“Lincoln” is not a biopic of President Abraham Lincoln, as the title might suggest, but a look at the legislative process through which he came to be known as the Great Emancipator. Large swaths of the movie are more akin to CSPAN 1865 than a comprehensive look at the man or the issues of his […]
“Skyfall,” is, like all James Bond films to some degree, a conservative work. That’s not to say politically conservative, but stylistically, the way that it safely fits within the cinematic zeitgeist. And as an action film of the times, “Skyfall” serves as a fine example. Audiences have come to expect their heroes broken and stripped
“Cloud Atlas” is a huge, exhausting film, one that might defy audiences to even make up their minds about whether or not they like it. It’s an important work in that it demands analysis and discussion as precious few do, providing a cornucopia of ambitious technical decisions, intertwined narratives, and New Age rhetoric that succeeds
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“Seven Psychopaths” is not so much under- or over-written as it is written. It’s a comedic crime thriller that becomes about its own construction ala “Adaptation,” with writer/director Martin McDonaugh figuring as the lead. But unlike the Spike Jonze film, “Seven Psychopaths” never really gels right; its disparate elements, often strong on their own, chafe against
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“Taken 2” is one of those sequels built on the assumption that audiences want what they enjoyed the first time around — nothing more, perhaps a bit less. Based on that line of thinking, the film succeeds, albeit narrowly. The first “Taken” saw Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills, an ex-C.I.A. agent with a savant-like competency at
Rian Johnson’s “Looper” is a phenomenal science-fiction film, full of tantalizing ideas and, more importantly, confident about how to use them. Its story centers around time travel and the violent intersection of an assassin and an older version of himself, a conflict captured through an insidiously clever scenario that allows for alternating scenes of thrilling
“End of Watch” is a superlative cop film by way of the war movie. That’s not an exaggeration, as its two protagonists, beat officers in the worst part of Los Angeles, patrol an area that seems just about as foreign and violent to most Americans as Afghanistan. The movie departs from the cop genre of
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“Compliance” is an intentionally maddening, excruciatingly tense thriller that posits a notion I can’t totally agree with. Its story, which sees the morality of ordinary, law-abiding citizens wither under the instruction of a purported authority figure, suggests that nearly anyone is susceptible to following vile, outrageous orders if only they’re told to. Certainly, this is
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“Resident Evil: Retribution” is a certain sort of movie. This is the sort of movie in which the body count would be measured in the hundreds, if anyone were to take on such a Herculean task. This is the sort of movie in which the named characters stroll down narrow corridors against thousands of rounds
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“Lawless,” an ultra-violent gangster tale by John Hillcoat (“The Proposition,” “The Road”), is a textbook example of why the final act of a film is its most important. Movies that start off poorly have the potential to rebound, gaining the audience’s trust and respect with future developments. The ones with weak midsections can often be
