Category Archives: Film Reviews

Film reviews and analyses. Most recently published is in front.

Jurassic World Dominion

Posted on July 8, 2022 by Mark DuPré

So what do you get when you put together all the previous Jurassic movies, the James Bond movies, Alien, Aliens, all the Bourne films, all the Mission Impossible films, King Kong, The Good Earth, The Birds, a soupçon of Apocalypse … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Alien, aliens, Apocalypse Now, B.D. Wont, Bryce Dallas Howard, Campbell Scott, Chris Pratt, Colin Trevorrow, DeWanta Wise, Dichen Lachman, Ethan Hunt, Isabella Sermon, Jason Bourne, Jeff Goldblum, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, King Kong, Laura Dern, Lupin, Mamoudou Athie, Michael Giacchino, Mission Impossible, Omar Sy, Ratatouille, Sam Neill, Severance, Steven Spielberg, The Birds, The Book of Henry, The Good Earth, The Intouchables, Up, Vanessa Kirby, Wolverine, X-Men: Days of Future Past | Leave a comment

Elvis

Posted on June 30, 2022 by Mark DuPré

I’m normally not a fan of Baz Luhrmann’s films. I enjoyed (and still enjoy) Moulin Rouge!, where the director’s overheated energy worked well with the material. Not so much Romeo + Juliet, and especially not Australia and The Great Gatsby. … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Atonement, Austin Butler, Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin, Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis, Elvis Presley, Keira Knightley, Moulin Rouge!, Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood, Tex Watson, The Great Gatsby, The Ladykillers, Tom Hanks | Leave a comment

Top Gun: Maverick

Posted on June 12, 2022 by Mark DuPré

It’s summertime, and folks have found a reason to go back to the movie theater. Apparently, what we needed were loud blockbuster remakes. Jurassic Park: Dominion, a film getting mixed reviews, was the second salvo, but the first, getting surprisingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Anthony Edwards, Ed Harris, Glen Powell, Goose, Iceman, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Maverick, Miles Teller, Rooster, Tom Cruise, Top Gun, Top Gun: Maverick, Val Kilmer | Leave a comment

Downton Abbey: A New Era

Posted on June 6, 2022 by Mark DuPré

The Downton movies are comfort food, like a good chicken pot pie on a cold winter day. A New Era is no exception. There is nothing surprising, and there are no real shocks (except one minor but surprising action that … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Captain Phillips, Dowager Countess, Downton Abbey-A New Era, Hugh Bonneville, Julian Fellowes, Kevin Doyle, Maggie Smith, Matthew Goode, singin' in the rain, Tom Hanks | Leave a comment

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Posted on April 21, 2022 by Mark DuPré

This crazy/wonderful film is well described by its title, and brought to mind Run Lola Run, Shakespeare in Love, Dr. Strange, the last Spider-Man film, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, any number of Marx brothers films, and that amusement park … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Dr. Strange, Everything Everwhere All at Once, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, Run Lola Run, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Shakespeare in Love, Spider-Man, Stephanie Hsu, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel | Leave a comment

The Batman (2022)

Posted on March 21, 2022 by Mark DuPré

The Batman is perhaps the most unusual of Batman films. It’s certainly the most beautiful, the slowest, the longest (just under three hours), and the most enigmatic. It’s part Taxi Driver, part Joker (which was already part Taxi Driver), part … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Andy Serkis, Cloverfield, Danny DeVito, Greig Fraser, Hoyte Van Hoytema, Jeffrey Wright, Joker, Kristen Stewart, Little Miss Sunshine, Matt Reeves, Michael Giacchino, Paul Dano, Planet of the Apes, Ratatouille, Robert Pattinson, Spectre, Taxi Driver, The Batman, The Godfather: Part II, There Will be Blood, Twilight, Up, Zoë Kravitz | Leave a comment

Licorice Pizza

Posted on February 28, 2022 by Mark DuPré

Licorice Pizza has been nominated for three Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay). It’s been honored by several other groups, and has been hailed as a refreshing departure from director Paul Thomas Anderson, director of Boogie Nights, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Alana Haim, Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Boogie Nights, Bradley Cooper, Christine Ebersole, Cooper Hoffman, Haim, Inherent VIce, John C. Reillu, John Michael Higgins, Licorice Pizza, Lola rennt, Maya Rudoph, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sean Penn, There Will be Blood, Tom Waits | Leave a comment

American Underdog

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Mark DuPré

American Underdog is a real-life Rudy combined with all the Rocky films put in an acceptable-to-most-folks Christian film structure. As a feel-good story of a real-life underdog, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Kurt Warner, it’s well acted and generally well produced. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Andrew Erwin, Anna Paquin, Chuck, I Can Only Imagine, Jon Erwin, Rocky, Rudy, Sandra Bullock, She Loves Me, Tangled, The Blind Side, The Piano, Woodlawn, Zachary Levi | Leave a comment

West Side Story (2021)

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Mark DuPré

In a word, it’s fantastic. Don’t wait for it to come to a streaming channel, and don’t wait to rent it. Just go to a big theater and watch it. You can thank me later. I think I had the … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Ansel Elgort, Audrey Hepburn, Carol Lawrence, Citizen Kane, Deborah Kerr, George Chakiris, Jerome Robbins, José Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Larry Kert, Leonard Bernstein, Lincoln, Marnie Nixon, Munich, My Fair Lady, Natalie Wood, Rachel Zegler, Richard Beymer, Rita Moreno, Robert Wise, Stephen Spielberg, The King and I, The Sound of Music, Tony Kushner, West Side Story | Leave a comment

Quick Takes on Some Streaming Films

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Mark DuPré

Red Notice Tick, Tick…BOOM! Encounter Certainly the best new film streaming at the moment is The Power of the Dog (https://film-prof.com/2021/12/07/the-power-of-the-dog/). But of course there are several others that are relatively new, and they’re of varying quality. Note: I’m writing … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Amazon Prime, Andrew Garfield, Deadpool, Dwayne Johnson, Encounter, Gal Gadot, Hamilton, Jonathan Larson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lucien-River Chauhan, Netflix, Red Notice, Rent, Riz Ahmed, Ryan Reynolds, The Power of the Dog, The Sound of Metal, Tick Tick...Boom | Leave a comment