The Film Verdict

1 week ago | thefilmverdict.com | Alonso Duralde

Even the film’s let’s-call-it-creative take on the tragic ending is nothing new, having already been tried by the regrettable 2005 animated kiddie feature Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss. The one where the protagonists are cartoon seals. When Juliet & Romeo isn’t assaulting us with dreadful ditties by Evan Kidd Bogart and Justin Gray — on a positive note, the tunes are as immediately forgettable as they are awful — it’s punishing our eyes with garish color and off-putting visuals.

2 weeks ago | thefilmverdict.com | Alonso Duralde

VERDICT: Entertaining Marvel team-up tale proves you can make a banquet out of odds and ends that were stuck in the back of the fridge.

1 month ago | thefilmverdict.com | Alonso Duralde

VERDICT: Disney’s umpteenth live-action remake of an animated classic turns out to be another bad apple.

1 month ago | thefilmverdict.com | Alonso Duralde

The Alto Knights shows and tells us nothing that we haven’t already seen in a million mob movies, as childhood friends Frank Costello and Vito Genovese become arch-rivals, one working within the system and flirting with legitimacy while the other remains a hothead and a loose cannon. The fact that both Costello and Genovese are played as adults by Robert De Niro is the film’s biggest gamble, but the payoff is underwhelming.

2 months ago | thefilmverdict.com | Alonso Duralde

The who’s-zooming-who plot can be a difficult one when it comes to maintaining audience engagement; pull the rug out too many times, and viewers will check out until the final minute, when everything is finally explained. It’s a testament to David Koepp’s screenplay that it tosses out just enough red herrings and unspoken motivations to maintain a balance of enigma and empathy. The spy spouses are George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender) and Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett).