Mel Gibson washes out in his latest turn as a hard-nosed cop. Force of Nature is an absurdly plotted heist thriller that takes place during a hurricane. All of the action is set in a nearly abandoned apartment building. Cardboard characters run up and down stairwells in a deluge of rain and bullets. Their hits
Irresistible is Jon Stewart’s second feature as writer and director. A sledgehammer satire with little nuance, the film falls prey to the standard red state versus blue state characterizations. Irresistible feels like a stale retread of well-known talking points. The lines that divide us are obvious. Stewart brought incisive political discourse to late night television
You Should Have Left is the film adaptation of German author Daniel Kehlmann’s hit novella. The horror aspects were apparently lost in translation. You Should Have Left offers a few initial frights before devolving to standard haunted house drudgery. A strong lead performance from Kevin Bacon elevates the lackluster script; but not enough to compensate
7500 is a harrowing thriller that evokes visceral memories of September 11, 2001. Islamic terrorists hijack a German airplane bound for Paris. The entire film takes place inside the cockpit in real time. There is no soundtrack or accompanying score. The savagery of the situation drives gripping tension until a somewhat deflating third act. It
Black soldiers have fought and died for America from the republic’s inception. They sacrificed for a country that treated them like second class citizens for the majority of its history. Da 5 Bloods addresses that racial disparity with artistic brilliance and masterful storytelling techniques. It weaves a thread from the tumultuous Vietnam War to the
A new Spike Lee-directed movie is always cause for excitement, and the upcoming Da 5 Bloods sounds like one of Lee’s best. Being released to Netflix this Friday, the movie is already receiving widespread critical acclaim making it the right time to climb aboard the hype train. “A compelling treasure hunt story, with an extremely
review for a Fifty Shades film may be the most useless thing ever created, even more so than those for the most recent highly-marketed, big-budget adventure. Not just because – three films in with franchise finale Fifty Shades Freed – the battle lines of those who are going to see these films and those who aren’t have been set;
What makes for a good film is just about impossible to quantify, no matter how much time we spend trying. The criteria changes not only from person to person but from genre to genre, each restricted to a peculiar and unwritten code of what they are going to deliver. Action movies don’t have to be
I don’t like country music. That’s not a knock on the form; it’s just not for me. I understand how the opposite is true for other people, and why, but as a non-fan a country song has to do more than just accurately hit the key elements of the genre to get more than an
Immediately after the events of The Force Awakens, the First Order wastes no time in striking back against the Resistance. Supreme Leader Snoke, General Hux, and Kylo Ren bring all their forces to bear against General Leia and her small band of freedom fighters. Their fleet corners our heroes and begins picking off Resistance ships one