You can officially stop wondering or hoping if the modern “Jurassic Park” franchise will ever re-capture what audiences felt in 1993. These desperate sequels will never have the effect on a current generation that Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster did on ours. That said, Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 “Jurassic World” came close. “Fallen Kingdom” unfortunately lives up to […]
Now here is an interesting movie. An American crime drama set in Massachusetts, filmed on location in Bulgaria. When Nicholas Cage is the best thing about your film, you know you are in trouble. There is morbidly bad acting from the very opening scene, which sets up the bad guys, to the very end. There
There are lots of survival films, many of them taking place in open water. “Adrift” is both similar to those before it, and strikingly different. Based on an incredible true story of a sailboat wrecked in the Pacific, Shailene Woodley (“The Descendants”) re-dons her bathing suit to give what’s easily her most ambitious and demanding
Another movie where highest paid “actor” Dwayne Johnson saves the world. “Rampage” is also the second video game adaptation we’ve seen this year. Director Brad Peyton and Johnson have become a team delivering spectacle film “Journey 2” and “San Andreas” (the sequel to that one coming soon). “Rampage” feels like a cross section of different
Joel Edgerton’s brother Nash is the director of Gringo, his sophomore effort behind the camera. Both Edgerton’s have found success in various roles of filmmaking, but Gringo doesn’t showcase either of their skills. The second consecutive miscast role for Joel Edgerton (Red Sparrow) who began as a poor man’s Aussie heartthrob but, but now quite
Hawkes (Everest) performance is the selling point of Small Town Crime, a movie that can’t really put its finger on a genre. From a marketing stand point, Small Town Crime with it’s common, non-descriptive title, is ideal films for SXSW. Outside the festival, I am not sure who or where the audience for a film
The time for questioning the motives of Liam Neeson’s choice in action movie scripts is over and now we must question his sanity. In his forth collaboration with director Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop, Run All Night), Neeson once again takes part in a formulaic action movie that’s predictable and unrealistic. The Commuter commits unforgivable cinematic sin
“Crazy Heart”, “Out of the Furnace”, “Black Mass” and now “Hostiles”. Scott Cooper, the actor turned director, has quickly become one of the most prolific American cinematic voices. His latest film “Hostiles”, the darkest subject matter yet, but also his most accomplished. Cooper’s scripts have a slow burn about them, you don’t even realize “Hostiles”
Remember that 2008 film Hero Wanted with Cuba Gooding Jr? Yea, me either, but that hasn’t stopped stuntman and occasional director Brian Smrz from delivering yet another forgettable action flick. Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke (Maudie, Boyhood) is the only element here that even provides this cheap action flick with a chance at a theatrical audience,
The Americans are here to ruin a promising franchise. Two years ago, director Matthew Vaughn made a star out of newcomer Taron Egerton (Eddie the Eagle) with a witty, sarcastic and intelligent script. Kingsman didn’t play as well in America, so for the sequel, everything from the pace, humor and Taron’s charisma is altered. The