Few American presidents have inspired as much dissonance in public perception as Barack Obama. Political junkies and ordinary citizens alike are highly accustomed to the wide range of terms used to characterize the current Commander-in-Chief — from visionary to bumbling buffoon, post-racial uniter to race-baiter, bold terror warrior to scheming capitulator, socialist to corporate stooge, […]
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“Expect the expected” could be the tagline to “The Expendables 2,” the loudest, shootin’-ist film of the summer. This sequel to Sylvester Stallone’s 2010 fanboy action epic finds a nearly identical cast doing nearly identical things. And while that may sound like a damning critique, it isn’t. Also in the vein of its predecessor, “The
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It’s fitting that Len Wiseman’s “Total Recall” remake features a gigantic robot army, given that his films have always demonstrated the bare minimum level of interest in actual people. That’s why Wiseman was a particularly poor choice for adapting Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 masterpiece about a man who discovers that his memories are false and he’s
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Had “Get the Gringo” been released 10 years ago, surely two things would have been different: 1. Its budget would have been several times the reported $20 million spent on the current product and 2. It would have received a theatrical release and a top-tier advertising campaign showcasing star/producer/writer Mel Gibson. Then again, Gibson arguably
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Todd Solondz’s films are trips into abysses of intense misery, seriously disturbing examinations of lower-middle-class suburban despair. Almost irreverently infused with shocking dark humor and achingly unsentimental, his better works are beautifully strange pieces of filmmaking, aggressively painful stories that manage to feel profound even as they resemble rides through an emotional hell. Then there’s
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It’s hard to deny that an insidiousness permeates Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, and not just because of the real life unpleasantness that has transpired offscreen. “The Dark Knight Rises” is almost unbearably grim, a tangle of frayed nerves and cultural angst. The fiery and destructive imagery of the ad campaign symbolizes Batman’s rebirth, but could
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Ernest Borgnine, the prolific film and television actor whose filmography spanned more than 60 years, died Sunday in Los Angeles of renal failure. He was 95. After serving in the Navy during World War II, Borgnine started his acting career. His big break was in 1953’s “From Here to Eternity.” Shortly thereafter, he won an
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This is the Oliver Stone I like. In recent years, the famously intense, quasi-loony auteur has produced one oddity after another, from a big budget catastrophe (“Alexander”) to a saintly solemn portrayal of 9/11 responders (“World Trade Center”) to a schizophrenic hit-piece on President 43 (“W.”). None of them reached the thematic highs of “Platoon,”
When doing press for comic book movies, directors and actors almost always claim that they counted themselves as diehard fans of the source material long before they signed on to the lucrative task of adapting it for the screen. While this is likely more often than not a lie, Mark Webb was clearly telling the
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Ever wonder how Norman Bates’ mother ended up decaying in that rocking chair? Probably not, but thanks to A&E, the answer could soon be made clear. The cable network has ordered a season of “Bates Motel,” which will tell the story of the eponymous character from Alfred Hithcock’s seminal thriller “Psycho.” Created by Carlton Cuse
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