Movie reviews of The Massie Twins

Digesting the significance turns out to be mostly inscrutable and intermittently frustrating, regardless of minuscule little clues; the path is also overlong and perpetually bordering on an ambiguity surrounding reality and fantasy. Review

Most disappointing, however, is the humor. There’s a family-friendly theme of embracing one’s softer side, as well as the power and importance of friendships, but the much-needed, generally dependable laughs aren’t as frequent or as clever as they should be. Review

With its circuitous, tricky, disordered plotting, like the titular onion, peeling back layer after layer (in a reverse order of sorts) to chronicle various associations and machinations, the film struggles to maintain interest. Review

Despite the relish in hyperbolic style, there isn’t actually much originality. The story is fairly straightforward, even if buried beneath abundant details and derivations of all sorts of well-known properties. Review

The unique nature of Mars exploration makes this production worthwhile, providing details about the remarkable discoveries, while also showing the exceptional span of time. Review

The stop-motion animation is sharply done; movements and environmental effects are spectacular. Character designs are also engaging, though they’re not of the humorously weird sorts seen in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride, or Rango. Review

Disappointingly, the story itself feels unoriginal, considering that director Damien Chazelle has touched upon many of the themes here before, with much better results. Review

And yet, though the graphics are still astounding, it’s difficult this time around not to realize the repetition; here, the story is far more important, since the sheer spectacle of Pandora and its inhabitants and hostilities no longer pose the luxury of never-before-seen wonderment. Review

Blanchett may be a tour de force in this rather straightforward yet timely rise-and-fall account, but her performance alone can’t invigorate such a colossally uneventful, crawling, seemingly interminable character study. Review

It’s strangely moving, and a joyous examination of a father/daughter relationship, but it’s ultimately too ambiguous and ephemeral to be game-changing or unforgettable. Review

The Whale is quite the experiment in misery porn; it’s hard to watch yet impossible to turn away from. Equal parts heartbreaking, frustrating, disturbing, and mesmerizing, it’s a monumental character study of so many damaged souls, struggling to find meaning or salvation. Review

This is a dragging, one-man show, featuring only a couple of other actors with any notable dialogue, and devoid of a love interest or any sort of consequential conflicts. Review

The hand-to-hand combat is engaging, while the dialogue is hilarious; it’s all quite cheesy, but in a fun, big-budget way, especially as countless yuletide tropes are sent up and ridiculed. Review

Sadly, the cleverness of the original setup is no longer as beguiling or unique, forcing the picture to dwell on the repetition of magic-infused quarreling and combat, and to bank on an overly easy resolution conjured not from felicitous rules but from the convenience and need to wrap things up neatly. Review

In the end, it’s intermittently sweet and nostalgic, but peculiarly insignificant. Review

There may be important – and obvious – messages in this film, but the execution is simply dreadful. Review

But dull moments aren’t the issue; this is the kind of production in which audiences must simply wait for the abundance of loathsome personas to destroy themselves – a journey with a certain predictability and dourness and futility, even if it’s routinely smart and funny. Nevertheless, the scripting is superb – a masterfully caustic examination of medieval politics and familial rebellion. Review

It’s the unconventional, erratic love story that remains the film’s most potent ingredient, even if the educational notes about the famous rogue provide modest entertainment value. Review

Despite some heavy-handed storytelling tactics, the story is engaging and potent. Review

The end result is a film that, despite its fast-paced visuals, can’t help but to feel ponderous and stuffed with superfluous components. Review

It carries on a bit long, without the level of payoff many might expect, even if the final dish is tremendously fitting and funny. Review

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is one of the least humorous of any of the Marvel pictures, which certainly doesn’t help in making any of the sizable cast appear genuine or nuanced; amid the uninspired spectacle, no one here is having much fun at all. Review

It’s a slice-of-life character study of marvelous realism and candor, touching on similar themes seen in The Hurt Locker but sans the wartime excitement; here, low-key, minimalist interactions are everything. Review

Thanks to a tremendous performance from Farrell, whose emotions are plentiful even with lengthy sequences of wordlessness, the start of the picture is awash with moving observations, demonstrating that their friendship is enough to fuel the entire story. Review