Jessica Alba

The Fantastic Four are the first family of Marvel Comics. Created in 1961 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (apocryphally, the result of an edict by Marvel publisher Martin Goodman to tryout a superhero team, a la rival DC Comic’s super-successful Justice League) and heavily inspired by the monster comics Marvel was publishing at the time, their tremendous popularity and success is responsible for launching Marvel’s Silver Age superhero renaissance, transforming a middling publisher of romance and sci-fi comics into one of the “Big Two” publishers of superhero adventure stories, leading to the creation of some of pop culture’s most enduring and beloved characters. Without the Fantastic Four, there would arguably be no Spider-Man, no Hulk, no X-Men or Avengers. Fantastic Four #1 is, simply, the Big Bang of Marvel Comics.

The opening scene of Joe Carnahan’s latest shows a man getting jettisoned from the driver’s side window of his car in a crash, hitting the ground rolling and ending up sitting on the street with barely a scratch. That’s how this film begins, and it only gets zanier from there. The plot follows a down-on-his-luck limo driver, Stretch (Patrick Wilson), who finds out he has to pay $6,000 of gambling debts by midnight. Roger Karos (Chris Pine), a deranged billionaire, offers to cover his debt if he drives him around for the evening, an experience that gets more hellish with each passing minute.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Written by Frank Miller Directed by Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller USA, 2014   When Sin City exploded into theaters in 2005, we had never seen anything like it.  It was a resounding declaration that digital filmmaking had finally arrived.  The new Robert Rodriquez-Frank Miller collaboration, Sin City: …

It’s not a particularly good sign that the end credits for A.C.O.D. are more revealing and poignant than the film preceding them. As the credits roll on one half of the screen, a montage of (presumably) the film’s crew members plays on the other half, as they identify as being either Adult Children of Divorce (hence the titular acronym) or not, defining when or if their parents split up, how, and why.

Some of this year’s Sundance comedy-dramas have had their narratives plucked from the wellspring of their director’s personal experience, though that should never excuse any shortcomings. Yesterday, I wrote a negative review of Francesca Gregorini’s treatment of motherhood in Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes. My primary beef was less with the inherent trauma at …

Sin City Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller Written by Frank Miller U.S.A, 2005 Every Friday during the month of June, the Friday Film Noir column will be taking a slightly offbeat look at noir in film. More specifically, films that embrace noir elements in their  own fashion yet are not from the traditionally …

Going into the final day of the competition, I was trailing by two films. Things didn’t bode well for me, because time just was not on my side. Though I’ve taken every year by a landslide, I am more than satisfied with the results here. I may not have won, but my record is still …

The news that Jessica Alba was not actually naked in the shower scene in Robert Rodriguez’s Machete was met with a lot of disappointed and some debate. Apparently Alba filmed the scene wearing white underwear that was later removed with CGI. The debate revolves around what CGI nudity means for the future of film. Photo …

“Like the protagonist, it tries hard to punch above its weight but has difficulty landing the killer blow.”  ………………………………………………… The Killer Inside Me Director: Michael Winterbottom “Out here you’re a man and a gentleman or you aren’t anything at all.” Or you could be a smooth-talking lawman by day and a psychopath with a penchant …