By far the most entertaining film I saw at the 2016 SXSW film festival. Horror actor, writer, director Ti West (The Sacrament) delivers his most accessible work to date, a western set in 1890 of all things. It was Hawke’s second feature debut at the festival, and by far the better of the two. What’s […]
It really took some effort to make Jack Reacher 2 worse than the first one. Cruise is on autopilot, making one action movie a year, and this was just the next script in the pile. It’s not exciting, it’s not thrilling, it not only lacks anything new with Lee Child’s character, but it can’t even
Prior to “The Accountant”, Gavin O’Conner had only made one film of note; 2011’s “Warrior” which landed Nick Nolte a supporting actor nomination. “The Accountant” has been swirled in secrecy, skipping film festivals, withdrawing from pre screenings. Unlike “The Girl on the Train” which dodged its way into a wide release, Affleck’s latest dark thriller
The latest Peter Berg / Mark Wahlberg collaboration proves the filmmaking duo have discovered a formula that has a broad mainstream appeal. It started with Lone Survivor, based on a true story, with Wahlberg playing an American war hero. Another extreme circumstance, another heroic situation, this time Wahlberg is saving co-workers during the Deepwater Horizon
The only thing Antoine Fuqua’s version of “The Magnificent Seven” adds to the slew of remakes that came before is diversity. Based on the original 1954 “Seven Samurai” by Akira Kurosawa, then Americanized into a western in 1960, a sequel in ’72, then a TV-series in 1998, this story has been told to death. Fuqua
Remakes have become a plague on American cinema. There are few times in history where a classic film has been remade with improvement. Steven Soderbergh had a good idea when he remade a Frank Sinatra/Dean Martin film that was not well received when originally debuted in 1960; “Oceans Eleven” 2001 however was a huge hit.
In the first of two potential comeback vehicles for disgraced Oscar winner Mel Gibson, Blood Father is a throwback to cheesy 90’s action flicks. “You can’t be a prick all your life and then just say never-mind,” Gibson’s character says. In the film’s opening moments, featuring our beef jerky skinned, main character in group therapy
No this has nothing to do with apes or primates as the standard definition of anthropoid might suggest. As WWII films go, Anthropoid is a dark one, it’s tough to watch for a number of reasons. Academy Award nominated short film director Sean Ellis brings the assassination attempt of Hitler’s third rank to life. Ellis,
Director David Ayer is known for his hard hitting R rated films. Whether capturing authentic LAPD portrayals with Jake Gyllenhaal in “End of Watch” or trekking through muddy WWII with Brad Pitt in Fury. Ayer enters an unfamiliar territory of mainstream cinema, PG-13 territory. “Suicide Squad” is an organized chaotic mess of superheroes, meta humans,
The Bourne series which began in 2002 with director Doug Liman instantly became Oscar winner Matt Damon’s most successful acting venture. The 2004 sequel “The Bourne Supremacy” was handed over to director Paul Greengrass (“United 93”, “Captain Phillips”) who revitalized the series. Greengrass returned to finish out the trilogy in “The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007), but