Is this really how it all ends? A ragged bit of doggerel to finish out the cinematic X-Men saga? Or at least this incarnation of same. What started as a trenchant study of human nature at its best and worst, as well as a scathingly good time at the movies has, with DARK PHOENIX, devolved… Read More »
ALIEN: COVENANT
ALIEN COVENANT is a mixed bag. As a horror movie, it is unimpeachable, adding an extra self-refractive layer of pleasure to an audience that knows exactly what is lurking there in the giant deserted spaceship that our intrepid space colonists discover. As a vehicle for advancing the meta-story of the Alien franchise, it is far… Read More »
ASSASSIN’S CREED
I am not familiar with the video game on which ASSASSIN’S CREED is based, so I cannot speak to whether or not this cinematic translation has captured its essence. I can speak, however, to the befuddling bifurcation of said translation. Part straight-up action film, part would-be contemplation of the pros and cons of free will,… Read More »
X-MEN: APOCALYPSE
X-MEN APOCALYPSE is as big and bold as a special effect-laden action-adventure flick should be. It’s also audacious enough to make the story about more than leveling the planet or finding new ways to decapitate people. As with the best in this series from the Marvel Comics universe, the real enemy is the lethal combination… Read More »
CENTURION
CENTURION mixes a thoroughly honorable high-mindedness with frequent and jarring examples of torture porn. While the ethics of using human beings as pawns in political games is the central theme of the story, the execution is less than astute. What may have aspired to be an intelligent action flick is instead a standard chase flick… Read More »
JANE EYRE
There is something unsettling about a womans direct gaze, one that is engaged, attentive, but unsmiling. One that neither dissembles, nor attempts to disguise the intelligence of the viewer. Disconcerting now, in the early Victorian age in which JANE EYRE is set, its positively revolutionary. In the person of Mia Wasikowska, it’s a thoroughly modern… Read More »
X-MEN – FIRST CLASS
X-MEN FIRST CLASS begins splendidly. The subtle character development, the rich backstory rooted in real history and equally real human experience, the vibrant storyline that is both a sharp consideration of the best and worst of human nature, and a thumping good adventure. And then, once the audience has been lulled into a sense of… Read More »
DANGEROUS METHOD, A
A DANGEROUS METHOD is an exquisitely pointless film. It also features Keira Knightlys most off-putting performance to date, one that may go down as one of the most off-putting of all time, in any film, by any actor. The complicated relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) should be the perfect… Read More »
HAYWIRE
Its interesting that the unsmiling, kick-ass heroine of HAYWIRE, Mallory, Mal for short, doesnt go directly to the one move uniquely efficient in taking down a male combatant. It speaks, no doubt, to her sense of honor and her belief in a fair fight. A belief that people challenge at their own risk to their… Read More »
PROMETHEUS
Riddley Scott is one of the very few filmmakers are given the privilege of taking a second bite from the cinematic apple that was so good to them. Fewer still when the original franchise took such a nosedive as the sequels just kept coming. The franchise is Alien, and while PROMETHEUS does not want to… Read More »