The 21-Word Review: Roald Dahl's The Witches (HBO)

Amazing CGI, scenery chewing by Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, and Stanley Tucci, and a truly disturbing ending make this quite acceptable.

The 21-Word Review: The Devil All the Time (Netflix)

It's kind of like watching a Cohen brothers movie if the Cohen brothers had been significantly more into taking recreational methamphetamines. 

The 21-Word Review: The Trial of the Chicago Seven (Netflix)

Sorkin writes amazing dialog and tells thrilling stories. Here he gets a stellar cast to bring it to life. Heartbreaking history.

The 21-Word Review: Radioactive (Amazon)

Marie Curie had one of the greatest minds in human history. She deserves better than this movie. Bad decisions, bad history.

The 21-Word Review: My Octopus Teacher (Netflix)

Despite the rather pompous narration, the amazingly smart little octopus will grab your heart and put you off of takoyaki forever.

The 21-Word Review: Yesterday (HBO)

Terribly charming, but if it happened to me we'd have about five complete songs and a lot of refrains repeated endlessly.

The 21-Word Review: The Babysitter: Killer Queen (Netflix)

As much fun - if not more - than the original, but unnerving to see the little girl grown up and brandishing cleavage.

The 21-Word Review: Cats (HBO)

October horror movies continue. I love musical theater. I do not love Cats. Still, it deserved better. Strange choices all around.

The 21-Word Review: A Life on Our Planet (Netflix)

David Attenborough starts the documentary stating that he is 92 years old, then acts more coherent than most half that age.

The 21-Word Review: Judy (Amazon)

 I prefer the original title (End of the Rainbow), but Ms Zellweger had me at "Clang Clang Clang Went the Trolley".

The 21-Word Review: The Babysitter (Netflix)

Every October, my daughter and I enjoy watching scary movies together. This year, she is in college. It's not the same.

The 21-Word Review: The Invisible Man (2020) (HBO)

Ever since I was a child, my eyes have watered when I watch scary or suspenseful movies. This one was  blurry.

The 21-Word Review: Class Action Park (HBO)

 When I was a kid, we went to the water slide. Not a water park, just a set of concrete troughs.

The 21-Word Review: How To by Randall Munroe

Proof positive that engineers can be funny and engaging. Or that at least one can. Mostly to other engineers, but still.

The 21-Word Review: Safety Not Guaranteed (Netflix)

When the film categorization committee wanted the golden standard for “indie film”, they created this one (Wes Anderson was not available).

The 21-Word Review: Enola Holmes (Netflix)

I had no idea that Eleven was British. Or so talented. Or a producer. Or had hair. What a delightful surprise.

The 21-Word Review: Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut

I generally like his stuff. He can make a bread recipe interesting. But I found myself struggling to complete this “stew”.

The 21-Word Review: The Taking of Pelham 123 (Netflix)

A serviceable remake of a standard thriller, but engineer me can’t get past the speedometers having three decimal point (thousandths) precision.

The 21-Word Review: Spies in Disguise (HBO)

Yes, all of my children are away in college and I have no other kids in the house. What’s your point?

The 21-Word Review: Zero Dark Thirty (Amazon)

It took a while to finally get around to watching this retelling of the UBL capture. Well done storytelling and directing.

The 21-Word Review: Guns Akimbo (Amazon)

Warning! There is a cute fan-edited video where the wands in Harry Potter are replaced with gun. This is not it!

The 21-Word Review: The King of Staten Island (Amazon)

Eminem had “8 Mile”. Pete has “King of Staten”. Both captured a unique personality, gritty location, and time. Both likely one-shots.

The 21-Word Review: Get on Up (HBO)

We watched this in the week following Chadwick’s unexpected passing. We have lost an incredible talent on the rise. Rest easy.

The return of Wilkinsons on the Web

The little website dedicated to the Wilkinson surname that I started in grad school when the web was relatively new ... is back again.

Apparently the registration system that I put in place the last time I looked at the site in detail (2014) broke at some point. And no one noticed, which is a bit disappointing.

In any case, the site is back. I've removed all of the old ad code (I never got anything from it and I hate ads on other sites), removed the login system for anyone by admins (me), deleted a ton of dead links, and added a few new ones.

Maybe this version will work for another 6 years without interruption.

Wilkinsons on the Web

The 21-Word Review: Birds of Prey and the Ridiculously Long Subtitle (HBO)

I really want to like these DC films. Especially ones that try something different. But they always just miss their mark.