Mark McPherson's Blog, page 22

“Despicable Me 4” Review

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14 years ago, the villain Gru () found himself reforming his ways to become a reluctant adoptive father to three sweet girls. Remember those girls? Because Despicable Me 4 seems to forget about them. And also forgets about Gru’s wife, Lucy (). And the villain introduced at the beginning of this film. There is too much going on within this sequ...

“Civil War” (2024) Review

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“Brats” (2024) Review

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The story behind the Brat Pack is more interesting than the fallout of its effect. The collective of young actors from the 1980s never chose that title. It was the product of scathing article with a name that stuck in the media. The longer it lingered, the more these actors wanted to dissociate from each other, even though the...

“Kinds of Kindness” Review

For as charmingly wondrous as Poor Thing was, Kinds of Kindness finds director returning to his wild roots (and not simply because he’s reunited with co-writer Efthimis Filippou). His latest absurdist picture with comedy so black its charred to crisp cavorts in a manner with great freedom. It’s an anthology with the same actors in each segments and similar themes but presented in the most unexpected ways. What Lathimos serves up is a smorgasbord of compelling human drama with s...

“Janet Planet” Review

With so many films aiming to evoke the nostalgic sensations of the 1990s, Janet Planet is so gentle and slow that it comes off as a refreshing breather. Here’s a film that doesn’t have to dice up and grill its retro setting of 1991 to an unrecognizable char. Perhaps it’s the rural Massachusetts setting or Annie Baker’s introspective direction. There’s something to this hazy summer that ends up saying a lot about childhood, sexuality, and relationships in the most meditative ways possible.

Su...

“MoviePass, MovieCrash” Review

MoviePass was not a bad idea in the age of streaming subscriptions. By the 2010s, audiences were already paying subscriptions for Netflix, Prime Video, and other streaming apps. So why not at the theater? As later proven by AMC’s services, it can work. The problem was that MoviePass as a company was a primordial idea corrupted by a lack of oversight and poor management.

Co-founder Stacy Spikes had a good idea that attracted investors in the early-2010s. The first few years were rough, but th...

“Jim Henson: Idea Man” Review

In 1990, the Muppets appeared in a TV special, “The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson.” The Muppets, uncertain of this Jim fellow, unravel the history of the famed puppeteer and director. They learn of his recent death while reading letters from those he inspired. They read more letters, holding back tears. “Jim died?” says Gonzo. “But we were just starting to get to know him.” We may never know as much about Jim as his closest family and friends, but Idea Man comes close to painting a more complete...

“The Bikeriders” Review

Jeff Nichols’s film about motorcycle gangs doesn’t so much adapt from Danny Lyon’s non-fiction book as much as it embodies that hunt for something within the fumes of exhaust, masculinity, and beer. As relayed through the framing device of biker wife Kathy () speaking with a depiction of Lyon (), there was a level of comfort and community that was almost unspoken between the gang and their family. The many snapped photos perhaps reveal more than the interviews, as do this f...

“Butterfly In The Sky” Review

is one of those PBS figures my generation viewed as a wholesome anchor. While Mister Rogers talked about feelings and Big Bird talked about numbers, LeVar showed us the world and told us about cool books. But he was more than just an actor playing the host of Reading Rainbow. He cared greatly about what he was promoting with such a program. Butterfly In The Sky is a documentary delving into the history and lingering legacy of Reading Rainbow’s production and LeVar Burton’s crucial ...

“Inside Out 2” Review

The internal struggle of Inside Out was a premise ripe for exploration. The idea of a cerebral world for a tween dealing with emotional management made for one of Pixar’s better films. But much like Pixar’s many sequels, Inside Out 2 only scuffs its full potential and falls back on a similar formula, albeit for a decent reprisal of a developing teenage mind.

A massive can of worms is opened up for the central vessel of Riley (), now a teenager in the early stages of puberty...