Isa Uggetti

“Up” is a perfect blend of realism and fantasy. Few movies can handle rough subjects well, and even fewer can respectfully blend them with fantastical elements. “Up” does all that and then some; its opening minutes are notoriously some of... Read the full review »

“Ratatouille” is one of the most ironic movies ever made: it’s about a rat that cooks in haute cuisine— it’s hard to come up with a stronger dissonance than that, but somehow, someway, Pixar makes it work wonderfully. “Ratatouille” i... Read the full review »

The best animated movies take us into worlds we could never know otherwise. This is one of the countless things that makes Pixar movies so great: from “Toy Story”(1995) to “Coco”(2017), they’ve taken us to beautiful, unexplored worlds th... Read the full review »

I will be the first to admit that I expected a bad movie here, one that would try too hard to be like the original Ocean’s trilogy and fail to take off by itself. I will also be the first to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by “Ocean’s... Read the full review »

My friend and I did not speak when “First Reformed” ended. We remained silent for a good 5–7 minutes. This was the only reasonable reaction to what we had just witnessed. “First Reformed” is a masterpiece of character-driven drama with f... Read the full review »

Sadly, I wasn’t writing reviews when “Black Panther”, one of the biggest movies of the past few years, was released a few months ago, so this is long overdue. In February, “Black Panther” took the entire world by storm; the box office ex... Read the full review »

Irony is at the center of every unbelievable scenario in Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove”, from the famous “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!”, to a soldier worrying about answering to the Coca-Cola company i... Read the full review »

I’m not one for arguing that everyone absolutely has to see silent films to appreciate film in general, but I like to think I recognize a good movie when I see it, and Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights” (1931) is a really good movie. The plo... Read the full review »

Leaving the theater in my rickety 2002 Toyota Echo, high on “Solo” vibes, made me feel like Han Solo. That suave vibe that makes you want to be like the pilot is arguably this prequel’s primary strength among various significant weaknesses.... Read the full review »

“Tully” is about what happens when life doesn’t go the way we want it. Masterfully written by Diablo Cody (“Juno”), the story is not only meant to speak specifically to those in the plight of motherhood, but broadly to everyone who searc... Read the full review »

For many, the measure of a good movie is its rewatchability. I recall being disappointed by many a film upon my first viewing in the movie theater, but I don’t know if I have ever been disappointed on a rewatch…until now. Edgar Wright’s “B... Read the full review »

Rarely do we like movies that make us uncomfortable. Even so, it is those choice few that stick with us the most. Last year, Jordan Peele gave us an expertly crafted, undeniably unusual story. It toyed with our pulse and our minds, but most of all... Read the full review »

I hate when movies are quiet. I crouch in my seat, cover my eyes, ears, and brace for the villain to suddenly appear with blaring brass section accompaniment. So, frankly, I am not fond of any movie that keeps me in fetal position the entire time... Read the full review »

When “Ready Player One” begins, the theater is pitch black with only the setting written across the screen (Columbus, Ohio 2045). Almost immediately, Jump by Van Halen blares in all its nostalgic glory, and, if you’re anything like me, you i... Read the full review »

“Deadpool 2” is almost perfect for what it wants to be: a gratuitously violent, meta-farce that holds its audience’s attention largely with its unique humor; still, it falls short when it tries to have an actual message. While most of the ti... Read the full review »

“Avengers: Infinity War” is our generation’s cinematic epic — our “The Ten Commandments”, if you will. The week leading up to my first viewing found me sort of nervous and half-expecting the biggest let down in movie history; howev... Read the full review »

Writer/director Boots Riley’s “Sorry to Bother You” is probably the most original movie of the year, but even that just may be a gross understatement on my part. Riley’s unique creative vision shines through not only in the wild story he t... Read the full review »

The “Jurassic Park/World” films are full of scientists and billionaires who never learn from their mistakes— that’s how we get the main conflict in both “Jurassic World” and its new underwhelming sequel, “Fallen Kingdom”. While the... Read the full review »

After waiting 14 years, Pixar decided to start “Incredibles 2” with a pretty random interrogation— instantly, I knew Pixar had once again made something different than what I had expected. I’ll be honest, I was quite pessimistic about this... Read the full review »

Whether you’re a Marvel fan or not, it’s hard to admit that “Infinity War” didn’t leave you itching for the next Marvel movie; we all wanted to see what else was going on in the universe after that insane finale. Next up in the saga is t... Read the full review »