THE DOG STARS is a grim and loping thing that circles its points without the energy to transmute them into the powerful statement they were meant, and that they need, to be. Alas. As a speculation on what a post-apocalyptic America might be, it is not without its merits, but as a filmed entertainment, its… Read More »
MUTINY
I have never made a secret of my abiding belief that Jason Statham makes anything he’s in better. There is something about his brand of unstudied cool that has a mystique all its own with none of the showy bravado of a Brando, or the ironic remove of McQueen. I bring this up because for… Read More »
IT ENDS
IT ENDS is that wondrous oeuvre that demands of its audience both its attention and its intelligence. To describe this unconventional road trip as an existential thriller would be glib and unworthy. What we have here is nothing less than a consideration, via allegory, of existence itself. We are asked to ponder how to live… Read More »
THE ODYSSEY
There is a reason Homer’s ODYSSEY has lasted for so many millennia. Its themes, its imagery, its all-too human portraits of heroes and deities who are less than perfect have sparked imagination and found purchase with whatever the zeitgeist is at any given time. And so it is with Christopher Nolan’s adaptation. It is a… Read More »
EVIL DEAD BURN
This is what you need to know about EVIL DEAD BURN. It is a masterpiece of its genre. It does not, however, transcend that genre. Not really. If you love the garish gore that is the trademark of this franchise, you will adore it. If dangling entrails and exposed bones, lots of them, don’t work… Read More »
THE INVITE
THE INVITE is a blisteringly brilliant dissection of relationship dynamics and the effects of radical honesty on self-delusion. Taking place over the course of one evening, two couples will get more out of their revelatory get-together than charcuterie and tequila shots. By the end, we will have gotten to know them with all their faults,… Read More »
BLACK BOX
BLACK BOX is a solid horror film that indulges in the tropes of the genre, specifically the airplane in peril sub-genre, but manages to avoid most of the clichés. Blending found footage and some slick direction, the scares are earned and the story does a fine job of offering up some surprises that throw both… Read More »
STOP! THAT! TRAIN!
Click here for the flashback interview with director Adam Shankman for ROCK OF AGES. STOP! THAT! TRAIN! continues the fine tradition of AIRPLANE! and POLICE SQUAD delivering so many jokes per second that the sheer volume becomes the best joke of all. That’s saying a great deal for a film that is a drag queen… Read More »
OBSESSION
The familiar theme in OBSESSION is given a bracing re-boot by filmmaker Curry Barker. While the narrative addresses the oft considered dangers of getting exactly what you wish for, the subtext, that bursts through with the force of a spurting aorta, deals firmly with the insidious nature of male toxicity, female objectification, and what happens… Read More »
OVER YOUR DEAD BODY
Click here for the flashback interview with Jason Segel and James Ponsoldt for THE END OF THE TOUR. OVER YOUR DEAD BODY is a bristling black comedy that perfectly balances the genuine terror of psychopaths on the loose with the tragedy of a marriage gone very, very bad. And makes them both hilarious. Not an… Read More »
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