Ben Affleck was a joke a little over a decade ago. He was tabloid fodder every week due to his relationship with Jennifer Lopez, while at the same time having a string of terribly received films starting with 2003’s “Daredevil.” With 2007’s “Gone Baby Gone” Affleck quietly slipped into the director’s chair and made one […]
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I’m Friends With the Monster
Dealing with loss: A children’s primer
The story behind the book version of “A Monster Calls” is a tragic one. Siobhan Dowd was an activist and a writer in the UK. She was diagnosed with breast cancer and, during her terminal illness, came up with the story of a young boy fighting to come to terms with his mother’s fate. She […]
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Space Racism
“Hidden Figures” turns separate but equal into a crowd please
The trailers for “Hidden Figures” have been omnipresent for at least six months. I've seen the trailer for “Hidden Figures” at least 50 times over the last few months and it made me feel like I’d already seen the film. Luckily, the film is such a warmhearted crowd pleaser that it’s hard to hold its […]
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A Little Night Music
“La La Land” is cinema magic
I try to go into films wide open, hoping to love each one I see. I take no pleasure in ripping a movie to shreds, because the amount of work that goes into making them is staggering and no one intends to make a terrible film. Still, I wasn’t quite sold on “La La Land.” […]
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The Great Wall
“Fences” is an undisputed masterpiece
I had a pretty terrible stepfather growing up; a redneck cop who spent his free time encouraging me not to read, think or grow. When I moved out, I carried this weird mixture of fear and rage with me. I eventually grew up and tried to let it go. I barely think about him anymore, […]
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Good Stuff, Not-So-Good Stuff
The most underrated and overrated films of 2016
Every year there are films that are wonderful, yet are completely ignored by audiences, eventually attracting a cult following several years later. On the opposite end there are movies that critics and audiences alike think are giant piles of crap. Here are a couple of films misunderstood or over-loved by audiences this year. Underrated: The […]
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Flicks that Ripped
The Source’s top 10 movies of 2016
Whittling down to 10 top movies of the year was hard, but my #1 never changed. These might not be the “Best” movies of the year, but they are most certainly my favorite. 10 Morris From America: A romantic coming-of-age drama about a 13-year old American boy falling in love for the first time while […]
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Losing Yourself
“Manchester by the Sea” is remarkable
Something terrible happened to Lee Chandler. When we first meet Lee he’s working as a handyman/janitor in Quincy, Mass. His interactions with customers are cordial and sometimes confrontational. When he gets the news that his older brother has suffered a heart attack, he rushes to the hospital 90 minutes away. The first thing he asks […]
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I Am With the Force, the Force is With Me
“Rogue One” puts the “Wars” into “Star Wars”
Trying to review a Star Wars movie is like breaking down the comfort level of your childhood teddy bear. Even though “Rogue One” tells a story with mostly new characters and exists outside of the typical Episode I-VII structure, it’s so deeply rooted in the Star Wars universe that nostalgia holds tightly to every frame. […]
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Deck the Hall with Booze and Cocaine
“Office Christmas Party” brings the laughs
Writing reviews of comedies is always a fickle mistress, because it basically comes down to describing very relative crap that makes you laugh. Another interesting aspect to think about is whether to hold comedies to the same standard as other movies in more serious genres. If a comedy succeeds in making you laugh then hasn’t […]