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One of the most pleasant surprises of a mixed-bag movie summer, Guardians of the Galaxy is something akin to Star Wars on Quaaludes. It’s a tongue firmly in cheek throwback to cheesy ’80s-era B-grade sci-fi movies that is equal parts goofball comedy, cartoony action, and general weirdness. The movie opens with a brief prelude: A young … Continue reading
It’s almost impossible to sit through Lucy without pondering what could have been. A ham-fisted fusion of high-concept science fiction and lowbrow action from writer-director Luc Besson, it fails in both categories. It does succeed at being a very, very dumb movie about being very, very smart — for whatever that’s worth. Scarlett Johansson, slumming between … Continue reading
It’s rare that a sequel or a reboot manages to justify its existence in the megaplex, but Dawn of the Planet of the Apes manages to one-up its progenitor and then some. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2010) was itself a pleasant surprise; granted, expectations were low — most viewers still had the bad … Continue reading
We are now four movies into Michael Bay’s mind-numbing franchise, and there is very little left to say about the series that hasn’t been said already. The sequels have always been a monotonous rehash of the original robo-slugfest, and Transformers: Age of Extinction only offers the same thing, and more of it — literally, given … Continue reading
A victim of its own lofty ambitions, William and Carlyle Eubanks’ The Signal is a visual impressively, occasionally inspired, and thoroughly surreal science fiction thriller that often stumbles under the weight of self-consciousness. It’s also a nicely stitched-together pastiche of genres, starting off as a college-kids road movie, veering briefly into Blair Witch country on the … Continue reading
Doug Liman had dropped the radar as a filmmaker for most of the past decade, but with the surprisingly smart and suitably bombastic science fiction thriller Edge of Tomorrow, he pops back up with more of the high-concept action beats and character development that made The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith so much fun. More importantly, Liman takes … Continue reading
Returning as director to the franchise he put on the movie map after an absence of more than a decade, Bryan Singer has turned out what feels like the first true X-Men movie since, well, the last one he directed. Ambitious and epic in scale and intimate in execution, X-Men: Days of Future Past seal the … Continue reading
It’s been ten years since Toho Studios put the Godzilla franchise in mothballs after the release of the sub-par 50th anniversary feature Godzilla: Final Wars. The feeling was that everything that could be done with the world’s most famous giant monster had been done, and that a rest (and better special effects) was needed. Of … Continue reading
Godzilla is easily the greatest cinematic creation ever. Consider the evidence: He’s the size of a skyscraper, breathes atomic fire, has alternately stomped on and/or protected many of the world’s major cities, is the subject of a song by the Blue Öyster Cult, and has appeared in 29 feature films, with a brand new one … Continue reading
Fledgling director Marc Webb displayed promise when the bumpy but enjoyable Amazing Spider-Man hit the big screen in 2012. It was rough around the edges — the tone was all over the place and the plot was not always a smooth ride — but the enthusiasm and creativity were there, and talent and chemistry of Andrew Garfield … Continue reading
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