Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Hail, Caesar! (2016)

[6] The Coen Brothers are at it again, this time with a wonky tale of 1950s Hollywood studio politics mixed with political scandal. Hail, Caesar! is scattershot in its narrative. Josh Brolin's character is marginally the main protagonist. Brolin plays a gruff…
Deadpool (2016)

Deadpool (2016)

[7] Ryan Reynolds was born to play a wise-cracking vigilante, and indeed Deadpool comes off a bit like a higher-stakes Van Wilder. The story centers around the origin of the character, how he discovers he has terminal cancer and takes a chance…
Inside Out (2015)

Inside Out (2015)

[5] Pixar usually moves me with some genuine human emotion, but Inside Out is a little more sentimental and pandering than many of their other films. The big cry moment is a cheap, low blow, is what I mean to say. And…
Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015)

Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015)

[6] This documentary centers around the lasting influence of a week-long interview Francois Truffaut conducted with Alfred Hitchcock in 1962, and the book that encounter produced, 1966's Cinema According to Hitchcock. Sprinkled throughout the run-time are snippets from interviews conducted with some…
6 Souls (2010)

6 Souls (2010)

[4] Julianne Moore stars as a psychiatrist who discovers the multiple personalities of a patient are actually murder victims. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors) plays the patient, and normally I love these two leading actors. But we've seen Moore do this kind…
The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

The Cabin in the Woods (2012)

[8] A group of college kids go to a cabin in the woods, but that's as far as we get into the story before director Drew Goddard and producer Joss Whedon turn the trope on its head. In a Scream-like fashion, The…
Hesher (2011)

Hesher (2011)

[7] As a bullied grade-schooler (Devin Brochu) grapples with his mother's death, an enigmatic stoner bad boy named Hesher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) bursts into his life and further complicates things. At first, I worried that Gordon-Levitt would slip into show-off mode, but he…
The Woman (2011)

The Woman (2011)

[8] A man captures a feral woman and chains her up in his cellar, calling upon his wife and kids to help him 'civilize' her. The Woman makes bold play of gender dynamics that will leave some viewers crying 'misogyny', 'misandry', or…
Jupiter Ascending (2015)

Jupiter Ascending (2015)

[6] Jupiter Ascending is probably the last big-budget studio picture from Andy & Lana Wachowski, the creators of The Matrix trilogy and some other movies that failed to live up to expectation. I admire the Wachowski's ambition and I appreciate how they…
Dredd (2012)

Dredd (2012)

[6] Pete Travis directs from a script by Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Sunshine) this second attempt to bring the comic book character Judge Dredd to the big screen. This is a smaller-scale production than the 1995 Sylvester Stallone version, but it's a…