Rupert Wyatt delivers what one can only hope is the worst sci-fi film of the year. The mind behind “The Gambler” and “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” drops a big deus with “Captive State.” Its cinematic issues begin to unravel even before the movie gets started, inundating the audience with terms, information, concepts, and ideas we […]
Uncredited John Wick / upcoming Deadpool 2 director David Leitch should have had the most stylish and rewarding action flick at SXSW this year. Unfortunately, Atomic Blond, the Charlize Theron – stylish and ultra-violent is more is more of an atomic bomb. Theron coming off the iconic Furiosa in Mad Max, I guess expectations were
Ten years after The Fifth Element, fantasy film director Luc Besson puts together the most expensive French flick in history. Compared to his ‘97 Bruce Willis sci-fi flick, which had 188 visual effects shots, this one has 2734. It’s another case of technology overriding anything else on screen. Lead actor DeHaan (coming off another failed
This marks the 5th big screen adaptation of King Kong, and only twelve years after Peter Jackson (“The Lord of the Rings”) put him back on screen. Jordan Vogt-Roberts’s sophomore film is an enormous leap from the tiny independent movie “The Kings of Summer” (2013) to this nearly $200 million dollar monster flick. What works;
Not the movie itself, but what director Peter Berg, and in part Mark Wahlberg are doing, feels exploitive, taking tragedies and turning a profit. That being said, “Patriots Day” (opening months after their Deepwater Horizon collaboration) showcases what Berg and his team does best, deliver thrilling scenes of chaos. Yes, this film dedicated to the
Ratchet and Clank are two entertaining characters in this beautifully animated movie based on a videogame—not usually one of my favorite activities. But this one has some good messages for children having to do with loyalty, hubris, and ambition. Betrayal, vainglorious boasting, and impulsivity are boldly displayed and then shown to be mistakes, and it
Not a fan of the 2008, JJ Abrams produced “Cloverfield” movie. The “found footage” alien attack film, has been called a “blood relative” to the mysterious “10 Cloverfield Lane”. Filmed under secret names and only announced two months before it would hit theaters, secrecy was a priority for the film. Of course this type of
The Coen Brothers are excellent story tellers and inventors of characters, whether or not you like the film as a whole. Inside Llewyn Davis would fit into that good but not great category. The most impressive elements here are Oscar Isaac’s magnificent voice and “prickly” character performance and the unusually unique minor characters the Coen’s
