“Escape Plan” is the first film to feature both A-list ’80s action gods, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone, in starring roles. Forget the action-fantasy “The Expendables” and its sequel; those were Stallone’s films. Here, the two share top billing and a nearly equal amount of screen time. And it’s with that shared time one can […]
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Many movies at this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival, which closed October 10, were epic in scope, but the very best film, “Closed Curtain,” tapered into smaller and smaller space until filmgoers were locked inside the mind of a single individual—the director, Jafar Panahi. After releasing five allegories critical of his home country of Iran, Panahi
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It’s a big week for the Critic Speak Podcast, as James and I are joined for nearly a full half-hour by Tommy Wiseau, the writer/director/producer/star of the 2003 cult sensation “The Room.” Wiseau joined us to promote his appearances at Landmark’s Ken Cinema in San Diego at Midnight on October 11 & 12 (this coming
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“The Disaster Artist” is the story of how the lives of two men were determined by an intense, bizarre friendship. Readers, of course, will flock to this book expecting the inside story of the making of “The Room,” the 2003 cult film that ranks among the most dreadful, unintentionally hilarious movies ever made. Those searching
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“Don Jon” is, on the surface, about addiction. But dig a little deeper and one sees that its true subject is honesty, the first casualty of addiction. Whatever one joneses for, is there a greater effect of getting a fix than than one’s temporary escape from reality’s unforgiving glare? Here, first-time writer/director Joseph Gordon-Levitt explores
You are probably readily familiar with the existence of Intel computer chips and the fact that there is probably one operating inside of the computer that you’re currently reading this post on right now, but beyond these simple points, are you familiar with the myriad things that Intel technology can actually achieve? Well, rather than
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Sapphire represents September birthdays and fifth anniversaries, and while both meanings apply to this year’s Milwaukee Film Festival, the real link is emblematic—like the blue gem, the festival is defined by its sense of constancy. There’s a reason why the festival’s fifth installment feels like its tenth: Since many of the behind-the-scenes players cut their
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The American Cancer Society was founded 100 years ago to take on a disease that the medical community could then do little about. So much has changed in the century since, and for this big birthday, the ACS is renewing their fight against this disease that affects us all, whether directly or indirectly. You can
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“Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz” were cleverly referential, skillfully made comedies, but the final installment in Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost’s so-called Cornetto Trilogy, “The World’s End,” is in another league because it adds a rich human element to the equation. There’s plenty of the previous fun—popular allusions and action tomfoolery—but
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This week on the Critic Speak Podcast, James and I tear into the narrative incomprehensibility and clunky leftism of Neil Blomkamp and Matt Damon’s “Elysium,” we accept “We’re the Millers” because it contains more laughs than any other “comedy” this year, we split on Larry David’s HBO Movie “Clear History,” and we review the new
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