ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER Review

Paul Thomas Anderson and Leonardo DiCaprio Team-Up for the First Time to Deliver a Thrilling, Timely and Ambitious Film that Delivers on Every Front One Might Hope.

THE CONJURING: LAST RITES Review

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga Return for One Final Paranormal Case as Ed and Lorraine Warren yet this Finale is Unfortunately more Dull than Devilish.

HIM Review

Jordan Peele's Latest Investment is Nothing More than a Collection of Metaphorical Imagery too Ornate to be Ignored yet Too Shallow to Explore its Full Implications.

THE LONG WALK Review

Director Francis Lawrence works from Stephen King Source Material to Craft an Intense Road Trip Film Unlike Any Other with Two Stand-Out Lead Performances.

A BIG BOLD BEAUTIFUL JOURNEY Review

Colin Farrell and Margot Robbie Star as Blank Canvases with Nothing to Lose and No Real Personality in this Dramedy from Kogonada that Romanticizes Romance.

852/

TROLLS WORLD TOUR Review

The Trolls franchise has had a somewhat varied journey in my collective memory as things began with hesitation at the concept alone though interest was piqued after Justin Timberlake released the ultimate feel-good summertime jam in that final, peaceful summer of 2016 with "Can't Stop the Feeling". Maybe this would be some kind of cool, animated riff on a musical with remixes of modern and classic songs as overseen by JT; something that was for the children, but made by one of the biggest pop stars of their parents childhood. Then came that November when all I remember about trying to cobble together a review was the fact I was writing about Trolls as I watched the Presidential election descend into madness. I gave the original film a straight-up-the-middle two and a half stars and thought of it essentially as colorful, but slight. It was fate that would have my wife and (three year-old at the time) daughter discover the movie some months later and as young children do my daughter latched onto Trolls just as I had Robin Hood some twenty-plus years prior and naturally decided to watch it on repeat until there was no other choice but for the characters to become endearing, the versions of the songs they sang to become the new normal and the weirdness of the world in which it existed to no longer feel strange or far-fetched, but more like home. We bought the soundtrack, we watched the Netflix animated series, and we anxiously awaited the sequel.