Box Office Sabermetrics is a weekly column that will attempt to apply the statistical analysis Sabermetrics, used in Baseball, to the box office results each weekend. There are a few things of note going on in the top 10 this past weekend, first and foremost that Straight Outta Compton just made a ton of money. …
The only truly frustrating part about “Other Lives” is that if the entire season to this point had been even a fraction as good, so many of the acting missteps and story misjudgments could have been more easily forgiven. Much of what works in this fifth installment of the season are things that could have been easily fixed before filming a second episode after the premiere, which is all the more infuriating now that things are even marginally smoothed out.
This premiere trades in the ritualistic and occult elements of season one for the everyday goings on of cops and criminals, depicting them with scenes that are overwrought with heavy language and meaningful glances.
After many months of rumors and the prior casting of Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch and Kelly Reilly have all officially joined the cast of True Detective season 2. Collider has the full press release, in which their character details have been outlined. Rachel McAdams as Ani Bezzerides, a Ventura County Sheriff’s …
When it comes to gripping and powerful films, HBO knows what they’re doing. Though they are TV movies, they actually feel like big Hollywood productions and often times, they are. Big name stars, expert directors, and brilliant screenplays are what comprise an HBO film these days and this is fortunate for the viewer because they are in for truly quality films. The extremely sobering The Normal Heart continues this trend of excellent filmmaking and the results are just divine.
Lone Survivor Written and directed by Peter Berg USA, 2013 The most unsettling moment in Lone Survivor, upon reflection, is its opening shot, one that mirrors the first moments of the extended long-take beginning of Gravity, albeit in a more Earthbound fashion. The former is a static shot of bleak, dry land in Afghanistan as …
Savages Directed by Oliver Stone Written by Don Winslow USA, 2012 Leave it to none other than Oliver Stone to deliver this summer’s most satisfyingly pulpy action flick. Stone might as well have been pronounced dead to the world of cinema over the past decade. Let’s face it, the guy hasn’t been taken serious since the mid …
Savages Directed by Oliver Stone Written by Shane Salerno & Don Winslow & Oliver Stone USA, 2012 Taylor Kitsch cannot catch a break this year. After appearing as the lead in the enjoyable but financially disastrous John Carter, he headlined the equally unpopular and far less entertaining Battleship. Now, he’s one of the leads of …
Battleship Written by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber Directed by Peter Berg USA, 2012 Mix together bits and pieces of the last 20 years of American action filmmaking, throw in a heaping helping of Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey, and sprinkle in some overplayed rock songs. What you get from this brew is the muddled, middling …
John Carter Written by Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon, based on the novel A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs Directed by Andrew Stanton Listen to our Mousterpiece Cinema John Carter podcast or read Josh‘s extended thoughts about the film. ***** John Carter and the Princesses of Mars The one thing that John Carter …
John Carter Written by Andrew Stanton, Michael Chabon, and Mark Andrews Directed by Andrew Stanton USA, 2012 Stop if you’ve heard this one before. A man of humble origin is plucked from his surroundings and thrust into a central role in a massive, age-old conflict on another world, wherein it becomes clear that he is …
