Posts in VIDEO REVIEW
REWIND REVIEW: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Big as a billboard in some places and as small as a mobile ad in others, the marketing imagery of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker touts the tagline “The Saga Will End.” There’s something to be said for finality, especially with a 42-year-old franchise as venerated and cherished as this one. The virtues of remembrance, culmination, gratification, and other such lofty notions loom so much larger when an entity is billed to be the last of something important. The movie in disc form hits store shelves everywhere today.

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REWIND REVIEW: Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Anyone who seeks to own this version of The Lion King is doing so with a “how did they do that?” curiosity. The technical brilliance is its biggest selling point. That interest is answered very well by this disc release. Unlike its Pixar and Marvel offerings, Disney compiled a legitimate look into this re-imaginings wholly revolutionary bells and whistles. This movie will look gorgeous on your high-end television at home.

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REWIND REVIEW: The Lion King

Anyone who seeks to own this version of The Lion King is doing so with a “how did they do that?” curiosity. The technical brilliance is its biggest selling point. That interest is answered very well by this disc release. Unlike its Pixar and Marvel offerings, Disney compiled a legitimate look into this re-imaginings wholly revolutionary bells and whistles. This movie will look gorgeous on your high-end television at home.

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REWIND REVIEW: Toy Story 4

I should rename this section from “Late Homework Excuse” to “Inciting a School Riot” for my participation with the June release of Toy Story 4. I saw the film early for press, covered a fun family event at Navy Pier, and was very unimpressed by the final product. My review was one of the initial wave of four that broke the Rotten Tomatoes perfect 100% Tomatometer score for the movie. The trolling comments and death threats followed and I wrote about that experience. I didn’t want to be that guy, but I just couldn’t call this sequel worthwhile trying to follow the near-perfection of Toy Story 3.

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GUEST EDITORIAL: 7 Practical Tips to Start Movie Review Writing as a College Student

Finding an interesting writing job that won’t take up too much of your time while you’re still a student is a great way to both earn and get some writing experience. If you’re thinking about starting to write movie reviews, it is a really great idea. Watching a lot of films and sharing your personal opinions about them: What’s not to love? If you want to learn more about how to begin, which aspects you need to pay attention to, and where to find websites you can write for, you have come to the right place. Here is everything you need to know.

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REWIND REVIEW: Avengers: Endgame

Arriving on home media this week from Disney and Marvel Studios is their colossal blockbuster coda Avengers: Endgame starring everyone who’s everyone from the collective Marvel Cinematic Universe that has been built with tidy and patient blueprints since 2008. Time travel tropes aside, you couldn’t have asked for a better swan song of satisfaction than this big finish. Watch for it arriving in physical media form on store shelves Tuesday, August 13th after an extremely successful theatrical run. This is a pretty customary disc release, and one has to think Disney has something more complete, expansive, and expensive planned someday.

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REWIND REVIEW: Captain Marvel

Arriving on home media this week from Disney is their glowing smash hit Captain Marvel starring Academy Award winner Brie Larson and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.  The film itself is a forthright winner for introducing this powerful and important new character and the disc release gives us a little peek as to how it all came to be.  Keep an eye out on store shelves Tuesday, June 11th to pick up your copy in 4K, Blu-ray, or both. Here’s a quick advance look at what the home edition has to offer, just as long as you can wait through a quick period-accurate Windows 95 loading screening (nice touch).

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on "You'll Probably Agree" to recap the 6th Chicago Critics Film Festival

In the third and final part of a busy May collaboration, Mike Crowley of "You'll Probably Agree" leads a full-bodied recap of what he and I covered from the prestigious and successful 6th Chicago Critics Film Festival.  We rundown a collection of 10 reviews that included The Guilty, First Reformed, On Chesil Beach, Eighth Grade, Bodied, Support The Girls, Revenge, We The Animals, and Abducted in Plain Sight.  Enjoy this uncut back-and-forth shared discussion!

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on "You'll Probably Agree" YouTube channel to review "Solo"

Paired up for the second of three segments, "You'll Probably Agree" YouTube video critic Mike Crowley invited me to his Star Wars lair to offer an advance review Solo after a recent press screening.  Mike is a big fan and was very eager to hear the prequel lowdown.  He lets me take the lead to frame, dispel, and clear up expectations, hype, and some pressing questions.  This review and video is SPOILER-FREE!

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: Guest on "You'll Probably Agree" YouTube channel to review "Deadpool 2"

YouTube video critic Mike Crowley invited me on his "You'll Probably Agree" channel to review Deadpool 2 after a recent press screening.  We pile the humor on this R-rated blockbuster which is bigger, loud, and more of the same from Ryan Reynolds and company.  Grace this video your thumbs up and feedback.  While you're at it, do give Mike and his channel a subscribe and a follow on YouTube and Facebook.  

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MEDIA APPEARANCE: YouTube guest on YPA Reviews reflecting back on "The Social Network"

In light of Mark Zuckerberg's testimonies before Congress this past week, Mike Crowley, the excellent YouTube video creator of his You'll Probably Agree channel, hit me up with the idea of looking back at David Fincher's The Social Network. Fincher's film has evolved from a tell-all biopic of sorts to a cautionary tale with an impact that is still growing. Mike and I think the film holds up and we went the social media route to record a video chat of our conversation.

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MOVIE CLASSROOM: A Ghost Story

If you remember from my recent appearance on an minisode of the Feelin' Film podcast, I cannot be the only person who needed a therapy session after this film.  David Lowery's film has been a transcendental experience for some audiences and something oddly impatient that sends others that will walk out scratching their heads.  See where I fall with the "Movie Classroom" version of my review

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