Movie Reviews – Northern Iowan

‘Chappaquiddick’ adequately delivers

April 26, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

The date is July 18, 1969. Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy is speeding down the moonlit road on Chappaquiddick Island. In the passenger seat is 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, who was a presidential campaign secretary for Robert Kennedy. After a few missed turns, the car eventually meets the infamous...

A dazzling dystopian dog film

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

April 19, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

Combining his love for visually inventive animation, deadpan humor and, well, dogs, director Wes Anderson (“Rushmore,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel”) may have made his most effortlessly enjoyable film to date. “Isle of Dogs” is set in a dystopian Japan in which all ...

New horror flick silently shocks

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

April 12, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

The deafening silence that courses throughout the new horror film “A Quiet Place” is at once terrifying and spellbinding — resulting in an unapologetically unique cinematic experience that is likely to stay with you long after you leave the theater. Set in the year 2020, the film follows a single...

‘Ready Player One’ is fun thrill ride

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

April 9, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

After having devoted much of the latter half of his career to historical dramas and prestige pictures, it seems that legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg (“Jaws,” “E.T.,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark”) has finally returned to his blockbuster roots with “Ready Player One.” Spielberg’s latest...

Teen sex comedy transcends genre

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

April 2, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

Prom is the magical night in which all teenage girls fall in love with the boy of their dreams and enter into the realm of womanhood through the transformative act of sex. Or, at least that’s what decades of prom night narratives would have us believe. However, in the new comedy “Blockers,” that...

Reviewer wrecks ‘Wrinkle in Time’

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

March 26, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

You know that feeling you get when your mega-smart astrophysicist father disappears for years at a time while studying the mysteries of the universe, only for you to be guided to his extra-dimensional location by three mystical travelers, one of whom inexplicably morphs into a giant spinach leaf? If you...

Compelling story of joy through despair

LEZIGA BARIKOR, Campus Life Editor

March 22, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

The year was 1944 when the Soviet Union occupied Romania and began to establish a communist regime. The young pastor Richard Wurmbrand and his wife Sabina were among many of the religious leaders in attendance at the Congress of Cults held in 1945 by the Romanian Communist government. As many religiou...

Best Picture nominees recap

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

March 1, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews

This Sunday, March 4, the world will be watching as the best films of 2017 will be honored (and likely snubbed) at the 90th Academy Awards. In preparation for Sunday’s big night, I’m providing a recap of the nine nominees for Best Picture. What follows is a ranked listing (in descending order) of...

WWII film highlights trauma at home

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

February 22, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

For many American soldiers, the end of World War II in May of 1945 was a cause for celebration that resulted in the return of thousands of G.I.s to their loved ones. However, the end of the war proved to be much more complicated for soldiers of color — namely, black Americans who had fought overseas for a ...

Olympic biopic is ‘bitingly funny’

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

February 15, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

On Jan. 6, 1994, the sports world was forever changed when U.S. Olympic figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was viciously attacked by a lone assailant just one month before the 1994 Olympic Games. The incident resulted in a media frenzy, which later revealed that the assailant had been hired by the ex-husba...

‘Phantom Thread’ weaves tale of toxic love

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

February 1, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

The obsessive impulses that arise out of the often toxic intersection of artistry and affection are at the forefront in “Phantom Thread,” the new drama directed by acclaimed filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (“Magnolia,” “There Will Be Blood,” “The Master”). Set in the couture culture of 1950s London,...

‘The Greatest Showman’ fails to deliver

CLINTON OLSASKY, Executive Editor

January 25, 2018

Filed under Campus Life, Movie Reviews, Showcase

Released a mere seven months after the Barnum & Bailey Circus took its final bow after 146 years, “The Greatest Showman” serves as a timely homage to one of the most iconic and enduring traveling shows in American history. “The Greatest Showman” focuses on the life of P.T. Barnum (Hugh Jack...