Before they devolved into a campy excuse for a quick buck, THE PLANET OF THE APES franchise was a nicely rendered and clever conceit for commenting on the human condition by having apes stand in for us. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, the prequel that explains how it all happened, is a worthy… Read More »
DREAM HOUSE
There are fine moments in DREAM HOUSE, but not enough so that the easily parsed story and oddly soporific direction fail to become insurmountable hurdles. Daniel Craig, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Weisz give performances that are visceral without being obvious, performances that amplify the sense of foreboding and suspense that should be coming from the… Read More »
SAW II
SAW II suffers the fate of many sequels, it mimics the original without quite catching what made that original worth seeing. In SAW I, it was the impish perversity filmmakers Leigh Whannell and James Wan celebrated while plumbing the psychology of victims who have fallen prey to a serial killer with a singular style. Dubbed… Read More »