23 Dec 2021

Everything Old Is New Again … and Again … and Again: “The Matrix Resurrections,” “Sing 2,” and “The King's Man”

By Mike Schulz

“Nothing comforts anxiety like a little nostalgia.” This is a piece of advice Morpheus gives Neo in the latest Matrix installment, and over the decades, Hollywood has certainly taken that truism to heart. This week saw no fewer than three franchise continuations – The Matrix Resurrections, Sing 2, and The King's Man (a prequel to the Kingsmen series) – debut on the same day. And while the films vary in quality between utterly delightful and mostly terrible, all three at least offer pleasures of the familiar: soothing presences, and recognizable flourishes, for anxious times.

20 Dec 2021

Twenty-Five Spoiler-Filled Thoughts on “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” and a Pair o' 'Graphs on “Nightmare Alley”

By Mike Schulz

What follows are opinions, rhetorical questions, and tangents inspired by Spider-Man: No Way Home - director Jon Watts' initially dreary, ultimately exhilarating love letter to Marvel fans - more or less in order of occurrence.

13 Dec 2021

Feel the Bernstein: “West Side Story,” “Don't Look Up,” “Being the Ricardos,” and “National Champions”

By Mike Schulz

Happily, and gratefully, this is a film clearly made by people who both adore its 60-year-old predecessor and still saw 21st-century room for improvement.

06 Dec 2021

Cattle Wrestling: “The Power of the Dog,” “C'mon C'mon,” and “Encounter”

By Mike Schulz

Because I'll have so many complimentary things to say about Jane Campion's and Netflix's new slow-boil Western The Power of the Dog, I may as well get my one major irritation out of the way: Is Benedict Cumberbatch the only living Brit who can't pull off an American accent? Like, any American accent?

29 Nov 2021

Su Casa Es Nuestra Casa: “Encanto,” “The Humans,” “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,” and “House of Gucci”

By Mike Schulz

Upon leaving my screening of Encanto, I was convinced that I had just seen my favorite animated Disney movie since 2016's Zootopia, the Oscar-winning comedy that, maybe not coincidentally, was also co-directed by the new film's Jared Bush and Byron Howard. But when I tried thinking back to the animated Disney musical that I most loved prior to Encanto, I drew a blank.

22 Nov 2021

Bustin' Makes Me Feel Bad: “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” “King Richard,” “tick … tick … Boom!”, and “Red Notice”

By Mike Schulz

It would be wonderful to report that Ghostbusters: Afterlife is great. Hell, it would be wonderful to report that it's nothing more, or less, than goofy dumb fun. But if you only smile four times (I counted) over the course of two hours, I'm not sure that qualifies as having fun.

20 Nov 2021

“Er Ist Wieder Da,” December 3

By Reader Staff

With The Guardian deeming the 2015 work “a thrillingly transgressive hit,” the unorthodox and unforgettable comedy Er Ist Wieder Da – also known by its English title Look Who's Back – enjoys a December 3 screening at Rozz-Tox, serving as the final 2021 presentation in the Kinogarten series of acclaimed, German-themed works hosted by the Rock Island venue and Davenport's German American Heritage Center.

15 Nov 2021

The Troubles with Kenny: “Belfast,” “Passing,” and “Clifford the Big Red Dog”

By Mike Schulz

Belfast's overall tone is child's-view fanciful – a rose-tinted (albeit mostly black-and-white) love letter to the formative people and places of Kenneth Branagh's youth – but with added dollops of painful real-world experience that make for an awkward, not entirely successful blend. The movie is oftentimes touching and funny, and I was continually engaged. I just never quite bought what its writer/director was selling.

08 Nov 2021

Wes-ward Ho!: “The French Dispatch,” “Spencer,” and “Eternals”

By Mike Schulz

Wes Anderson may be the only living American auteur whose very name gives you everything you need to know about a movie, yet almost nothing in terms of its specifics.

02 Nov 2021

“Stout Hearted: George Stout & the Guardians of Art,” November 11

By Reader Staff

A free, inaugural event organized by the Quad Cities' newest non-profit Truth First Film Illiance Inc., a special screening of the documentary Stout Hearted: George Stout & the Guardians of Art will be held at Davenport's Figge Art Museum on November 11, the film's titular figure an Iowa native whose heroic actions in World War II were memorialized by George Clooney in the 2014 movie The Monuments Men.

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