Too busy heading to the beach over the holiday weekend to read a lengthy review? Listen and watch instead in under 8 minutes. Next up in my "Movie Classroom" video series on the Every Movie Has a Lesson YouTube channel is Baywatch where I heap praise on all things jiggle, sizzle, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
Read MoreContrary to how well the Mythbusters pulled it off, you can't shine sh-t, not turds of the TV or film variety. Terrible TV shows make terrible movies. Asking for anything more is asking too much, and there's nothing wrong with that. All of the zing and jiggle audiences enjoyed in eleven seasons and 242 episodes of Baywatch get the amplified and gaudy movie treatment an entertaining guilty pleasure deserves. Enjoy what you enjoy and don't be ashamed of it.
Read MoreBetween us two busy Chicago film critics and working fathers, Emmanuel and I are orchestrating a trade of "guest reviews" for each other's sites. I was swamped last week and I was unable to see "The Fate of the Furious." He missed Chris Evans' vehicle "Gifted." My review of that will go on his site and his review of vehicular mayhem arrives right here:
Read MorePlenty of regular everyday people make New Year's Resolutions, but I think bigger entities, namely movie makers and movie moguls, need to make them too. Annually, including this sixth edition, this is my absolute favorite editorial to write every year. I have fun taking the movie industry to task for things they need to change. I'm sarcastic, but I'm not the guy to take it to the false internet courage level of some Twitter troll. This will be as forward as I get all year.
Read MoreShe may wear a dress and have an animal sidekick, but don’t you dare call Moana a “princess.” The enterprising titular “chieftain’s daughter” is a breezy breath of warm Pacific air surging through a Mouse House built on castles, corsets, and crowns. Promoting powerhouse diversity and pushing away the trappings of romance, “Moana” is a progressive step from Walt Disney Animation Studios carrying wonderful messages for young girls in a Millennial day-and-age that is too often obsessed with body image and glamour.
Read More"San Andreas" is one of those terrible-to-OK movies that Dwayne Johnson makes either passable or good solely through his presence, heroics, and charisma alone. We're a long way from great here, but "San Andreas" counts as mind-numbing fun that's fit for the summer season. The errors, implausibilities, and eye rolls are as high as the city-leveling casualty rate, but Warner Bros. and company weren't aiming very high.
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