In a surprise move out of left field, the found-footage, shaky-cam monster movie and moderate 2008 hit, ‘Cloverfield’ gets a quasi-sequel in the form of a claustrophobic, Hitchcockian thriller set in a fallout bunker.  ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ is a throwback film that relies on visual cues, body language, and a cleverly unfolding screenplay that keeps the… Continue reading ‘10 Cloverfield Lane’ – 3 Strangers in a Bunker – What Happens When People Start Getting Real?

‘Triple 9,’ the new film by once promising director, John Hillcoat (‘The Proposition’, ‘The Road’) is an overstuffed mess with a few glimmers of inspired filmmaking.  The movie wants to be a gritty, Atlanta-set crime epic, a la Michael Mann’s cops and robbers masterpiece, ‘Heat’, complete with a sprawling cast of solid to great actors… Continue reading ‘Triple 9’ – Too Much yet Not Enough?

The day of the Academy Awards is the perfect time to reflect on what the best movies of the previous year really were.  As opposed to scrambling out a top ten list that gets heavily influenced by all of the year-end Oscar bait, taking some time to consider and even revisit favorites a few months later… Continue reading Top Ten Films of 2015 – The Year of the Quality Studio Film?

It’s truly hard to believe that this irreverent, profane comic book adaptation exists in reality, and even harder to believe that this hard-R version of the ‘Deadpool’ character works so well as a hilarious send-up of superhero origin stories.  Make no mistake, though, this is no spoof of a genre that can now basically print its’ own money.  Ryan Reynolds’… Continue reading ‘Deadpool’ – Ryan Reynolds finally finds his superhero sweet spot?

Ben Stiller may just be the most inconsistent comedic actor / filmmaker working today.  He is capable of creating or being a part of some of the funniest, spot-on satires and comedies(‘Tropic Thunder’, ‘The Cable Guy’, ‘There’s Something About Mary’), but for every one of these, his resume is balanced by the worst kind of… Continue reading ‘Zoolander 2’ – Seriously, 15 years for this?

Director Adam McKay’s (‘Anchorman’, ‘Step Brothers’) star-studded, ensemble Oscar contender, ‘The Big Short’, has the hefty goal of presenting an entertaining primer on the financial shenanigans that led to the housing/credit bubble burst of the mid-to-late 2000s.   In this, it mainly succeeds, with direct meta call-outs to the audience, chronological juxtaposition of current events and… Continue reading ‘The Big Short’ – Financial History Doomed to Repeat Itself?

‘The Hateful Eight,’ the 8th full length feature film written and directed by modern master Quentin Tarantino, is his loving ode to the ‘spaghetti western,’ the particular subgenre of films in the 60s and 70s in which Italian filmmakers curated the cowboy mystique, most notably Sergio Leone’s Clint Eastwood ‘Man With No Name’ trilogy.   The movie… Continue reading ‘The Hateful Eight’ – A Sentimental Tarantino?

revenant: n. One who has returned, as if from the dead Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu follows up his Oscar-winning chamber piece, ‘Birdman,’ with something completely different in scope and content, the riveting survival revenge-western, ‘The Revenant.’  This extreme man vs. man vs. nature film tells the extremely harrowing tale of real-life frontiersman, Hugh Glass (Leonardo… Continue reading ‘The Revenant’ – You think your life is rough?

J.J. Abrams and company have crafted perfect blockbuster entertainment out of a film with so much expectation, it seems impossible that it could fulfill the dreams of so many.  Matching crisp, inspiring visuals with a real sense of adventure, and a wonderful balance of light and dark touches (pun intended), this franchise kick-start sets up promising… Continue reading ‘Star Wars Episode VII – The Force Awakens’ – Awakening the inner child?