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It Chapter Two is as strong a follow-up as we were likely to get from author Stephen King’s weighty novel. The back half of the story is weaker than the first, both in the novel and the 1989 TV miniseries version. Co-writer/director Andy Muschietti doesn’t entirely escape the meandering bloat of the source material (the … Continue reading
There’s not a lot below the surface of Alita: Battle Angel, mostly because it puts everything it has front and center. For what it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in visceral action, vivid world-building, and sci-fi melodrama. This long-gestating project — a labor of love for co-writer/producer James Cameron and director Robert Rodriguez that the … Continue reading
A big slice of “meh” dumped into the no man’s land between Ready Player One and a certain high-profile Marvel movie, Rampage is an afterthought that barely qualifies as a distraction for those waiting for the summer blockbuster season to kick off in earnest. To be fair, it’s not that it’s bad per se, just … Continue reading
The ultimate fanboy film, Ready Player One hinges entirely on geeky nostalgia. It’s loaded top to bottom with with aural and visual references to video games, movies, film, comic books, television, toys, and role playing games, mostly from but not exclusively limited to the 1980s. You’ll see a Spartan from Halo disintegrate Freddy Krueger and … Continue reading
A mixed bag at best, Ave DuVernay’s (Selma) adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic young adult novel hammers home its (still) powerful message of individuality over conformity while combining it with a potent “girls rule” empowerment message. On the downside, it does so with blunt force under a crushing wave of eye-candy and mediocre technique. Considering … Continue reading
A hearty serving of “meh”, actor-director Kenneth Branagh’s workmanlike adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express is diverting, crammed full of strong but unremarkable performances from an impressive ensemble cast, and mercifully short. It’s a fun ride, but there’s not enough steam in this engine for it to develop into anything memorable. However, the … Continue reading
Rife with potential, the film adaptation of Jo Nesbø’s bestselling crime novel makes for frustrating viewing, even more so now that director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) recently revealed that 10-15 percent of the script was never filmed. Sadly, there’s probably a good movie buried in it somewhere; ironically, cutting more … Continue reading
Part coming-of-age story, part monster movie, It is a masterful horror flick that arrives just in time to breathe a little life — and some well-tuned terror — into a very limp movie season. A white-knuckler of an experience, it also offers succor to jaded Stephen King fans still fuming over the fiasco of The … Continue reading
The long-awaited adaption of Stephen King’s Dark Tower sci-fi/dark fantasy novels may well go down as the most disappointing movie of 2017. Fans have been clamoring for one since the ’90s, and versions have been on and off for a decade. Pity them, for the final product is cheap, shoddy, and bland to a confounding degree.ä … Continue reading
As emotionless and robotic as its lead character, the live-action remake of the 1995 cult classic cyberpunk anime Ghost in the Shell is a self-conscious imitation of its predecessor. It takes a few liberties to differentiate from its source material, but the changes are arbitrary and add up to little more than a tiresome origin … Continue reading
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