Kong: Skull Island (PG-13) ★★★
Kong: Skull Island is a blast.
Almost exactly a year ago, my husband and I ran around the Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando. We passed by a large barricaded area surrounded by high … Read more
Author: Sarah Knight Adamson
Logan (R) ★★★½
Logan is the tenth X-Men movie . . . and might just be the best.
When I review a film from any franchise that has what might be described as “rabid fans”—be it Star Wars, … Read more
Oscar Blog-Part 4 Best Documentary, Best Original Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup & Hairstyling, Best Original Score, Best Original Song
Oscar Blog Part 4-Final Oscar Blog!
Wow, Oscar weekend 2017 is here! We are very excited over here at Sarah’s Backstage Pass, as this is a huge weekend for us! We love viewing the Academy … Read more
Oscar Blog Part 3-Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design
Oscar Blog Part 3
*BEST DIRECTOR – Damien Chazelle, La La Land, Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea (Should win) Nominees: Denis Villeneuve, Arrival, Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge, Damien Chazelle, La La Land, Kenneth Lonergan, … Read more
Oscar Blog Part 2, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best Animated Film
Oscar Blog Part 2
Hi again, here’s the next installment; happy reading. Wow, it’s getting exciting the last week before Oscar. Hey, do you have your tickets to the best viewing party in Chicagoland? I’ll … Read more
Fist Fight (R) ★½
Hey comedy directors: when your end-credits blooper reel is funnier than the rest of your movie, you’ve failed.
Fist Fight should have at least been decent; its trailers gave me hope. It stars the high-strung, … Read more
Oscar’s BackStage Pass Blog 2017 Part 1-Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor
It’s Oscar Time!
As an avid life-long Academy Award watcher, I’ve always enjoyed attempting to see all Oscar-worthy films, along with selecting my personal winners. The Oscars are my Super Bowl so to speak, an … Read more
The Lego Batman Movie (PG) ★★★
The Lego Batman Movie is fun (and funny), but not quite as awesome as its predecessor.
The Lego Movie surprised everyone in 2014. Nobody expected it to be good, much less one of the … Read more
Sarah’s Top 20 Movies of 2016
Top 20 (Award-Worthy) Films of 2016 Listed in order of favorites starting with #1
*Please note that I have not screened Martin Scoreses’s Silence this list may change.
1. Arrival—Science Fiction, based on … Read more
Manchester By the Sea (R) ★★★½
Heartwrenching Family Drama with Excellent Performances
Manchester by the Sea is a movie wherein the more you discuss the great aspects of the film, the more it sounds like your worst nightmare. And by discussing … Read more
La La Land (PG-13) ★★★½
Upbeat Musical with Beautiful Stars
Opening on a warm California winter’s day, we view a typical LA freeway traffic jam and an over-the-top atypical song and dance number; La La Land thus proclaims itself as … Read more
Split (PG-13) ★★★
James McAvoy helps save M. Night Shyamalan from himself in Split.
Like many others, I have been frustrated by M. Night Shyamalan’s career. Since I am a big fan of his first five movies—… Read more
Patriots Day (R) ★★★½
Patriots Day is a powerful reminder of this country at its best.
As I left for the Patriots Day screening, my husband asked me to remind him what I was seeing. After I told him, … Read more
Moonlight (R) ★★★★
Raw Emotion Strikes a Chord with Universal Themes
Superficially, one might sum up Moonlight by declaring that it presents three chapters of a gay black Miami man’s life. However, the film delves much deeper than … Read more
Live By Night (R) ★½
Ben Affleck’s really weird gangster film is a dud.
“What. Is. Happening?!?”
While watching Live by Night, I turned to the person next to me and asked this question several times. She was … Read more
Erika’s Favorite Movies of 2016
I make my annual Top 10 list based on my favorite movies—which are not always the films that I think are the “best” (read: award-worthy). I consider which movies I know I’ll return to … Read more
Critics Choice Awards 2016 Santa Monica, CA Winners and Red Carpet Interviews
22nd Critics Choice Awards and Red Carpet Interviews by Sarah Knight Adamson
The 22nd Annual Critics Choice Awards, which includes the Broadcast Film Critics Association and Television Journalists Association Red [Blue] Carpet, was the spotlight … Read more
Arrival (PG-13) ★★★½
When is an alien invasion movie not about an alien invasion?
Some of my favorite films (Looper, About Time, Safety Not Guaranteed, Back to the Future, Predestination) and novels (The Time Traveler’s … Read more
Pixar Animation Studios Steve Jobs Theater Visit
An Invitation to Attend a Film Screening at Pixar Studios
Don’t you just love it when the sun, the moon, and the stars all align? Typically, I receive special film screening notices fairly regularly that … Read more
The Accountant (R) ★★★
This movie is nuts.
The trailers for The Accountant would lead you to believe that it is a tense thriller in which Ben Affleck plays a high-functioning autistic man (Christian Wolff) who is both the … Read more
Sully (PG-13) ★★★½
Sully is the movie America needs right now.
Time is on Sully’s side.
But it wasn’t on Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s (Tom Hanks) side on January 15, 2009, when a flock of Canadian geese … Read more
Don’t Breathe (R) ★★★★ by Patty Babin
Don’t Breathe keeps you breathless and gasping for air.
It has been an extremely long time since there has been a truly scary, jaw-dropping, tormenting and suspenseful horror/thriller. Don’t Breathe, co-written by Fede Alvarez … Read more
War Dogs (R) ★★½
War Dogs doesn’t know what it wants to be.
When I heard Todd Phillips was directing War Dogs, I became uneasy, even though I’m a huge fan of Old School and the first Hangover… Read more
Pete’s Dragon (PG) ★★★½
Yes, it’s true! Dragons and honest-to-goodness family-friendly films still exist.
I love dragons. I was “the mother of dragons” (Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen) for Halloween, received “Dragonology” books for past birthdays, love … Read more