The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C+ I.S.S. is one of those movies that doesn’t live up to its own concept. Coming from a relatively unknown director (Gabriela Cowperthwaite) and featuring a relatively unknown cast (although I’ll elaborate on that), this is a movie that had me very intrigued by the trailer and ultimately a bit let […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: B- Since I go to the movies every week, Sanctuary provided a valuable service in my life by giving me something other than the remake of The Little Mermaid to see in this particular week. I had somewhat resigned myself to seeing the latest entry in Disney’s trend of self-desecration before this […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: D Hypnotic, a new film from director Robert Rodriguez, is just a mess. In a way, though, it’s an intriguing mess. This film starts as a fairly entertaining cop thriller and then goes off the frigging rails with so many plot twists that I couldn’t remember how the movie started by the […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C I had very mixed feelings go into the theater to watch Cocaine Bear, as I’m not usually a fan of what I have dubbed “meme movies.” A meme movie is something that is sold entirely on a ridiculous and/or stupid premise and is designed to trend on Twitter because idiots […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: D For better or worse, M. Night Shyamalan’s filmography is largely comprised of movies that would conceptually sound amazing as two-sentence summaries of proposed Twilight Zone episodes. He is a master of coming of with “what if?” scenarios and twist endings. Unfortunately, extending those concepts to feature-length movies has often been […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C- Infinity Pool is the new film from director Brandon Cronenberg, son of the great David Cronenberg (probably best known for The Fly, Scanners, and A History of Violence). I moderately enjoyed Brandon’s previous film Possessor, even though its similarities to Inception were often distracting. Infinity Pool is, unfortunately, a bit […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C+ Missing harkens back to a (thankfully) short-lived trend from 2014-2018. The thought process at the time was simple: If members of Gen Z find it so difficult to look away from their phones for two hours, let’s make movies that simulate the riveting experience of staring at a phone. So, […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: A- I really didn’t know what to expect going into The Menu, so it’s fitting that it shares several things in common with Barbarian from a couple of months ago. First, they are from directors that have primarily been chugging along with television work and have few films to their credit. […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C Based on the trailers, I expected Don’t Worry Darling to be a straightforward ripoff of The Stepford Wives. I was wrong. It is a ripoff of The Stepford Wives, but it also rips off elements from several other films to keep you on your toes. Despite some strong performances and […]
The Doctor’s Diagnosis: C- In the pantheon of great man vs. animal thrillers, Beast isn’t one of them. The biggest downfall of this movie is its inability to commit to being either a straight, serious take on the subgenre (like Jaws or Cujo) or a an intentionally campy take on the genre (like Lake […]