Robert Lees- “The Martian”: Childish Gambino does some math and Matt Damon gets home safely.
Racheal Adair- “Gravity”: One woman travels to a lake in the most dramatic way possible. She’s fine; no mention of future death by space debris.
Jessica Baker- The “Harry Potter” series: A wizard becomes renowned as the boy-who-lived-then-dies-then-lives-again, then names three children after dead people. But, all was well.
Christal...
“The Founder” is as American as a film can get, for better or for worse. As Richard Brody points out in his review for The Atlantic, it proves that director John Lee Hancock found his niche narrative – that of discovery of one’s untapped potential. But in this film, the “founder” (pun definitely intended), of said potential takes the...
Another worldwide phenomenon dominated the box office and news headlines across the world as “The Hunger Games” started off its opening weekend by breaking the record for largest worldwide opening for a movie released outside of summer and the holidays. It also sold the most first-day advanced screening tickets on Fandango. The most notable of these accomplishments is the...
After 11 years, Ryan Reynolds’ pet project has finally hit the big screen. Initially met with dismissal by film studios, the idea of a Deadpool movie wasn't seriously considered until a short digitally rendered clip, the infamous "test footage," was leaked online just a few years ago. After a positive response from fans,the film has become a reality.
“Deadpool” follows...
January and February are often poor months for moviegoers: Big studios release tawdry films while most of the country is holed up in heavy rain or snows. These movies can be so bad, one wishes that there was snow or sleet in Southern California so we need not put up with such terrible movies. Case in point: “Hot Tub...
One of the many humorous scenes to balance out the cruelty of forlorn hope that paints “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” comes served by Penelope (Samara Weaving), the vacuous 19-year old girlfriend of Mildred Hayes’ (in a phenomenal display of stoicism from Frances McDormand) ex-husband, Charlie (John Hawkes). Charlie, quoting his partner half his age, tells Mildred, “violence only...
Fact: Seeing King Kong duke it out with other cryptids is fun. Like, really fun (and that’s coming from a pretentious film snob whose favorite films are arthouse dramas my mom falls asleep to). But as fun as the action sequences in “Kong: Skull Island” may be, the film is ultimately another unnecessary, uninspired big-budget franchise film that substitutes...
Director Mel Gibson could have created a banal war-hero movie with this World War Two biopic “Hacksaw Ridge.” While the plot somewhat utilizes the overused Florence Nightingale effect (a trope where a war soldier falls in love with their caretaker) and solely focuses its narrative on a single American war hero, Gibson still manages to craft a compelling film...
What is Vince Vaughn still doing in movies? I mean, all that stuff he did in the early 2000s as part of the “frat pack” was over 10 years ago (“Starsky and Hutch,” “Dodgeball”). You would think the novelty of his wooden acting and monotone droll would have worn off by now. Regardless, Vaughn certainly can’t hold down a...
Horror movies have not been the greatest as of late. But they are still a cash cow because they are cheap to make and it is easy to make a profit from them. So, when one does well, you can expect several more to follow. And, although they might suck, it does not stop audiences from lining up on...