Articles by Paul Hall

Heroes and villains are all around us. Director M. Night Shyamalan reintroduces us to the vigilante justice hero David Dunn (Bruce Willis) and the villain Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson) from Unbreakable. And sets them with our multiple-personality lead Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy) from Split to craft the film Glass. When Elijah Price, better known as Mr. Glass, is joined by two new residents at the Raven Hill Memorial Psychiatric Hospital that he calls home, things are about to get interesting. How did Dunn and Crumb end up at this hospital? Although Mr. Glass has brittle bones, he is […]

Who is Dick Cheney? Vice, from director Adam McKay (The Big Short) takes a look at the former vice president with a darkly comedic tone, showing us the man who rose from lower-level positions in Washington, D.C., to become second-in-command of one of the world’s largest superpowers. To tell the story of Vice, we need to really ask, who is Dick Cheney (Christian Bale)? Cheney came to the nation’s capital with the desire to become more powerful. As he started working with Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell), he got a taste of the buffet that is Washington. All he knew was […]

Let me be honest: I was not looking forward to sitting down for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It’s not that I don’t like the webslinger — I do, but it seemed like an overexposed character in an animated film that probably could have skipped a theatrical release. Man, was I wrong. Instead of scurrying to write a bad review, I find myself searching for superlatives to describe a new entry into animated-film lore. Just as Spider-Man’s release in 2002 with Tobey Maguire raised the bar for what I expect from superhero films, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse changes what I will […]

Since the 1964 release of Mary Poppins with Julie Andrews as the magical nanny, we have been singing along and enjoying every minute. Now, with the release of Mary Poppins Returns, the nanny is back and hasn’t aged a year, but does the magic still exist? Mary Poppins (Emily Blunt) finds it necessary to come back into the lives of Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) and his sister Jane (Emily Mortimer). Michael has recently lost his wife and is about to lose the house he lives in with his children. As he struggles to find an important document with the help […]

When the Harry Potter series ended its run of books and films, author J.K. Rowling brought forth a new universe that included some of the characters we love, albeit at different ages and stages in their lives, and a whole lot of new characters to meet, along with a plethora of creatures. The latest installment, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, is now available On Demand and on DVD. (Check your cable provider for availability) Our hero, Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), leaves the streets of New York, the setting for most of 2016’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, […]

The holidays are a time for family and friends to come together and celebrate. However, many families don’t have that luxury for a plethora of reasons. In the film Ben Is Back, one such family has been reunited for the holidays, but there is more to the reunion than meets the eye. Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges) has come home for the holidays. His mother Holly (Julia Roberts) had earlier told him there is nothing she would rather have this Christmas than her son back with the rest of the family. So when that happens, the excitement Holly feels is off […]

We use the internet on a daily basis. Whether it’s actively searching for the latest movie trailer, buying a new pair of gloves for the winter or just finding out who won last night’s game, the internet is at work all around us. In the film Ralph Breaks the Internet, we find out what is really going on behind the scenes in the vast wilderness that exists beyond our computer, tablet and phone screens. It’s been six years since the events of Wreck-It Ralph, and our heroes Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (voice of Sarah Silverman) are […]

There are times I sit down to write a review and the words flow freely. Whether positive or negative, it’s easy pickings to play with phrases that get my point across. And then there are times that the words are hard to come by — reviewing The Possession of Hannah Grace is one of those times. Although we open with an exorcism being performed on a young girl, Hannah Grace (Kirby Johnson), our focus is mainly on Megan Reed (Shay Mitchell). Megan has come through a difficult situation as a cop in Boston and is trying to get back in […]

What is your voice? What is it you need to say to the world? For one young singer, a chance encounter with an aging superstar may be just what she needs to find her voice while helping him survive in a world of excess in the film A Star Is Born. This version, the fourth iteration of the story probably best known from the 1976 film starring Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand, tells the story of aging rocker Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper), a man who seems to be just holding on. He’s living his life behind the blurry mask of […]

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Now available On Demand and on DVD is the music biopic Bohemian Rhapsody that tells the tale of the rock band Queen. Freddie Mercury (Rami Malek) is just a guy from Zanzibar and a baggage handler at London’s Heathrow airport until he impresses upon a local band who just lost their lead singer that he is the perfect replacement. After some trepidation at first, Brian May (Gwilym Lee) and Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) hear Mercury sing and make him a member of their group. They also need a new bassist since […]