Cinemascoping

Much like its main character, John Wells’ Burnt dares you to like it.  Composed of familiar plot points and revolving around a truly unsympathetic character, this briskly paced film initially keeps the viewer off balance as it plunges into its examination of self-destructive behavior without a handshake or a “how do you do?” This is […]

We’re attracted to biographies because we’re fascinated with what makes the famous and infamous tick.  Problem is, due to limitations of both the literary and film mediums, we’re destined never to get the full story.  Autobiographies have to be taken with a grain of salt, biographies, no matter how well-researched can never truly get under […]

You can’t help but be humbled while watching Davis Guggenheim’s He Named Me Malala, his new documentary that focuses on the experiences of Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani woman was thrust into the international spotlight in the aftermath of events that occurred on October 9th, 2012. Having protested against the Taliban’s closing of schools and […]

Adept at creating a sense of oppressive dread and fascinated with characters forced to compromise their morality, director Denis Villeneuve isn’t one to shy away from films that deal with issues of ambiguity and hypocrisy where human behavior is concerned.  Having made a name for himself with Incendies (2010), a familial mystery set in the […]

The buzz surrounding Ridley Scott’s The Martian is the sort one associates with Oscar-winning productions and films ultimately referred to as “classics.”  As I’ve often told my son, saying something often enough doesn’t necessarily make it so. Obviously, 20th Century-Fox would have us think this film is one for the ages but in reality it […]

Though dystopia fatigue may have had something to do with it, I couldn’t help but come away from The Scorch Trials, the adaptation of the second novel in the Maze Runner series, feeling weary.  Sure, I knew that a sense of “Been-There, Done-That” would hang over it what with The Hunger Games and Divergent already […]

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Baltasar Kormakur’s Everest is that I watched it with a sense of fascination rather than emotional engagement.  This account of an ill-fated expedition in 1996 to climb the world’s highest peak isn’t short on drama and the stakes couldn’t be higher as every character contends with life-and-death situations throughout.  […]

Some sequels are a complete waste of time and Sinister 2 is surely one of those.  If there is a logical way to continue a story or if a series of films have been planned and each segment moves an epic tale along, then follow-up movies can and have had merit.  However, when a sequel […]

Nima Nourizadeh’s American Ultra isn’t necessarily a bad movie as much as it’s a production made with a script that needed another rewrite.  This is a “close, but no cigar” kind of a flick, one that contains some good ideas, features a solid cast and has an inventive director at the helm.  There are times […]

Add playing an aging rock star and being able to deliver a mean guitar lick to Meryl Steep’s impressive resume as she’s required to do both in her latest, Ricki and the Flash, a fun movie as far as it goes, which unfortunately isn’t far enough. Sporting a script by Diablo Cody (Juno), the film […]

One thing you have to say about Woody Allen is that he’s consistent in the themes that he deals with in his films.  Existential angst, infidelity, the curse of the intellectual and guilt are covered once more in his latest, Irrational Man, a movie with echoes to the director’s Crimes and Misdemeanors, Match Point and […]

While I may be running the risk of courting the wrath of young adult lit lovers everywhere, I am honor bound to be honest in all of my reviews.  As such, I must say that I hated, I mean hated Jake Schreier’s Paper Towns. Filled with unrealistic characters, hoary plot points and ridiculous circumstances, this […]