[5] Mark Ruffalo must really have it out for the DuPont company. First he co-starred in 2014’s Foxcatcher, an examination of the scandal behind John du Pont’s hosting of Olympic wrestlers that ended in tragedy. And now he plays lawyer Rob Bilott in Dark Waters, the true story behind DuPont’s attempts to cover-up their pollution of the environment and the poisoning of thousands of people. …
[7] Director Alexandre Aja (High Tension) serves up a father/daughter survival thriller that takes place primarily in a basement full of alligators during a hurricane. Sound preposterous? Well, that’s part of the charm. But Aja and screenwriters Michael and Shawn Rasmussen give the tale enough verisimilitude to suck you in and make you root for these people — and their dog, too. Kaya Scodelario and …
[5] The late Chadwick Boseman stars in this mediocre actioner about a New York City detective trying to stop two cop killers from leaving Manhattan by closing all the island’s bridges and tunnels. But along the way, Boseman’s eyes are opened to a broader conspiracy that could endanger his own life. 21 Bridges benefits from Boseman’s reserved coolness and two great supporting turns from Sienna …
[8] Cult director Richard Stanley (Hardware) delivers a dread-inducing adaptation H.P. Lovecraft’s Color Out of Space. Nicolas Cage and Joely Richardson play a couple who have moved their teenage children (Madeleine Arthur and Brendan Meyer) out of the big city and into the New England boonies to slow down the pace of life. But when a meteorite crashes in their front yard and begins affecting …
[6] There’s a certain kind of movie that is really hard to review. This is one of those movies. It’s a studio movie, formulaic in structure and unremarkable in substance, but entertaining in laughs and thrills and a great vehicle for a charismatic cast. Marvel has hooked onto this. I think Sony/Columbia has as well with their new rebooted Jumanji franchise. So there’s a video …
[8] Writer/director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall) and co-writer Krysty Wilson-Cairns bring us back to the trenches of World War I with the harrowing journey of two British officers tasked with traversing enemy territory to deliver a message that will save 1,600 of their fellow soldiers from certain death — including one of the young men’s brothers. 1917 is compelling on two different levels, infusing …
[7] Tom Hanks plays Fred Rogers, the famous host of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, a children’s program that ran on PBS for over thirty years. But this movie isn’t just about Fred Rogers. It’s also the true story of journalist Tom Junod (named Lloyd Vogel in the movie), and the life-affirming friendship he developed while interviewing Rogers for an article. In the beginning, Vogel (played admirably …
[8] If someone is going to pick up Louisa May Alcott’s much-loved literary classic, dust it off, and serve up a retelling, let it be the Oscar-nominated writer/director of Lady Bird. Greta Gerwig is respectably faithful to the material, but bold in her decision to dice the story up and deliver it in non-linear fashion. In Gerwig’s adaptation, we experience the aftermath of the March …
[8] I think one of the hardest stories to tell is a good murder mystery story. That’s why we see so few of them turned into movies. Rian Johnson’s (The Last Jedi, Looper) Knives Out is a beguiling blend of classic and farce, reminding me at times of both Clue and Murder on the Orient Express. Remarkably, its dark comedy never undercuts its dramatic tension. …
[8] I am not a fan of car racing. I couldn’t care less about it, really. But like so many other great sports movies, Ford v Ferrari isn’t really about the sport itself. It’s about the people engaged in the sport. And to that extent, director James Mangold (Logan, Walk the Line) hits a home run with this true story about two men who overcome …
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