Movie Reviews

By Tom Pacak It took thirty-five years for director Jennifer Fox to discover she was involved in a sexually abusive relationship during her early teen years. “It was something… beautiful,” the 13-year-old Jennifer describing her relationship with her horse coaches Mrs. G (Elizabeth Debicki) and lover Bill Allens (Jason Ritter). Jennifer believed this due to the distant relationship she had with her parents. It was the farthest thing from beautiful. “The Tale” follows Jennifer Fox (Laura Dern); she is an accomplished journalist and documentarian who loves her fianc é Martin (Common). We never really know at the beginning if Jennifer is broken from the event but if she is, Dern does a great job of hiding it. One night, Jennifer gets a call from her mother Nadine (Ellen Burstyn) who finds her journals chronicling the encounter with the 40-year-old Bill. Nadine quickly tells her daughter that this thing she had was not consensual. Jennifer is then forced to reexamine a memor...

By Tom Pacak “Game Night” a film about game-loving couples who engage in a dangerous game of violence and mayhem feels like a breath of fresh air for the comedy genre. Comedies now and days are really hard to do. They’re either hit or miss. “Game Night” hits most of its targets. It’s dark, smart, and above all laugh out loud funny. The only thing directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses), and writer Mark Perez take seriously about this story is making it as over the top as possible. It starts out rather tame, but once the plot twists start hitting the fan it becomes hilariously ridiculous (in a good way).   The main couple Max and Annie (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams) got married after discovering the drive each other has to win pointless games like Scrabble and Pictionary. They host weekly game nights with their friends Ryan (Bill Magnussen) the dumb friend, Sarah (Sharon Horgan) Ryan’s British date who is ten times smarter than him, ma...

By Tom Pacak Before starring as Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds made his career out of doing mediocre comedies and trying the superhero genre with “Green Lantern” and “Origins: Wolverine” both of those films were critical and box office failures. Reynolds even admits that with the countless jokes made to those films expense. With Deadpool, Reynolds has found the role that will define his career. He returns in “Deadpool 2” as Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, the smartass antihero who has a tendency of pissing off his enemies with wisecracking insults. The first Deadpool film was a huge critical and financial success; it became the highest grossing R-rated film beating Passion of the Christ or has Deadpool would say, “Jesus.” “Deadpool 2” surpasses the original with more of the daring R-rated jokes and gabs at Marvel. In the first film, Deadpool learned the important lesson of protecting someone you love. This time around, Deadpool learns the value of what makes a family. When “Deadpool ...

By Tom Pacak Right when you think the zombie genre is literally dead, a small Aussie film “Cargo” comes along. Inspired by the Cormac McCarthy novel and film, “The Road” the film follows a couple in the outback trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. The movie has some bumps in the road with its story but is watchable due to Martin Freeman’s committed performance. Freeman surprisingly hasn’t been in a zombie flick before this, if you don’t count a small cameo in “Shaun of the Dead.” It’s nice to see him dive into a genre you wish he had more roles in. “Cargo” opens up with a couple Andy (Martin Freeman), wife Kay (Susie Porter), and their newborn Rosie going down the Australian river looking for food and shelter. A virus has hit the outback where the soon infected have 48 hrs before they turn undead. Every survivor in this apocalypse has an “every man for himself” mentality. When Andy sees a young family on land, the father pulls up his shirt to show off his revolver. Thi...

By Tom Pacak In the wake of hearing horrific accounts of sexual assault in the #metoo movement, a French revenge fantasy rape film seems a little unnecessary. For its due, “Revenge” was released at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival a month before Harvey Weinstein was exposed of being Hollywood’s biggest sexual predator (a surprise to nobody). Now being released in America, “Revenge” comes out in a time we need it most. While the film is extremely violent, it is mostly a film that is full of hope and possibility. It is surprisingly satisfying watching the female protagonist Jennifer (Matilda Lutz) enact revenge on her evil captors. In a killer directorial debut, Coralie Fargeat knows how to treat Jennifer as an object when we first meet her. She wears skimpy pink clothing that makes her look like a vulnerable piece of eye candy. Her sleazy millionaire boyfriend, Richard (Kevin Janssens), only sees Jennifer as a sexual advantage while Jennifer sees him as...