So, after seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens a couple more times, I managed to see The Revenant. Director Alejandro Inarrito is clearly on fire right now – and earning every ounce of “director to watch” when his first feature film Amores Perros came out. Then 21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful, and Birdman or (The Unexpected…
Ladies and gentlemen, a film franchise has been saved. And perhaps more importantly, some of our childhoods. Even with all the hype and the trepidation and the expectations, this new chapter in the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens, is a return to the tone and feel of the Original Three, most especially Star Wars,…
J.J. Abrams’ homage to the first Star Wars film – the one that took our collective breath away, the one that defined our childhoods – takes “fan service” to new heights, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Charting a very similar course – plot-wise, character-wise, milieu-wise – as the 1977 film (aka A New Hope), it will be…
Assured, brash, loud and very, very funny, The Big Short makes thrilling entertainment out of indescribably complicated financial shenanigans using any means necessary – such as offering up Margot Robbie in a bubble-bath, by having a voice-over announce chirpily, “To explain it to you, here’s Margot Robbie in a bubble bath.” It’s that kind of irreverence that…
Oh, there is so much to say about this film. In fact, that’s pretty much what’s wrong with it. For those of us that read the book upon which it is based, there is the usual problems with the film being sub-par by comparison. But there are other problems, most of which derive from the…
Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like a horror film, right?! Damn right! And when it comes from the delightfully twisted mind of writer/director Michael Dougherty, well, you’re in for some fun. Dougherty is the genius behind the film Trick r Treat, and the co-writing of X-Men 2, and the upcoming X-Men Apocalypse. Before that, he did…
I don’t have many funny things to say about this film because it was pretty great. But feel free to read it while listening to Mambo No. 5 by Lou Bega. I didn’t make the review rhyme but it should still be good for a giggle. There are lots of reasons to make a movie.…
Stephen Frears knows how to make movies. Check out this selection from his CV: My Beautiful Laundrette, Prick Up Your Ears, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid, Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters, High Fidelity, The Queen and Philomena. If you can’t find something there to love, you don’t appreciate cinema. His ferocious portrait of Lance Armstrong’s doping program is as cold…
Clearly building a foundation for a franchise that can live forever, Creed sees Rocky Balboa training the son of his former opponent Apollo Creed to follow in his father’s footsteps – that is, into the professional ring. It’s got a terrific fight at the end, and all the proceeding stuff is professional and clear, while never being…
I watch Grave Of The Vampire every couple of years—it’s one of only a handful of movies I’ve watched over and over. Occasionally, you go back to movie that you loved as a kid, and realize how little you knew about filmmaking. When I revisited “Frogs,” one of the slew of 1970’s man vs. nature…