Author: Bill Watters

Whenever a film is helmed by Ridley Scott, there’s no question about production quality and performances, it always comes down to how the script plays out on screen. With his latest film “The Last Duel,” if nothing else, it will be remembered for giving Matt Damon and Adam Driver yet more amazing character performances. It’s also BY FAR the single best example of a 14th century duel between armored knights ever committed to film. Content Warning- Rape The story is an adaptation of a historic event which occurred at the end of 1386. Driver plays Jacques Le Gris, and Damon…

“F9: The Fast Saga” continues the not-infrequent trend of paint-by-numbers summer blockbusters. Their studios throw out any pretense of substance, or even moderately competent storytelling. Nay, any storytelling craft isn’t thrown out the window, it’s more like it is being dragged into a back alley and stabbed in the throat by a broken beer bottle. Sure, the “Fast & Furious” franchise has never been particularly deep on character development, with most of the character journey’s summarized by Dominic Toretto (played by Vin Diesel) constantly muttering about “family.” It did at one point have at least had some kind of coherent…

“The Suicide Squad” finally gives Warner Bros. and DC a much needed improvement over its prior multi-character outings. While they have had a number of solo films that have been really good (and in cases arguably great) “Joker,” “Man of Steel,” and “Wonder Woman” all come strongly to mind. Unfortunately there has only been one decent muti-character film with “Birds of Prey.” Okay, so the Snyder Cut of “Justice League” is on a par, but it still loses points for not being the version that was actually released to theaters. Marvel Studios’ wunderkind director James Gunn has finally been able…

Disney’s latest foray into turning amusement park rides into cinematic outings, “Jungle Cruise,” lands itself squarely in the middle of the pack. Not as good as “Pirates of the Caribbean,” but far better than “Haunted Mansion,” most of its saving graces can be placed squarely on the “we’re all having a fun time” smile and wink from Captain Frank, played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The film has the composite vibes of your favorite experience with the ad-libbing and terrible joke-telling riverboat captains from the titular Disney ride, the punchy humor of “The Mummy” (the good one with Brendan Frasier),…

A24’s “The Green Knight” is a near-perfect meditation on the classic tale of Arthurian legends, and is absolutely worth watching.

Watch “The Green Knight” meet King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table in this new clip from the upcoming film.

We’re sorry to say, you’ll feel yourself aging while watching M. Night Shyamalan’s newest film “Old” from Universal Pictures.

“Pig” is captivating to watch, and a rare joy of a film. A tense character drama that unfolds with an intimacy and tension that is THIS satisfying is more than worth the 90-minute run time. Nicolas Cage plays Rob, a reclusive mountain man whose sole companion is a truffle hunting pig. In recent years Cage has been jumping from one vastly over the top genre film after another. Such batshit crazy films such as “Mandy,” “Prisoners of the Ghostland,” and “Willy’s Wonderland,” have given the notion of seeing a Cage film will result in it being at best, a B-film…

“Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” is the film we’ve needed ever since the titular Anthony Bourdain took his own life back in June of 2018. This will be by no means the last film that will be made about the deeply mediocre chef turned near mythic memoirist and world traveller, but it is the one we needed to have first. It is an examination of the man and his life’s arc. A series of interviews by many of those who were closest to Bourdain, including his second wife, Ottavia Busia, and everyone from his literary agent, producers, crew members,…

“Space Jam: A New Legacy” is one of those films that makes you wonder “am I doing the right thing?” by seeing it. During, you may ponder- “what… the… hell…” Afterwards, it leaves one with the numb feeling of still having encountered something unexpectedly less terrible than it might have been. A few laughs and unexpected moments, but distinctly tacky at the same time. Kind of like a cousin’s wedding who has a hot-mess relationship, but at least you got to see some people take a header into the cake along the way. I am a solid fan of many…