The Forgaughtens: The Score (2001)
The “one last job” trope is one of cinema’s most familiar and tired. In 2001, director Frank Oz assembled a red-hot cast (De Niro! Norton! Brando!) to bring his version of this story to the big screen, and … well … it’s pretty familiar and tired. It’s hard to make a forgettable film with De […]
Mission: Impossible—Fallout Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) For the longest time, the Mission: Impossible franchise felt disjointed. Different directors—Brian De Palma, John Woo, J.J. Abrams, Brad Bird—brought different styles to essentially the same story, and the supporting cast, while consistently enjoyable, was always changing to the point that it was difficult to connect with anyone outside of Tom Cruise’s […]
Olympus Has Fallen Review
RATING: (3 STARS) While far from great cinema, Olympus Has Fallen, from director Antoine Fuqua, delivers exactly what it promises. It’s a patriotism-soaked exercise in John McClane-esque badassery. Was my red, white, and blue blood boiling while North Korean extremists swooped in and took the White House? Yes. Were my knuckles white with excitement while […]
Green Lantern Review
RATING: (2 STARS) Of the four big superhero movies coming out this summer, Green Lantern caused me the most initial trepidation. Besides not being the biggest Ryan Reynolds fan, I was concerned about the story’s “out-there-ness,” and I wasn’t sure director Martin Campbell was up to the task of handling all the film’s CGI. Unfortunately, […]
