ReelViews for R movies

Sitting in a darkened theater watching House of Wax, I felt like it was the 1980s and Jason was on the loose again. From its lobotomized characters to its carefully choreographed "boo!" moments to its blood-and-gore spatter-fest, this movie is a t...

The only holiday Hollywood is better at screwing up than Christmas is Valentine’s Day. Every year it seems that the movie industry is intent on making the Day of Love about as enjoyable as a root canal. 2016’s contribution is How to Be Si...

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is an uneasy marriage of satire and romantic comedy. The film's inability to decide whether it wants to be sweet and life-affirming or vicious and nasty creates not only a disconnect on the story level but r...

Somewhere, buried within the innards of writer/director Kim Nguyen’s The Hummingbird Project, is the skeleton of a compelling techno-thriller. Unfortunately, Nguyen overreaches in attempting to add an element of meaning to what works best a...

As a piece of social satire, it could be argued that The Hunt runs too long. A similar complaint could be made about this as a horror/thriller property. As pregnant as the promise may be, there’s not quite enough to fill the full 90-minute r...

Hunter Killer is not going to challenge Das Boot for the title of “best submarine warfare film of all time.” By tossing aside the reliable characteristics of the genre (claustrophobic atmosphere, sense of isolation, simmering tension), di...

In recent years, as cloning has become more readily accepted in popular and scientific circles, proposals (some more fantastical than others) have been suggested about how to return extinct species to the planet. Some, like using the DNA of a prese...

Hurlyburly is a talky film - the entire movie is constructed around lengthy sequences of dialogue where the characters talk and talk and talk, often saying nothing. However, because the vocal rhythms are so perfect, the words are so well-chosen, a...

"Hate put me in prison. Love's gonna bust me out." Those words, spoken by Rubin "Hurricane" Carter (Denzel Washington), form the thematic foundation of Norman Jewsion's latest film, The Hurricane. Alternatively tragic and triumphant, it is an ex...

I guess this is what narcissism looks like. Or at least a vanity project run amok. It’s a pity because I enjoyed director Trey Edward Shults’ 2017 horror movie, It Comes at Night. But this isn’t really about Shults; it’s about The Weeknd. ...