[7] Deep Impact feels like an old-fashioned Irwin Allen disaster flick — and I dig that. Basically, the world learns that an asteroid is headed toward earth and we have one year before we can attempt to destroy it with a NASA space mission. So the mid-point of the film focuses on that mission, and — spoilers ahead! — it doesn’t go well. So Deep Impact …
[5] Director David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water) adapts Alexander Trocchi’s novel about a Scottish drifter (Ewan McGregor) who falls in with a family living and working on a river barge, all while hiding what he knows about an alleged murder being publicized in the local papers. Mackenzie captures a suitably dreary tone for the movie, but it’s a challenging story to get into. McGregor’s …
[7] Craig Sheffer (Nightbreed) seeks the help of a controversial sex therapist (Terence Stamp) to help him bring his wife (Twin Peaks‘ Sheryl Lee) to orgasm. Bliss is like The Karate Kid for a little while, with Stamp playing the Mr. Miyagi role, teaching Sheffer about the ways of sex, bliss, and ecstasy. But once orgasm is achieved, we learn that the cause of Lee’s …
[6] Writer/director Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud) serves up a supernatural drama about a father (Michael Shannon) trying to smuggle his son cross-country while avoiding both the government and the religious cult from which they escaped. Turns out the boy is gifted with strange powers that continue revealing themselves throughout the film. Is he an alien? Is it a government conspiracy? Nichols is hoping you’ll …
[7] Nicolas Cage stars in his most interesting movie in many years. He plays an ex-con in an impoverished Southern community who becomes an unlikely role model for a 15-year old boy (Mud‘s Tye Sheridan) who is dealing with an increasingly abusive, alcoholic father (Gary Poulter). Cage and Sheridan are top-notch, and Garry Hawkins’ screenplay, based on Larry Brown’s novel, never stoops to sentimentality. Director David …
[6] So, fifteen minutes into The Fountain, you get a bald man sitting in a snow globe talking to a tree while drifting through space. At that point, you either go with writer/director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream), or you shut the movie off to make the pain go away. Fortunately, that initial leap of faith is the hardest. I started to dig …
[8] Jennifer Lawrence earned her first Oscar nomination playing Ree, a brave teenager raising her younger siblings in Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell. When her drug-dealing father puts the family home up for collateral on his bail, it’s up to Ree to save her family from becoming homeless. Winter’s Bone is essentially a quest for the father, whose dealings and …
[7] For the entirety of this film, you never leave a pine box buried in the desert. It’s a gimmick, but it’s a good one. Star Ryan Reynolds and director Rodrigo Cortes work magic to build drama and suspense in a confined space. By the end of the movie, you’re as anxious for Ryan to get out of the box as you’ve ever been engaged …
[4] Four teenagers decide to lock themselves in an underground bunker for three days of a good time, but when a mutual acquaintance doesn’t return to let them out, things start to get hairy. The concept is okay, but the twisty script shows its hand too early in the game and there isn’t a relatable or engaging character in the bunch. With Desmond Harrington, Thora …
[4] Montgomery Clift plays an eager journalist who risks losing his girlfriend after his editor nudges him into an affair with another woman. The dreary storyline struggles to rise above its theatrical roots and lead star Clift, whom I normally like, is dreadful in this whiny, wussified role. (He’s never been photographed worse, either.) The best thing about the movie is its supporting cast, including …
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