Freeze Frame

Anyone who has seen the classic 1984 romantic action comedy “Romancing the Stone” may feel a bit of deja vu watching the slapstick adventure movie “The Lost City.” Sandra Bullock plays Loretta, a romance novelist kidnapped by a wealthy bad guy, played by Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe. He needs her understanding of hieroglyphics to decipher […]

The Hulu movie “Deep Water” desperately wants to be an erotic thriller like some of director Adrian Lyne’s earlier films like “Fatal Attraction.” Sadly, this poorly paced adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel is fatal, but there’s little attraction. Ben Affleck portrays a wealthy snob who may or may not be killing off his promiscuous wife’s […]

As time travel movies go, they don’t get much sunnier than the Netflix action thriller, “The Adam Project.” Ryan Reynolds plays Adam, a pilot from the future who crash lands in 2022 and winds up having to recruit his 12-year-old self to thwart some baddies who are using time travel for nefarious ends.   Reynolds […]

The Dark Knight continues to get darker and darker. In his first appearance as “The Batman” Robert Pattinson takes the brooding caped crusader to a new level of bleakness.   “The Batman” is an extremely well-made movie that plays more like a gangster film noir than a superhero flick. In addition to giving us a […]

There have been at least eleven film adaptations of Edmond Rostand’s classic romantic play “Cyrano de Bergerac” and at least eleven others that were inspired by the story. The latest cinematic version is different in a couple of major ways. “Cyrano,” starring Peter Dinklage, is a full-blown musical and the lovestruck main character is self-conscious because he’s […]

Someday, someone will make a really good movie adaptation of a video game. It has to happen, eventually, right? “Uncharted,” based on the PlayStation title, is the latest attempt. It’s an adventure yarn in the mold of Indiana Jones that has a likable cast, spectacular production values and plenty of over-the-top action. If it only […]

If you’re in the mood for an old-fashioned Turner Classic Movies-style whodunit, look no further than “Death on the Nile.” Director/star Kenneth Branagh is back as Agatha Christie’s erudite detective Hercule Poirot, whom we last saw in 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express.” Now, we see Poirot working on a murder case among the wealthy […]

KC based filmmaker Trevor Hawkins delivers an impressive feature film debut with “Lotawana,” a movie that he wrote, produced, and directed, shot at Lake Lotawana, Missouri. Now available on video on demand, it’s a skillfully made character study about an aimless man, played by Tom Blubaugh, who lives off grid on a boat at the […]

Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar continues to show why he’s at the top of his game. Another Oscar winner, actress Penelope Cruz stars in Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers.” It’s the tale of two women whose newborns may have been accidentally switched at birth. Cruz plays a successful single photographer who finds herself in the family way. […]

So, is it true that no good deed goes unpunished? With his latest movie “A Hero,” Oscar-winning Iranian writer/director Asghar Farhadi continues to show why he’s one of the world’s finest filmmakers. This contemporary morality play is about a man serving time in an Iranian debtors’ prison who, while on a two-day leave from incarceration, […]