A woman discovers her lover’s ex living inside the walls of a lavish country manor, trapped in a secret vault built by one of Hitler’s engineers. If you can get past one cardboard characterization (a stereotypical cop) and a haphazard patch of plotting, there’s enjoyment to be found in this …
NASA’s gone funky when a trio of African-American women (Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe), all experts in the field of analytic geometry, prove they have the right stuff needed to crack the elite white boy’s space program. An important historical achievement — and apparently, the space center’s …
Once upon a time, there lived in a valley above the clouds a young Austrian couple, secure in their beliefs that fascism would never reach them. The fact-based story of a conscientious objector who refused to fight alongside the Nazis — villagers turn against the #NeverHitler for not returning their …
The personal assistant (Dakota Johnson, relaxed and confident) to a megastar headliner (Tracee Ellis Ross, peerless-ish) at the crossroads of Vegas residency and cutting a live greatest hits album tries branching out by guiding the career of a promising singer (Kelvin Harrison Jr.). Considering the error margin potential inherent in …
A pair of enterprising young sativa scholars, destined to ace the principal’s newly announced mandatory school-wide drug test, decide to even the playing field by plying the entire graduating class with cannabis brownies. Without enough laughs and gags to support it, the solid foundation for a stoner comedy dissipates faster …
This fictional reenactment of Somali pirates kidnapping the crew of a Danish cargo ship probably would have played better had the Digital Gym not screened the documentary account, Stolen Seas, earlier that week. Instead of sticking to the drama inherent in the story — the filmmakers went to great lengths …
This fictional reenactment of Somali pirates kidnapping the crew of a Danish cargo ship probably would have played better had the Digital Gym not screened the documentary account, Stolen Seas, earlier that week. Instead of sticking to the drama inherent in the story — the filmmakers went to great lengths …
Growing up Opie, the closest Ron Howard came to an addictive personality was town drunk Otis Campbell. Considering the amount of time Howard spent in Mayberry — and with almost three-dozen benignant features to his credit — one would be wrong to expect more spit and less polish in this …
Instead of following author Stephen Rebello’s fine Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by turning out a procedural on the art of making a masterpiece, Sacha Gervasi (Anvil: The Story of Anvil) gives us a watered-down romcom directed in the style of an episode of Hitchcock Presents. (It’s ostensibly …
Published in 1966, Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut was the first book to take a title-by-title approach to exploring a director’s career. It also made it cool to like Alfred Hitchcock. A Hollywood master and an internationally acclaimed Parisian newcomer couldn’t have been more diverse, but Hitch, instantly sensing a fellow …
A genetically-tweaked one-many army (glare-blasting Rupert Friend) comes to the aid of a likewise-amped young women (Hannah Ware) searching for her father. Five words to make grown cinephiles throw up with fear: based on a video game. At least they’re up front about it; the opening prologue reads like a …
Any film with a lead character called “Charlie Bronson," whose father, played by Beau Bridges, is named “Clint," and who drives a mint '67 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors had best be an affectionate tribute to '70s drive-in fare. “Bronson” (Dax Shepherd) is a whistle-blowing retired getaway driver enrolled in …
As a film for all seasons — one that features musical numbers celebrating everything from Christmas to the 4th of July — 1942’s Holiday Inn was the first (and finest) of three movies to include Bing Crosby chirping “White Christmas.” The star also groans Irving Berlin’s holiday anthem in Blue …
In the middle of a holiday moviegoing season fraught with yarns of slavery, childhood mortality, cancer, senility, and an AIDS panacea as a cash cow, it’s amazing how refreshing a cheesy exploitation film can sound. Taking sole screenwriting credit, Sylvester Stallone lumps together shreds of his past glories to form …
The Searchers houses one of the most famous (and dramatic) camera movements in cinema history, a swift dolly-in on John Wayne’s evil-eyed examination of young women ravaged by the Comanche. At its best, The Homesman adds credence to the Duke’s towering look of disgust. Tommy Lee Jones directs and co-scripts …