'Venom: Let There Be Carnage' (2021) Movie Review

2018’s non-Marvel Marvel movie, Venom, is an odd beast. The movie isn’t particularly good. As a whole, it’s uninspired, messy, stuck in the late-1990s, and Sony’s legal inability to use Spider-Man, the titular antihero’s most notable nemesis, weighs on the film. But then there’s star Tom Hardy. Whatever movie he’s in, is a very different movie from everyone else. It’s basically Hardy arguing with himself for two hours, and it’s really damn entertaining in an unhinged, maybe he’s having an actual mental episode kind of way. Which brings us to the nigh-inevitable sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. 

'No Time To Die' (2021) Movie Review

Originally slated to drop in November of 2019, then further delayed multiple times because of COVD-19, No Time to Die serves as Daniel Craig’s James Bond swan song, his grand finale as the iconic international man of mystery. And after months and months and months of waiting, of anticipation, it ends, to use that oft quoted line from T.S. Eliot, not with a bang, but with a whimper. 

'Copshop' (2021) Movie Review

Directed by Joe Carnahan (The Grey) and fronted by Gerard Butler (Den of Thieves) and Frank Grillo (The Purge: Anarchy), it’s easy to envision what a movie titled Copshop is likely to deliver. If you expect and hope for a violent, irreverent slice of tough-guy action thriller, you will not be disappointed. 

'Lady Of The Manor' (2021) Movie Review

After being branded a sex offender, stoner slacker Hannah (Melanie Lynskey) gets a job as a live-in tour guide at a historical southern estate. One that happens to be haunted by the ghost of the home’s original inhabitant, the prim, proper Lady Wadsworth (Judy Greer). The two women, one living, one dead, become unlikely pals. Such is the premise of Lady of the Manor, the feature directorial debut from prolific actor and former Apple spokesperson Justin Long, who costars, and his brother, Christian Long. If that sounds funny, don’t worry, it isn’t.

'Prisoners Of The Ghostland' (2021) Movie Review

During production, Nicolas Cage said Japanese director Sion Sono’s Prisoners of the Ghostland “might be the wildest movie I’ve ever made.” Which is saying something from a man who once made a movie where he wore John Travolta’s face. Then again, he’s not wrong. Face/Off, however off-the wall, doesn’t have the testicular explosions, irradiated mutant ghosts, and the ubiquitous cracked mannequin masks of Prisoners. The final product is something like a hyper-absurd post-apocalyptic Escape From New York riff. And I’m here for every last second.

'Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings' (2021) Movie Review

On the surface, Shaun (Simu Liu) appears to drift through life, working a go-nowhere job and wasting time singing karaoke with his BFF Katy (Awkwafina). But Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a Marvel movie, so you know that’s all an illusion. Turns out, Shaun is really Shang-Chi, son of Wenwu (Tony Leung), a thousands-of-years-old crime lord and leader of the infamous Ten Rings gang. As one might expect, Shaun’s past comes a-calling and he must confront his own history as well as that of his family.