Green Book

Crusin’ ’round the US of A. Italian-American bouncer Tony “Tony Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortenson) is the guy called on when things get uncomfortable and/or nasty in the club. Tony is short on the smarts learned in school but educated in the knowledge of the streets. The club he works at closes for renovations, and he actively seeks […]

Movie Man Jackson looks at: 2018 Music in Movies (Part 5)

Music is the strongest form of magic. Part 5 of the yearly Music in Movies series continues. If you missed parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, you can find those here, here, here, and here. Let’s do it. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (score composed by Nate Heller, soundtrack by various artists) What Dorothy Said Noel Coward/John Hancock Dear […]

Destroyer (2018)

To paraphrase an old lyric from Killswitch Engage, sometimes a person must destroy and rebuild for the sake of it all. As an idealistic and young Los Angeles officer, Erin Bell (Nicole Kidman) is placed alongside a seasoned veteran in Chris (Sebastian Stan), ), tasked to infiltrate and bring down one of the country’s most […]

Vice (2018)

Soft touch, that’s all. One Dick Cheney (Christian Bale) is a directionless young man in the early 1960’s. He’s squandering any potential he may have by being unruly and wasting his days getting drunk, leading to an expulsion from Yale University. This is the bottom for him, and the only reason it’s not rock is […]

Boy Erased

We all have our own paths. For Jared Eamons (Lucas Hedges), that path has always led back to the church. The son of a preacher man, Marshall (Russell Crowe), and wife, Nancy, (Nicole Kidman), there’s always been an unspoken pressure to live a certain way in the conservative South.As a young man, Jared’s homosexuality begins […]

Roma (2018)

Setbacks don’t define us, but how we respond to them does. In 1970’s Mexico City, the Roma district is home to a particular middle-class family led in part by Sofia (Marina de Tavira), an educated wife and mother of four children dealing with some marital strife with husband, Antonio (Fernando Grediaga), often gone for weeks […]

The Old Man & the Gun

Never stop feeling alive. Forrest Tucker (Robert Redford) is a career criminal, so very skilled at doing what he does…which is rob banks. Being incarcerated 16 times doesn’t deter him, as the 70-year-old Tucker always manages to break out and continue his craft. The crazy thing? He’s getting better at it in advanced age, robbing numerous […]

Beautiful Boy (2018)

I didn’t cause it. I can’t cure it. I can’t control it. That mantra is one that father David Sheff (Steve Carell) never thought he’d have to think about. He and his son, Nic (Timothée Chalamet) had such a strong relationship. Nic is quite the writer, and seemingly, has everything in front of him for […]

Instant Family

You don’t have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. Married couple Pete (Mark Wahlberg) and Ellie (Rose Byrne) have always wanted to be parents, but their home renovation business took precedence. While it has taken off and afforded them a great life, it has caused them to continually put off making a family, […]

Creed II

One step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time. Since Adonis “Creed” Johnson (Michael B. Jordan) took Ricky Conlan to his absolute limit, he’s been on an absolute roll in the light heavyweight boxing division. With legendary “Unc” Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) in his corner as trainer, and love […]