Among the many laudable things to be found in THUNDERBOLTS: THE NEW AVENGERS is the best exploitation of the natural consonance to be heard in the name Bob since Jim Jarmusch’s DOWN BY LAW (look it up, you won’t be sorry). In addition, what we have here is a big, splashy superhero flick that doesn’t… Read More »
A WORKING MAN
There are rules for a Jason Statham film, at least the ones that inhabit that subgenre of action film that he has carved out for himself. A WORKING MAN follows all of them all, because a formula that (usually) works is worth respecting. They include Mr. Statham playing a decent man longing for a quiet… Read More »
GRAN TURISMO
You have to wade through a great deal of treacle in GRAN TURISMO before you get to part of the film that really works. Based (very loosely) on the true story of the gamer who became a race car driver, the first act plays like a very well executed cliché, albeit with a superbly edited… Read More »
BLACK WIDOW
Braids, French and other, loom large in the visuals of BLACK WIDOW, and it is an apt metaphor. The ultra-femininity of long, flowing hair rigorously trained into orderly rows of tightly disciplined tresses echoes the rigorous training given to ultra-feminine assassin-turned-Avenger Natasha Romanoff, the eponymous super-heroine in this her first spinoff from the Marvel Universe.… Read More »
HELLBOY
There are many ways for a film to go wrong, and while HELLBOY may not have explored all of them, it has certainly come very close. Dialogue that is not nearly as clever as it thinks it is, editing that teeters between pedestrian and laughable, and a story that is merely an excuse for carnage… Read More »