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 »
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 »
THE HITMAN’S WIFE’S BODYGUARD
When last we saw ex-Triple A rated bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds), he had succeeded in getting notorious hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) to the Hague to testify against a genocidal dictator (Gary Oldman). He had also taken a bullet for Darius, which is part of a bodyguard’s job. It would have been better… Read More »
RIDERS OF JUSTICE
It’s impossible to pigeon-hole RIDERS OF JUSTICE. Part tragedy, part very black comedy, part action/revenge, it is nevertheless also a perceptive examination of troubled souls longing for surcease of sorrow for whom the usual therapeutic methods have failed. If that were all, it would be enough, but it goes further, essaying nothing less than a… Read More »
WRATH OF MAN
In WRATH OF MAN, we find Jason Statham and Guy Ritchie re-united in a film about the imperative of family values and the dangers of boredom. The result is a bloody wonderland of moral relativity and of an honor system that has nothing to do with Testaments Old or New. While is doesn’t give Mr.… Read More »
MORTAL KOMBAT
It’s all very silly, but to its credit, MORTAL KOMBAT doesn’t take itself any more seriously than it expects us to. Based on the inordinately popular video game, it delivers everything you want in a video game, and declines to burden its audience with much in the way of a storyline. Instead, it’s a series… Read More »
GODZILLA VS. KONG
If there were special awards for truth in advertising when it comes to movie titles, GODZILLA VS. KONG would sweep them. Essentially, that is all there is to this extravagant spree of special effects and occasional camp. The plot, and there is a great deal of it, is completely subservient to upping the ante when… Read More »
WONDER WOMAN 1984
At one point in WONDER WOMAN 1984, it’s as if we are is dared to think of the phrase “cat fight” as Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) tangles with one of the two villains of the piece, played by Kristen Wiig. I don’t quite know what to make of that in this troubled film that is… Read More »
MULAN
There are several volumes of sophisticated feminist theory at work in the live-action version of MULAN, but, trust me, they are wholly in the service of a first-rate action-adventure film that puts characters ahead of spectacle. Director Niki Caro has created a film that is intense, compelling, and entirely entertaining, while Liu Yifei as the… Read More »
THE HUNT
No one is spared in Nick Cuse and Damon Lindelof’s THE HUNT, nor, as, will be revealed by the end, should they be. Our intrepid filmmakers have eschewed taking sides in the current political morass, instead opting for a more challenging take on the foibles of human nature itself. A bold move guaranteed to raise… Read More »
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