Kev's Reviews

There's no denying Black Panther could not have been released at a better time, during the turbulence rattling our nation,  as the political wall dividing us continues climbing with the president making more enemies than friends, police forces going too far with their authority, and racial profiling sparking outrage. Racking up  over $687 million, the film ranks just above The Dark Knight on the    inflation-adjusted domestic earners list. Still, when you break it down, it's a simple hero-origin story that has been told billions of times.  We start with where Black Panther came from - t he African nation of Wakanda,  T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns home in the wake of his father -  King T'Chaka's death. (It wouldn't be a superhero flick if he didn't die, right?) Predictably, T' Challa takes up his rightful role as king.But of course, T'Challa must pass a series of grueling ceremonial tests to prove his strength and ability to lead when he is ...

From the brilliant mind of Lincoln Child comes a suspenseful reinvention of The Wolfman as enigmalogist Jeremy Logan finds a remote community within the fictionalized Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, plagued by recent mysterious,  gruesome deaths.  An investigator of the unexplained, Logan, originally there to work on his monograph, has been drafted into the series of apparent killings by a ranger and old friend,  Randall Jessup, a former Yale classmate who's now a senior officer in New York's Division of Forest Protection.  The bodies have all been turning up in the forest in virtually the same state — shredded, torn limb from limb—and Jessup asks Logan to investigate, knowing that he studies "phenomena beyond the bounds of regular science." The attack may not be the first. Because it happened during a full moon, speculation floats around and Logan catches rumors among the townsfolk about  a family living in isolation called The Blakeneys....

Katherine Graham, the first female publisher of The Washington Post, and Editor Ben Bradlee race against The New York Times to publish a massive cover-up by the US government that spans decades of false reports published in the Pentagon Paper. Together, overcoming differences, Graham and Bradley put their careers - and The Post's reputation - on the line. " Punchy and quick-pulsed, it's a fine example of that now-rare species, the big-city newspaper melodrama,” wrote   Hollywood Reporter's  Todd McCarthy. It's rare for a reason. The film is flushed against the conspiracy of President Lyndon B. Johnson and his administration and the documents that reveal US meddling in the Vietnamese presidential election (sort of like our 2016 election), and the subsequent cover-up by Johnson and Nixon. Daniel Ellsberg, a contributor to the report, had been an analyst on the ground during Vietnam, working for the State Department. Not sure what to do, he sat on...

Barry Seal is an American pilot about to make the flight(s) of his life: running drugs for the CIA as the agency investigates clandestine organizations that would be exposed in the Iran-Contra Affair. Captured by actor Tom Cruise, Seal's catch-me-if-you-can spirit drives the film the way Jeff Gordon drives a race car, revealing the true-life events at lighting speed, manic at times, while effectively telling Seal's story in an interview that kicks off this riveting drama inspired by true events. The flop-sweat Seal had been a TWA pilot who enjoyed a lucrative sidehustle smuggling the contraband of Cuban cigars along his commercial flights when he's busted by CIA Agent Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson) who offers him the alternative to prison. For Tom Cruise, this tongue-in-cheek film isn't new as, in many of his roles have been tailored to a certain level of witty humor, but it is rare for director Doug Liman, whose forte is action-packed thrillers such as The Bourne I...

If movies were on tracks, this one would be a colossal train wreck. I had heard of Boondock Saints from a friend. I knew it was about two  fraternal twins roaming the streets of Boston to rid the town of criminals while getting heat from a corrupt fed , a "Prince of Thieves" story line. But, what I got was criminal in and of itself. The two main characters, Conner and Murphy MacManus (Sean Patrick Flannery and Norman Reedus, respectively), become vigilantes after killing two Russian mobsters in (almost comic) self-defense, at a pub, ironically the day after attending mass, as the mobsters announce they intend to take over the land on which the pub stood. Because of this cliche, at first, I thought it was a dark comedy as the brothers bumble around and end up killing the Russians in self-defense. FBI agent Paul Smecker (Willem Defoe) is assigned to the case as the media hails the brothers as neighborhood heroes in stereotypical fashion. But the modest duo turn themselves...

He's a mean one, the Grinch. He's as cuddly as a cactus. He' s as charming as an eel - and he's about to steal Christmas. Just north of Whoville lives the Grinch inside a cave in Mount Crumpit. In the classic children's book,  Dr. Suess paints the Grinch as an immoral , vindictive creature who hates Christmas for no apparent reason - which, in my opinion, is a lack of character development. However, in the beloved film, directed by Ron Howard, he is interesting and has reservations about Christmas that have been deeply rooted from his ill-fated childhood. We discover this when Cindy Lou Who conducts an investigation into the Grinch's past, exposing the truth about the so-called "nice" Who's - even Mayor Augustus Maywho, who had bullied Little Grinch simply because he was different. While Cindy Lou is on the verge of exposing the Who's who drove the Grinch away from Whoville , the echoes of holiday cheer reach Mount Crumpit as the town p...

2017 film When a murder has been committed on the Orient Express, the famed detective Hercule Poirot is enlisted to lead the investigation. The victim is Samuel Edward Rachette, stabbed twelve times, described by Poirot as a savage.  I know, it's a cliché. But, what else can you expect from a Kenneth Branagh film based on an Agatha Christie novel? Oh, where to start? Let me begin by saying that this film is a remake of a 1974 version of a 1934 film, which is quite confounding in and of itself.  The 1974 film was well-received at the 47th Oscars , having been nominated at the 47 th Academy Awards for  Best Actor  (Finney),  Best Supporting Actress  (Bergman),  Best Adapted Screenplay ,  Best Original Score ,  Best Cinematography , and  Best Costume Design . Of these nominations, Ingrid Bergman was the only one who came out with an award.  1974 cast There has been much debate over which of the two is better. New York Tim...