The first sequence of Harmony Korine’s devilishly good new film “Spring Breakers”—comprised of intimate views of scantily clad, young female body-parts on a Florida beach, most of them gyrating—perfectly encapsulates the film’s modus operandi. This type of establishing shot has become commonplace in T&A-focused cinema, like the latest “Porky’s” knockoff (whatever that was) — to […]
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Antoine Fuqua’s “Olympus Has Fallen” might be the most patriotic movie ever that makes Americans look blazingly incompetent. Here we have a plot that sees a band of North Koreans launch a blistering attack on the White House by sea and air, one that kills hundreds and results in the capture of the president (Aaron
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“Starbuck” has a comic premise that Kevin Smith might envy: After years of donating sperm, a truck driver discovers that he has sired more than 500 kids—and now 142 of them want to know the identity of their prolific dad. At first glance, this French-Canadian production fits cozily into the present American trend of building
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“The Silence” is built around a novel idea: to depict the effect of a murder (two, actually) on everyone immediately impacted by the crime. We spend what seems like equal time with the murderer, his accomplice, the investigators, and the parents of the victims. The film is told with a surprising amount of empathy for
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“The Call” is three parts “Cellular” and one part “Buried.” It’s a phone-driven thriller that sees a 911 operator on the line with a kidnapped girl as the girl’s captor transports her to the site of what will be a gruesome death. The high-concept premise doesn’t yield much new outside of its unusual setting, but
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The world of egomaniacal, spray-tanned Las Vegas magicians in which “The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” takes place is perfect fodder for a comedy, and I have no doubt that Christopher Guest would have gotten a lot of milage out of this premise. But director Don Scardino and writers Jonathan Goldenstein, John Francis Daley, Chad Kultgen, and
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Films about oppressive regimes tend to have a flair for the dramatic, either focusing on the tyrannical leaders themselves (as in “The Last King of Scotland” and “Downfall”) or the worst atrocities committed under their reigns (as in “Hotel Rwanda” and “The Killing Fields”). This is not a criticism, as the films I’ve mentioned (and
“Oz the Great and Powerful” will inevitably (and unfairly) be judged against the 1939 classic for which it serves as a technologically modernized prequel, but a more apt comparison is the Wachowskis’ “Speed Racer,” another film built less around story and character than its unique CGI world. One’s liking of “Oz” will mostly be determined
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Bryan Singer’s “Jack the Giant Slayer,” an action-packed spin on the fairy tale “Jack and the Giant Beanstalk,” is the type of film that does a lot of things acceptably, but doesn’t excel in a single area. Budgeted at a whopping $195 million, it’s filled to the brim with stuff, both narrative and visual, but
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“21 and Over,” a comedy so stupid it would have to double its IQ to be considered brain-dead, is essentially a version of “The Hangover” for teens. This makes sense when one looks at the credits, as the film was written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, the screenwriters of “The Hangover.” Here,
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