[8] Just when I thought good old fashioned escapist adventure storytelling was dead, along comes The Lost City of Z. This movie renewed my faith in movies. I was beginning to think I’d seen the end of grand, romantic films like those directed by Peter Weir or David Lean, but James Gray (The Yards, We Own the Night) picks up the mantle and delivers a film …
[8] After many failed attempts (here, here, and here) to compete with Marvel by launching their own ‘expanded universe’, DC has finally pulled their shit together. Wonder Woman works. It works as an origin story for the character, it works as a summer blockbuster, and most importantly, it works as an emotionally engaging piece of storytelling. The story begins on Wonder Woman’s home island, one …
[3] Hello, it’s the 1990s. We want our big, stupid action movie back. I really, really disliked this movie. It’s so devoid of emotion and tediously boring, I thought about leaving before it was over. It’s like Con-Air for the 2010s or something. So maybe if you liked that big stupid Con-Air movie, you’ll also like this big stupid King Kong movie. But I guess I …
[5] {MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!} Ridley Scott returns to the franchise he created with Alien: Covenant, which is equal parts Alien remake and Prometheus sequel. It’s a total retread of the original 1979 film’s narrative — a group of space travelers respond to a signal on a strange planet, discover monsters, and get killed by monsters. The broad strokes are all Alien here, and Scott’s so …
[7] Everyone in front of and behind the camera is back for another go-round in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, a fun time at the movies, even if it falls a tad short of the first film‘s humor and character engagement. This installment focuses around the sudden appearance and identification of Peter Quill’s (Chris Pratt) father, played by the always-welcome Kurt Russell. Dad reveals …
[10] In picturesque Italy, 1983, a seventeen-year-old boy falls in love with an older man who is working as his father’s research assistant. That’s it. That’s all Call Me By Your Name is about. And it’s marvelous. So many other coming-of-age, coming out, and gay-centered love stories focus on outside forces exerting pressure on the characters. But James Ivory’s (Maurice, The Remains of the Day) …
[7] Jordan Peele of Key and Peele comedy fame takes an auspicious stab at writing and directing a horror film with Get Out, the story of a young black man who starts to get the heebie jeebies after being introduced to his white girlfriends’ family. At first, it’s innocent enough — white people making statements about voting for Obama, loving Tiger Woods, and conceding to …
[8] Writer/director James Mangold (3:10 to Yuma, Walk the Line) returns to the X-Men franchise after 2013’s The Wolverine and serves up a highly satisfying conclusion for its centerpiece hero. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart return as Logan/Wolverine and Charles/Professor X, respectively. They are joined by young Dafne Keen, playing a child mutant in a 2029 future where mutants have gone nearly extinct. But military-scientist …
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