Mad Max: Fury Road Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Holy shit. Thirty years is a long time to wait for a new installment in a film franchise, but Mad Max: Fury Road overcomes this problem for a variety of reasons. Firstly, director George Miller simply doesn’t care if you’re familiar with what’s come before. He’s also smart enough to forge a […]
Avengers: Age of Ultron Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Because it begins, ends, and is about something, Avengers: Age of Ultron already has a leg up on most other Marvel movies. And boy, it needs that leg up because there are times when this feels like one of the laziest studio movies in years. At other times, however, it reaches the […]
The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) If there’s ever been a movie title more truthful than The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I don’t know what it is. This movie is the definition of fine. It goes down really easily because it doesn’t try to do too much. Because it can dispose of things like character introductions and […]
Furious Seven Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The spectre of death hangs heavy over Furious 7, the latest in the mega-crazy-super-duper popular franchise based around the words “fast,” “furious,” and “family.” The big elephant in the room, of course, is the untimely death of Paul Walker, one of the franchise’s stars, which occurred off-set while filming was underway. His […]
World of Tomorrow Review
RATING: (4 STARS) It lasts just 17 minutes, but Don Herzfeldt’s World of Tomorrow packs more imagination into its running time than almost any other film I’ve ever seen. It’s a high-concept, low-sheen, utterly magical experience that, despite its brevity (or perhaps because of it), will certainly rank among my favorite films of 2015. Technically, […]
The Kid with a Bike Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Those familiar with the films of the Dardenne brothers, Jean-Pierre and Luc, shouldn’t be surprised by what The Kid with a Bike has to offer. As a former Dardenne virgin who popped his cherry here, I found myself surprisingly moved. The story is pretty bare-bones, but it’s an easy one to get […]
Sleepless Night Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Better than Bond, better than Bourne, better than Bauer, the new French thriller Sleepless Night sets a new bar for white-knuckle action movies. Taking place over a 24-hour period and primarily in one giant nightclub, the film is intense in ways no other has been in years. Vincent (Tomer Sisley) and his […]
The Loneliest Planet Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There’s a moment near the midpoint of Julia Loktev’s The Loneliest Planet that turns a happy couple into a doubtful one. It changes an adventurous trek through the beautiful mountains of Georgia into a desolate, fearful, and truly hellish journey home. And it transforms a good-looking, unsetting film into something as complex, […]
Jupiter Ascending Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) After The Matrix, the Wachowski siblings received carte blanche from Warner Bros. Clearly enamored by the world they created, they returned to finish Neo’s story with two Matrix sequels, but following the creative and financial disappointment that was Revolutions, it was time for Lana and Andy to step away from this world […]
Edge of Tomorrow Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) With the exception, maybe, of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, no film has ever so closely replicated what it’s like to actually play a video game than Doug Liman’s All You Need Is Kill Live/Die/Repeat Edge of Tomorrow. And with the exception of Scott Pilgrim, no film that’s either explicity based on […]
Inherent Vice Review
RATING: (4 STARS) A stoner private dick, his manipulative ex-old-lady, her millionaire land developer lover, his scheming wife, her ripped kept man. A recovering dope fiend single mother, her missing snitch boyfriend, a black panther, a gang of Nazis, an maniacal actor cop, a maritime lawyer, a pot-smoking assistant DA, nose-picking FBI agents, and a […]
A Most Wanted Man Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The name John le Carré is to the spy genre as Tolkien is to fantasy. For more than 50 years, the man has thrilled fans with labyrinthine tales of hardened espionage agents trying to navigate morally murky waters—and he’s still going. Published in 2008, A Most Wanted Man is one of his […]
Foxcatcher Review
RATING: (3 STARS) In the winter of 1996, John du Pont—a wealthy ornithologist, philatelist, and philanthropist—shot and killed Olympic wrestling champion Dave Schultz. Most familiar with the case and the two men found the affair entirely uncharacteristic of du Pont. Schultz and du Pont were friendly. The latter employed the former as an assistant coach […]
Unbroken Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) With Unbroken, Angelina Jolie mistakes heroic misery for rousing inspiration. What should be—and is, in book form—a fully formed and moving story about unparalleled hardship and the triumph of the human spirit falls oddly flat on the screen. It’s a decent enough movie with moments of emotional and plainly visual beauty, but […]
Two Days, One Night Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Two Days, One Night might be the Dardenne brothers’ best film yet. That’s a big statement considering the filmography in quesiton: La Promesse, Rosetta, L’enfant, The Kid with a Bike—not a dud in the bunch. But it’s a complex, rich film that earns such a label. Anchored by a phenomenal turn by […]
Wild Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) One of the most successful prestige films of 2013 was Jean-Marc Vallée’s Dallas Buyers Club, a mostly artless attempt to prove that white guys have feelings too. It was well-acted, though, and ultimately won three Oscars, but my frustrations with the film, its screenplay, and its non-descript direction all led to major […]
