Category: Reviews

Maybe don’t pack your bags. ‘Ticket to Paradise’ is a forgettable trip.

Jeff Mitchell

“Ticket to Paradise” (2022) – “We’ve waited so long.  We’ve waited so long.  I got two tickets to paradise.  Won’t you pack your bags, we’ll leave tonight.” – “Two Tickets to Paradise” (1978) by Eddie Money George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Movie audiences haven’t “waited so long” for a Clooney-Roberts collaboration.  These two megastars have connected on the big screen for years, dating back to 2001. For starters, “Ocean’s Eleven” (2001), “Ocean’s Twelve” (2004), and “Money Monster” (2016), and Julia starred in a provocative supporting role in “Confessions of a…

‘Godland’: This daunting, immersing 19th-century journey is an instant classic

Jeff Mitchell

“Godland” (2022) – “The island is very different from Denmark.  People there…the weather, the winter, everything is different.” In the late 19th century, an experienced Danish man of the cloth (Waage Sando) delegates an assignment to his young, pious subordinate, Lucas (Elliott Crosset Hove).  Lucas, a late 20-something or 30-something priest, is willing to please Vincent (Sando), or perhaps, he doesn’t have the will to reject his mentor’s wishes.  Regardless, the said task is an intimidating one:  travel to Iceland, hike across endless kilometers of desolate prairies, mountains, and rivers,…

Put on your bravest face for ‘Smile’

Jeff Mitchell

“Smile” (2022) – Director/writer Parker Finn’s debut horror film offers nifty and crafty camerawork, effective scares, an intriguing premise, and creepy vibes that prowl in plain sight.  All four concepts reveal themselves within the first 10 minutes, and if you buy into the movie’s sicko foundation, “Smile” will hook you on a 115-minute journey.  Put on your bravest face.  “Smile” begins in a psychiatric hospital, and Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) – in her late-20s/early-30s, but she’s worked here for quite a while – makes her rounds.  We meet a…