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Biopics stride a fine line when seeking to depict the frailties of tragic subjects. On one hand, the film should serve as an oracle for the protagonist’s truth, both internal and external. A …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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9/21/22
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Setting a “Predator” prequel in the early 18th century North American Great Plains might sound like a stodgy prospect. Instead, “Prey” proves an exhilarating choice, reframing the …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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8/10/22
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Despite its moniker, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” is far less a 1970s story about the genesis of the “Despicable Me” protagonist than an excuse to get his lemon-colored, pill-shaped stooges …
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7/6/22
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Besides being an uproariously funny film, “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story” is a piercing parody of the celebrity musician biopic, ribbing the rags to riches, ruination, and finally redemption …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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6/29/22
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With “Jurassic Park’s” wide-eyed sense of wonder and scientific discovery well in our rearview mirror, “Jurassic Park Dominion” is a scientific fiction film that does not feel too far ahead …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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6/22/22
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Three one-sentence title cards at the outset of Pixar Animation’s “Lightyear” reveal this was the film that young Andy from “Toy Story” watched that made him yearn for a Buzz Lightyear …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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6/15/22
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With “Jurassic Park’s” wide-eyed sense of wonder and scientific discovery well in our rearview mirror, “Jurassic Park Dominion” is a scientific-fiction film that does …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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6/9/22
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Late in the film adaptation of “No Country for Old Men,” aging Sheriff Ed Tom Bell visits his uncle Ellis, a wheelchair-bound ex-lawman. Ed Tom laments the lost promise of old age, the absence of …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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6/1/22
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One day, drone camerawork will become a blasé part of filmmaking. Today, it is a burgeoning, exciting expansion of the production process, employed with dizzying exhilaration in Michael Bay’s …
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4/20/22
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Adrian Lyne’s “Deep Water” puts the “psycho” in “psychological thriller.”
For his first feature film in 20 years, Lyne returns to the familiar …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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3/16/22
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THE CN+R REVIEW | NEIL MORRIS
While most 21st century films featuring Batman have cast him as a Caped Crusader or Dark Knight, writer-director Matt Reeves’s reboot/rehash, titled simply “The …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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3/9/22
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It is high time to discuss Steven Soderbergh’s rank among the greatest American directors, certainly the most prolific.
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BY NEIL MORRIS, News + Record Film Critic
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2/23/22
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“Death on the Nile” is cinematic comfort food, an engrossing but breezy chamber piece with sufficient depth of setting and character. It’s a world that is fun to visit, and one I hope Branagh returns to in future sequels.
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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2/9/22
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Journalism professor Buck Ryan in Kentucky and English lecturer Lei Jiao in Wuhan, China, are back with their fifth film review for the News + Record, channeling the great Luigi Pirandello, known for …
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1/26/22
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The through line running across writer-director Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers” is the strength and resilience of mothers, often in the absence — voluntary and otherwise — of men. …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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1/19/22
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Editor’s note: While news media obsess over U.S.-China relations, a little-known conflict was just resolved. Spoiler alert: Looks like Hollywood won this one.
The battle over global box office …
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1/5/22
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Best Film of 2021: ”The Power of the Dog”
Writer-director Jane Champion tackles the American West in this engrossing dissection of everything from masculinity to class, sexism, sexuality and …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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12/29/21
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Like most children, I grew up watching Disney movies. I kept a collection of DVD’s above my bedside packed with my favorites — “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Alice in …
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12/22/21
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Hugging the line of limoscene liberalism, “Don’t Look Up” is unabashedly on the nose. It is a malady that plagued director Adam McKay’s last two films, the overrated “The Big Short” and …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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12/22/21
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Fresh off disposing of a mysterious body in mysterious fashion, drifter Stan Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) wanders into the camp of a traveling carnival during the opening moments of director Guillermo …
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BY NEIL MORRIS, CN+R Film Critic
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12/15/21
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