Entries by Bob Marshall

Long Shot – 8

Charlize Theron is a 10, Seth Rogen a 6, the funny-smart dialogue an 8, hence the final average. The movie manipulates in all the time-worn rom-com ways, which meant my cheeks were wet for the final 15 minutes. This was pure escapist entertainment, with topical jabs at Trump, Murdoch, Fox News and politics in general, […]

Amazing Grace – 5

An unfinished documentary from 1972 about the making of Aretha Franklin’s gospel record, Amazing Grace. The songs weren’t much, at least to my taste, and Aretha’s performance was so charisma-free, you kept wanting the camera to look at someone else, maybe choir leader Alexander Hamilton. The commentary was similarly lackluster. For me, the only positive […]

Alphabetical List of 2019 Movies

1917 Ad Astra Amazing Grace Apollo 11 Aquarela Biggest Little Farm Birds of Passage Booksmart The Brink Capernaum Cold War Dark Waters David Crosby: Remember My Name Downton Abbey The Farewell First Love Ford v. Ferrari Gloria Bell Honey Boy Honeyland Hustlers The Irishman Isn’t It Romantic JoJo Rabbit Judy Knives Out Late Night Laundromat […]

Mustang – 5

Wonderful acting – by the horses. The opening scene of wild mustangs being herded by helicopter over a Nevada plain is the movie’s high point. The main story – horse tamed by man, while man is tamed by horse – is predictable to the point of cliche, although it may not have seemed so to […]

Brink – 4

A narrow-scope documentary, showing Steve Bannon at work and at rest, not much else. He can be charming, which is interesting to see, but the film offers little insight into his thinking or relationships (if he has any). The camera is always there when he meets foreign leaders, but pulls away before anything really happens. […]

Us – 6

Welcome to Jordan Peele’s gun-free America, where peopled are murdered by shears, baseball bats, putters, fireplace pokers and rock crystals, as far as we could see. Nothing in the movie made sense, up to and including the final plot twists, but I suspect that is not required of a horror flick, so long as it […]

Alphabetical List of 2018 Movies

At Eternity’s Gate Bad Reputation The Ballad of Buster Scruggs BlacKkKlansman Black Panther Bohemian Rhapsody Colette Death of Stalin Disobedience 8th Grade Fahrenheit 11/9 The Favourite First Reformed Free Solo The Front Runner Game Night Green Book The Happy Prince If Beale Street Could Talk Itzhak Juliet, Naked The King Leaning Into the Wind Leave […]

Alphabetical List of 2016 Movies

Alex and Eve Allied Aquarius Arrival Bright Lights Cafe Society Captain Fantastic Deepwater Horizon Doctor Strange Eagle Huntress Elevator to the Gallows Elle Equity Everybody Wants Some! Eye in the Sky Fences Florence Foster Jenkins Hail, Caesar The Handmaiden Haveababy Hell or High Water Hidden Figures Hunt for the Wilderpeople The Innocents Jackie La La […]