London Has Fallen Written by Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Christian Gudegast, and Chad St. John Directed by Babak Najafi U.S., 2016 When Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down both came out in 2013, it seemed obvious that the vehicle starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx would be the one to make big bank. Oops. …
Seven, director David Fincher’s gritty nihilistic neo-noir about a serial killer who tortures and murders sinners based on the 7 deadly sins, turns 20 years old.
10. Waterworld Directed by: Kevin Reynolds It could be the flop of all flops. At the time, “Waterworld” was the most expensive film ever made. Starring Kevin Costner, “Waterworld” is a science-fiction/fantasy film taking place roughly 500 years after the polar ice caps melted in the beginning of the 21st century, effectively covering the entire …
Picking out ten moments from The Dark Knight Trilogy, what is essentially one epic journey encompassing 459 minutes, is an almost impossible task, as it leaves out so many wonderful scenes enriching the story or bewitching the audience.
Let there be no doubt: the concept which powers Luc Besson’s new film Lucy, that human beings use only 10% of their brain capacity on average, is pseudoscience garbage. However, that fact ought not disqualify the film immediately. In truth, a little pseudoscience can go a long way at the movies.
Sometimes, despite reason and common sense, there is no escaping the kinetic charm of a truly ridiculous creation. If it’s true that we only use 10% of our brains, you’ll need to disengage 9% of it to enjoy Lucy. But what truly wondrous sights that 1% will enjoy!
Transcendence Written by Jack Paglen Directed by Wally Pfister United Kingdom, China, and USA, 2014 It’s been more than a decade since Johnny Depp moved from being a bundle of quirky nerves in the body of a heartthrob to a full-fledged movie star, and it may be the worst thing that happened to his career. …
The LEGO Movie Written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller USA, 2014 The opening moments of Pixar’s last great film to date, Toy Story 3, depict an intentionally, increasingly goofy and outlandish fantasy scenario in which all of the toys in Andy’s bedroom play a part. There are the heroic Sheriff Woody and …
“Some things are better left unexplained,” a character intones at one point in Now You See Me, a wise lesson that the film’s trio of screenwriters should’ve taken to heart. This heist film, in which a quartet of magicians are highly intelligent thieves (or are they?), becomes more nonsensical and inexplicable the more we learn about how these tricksters have robbed banks (or have they?) and sent federal agents on various wild-goose chases (or were…well, you get the idea).
Oblivion is a science-fiction Frankenstein, stitched together with the parts of older, better, films within the genre. If you have seen the seminal sci-fi movies, the ones everyone calls to mind when considering the best the unknown and supernatural have to offer, then you will be familiar with the angles of Oblivion, its many nooks and crannies. This Tom Cruise vehicle boasts striking visuals and a weirdly claustrophobic plot structure, but the familiarity it engenders only winds up doing it harm.
Oblivion is what one might classify as an amalgamation sci-fi. Though many a contemporary feature in the genre is in clear debt to a prior work, Oblivion is one such example where the narrative similarities and likely intentional visual references cover a particularly wide array of films and literature, including La Jetée, WALL-E, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Mad Max, Jin-Roh, I Am Legend, and one particular sci-fi of the past decade that simply mentioning would probably provoke likely guesses of a major plot development in one’s mind before seeing the film.
John Doe’s apartment? As in the home of creepy, pervy Kevin Spacey from Se7en? Go ahead. Issue a worldwide “weirdo alert.” Sound the alarms, but I can’t help myself. David Fincher’s 1995 thriller still does a number on me to this day — just in a “feel good” kind of way. Good thing that doesn’t sound even …
This article is dedicated to Andrew Copp: filmmaker, film writer, artist and close friend who passed away on January 19, 2013. You are loved and missed, brother. **** Looking at the Best Actor Academy Award nominations for the film year 2012, the one miss that clearly cries out for more attention is Liam Neeson’s powerful …
Click here to access part 1 In part 1 of this somewhat elongated discussion of the characters inhabiting the world of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, we delved, as best we could, into what made each of the three protagonists tick, Will Munny (Clint Eastwood), Ned Logan (Morgan Freeman) and The Schofield Kid (Jaimz Woolvett). We then …
Unforgiven Directed by Clint Eastwood Written by David Webbs Peoples U.S.A., 1992 There are precious few names from the film industry whose names are practically synonymous with the western genre. Some actors and directors have done well with the western, such as James Stewart, Sam Peckinpah, Gene Hackman (whose character in Unforgiven we shall look …
“There’s no need to feel guilty about praising Red – as an exercise for movie stars of a certain age, it sure surpasses The Expendables.” Red Directed by Robert Schwentke Based on the D.C. Comics graphic series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner, Red is a fast moving, energetic, explosive, good-natured, occasionally violent and occasionally …