This might be our generation's Die Hard. If so, woe be to our generation. Like the NASCAR spoof Talladega Nights, White House Down works hard to appeal to yahoo sensibilities (the presidential limo doing donuts on the White House lawn while being fired on by rocket launchers, wa-hoo!) while at …
Writer-director Todd Solondz follows the titular animal through four stories with four different owners: a sweetly curious boy (Keaton Nigel Cooke), a compassionate young woman (Greta Gerwig), a frustrated middle-aged man (Danny De Vito), and a hardened old-timer (Ellen Burstyn). Through the pup’s mostly mute, mostly sweet presence, the boy …
Actor Paul Dano’s move into directing, co-writing, and co-producing for Wildlife probably won’t attract anything like the attention that Bradley Cooper’s similar turn for A Star is Born has, and it’s a pity, because it’s a strong (if awfully sad, though not self-pityingly so) debut and a better film, built …
Aw, it sounded so promising. Helen Mirren bringing a little Hammer glamour to the role of Sarah Winchester, the real-life heir to the Winchester rifle fortune who built a real-life Mystery Mansion in San Jose, supposedly at the behest of a spiritual medium. Jason Clarke as the skeptical Man of …
File under: animation complication. You see what happens when you start admiring the work of someone from another culture? You see? Suddenly, you're forced to confront his admiration for the beautiful work of his countrymen, which work produced machines that brought great suffering to your countrymen. If you're having trouble …
File under: animation complication. You see what happens when you start admiring the work of someone from another culture? You see? Suddenly, you're forced to confront his admiration for the beautiful work of his countrymen, which work produced machines that brought great suffering to your countrymen. If you're having trouble …
With Hell or High Water, screenwriter Taylor Sheridan accomplished the neat trick of evoking new empathy for the enduring Native American plight by dovetailing it with the struggles of a modern white man facing foreclosure on the family farm. With Wind River, he takes over directing duties as well, and …
Here's what you need to know: inside each of us is a miracle meant for just one person. The limber universe, which loves us all equally, bends over backwards for each and every one of us, and in so doing, reaches down to help us fulfill our destiny, which is …
Well, it’s a big swing, anyway, even if it’s a miss: Disney’s latest animated effort goes full Carl “We Are Star Stuff” Sagan and takes aim at the Judeo-Christian God. Except here, he’s the allegedly benevolent king Magnifico, who realizes early in life that wishes are super important, the things …
Writer-director Robert Eggers’ dimly lit debut feature is a curious, often fascinating bit of cinema. A closing onscreen note informs us that the dialogue and events owe much to actual court documents, diaries, and stories of Puritan New England. (That’s not to say that any of it is true, only …
Credit director James Mangold and three screenwriters for trying something new with the superhero genre. Instead of a global threat that threatens the globe, the beclawed Logan must solve a Big Sleep-style mystery set in Japan. There's even a cleverish play on the world-weary detective: our nearly immortal hero is …
Daniel Radcliffe takes his first (modest) steps away from Harry Potter. Wisely, he does not stray too far: It’s still England, there are still ghosts to deal with, and the setting is still otherworldly. Only here, it’s a haunted house in Victorian times. Director James Watkins gets the rotting look …
aka The Tourists are Coming. The wonders of the title are the Countryside Wonders — local color, local produce, etc. — being sought out by an Italian variety show eager to pimp Tuscan authenticity. But what’s worth wondering at is the way writer-director Alice Rohrwacher illustrates the private world of …
If 2016’s Café Society was writer-director Woody Allen’s attempt to introduce a younger generation to the world of Woody Allen, then this might just be his followup attempt to show the Kids of Today what a filmed Tennessee Williams play looks and sounds like. And in case the hothouse speechifying …