Tag: Studio Films Review
Blitz | Review
London Has Fallen: McQueen Explores Life During Wartime
Following his extensively researched 2023 documentary Occupied City, which details WWII atrocities waged against the Dutch during...
Doctor Sleep | Review
No Rest for the Wicked: Flanagan Shines with Sprawling King Sequel
Director Mike Flanagan achieves the impossible with Doctor Sleep, a cohesive and effective sequel...
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | Review
Beasts of Burden: Yates Falters in CGI Heavy Harry Potter Prequel
After taking a break from adapting Harry Potter films (he was responsible for the...
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk | Review
Walk the Line: Lee’s Technological Prowess Yearns for More Than Earnest Wartime Narrative Can Deliver
For his first venture since 2012 Oscar winner Life of...
Joy | Review
Success is the Best Revenge: Russell’s Embellished Portrait of the Miracle Mop
Director David O. Russell has been often praised for the depictions of women...
In the Heart of the Sea | Review
Two if by Sea: Howard’s Whaling Expedition Sinks to the Fathoms
Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick is one of the seminal epics of American literature,...
The Visit | Review
Home is Where the Hacker Is: Shyamalan’s Return to Entertaining Cinema
In many ways, The Visit, the latest film from once celebrated M. Night Shyamalan,...
We Are Your Friends | Review
Fair Weather Daydreams: Joseph’s Debut Mixes Surprising Energy into Vapid SoCo Slush
From its familiar yet nicely edited introductory credits, to its sweaty palmed electro...
Avengers: Age of Ultron | Review
The Wrath of Bland: Whedon’s Poo Poo Platter Continues
Mainstream event cinema continues to shackle box office glory and narrative familiarity to a creative deathbed...
Child 44 | Review
Dirty Snow: Espinosa’s Ungainly Yet Enjoyable Soviet Era Mystery
Grazing lightly over the Soviet era politics of the period and featuring a handsome, gussied up...
Unfriended | Review
Face to Face: Gabriadze’s Topical Mutation of Technological Terror
How effectively chilling it is may be arguable. But there’s no denying that Levan Gabriadze’s English...
Last Knights | Review
About Last Knight: Kiriya’s Culture Club Reimagining of the Feudal System
It’s unclear for who or for what reason Japanese director Kazuaki Kiriya decided to...
Get Hard | Review
The Harder They Fall: Cohen Takes Us Back To Racial Stereotypes of Yore
Screenwriter Etan Cohen makes his directorial debut with Get Hard, a crass,...
The Gunman | Review
The Gun Show: Morel’s Failed Fashioning of Penn Into Unlikely Action Star
If anything, it’s safe to say that The Gunman, the latest film from...
Insurgent | Review
Rebel Heart: Schwentke Usurps Plebeian YA Franchise
In many ways, Insurgent is an easier film to watch than its 2014 predecessor, Divergent, in which we...
Run All Night | Review
About Last Night : Collet-Serra’s Latest Neeson Rating
You may not have realized it, but while the Taken trilogy was warping its course through a series...
Cinderella | Review
Bippity Boppity…Boo: Branagh’s Fairy Tale for Hire
Does anyone remember when Kenneth Branagh was directing superior cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare before eventually becoming the director...
Chappie | Review
iRobot: Blomkamp’s Latest Sentimentally Inclined Sci-Fi is Pleasantly Familiar
Sentient technological constructs and expanding the definition of what constitutes the essence of consciousness as it...
Focus | Review
The Grift of Love: Ficarra & Requa’s Perfunctory Take on the Art of the Con
Those hoping for a scintillating update on the con-artist sub-genre...
McFarland, USA | Review
Personal Best: Caro Returns to Studio Filmmaking with Feel-Good Adaptation
It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything from New Zealand director Niki Caro, who...
Fifty Shades of Grey | Review
Ties That Bind: Taylor-Johnson’s Erotic Adaptation Forgoes a Glimpse of Eros
Playful marketing provocations, heralded by the succinct tagline “Curious?” standing out beneath black and...
Kingsman: The Secret Service | Review
Eggsy’s Game: Vaughn’s Hyperviolent Reinterpretation of the Super Spy Caper
While a release in February doesn’t speak highly of Twentieth Century Fox’s hopes for the...
Jupiter Ascending | Review
Space Princess Diaries: Wachowski’s Space Adventure is Intergalactic Hooey
Those craving the intelligent sci-fi that graced their early 1999 sci-fi classic The Matrix are sure...
Spare Parts | Review
Parts Per Nil: McNamara Family Value Aesthetic Lessens Impact of Immigration Issues
As we meander through the opening credits of Sean McNamara’s Spare Parts, we...
Taken 3 | Review
Taken a Break: Megaton’s Slurpy Finish Brings Euro Schlock to L.A.
It should surprise no one that Taken 3 is a laughable, sometimes downright embarrassing...
Unbroken | Review
Run Rabbit Run: Jolie’s Grimly Serious POW Reenactment
Beautifully, if sometimes too glossily mounted, Angelina Jolie’s sophomore effort as a director, Unbroken, is too poker...
Selma | Review
Turnin’ the Beat Around: DuVernay’s Poignant, Passionate MLK Portrait Revitalizes Notions of Biopic
Eschewing what’s come to resemble a traditional route in downplaying both the...
The Gambler | Review
Kens and Dolls: Wyatt Revamps Toback Prose for the Plastic Age
Working steadfastly against the success of Rupert Wyatt’s up-do of The Gambler, which was...
Big Eyes | Review
Soul Windows: Burton Returns to the Biopic with Flagging Interest
Long judged as a director clearly intent on recycling the same motif, themes, and...
The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies
An Expected Finale: Jackson Brings Tolkien Saga to Thankful End
Upon reaching the end of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy with the third and final installment, renamed The Hobbit:...
Inherent Vice | Review
The Vice is Right: Anderson’s Inherently Incoherent Pynchon Trip
For his seventh film, auteur Paul Thomas Anderson stakes a claim as the first filmmaker to...
Exodus: Gods and Kings | Review
Death on the Nile: Scott’s Biblical Epic Unworthy of the Gods
Arriving just in time for ritual slaughter is Ridley Scott’s update on the Moses...
Black or White | Review
Black to Basics: Binder’s Safely Bland Racial Message Movie
The latest film from actor/director/screenwriter Mike Binder, Black or White presents us with the possibility of...
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 | Review
The Games They Play: Collins’ YA Dystopia Trudges On and On
As is now customary in the designed business model of franchise movie making,...
Interstellar | Review
Don’t Let’s Ask For the Moon: Nolan’s Space Opera for the Ages
At last divorcing himself from the omnipotent shadows of Batman, director Christopher Nolan’s...
Stonehearst Asylum | Review
Crazy in Love: Anderson’s Gothic Sprinkled Romance Deserves to be Tarred and Feathered
Fresh off the surprise box office success of 2013’s Halle Berry headlined...
Fury | Review
This Time, It’s War: Ayer’s Latest Depiction of Men Under Fire
At last leaving behind the pulpy, sometimes overly chewy cop action/dramas he’s been churning...
Dracula Untold | Review
Play It Again, Vlad: Shiner’s Debut Attempts to Reboot Legendary Monster
It’s a bit hard on the undead when you shackle their malevolent natures into...
The Judge | Review
I Never Served Time For My Father: Dobkins’ Middling Melodrama
Groaning beneath the weight of its desperate grandstanding for awards consideration, David Dobkins’ The Judge...
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day | Review
Privilege Parable: Arteta’s Trifling Adaptation of Famed Children’s’ Novel
Perhaps the most curious aspect of the live action Disney version of Judith Viorst’s 1972 children’s...
Annabelle | Review
Rosemary’s Scabies: Leonetti Does His Best James Wan Impression
Sure to take its place on future lists of cinematographer’s unfortunate attempts at directing, John R....
The Maze Runner | Review
Mazed and Confused: Ball’s Lusterless Debut Another Dystopic YA Derivative
Pretty teenagers that survive the apocalypse are sure going to have it tough. Or maybe...
This is Where I Leave You | Review
This is Where I Judge You: In the Great Well of Family Drama, Levy Is Dry
Based on the acclaimed novel by Jonathan Tropper, who...
As Above So Below | Review
Devil in Distress: The Dowdle Bros. Spelunk Their Way to Hell
Known as acolytes of fallen angel M. Night Shyamalan, the output of the Dowdle...
The November Man | Review
Sweet, Silly November: Donaldson’s Espionage Thriller is Overbaked
Starting out with a standard template of flourishes one can find in any number of garden variety...
Sin City: A Dame to Kill | Review
Love the Sinner: Miller & Rodriguez Bring Back Hyperstylized Noir with Mixed Results
It has been almost a decade since the visually innovative Sin...
The Giver | Review
Tis Better to Give: Noyce’s Adaptation Too Little Too Late in YA Dystopic Cinema
In today’s onslaught of dystopic film franchises dominated by adaptations of...
Into the Storm | Review
Storm Drain of the Century: The Disaster Film Gets a Retrofit
It’s unclear if there’s any real point to the rather silly conception of...
Get On Up | Review
The F in Funk: Brown’s Biopic Lodged in a White Man’s World
For all the preliminary grumbling about white actors portraying Egyptians in a...
Guardians of the Galaxy | Review
Rocket Fuelled; Gunn Pleasures Summer PG-Spot
It's the end of the world as we know it. Or so the popcorn films of the summer thus...
