Category: Review

Rocketman Dexter Fletcher (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Rocketman, the jukebox musical biopic of Elton John, begins with Taron Egerton (Kingsman), dressed in an orange-and-maroon outfit of feathers, plumes, wings, and demonic horns, walking purposely down a long hallway, and my mind immediately flashed back to last… Continue reading Rocketman

Booksmart Olivia Wilde (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Here’s a little coming-of-age movie that garnered some $7 million during its opening weekend—not exactly a summer blockbuster, but if anybody was anticipating that, they shouldn’t have released it opposite Disney’s live-action Aladdin, which was primed to dominate the… Continue reading Booksmart

John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum Chad Stahelski (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SusannTennyson.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] It’s another week before the scheduled release of Disney’s new live-action version of Aladdin, in which Will Smith plays the genie that Robin Williams made famous in the original 1992 animated film.… Continue reading John Wick: Chapter 3–Parabellum

Tolkien Dome Karukoski (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Susanns.jpg’ attachment=’78’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=10” appearance=’on-hover’] 2 JACQUELINE SUSANNS [/av_image] In the interest of full disclosure, I am not am not an average moviegoer who may have decided to come see Finnish director Dome Karukoski’s new biopic Tolkien, about the formative years of the creator… Continue reading Tolkien

Long Shot Jonathan Levine (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] So there’s a clown in the White House who used to be a TV star and has no real interest in governing, but only in using the presidency to further his own interests. And there’s a competent woman… Continue reading Long Shot

Avengers: Endgame Joe and Anthony Russo (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] A glance at the scheduled showings of Avengers: Endgame will reveal that there are 35 separate showings of the film that you can go to. And that, my friends is… Continue reading Avengers: Endgame

The Top 15 Medieval-themed Films of All Time I tried, but I really couldn’t bring myself to spend money on any of the movies that leached into central Arkansas this past weekend. Of course, I really wanted to see Terry Gilliam’s  The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, but we didn’t get a chance at that one.… Continue reading Top 15 Medieval-themed Films of All Time

The Mustang Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/3-12.jpg’ attachment=313′ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Three Tennysons/Half Shakespeare[/av_image] [av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”] This is a little gem of a film that might not be on your radar, since it has had virtually no promotion and is in very limited release. But it’s… Continue reading The Mustang

Shazam! David F. Sandberg (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Tennyson-180×180.jpg’ attachment=’77’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=” appearance=’on-hover’] Think Penny Marshal’s Big meets a PG-rated Deadpool. That’s basically what you get in the comic but not-so-sardonic-as-Deadpoolnew film from the DC expanded universe, directed by David F. Sandberg (Lights Out) and written by Henry Gayden (Earth to Echo),… Continue reading Shazam

Dumbo Tim Burton (2019) [av_image src=’http://jayruud.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Susanns.jpg’ attachment=’78’ attachment_size=’square’ align=’left’ animation=’left-to-right’ link=” target=” styling=” caption=’yes’ font_size=10” appearance=’on-hover’] 2 JACQUELINE SUSANNS [/av_image] One of the most vivid memories of my life is the first time I saw a family of elephants in the wild in Zambia. I was on a river cruise on the Great Zambezi and… Continue reading Dumbo