Stephen King started writing THE LONG WALK when the Vietnam War was still raging, and echoes of its impact on the psyche of the United States reverberate through the film version. In a near future dystopia, young men in the prime of life, struggling in a country economically ravaged by war, voluntarily sign up for… Read More »
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY — PART 1
THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY — PART 1 is not unlike its iconic heroine, Katniss Everdeen. It’s bold, headstrong, no-nonsense, and impatient to get on with things. It begins almost directly from whence the last installment of the saga left off, and with little if any exposition about anything that happened before. For example, why those… Read More »
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, based on the novel of the same name by Sara Gruen, is a grand romantic daydream of a movie. Suffused as it is with a bitter edge of melancholy of lost souls scrabbling for a happiness that they believe to be right around the corner, it is saved from the excesses of… Read More »
HUNGER GAMES — CATCHING FIRE
The thing to keep in mind about THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE is that it suffers from being the middle installment of an established trilogy. Which is not to say its bad. Far from it. Its a dynamic and genuinely exciting adventure flick. Yet, for those who are unfamiliar with either the first installment, or… Read More »
CONSTANTINE
I can see where CONSTANTINE, based on the graphic novel Hellblazer, might have seemed like a good idea for a movie. Good versus evil on a cosmic scale, special effects whipping across the screen with a wild abandon not unlike the whirlwind to be found in the second circle of Hell, and a cynical anti-hero… Read More »
I AM LEGEND
I AM LEGEND is a bittersweet tale of all that is best and worst about humanity, and a cautionary one about good intentions. It’s also one of Will Smith’s best performances as Robert Neville, the scientist driven by guilt to save humanity single-handed while and fighting his growing sense of nihilism after three years and… Read More »