Review – The Midnight Man

So I guess there’s a law on the books somewhere now that requires Lin Shaye be in every mid-budget horror movie with a role for an older woman. The story here starts with a typical children’s spooky game gone bad set-up, and our good friends at IFC spent enough on it to get a decent cast and good production values. But then it loses its way, meandering around without telling much of a tale. The movie would have gotten a higher rating if not for the excessive animal cruelty. Wish I’d skipped it

Review – Coco

This Disney Pixar production is as depressing as it is colorful. It has some of the most beautiful computer-generated visuals I’ve ever seen. But the bright colors are sharply at odds with the protagonist’s dreary journey to the land of the dead to uncover the reason his family hates music. Mildly amusing

Review – Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi

Like The Empire Strikes Back, this one bifurcates into a Jedi training plot line and a good-guys-running-from-bad-guys plot line. Unlike Episode V, this one isn’t good. It comes together a bit toward the end (again with a scene that tasted distinctly like leftovers), but it does a lot of posturing and meandering before it gets there. Mildly amusing