SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS is a big and bubbly adventure overflowing with wisecracks, mythical creatures and, for the good people who have taken in so many foster children, an explanation for why their house keeps getting hit by lightning. A worthy sequel to its original, it picks up with Billy Batson (Asher Angel) still… Read More »
F9: The Fast Saga
I get it. After eight installments of souped-up cars zooming (in the old sense) across the screen, the stakes are very high in F9: THE FAST SAGA, a franchise that is dedicated to finding new ways to crash, crumple, and otherwise decimate automobiles. And so including a Pontiac Fiero tooling around in space should not… Read More »
FAST AND FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS AND SHAW
HOBBS AND SHAW is, occasionally, as clever as it thinks it is. Fueled by that cocksure attitude, a healthy dose of ironic self-awareness, and the undeniable star power of its three eye-candy leads, this spin-off from the Fast and Furious franchise is a pleasant enough diversion. The plot is strictly a perfunctory exercise involving a… Read More »
ANNA
There is in Luc Besson’s ANNA fully one-third of a very good movie. That third is a finely drawn satire, cartoonishly violent in its sublimation of female rage as it addresses female exploitation in the modern world using the milieus of espionage and modeling as the metaphor. The other two-thirds is a plodding retread of… Read More »
EYE IN THE SKY
As if we needed to be reminded of what a loss Alan Rickman’s death represents to cinema, we have his final speech in Gavin Hood’s incisive consideration of collateral damage and the ethics of warfare, EYE IN THE SKY.
INKHEART
INKHEART is a dreary film about a clever idea. Director Iain Softely has dulled the edges of this tale of books that come to life a little too literally and the result is a leaden trudge through badly rendered character development and performances that are as dull as the ci-mentioned edges. The one exception is… Read More »
LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS — THE OWLS OF GA’HOOLE
Zack Snyder, he of blood and guts and glory 300 fame, surprises with his turn towards a younger audience. With LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS — THE OWLS OF GAHOOLE as his vehicle, he uses his gift for invention and translates from the grim to the enchanting his keen understanding of what makes an enthralling adventure tick.… Read More »
RED
Theres no doubt that RED is fun. The problem is that it should have been much more fun. A romp with a band of aging black ops agents who whoop the collectives tushys of the kiddies who inherited the CIA and other assorted agencies is a potent boomers daydream. Certainly the premise, a scintillating mix… Read More »
ARTHUR
Its not that Russell Brand has been wholly miscast as the titular character in the remake of ARTHUR, rather its that hes been given too much space in which to work. His performance of an impromptu and witty solo about being emasculated by his fiancee (Jennifer Garner) has about it the whiff of Noel Coward,… Read More »
RED 2
RED was a delightful romp wherein seasoned and deadly retired secret agents of several stripes taught a callow world the advantages of age and experience. In RED 2, the world has learned its lesson, and so, while the characters are still delightful, they really have nowhere to go that isnt a re-hash of every spy… Read More »