If you’re going to shamelessly mine classic films for plots, there are worse choices than Planet of the Apes. And if the goal is to keep a child occupied for two hours, you can do worse than Smallfoot. It’s the ultimate synthesis of what makes kids’ movies good without resorting to the lowest common denominator: […]
If you’re going to shamelessly mine classic films for plots, there are worse choices than Planet of the Apes. And if the goal is to keep a child occupied for two hours, you can do worse than Smallfoot. It’s the ultimate synthesis of what makes kids’ movies good without resorting to the lowest common denominator: […]
Halloween season is off to a solid start with the pleasant surprise of the kid-friendly horror/fantasy/comedy The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Everything about this movie should be working against it. The marketing makes it seem like another expository, self-contained “adventure” that uses the fact that it’s for children to cover up inconsistencies […]
Before we get to just how bad The Nun is, it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate the fact that it’s taken the so-called Conjuring Universe this long to deliver a full-on dud. The tone was effectively set by director James Wan in The Conjuring back in 2013, and even when its successors haven’t matched […]
The capture and trial of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi war criminal often referred to as the architect of the Final Solution, was a massive victory not only for the victims and survivors of the Holocaust, but for the notion that the serving of justice was far from complete after Nuremberg. No matter how much time […]
So-called “gay conversion therapy” is child abuse, plain and simple, perpetrated by adults who knowingly manipulate the fears and insecurities of young victims in order to make them hate themselves and their inborn nature. The Miseducation of Cameron Post examines a camp, God’s Promise, from the point of view of a teen (Chloë Grace Moretz) […]
If Peter Berg was more interested in emulating Michael Mann than Michael Bay, Mile 22 might be something. An international thriller based around getting a high-value asset from point A to point B through extremely hostile territory within a very narrow window should be exciting from beginning to end, a claustrophobic story in the open […]
At first, the biggest surprise move made by Marvel was placing fan favorite (yet far-fetched) Thor on equal footing with the iconic Iron Man and Captain America in its Cinematic Universe. Now we accept the character’s presence as a given. Then the studio defied expectations by establishing phase two of its master plan with new-to-film […]
From amid the anger over uninspired sequels and reboots this summer emerges Pete’s Dragon, a delightful family movie that’s firm on its own foundation and follows its own creative vision while using its source material as a platform to reach new heights. Ostensibly remaking Disney’s 1977 live-action-with-animation fantasy that is goofy and endearing, but—let’s be […]
David Ayer’s Suicide Squad is DC’s first attempt at unshackling its Extended Universe from Zack Snyder’s hollow style and unrelenting gloom, with an eye to demonstrating that building a franchise around the Justice League is a worthwhile endeavor on its own and it’s not just piggybacking on Marvel’s formula for The Avengers. On both counts, […]
Jacques Audiard’s Dheepan comes stateside after claiming the 2015 Palme d’Or, a prize well-earned for this masterful, seemingly effortless balancing act of ripped-from-the-headlines narrative with slow-burn psychodrama. Though stylistically similar to politically minded social realists, Audiard never betrays individuality in the name of scoring ideological points. The film neither ignores nor tempers the politics inherent […]