Josh Reviews Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me
I knew of Elaine Stritch mostly from her spectacular recurring role on 30 Rock as Jack (Alec Baldwin)’s imposing mother. But that was more than enough to interest me in Chiemi Karasawa’s recent documentary about her, titled Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. Filmed in 2013 and re
Josh Reviews Snowpiercer
An attempt to reverse global warming has gone catastrophically wrong, resulting in frigid temperatures covering the entire planet and wiping out almost all life on Earth. The few survivors of humanity exist inside Snowpiercer, an enormous train on a track that circles the globe once
Josh Reviews A Most Wanted Man
Gunther Bachmann (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a German spymaster who leads a small counter-terrorism group in Hamburg that seeks to develop intelligence sources within the Muslim community. Gunther has been investigating a wealthy local Muslim man, Dr. Abdullah, on the suspicion that
Josh Reviews Boyhood
The stunt concept behind Richard Linklater’s film Boyhood would make it worthy of note even if the end result wasn’t all that compelling. In an audacious, jaw-droopingly cool years-long undertaking, director Richard Linklater and his cast (including Ethan Hawke, Patricia
Josh Reviews Bad Words
I don’t believe that Jason Bateman’s directorial debut, Bad Words, got much of a theatrical release, and that is a shame because the film is absolutely dynamite, a crackling concoction of a dark, dark comedy. Mr. Bateman stars as Guy Trilby, a forty-year-old man who exploi
Josh Reviews Life Itself
It’s hard to imagine anyone who loves movies not being taken by Life Itself, Steve James (Hoop Dreams)‘s biopic of film critic Roger Ebert. The film opens with a delightful quote from Mr. Ebert, in which he remarks on the power of movies to help one understand a little b
Josh Reviews Guardians of the Galaxy
I had a feeling this one was gonna be good. I’m glad I was right. With Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios has blown the doors off of their cinematic universe in a big, big way. This is a huge movie, filled with crazy alien planets and creatures and hugely original chara
Josh Reviews Jersey Boys
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story didn’t make much of a splash when it was released back in 2007, but it think it’s a hysterical, brilliant skewering of the musical biopic genre. It makes it hard to take any of these sorts of films seriously ever again after having seen it.
Josh Reviews Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
I have been troubled by the popularization, over the past several years, of the idea of a “reboot” as a way to keep franchises evergreen and continually making money for the corporations that own them. I think there are times when a reboot is foolishly chosen whereas a c
Josh Reviews 22 Jump Street
I enjoyed 21 Jump Street but not nearly as much as many others seemed to. I remember reading rave reviews of the film, and I saw it on several best-of-the-year lists. I’m not sure what others saw in the film that I didn’t. I thought it was an amusing diversion but no