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After 20 years of film-making defined by gritty Batman movies, twisty crime thrillers, and trippy science fiction, Christopher Nolan again re-invents himself with what is on the surface is a gripping war movie, but in actuality an exercise in heightened realism and a memorial to an event that ultimately shaped the world. For the uninitiated, … Continue reading
Warner Bros. and DC Comics score a much-needed win with Wonder Woman, a refreshingly sleek, adventurous, endearing, and even timely superhero flick that manages to be what the first entries in DC’s movie universe have not: fun. The character debuted in 1941 as part of a wave of patriotism-inspired comic books heroes who emerged in the … Continue reading
Mel Gibson has returned to the director’s chair after a ten-year absence, and his war film Hacksaw Ridge proves to be a worthy effort. It’s a blunt-force but highly effective treatise on the horrors of war as well as those who rise above the brutality to maintain as much humanity as one can on a battlefield. … Continue reading
While it borrows liberally from Saving Private Ryan (aka the All Quiet On the Western Front of modern war movies) and doesn’t exactly rise above its obvious formula, David Ayer’s Fury is nevertheless an effective WWII drama that reminds that war is hell — specifically, one soaked in blood, mud, fire, and death. It’s a tad … 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
Believe it or not, the pseudo-sequel 300: Rise of an Empire manages to one-up its predecessor, in the sense that it’s even more gratuitous, over-the-top, and fetishistic than Zack Snyder’s stylistic adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel about the 300 Spartan warriors who held an invading Persian army of thousands at bay at the Battle … Continue reading
The Magnolia’s Big Movie film series continues with Howard Hawks’ screwball comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), 7:30 and 10pm, February 18, at the theater. Details The Alamo Drafthouse presents a Quote-Along screening of the Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski (1998), 9pm, February 22, at the theater. Details The Angelika Film Center continues its Oscar Classics series with a screening of David Lean’s … Continue reading
Cinemark Theaters and Paramount Studios’ Reel Classics series continues with screenings of Sleepless in Seattle (1993), 2pm February 9 and 2pm and 7pm February 12, at select Cinemark theaters. Details The Alamo Drafthouse presents a screening of the classic musical West Side Story (1961), 12:30pm, February 9, at the theater. Details The Magnolia’s Big Movie film series continues with Michael Curtiz’s classic … Continue reading
A lukewarm effort that fails to adequately plumb the depths of a winning premise, director/actor/screenwriter George Clooney’s The Monuments Men positions itself to make a grand commentary on the importance of art and its preservation — and then says little on the topic. Clooney and co-scripter Grant Heslov can’t seem to decide if they want … Continue reading
Based on ex-Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell’s book about a 2005 mission in Afghanistan that went shockingly and tragically bad, Lone Survivor plays out like the antithesis of the standard hoo-rah military-themed action films that have been a staple of American cinema since the 1960s. Much like similar fact-based films Black Hawk Down and Captain Phillips, the … Continue reading
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