ReelViews for PG-13 movies

In all the years I have watched James Bond movies, I will confess to rarely having been shocked by a narrative development or twist. Prior to No Time to Die, there was one exception: the conclusion of OnHer Majesty’s Secret Service, when Bond...

If 2018’s Venom felt like an afterthought, then the sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, feels like an afterthought to an afterthought. With its short running length, this drunk-on-CGI production is less a movie and more the outline of somet...

While watching Dear Evan Hansen, I was reminded of the 1994 film I’ll Do Anything. Originally designed as a musical (with eight songs by Prince), the decision was made in the editing room to release the Nick Nolte vehicle as a straight drama...

Whether as a result of coincidence or intent, the COVID pandemic has issued in a new era of motion picture musicals. Not since mid-20th century, when Musicals were perennially the biggest earners, has the genre been this popular. Everybody’s...

Note: I consider this review to be “spoiler-lite.” Although there are no overt revelations of things that can’t be learned by scanning published cast lists or watching the trailer, if you don’t want to know anything about the movie, co...

1999’s She’s All That was a fine, forgettable slice of mediocrity. In my naivete, I assumed the film’s bland anonymity was the reason it was accorded a gender-swapped remake. After all, while there’s danger in remaking a good movie, when ...

For her feature-film debut, Lisa Joy (Jonathan Nolan’s partner-in-crime on the HBO Westworld series) has attempted to graft futuristic elements onto an old-fashioned noir detective story. The result is disappointingly drab with contrived act...

Big Trouble in Little China was released at a time when John Carpenter’s white-hot career had begun a downward trajectory. His third feature starring Kurt Russell, Big Trouble matched the action-adventure elements of Escape from New York wit...

Respect uses vignettes to provide an overview of the early years of Aretha Franklin’s life and career. Along the way, the movie touches on a number of weighty issues including domestic abuse, alcoholism, and Civil Rights activism. The film c...

As a comedic satire of gaming and an offbeat romantic comedy, Free Guy is amiable and entertaining, if a little too long (an unfortunately common problem among big-budget movies in the 2010s and 2020s). When it comes to the film’s “deeper�...