02 Jan 2018

Blacks and Whites and Dread All Over: Reminiscences on “Get Out” and the 2017 Movie Year

By Mike Schulz

In recent years, I held off on composing my annual Movies of the Year roundup until one or two January weekends had passed, hoping to catch at least a couple of those acclaimed, Oscar-friendly titles that generally get to our area just prior to the announcement of Academy Award nominees. (This year's lineup will be unveiled on January 23.) But I'm just as relieved to be bidding farewell to 2017 as you likely are – and, after a year of disappointing grosses and endless scandals, as Hollywood no doubt is – so what say we get right to it?

28 Dec 2017

From Getty to Gag-Me: “All the Money in the World,” “Downsizing,” and “Father Figures”

By Mike Schulz

It's time to commend Scott's achievement not merely for what it is, but for what it is in light of its circumstances: a freakin' miracle.

28 Dec 2017

You Can't Keep an Oldman Down: “Darkest Hour,” “The Shape of Water,” and “Pitch Perfect 3”

By Mike Schulz

Among the movies of 2017, there have certainly been more objectively fun ones than Darkest Hour, director Joe Wright's Winston Churchill bio-pic that follows the British icon through his first weeks as prime minister, ending with his order for the historic World War II evacuation memorialized in Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk. But I'm not sure that any film this year has found anyone having as much fun as Gary Oldman clearly is in his role as Churchill – and blessedly, it's a performance joy equal to the considerable joy we feel while watching him.

21 Dec 2017

Circus Minimus: “The Greatest Showman” and “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”

By Mike Schulz

Few film stars ever look as happy as Hugh Jackman does when crooning and hoofing on award shows, or as he did playing Curley in that recorded-for-posterity production of Oklahoma! And when he's allowed to be that same sort of explosive musical-theatre charm bomb in The Greatest Showman, Jackman's enthusiasm is so infectious, and his talent so overwhelming, that for those few minutes, you can't imagine wanting to be anywhere else on Earth. Unfortunately, though, Jenny Bicks' and Bill Condon' script remains all-too-often earthbound.

18 Dec 2017

Saber the Moment: “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Ferdinand”

By Mike Schulz

Over the decades, the Star Wars films have boasted so many unforgettable sounds – light sabers swooshing, R2-D2 beeping, Darth Vader breathing – that it's both unexpected and rather amazing to find the signature sound in Star Wars: The Last Jedi to be silence.

13 Dec 2017

“Lord of the Rings” Movie Marathon, December 27 and 28

By Reader Staff

One of the highest-grossing and most Oscar-lauded film series in history will provide nearly 10 hours of fantasy-adventure excitement at the Davenport Public Library's Fairmount branch, as Peter Jackson's epic J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Tours, and The Return of the King enjoy screenings in the December 27 and 28 Lord of the Rings Movie Marathon.

10 Dec 2017

Oh, Hi, Mark! : “The Disaster Artist” and “Just Getting Started”

By Mike Schulz

Friends have asked me whether you need to have seen The Room in order to enjoy The Disaster Artist. I'd say no, though it'd most certainly help. It'd help further if you haven't also read the book. But movies and books, as we all know, are vastly different things. And as a movie – with this opinion coming from an unbridled champion of The Room – The Disaster Artist is a more-than-frequent hoot.

04 Dec 2017

Lady Justice: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

By Mike Schulz

Martin McDonagh's latest genre hybrid, the comedy/tragedy/mystery/procedural Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, is a mess. As messes go, though, it's one of 2017's most confident and entertaining, and might easily reward repeat viewings more than many other far-better movies.

26 Nov 2017

Flores para los Muertos: “Coco” and “The Man Who Invented Christmas”

By Mike Schulz

The last five minutes of Coco are like the first 10 minutes of Up. Stock tissues accordingly.

26 Nov 2017

Lady and the Trampled: “Lady Bird” and “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”

By Mike Schulz

Last week, in my review of the marvelous family drama Wonder, one of my few gripes concerned the implausible drama-club scenes, and I wrote, “Movies never seem to get school theatre right.” Clearly, bitching occasionally pays off. Because less than a week later, I watched writer/director Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird get school theatre exactly right – which wasn't shocking, in retrospect, considering this coming-of-age comedy appeared to get everything right about damn near everything.

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