goes the melancholy cry of the Disney princess. But it becomes so much bigger in Moana, another triumph for the company’s animation arm. Sweet, funny, exciting and moving, this transcendent experience brings to screen a pan-Polynesian cultural tradition that has been entirely
MUSICAL HEROINE for the WORLD Read More »
112 min. | R Railroad trains have been settings for mysteries since the days of Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock. A train is a compartmentalized world unto itself, moving through the outer world slowly enough for passengers to catch a glimpse of strange doings outside. Adapted from Paula Hawkins bestselling novel, The Girl on the
SECRETS, lies, MYSTERIES Read More »
120 min | R A movie about slavery is never easy to watch. The better ones, such as Best Picture Oscar winner 12 Years A Slave, make you furious at the injustice and leave you in disbelief that something so awful could have occurred. The Birth of a Nation doesn’t reach that level of fury,
