Kurt Fuller | www.jaredmobarak.com

REVIEW: Phil [2019]

2019/06/282020/03/26 Jared Mobarak

I never promised you a rose garden. We meet Phil McGuire (Greg Kinnear) exiting his parked car while still in traffic to climb up a bridge railing. It’s a one hundred-plus foot drop into the water and he imagines taking the plunge before a group of teens with cellphones outstretched jolt him from the morbid sensation with excitable demands that he jump so they can enjoy the carnage. That’s a bold tonal mood on behalf of screenwriter Stephen Mazur and director Kinnear (his debut) because there’s actual dejection on their…

REVIEW: Ghostbusters II [1989]

2011/10/272014/05/22 Jared Mobarak

“Death is but a door. Time is but a window. I’ll be back.” After its release in 1984, Ghostbusters became a national phenomenon. Giving the world a witty comedy inside a science fiction narrative was unique and the finished film found a way to transcend age by appealing to all. As a result, the studio decided to monetize the name by spawning an animated television show—“The Real Ghostbusters”—a plethora of toys, and even a neon green Hi-C juicebox in Ecto Cooler. Columbia Pictures had a goldmine on their hands and…

REVIEW: Midnight in Paris [2011]

2011/07/152014/05/25 Jared Mobarak

“Nostalgia is denial” Who knew Woody Allen could be so whimsical? I guess to ardent fans of the auteur, this question may seem ridiculous—either I’m uneducated to think he wasn’t or I’m oblivious to not realize he always was. Whichever side of the fence you fall on, nothing will deter my, quite possibly premature, musing that Midnight in Paris is my new favorite Woody film. I haven’t seen many, including barely any before Celebrity, (as in all his classics), but there is just something about this movie that put a…