There is a wall in this film but it isn’t portrayed as anything great. In fact, the title of the film falsely suggests the wall as the focal point. It’s a fantasy epic which uses legend to explain the implementation of China’s famous five-thousand-mile-long wall. While The Great Wall is the most expensive Chinese film […]
This is not the first film to make jokes at the expense of the problematic American school system. It offers no political commentary or insights after all the derogatory representation. Instead, Fist Fight makes light of all the infections that plague our public schools. Guidance counselors doing meth, students dealing drugs, and teachers behaving as
James Franco might be the hardest working filmmaker in Hollywood. He jumps from one project to another, writing, directing, acting, producing. His filmography has become so expansive and congested it’s hard to understand his accomplishments. In Dubious Battle is another fleeting “cause film” for Franco, again producer, director and leading actor. He has assembled quite
The first major misfire of 2017 reunites the writer and director of The Lone Ranger (2013) for another cinematic misfortune. What begins as a layered and complex suspense thriller, continues to pile on subplot after subplot until the two and a half hour mystery becomes an endurance test for the audience. Gore Verbinski (The Mexican,
The humanization of Batman (Arnett) turns out to be very funny with glitzy animation and some substance to the message. As evidenced by audience reaction at the screening, those familiar with DC comics will get many references that fly past those of us who are uninformed. But even for those unfamiliar with all the Batman
Movies for women really don’t get any dumber than the ‘Fifty Shades’ series. Men get dumb movies all the time, xXx sequels, Fast & Furious, even the recent John Wick film, despite all its style, is a pretty feebleminded action flick. For the most part genre films – romance and action; are two sides of
If you like paying additional money to see the exact same movie you have already watched, the John Wick sequel is the perfect movie for you. Reeves and his stunt director from “The Matrix Trilogy” return for Chapter 2, which picks up right where the 2014 film left off. The opening sequence is loud, violent
This visually beautiful and engaging animation from the Ghibli Studio combines fantasy with deep human experiences of loss, loneliness, love, and desperation simply through visual animation, music, and a few shouts. It reminded me of last year’s Swiss Army Man, with a man stranded on an isolated island showing the value of fantasy in survival,
Being truly funny takes talent, and The Comedian misses the mark; there are a few out-loud laughs in it, but mostly it tries to be funny by saying outrageous things nearly always with a sexual reference. The movie won’t grab you. Actually, the story is more interesting than the jokes. Jackie (De Niro) is looking
Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín is having quite a year. His first English language film Jackie is garnering lots of awards attention, while Neruda is Chilies’ official entry to the foreign language category at the Academy Awards. Both redefine what a biopic is, but the two couldn’t be more different presentations. If Jackie is Larraín’s version