Author: Mark A. Lester

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3 1/2 Stars Movies

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024)

Like many my age, my cinematic discovery of Michael Keaton was the same as my cinematic discovery of Tim Burton (well, it was actually Batman Returns before Batman.) The third for each would end up being Beetlejuice.

As a kid, it took me a lot of convincing that the guy behind the Batman mask was the same playing the bio exorcist. Still, it was a near perfect introduction to the mind of Tim Burton (I did not get to Pee Wee until later in life), as it made me aware at a young age directors could have there own sense of style.

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5 Stars Movies

Sing Sing (2024)

In the thirty years since its release, it has been nearly unanimous across the globe that there is no other film about prison that can be any better than The Shawshank Redemption (it has sat at the top of the Top 250 IMDB list since I was in High School.)

I am not arguing against that (it is one of the very few movies you can find any dislikers for). I bring it up only because it gives a warm feeling of sorts that you would not get in many movies (let alone one about prison). That feeling does not come around often, and no other film about prison has passed that on to me since. Enter Sing Sing.

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1 1/2 Stars Movies

Reagan (2024)

Let’s try something new here.

Rather than tell you that this movie is simply a bland, by the numbers bore fest that glamorizes our 40th president (at least Quaid is honestly trying to go for it), I present an alternative (this is one of the rare occasions when AI will help me in a review.)

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2 1/2 Stars Movies

Blink Twice (2024)

It’s no secret that movie trailers nowadays are prone to giving away too much of the movie* (a prime example is the remake of Speak No Evil).

Recently, I have made a personal choice to see a trailer only once or so (and very rarely do I seek out a second trailer of a film). This is one of the key reasons as to why I went into Blink Twice without knowing anything about it other than seeing the poster and possibly (I can’t remember) seeing the trailer once a few months ago. 

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3 1/2 Stars

Alien: Romulus (2024)

Regardless of your knowledge of the Alien franchise, it is basically general knowledge that the first two films occupy the top tier. Personally, I feel good about that as I have recently only seen those two along with 2012’s Prometheus.

Obviously, this makes me not at all an expert of any kind about the franchise, but that does not mean I can’t try to enjoy the films individually, which brings us to Alien: Romulus. Oddly enough, the events of this film actually take place between the first two films, while paying homage (both effectively and not effectively) to them.

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4 Stars

Didi (2024)

One of the main reasons I’ve always been a fan of coming of age films is simply the idea of character development.

The second decade of our lifetimes has arguably more life lessons learnt than any other time in our lives (or at least the most memorable ones). That makes that time of a life ripe for picking when it comes to drama. Whether it takes place in the rebellious 1950, the  John Hughes 1980s universe, or the tech driven 21st century, teen life is hard all around.

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3 Stars Movies

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

It is weird timing for a film like Deadpool & Wolverine.

Ever since the end of Thanos in Endgame, a majority of the shows and films have been, at best, just good (I exempt No Way Home). A lot of super hero fatigue can play into this, along with the termination of Jonathon Majors as Kang and both a writers and actors strike. The film also needs to live up to being not only the MCU debut of both it’s title characters, but the first MCU film to be rated R (more on that later).

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4 Stars

Twisters (2024)

Call it divine intervention or whatever you want, but it is worth noting that between revisiting the 1996 hit Twister and the sequel, there was at least two nights of pretty bad weather here in the Midwest.

Of course, being that I have grown up in the Midwest, it was nothing too new to me. Still, tornadoes are nothing I would dream of getting near (the closest I ever got was a few years ago driving home, not aware until later that a twister had touched down about a mile away). Thinking of it, the original Twister (which was always a go to rental for me at a point in my childhood) had a small bit of the “stay away from this force of nature” effect that Jaws had on me (as well as the whole world.)

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"Top Tens", and others

2024 Halftime Report

It is clear that we are feeling the true effects of last year’s strikes.

I supported the strikes, but as a cinephile it came at a cost: This year’s movies would not be strong. As of this writing, I’ve seen just under thirty movies that were released this year (I have yet to see certain titles such as Challengers and Kinds of Kindness), and none of them were five stars (though some were close).

Still, I have hope, as the second half will give us the likes of Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Sing Sing, Longlegs, Alien: Romulus, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and plenty more (I don’t care what the reactions were at Cannes; I am still stoked for Megalopolis.)

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3 1/2 Stars Movies

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024)

Prior to watching Kevin Costner’s first directed film in over two decades, I looked at my Letterboxd account to realize that this film would only be the eleventh western film I have ever seen in the theater.

Granted, this is largely due to my age (which is why my first “western” experience in the theater was sadly 1999’s infamous Wild Wild West), so it is safe to say all the westerns I have seen have been on a smaller screen. It was with this lack of big screen western experience and the fact that Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 has a 40% score on rottentomatoes (it was not screened for many critics, which is rarely a good sign) that I went to see the film,…and was actually surprised at it.

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