A cool idea can go a long way in making a good movie. But rarely is a movie good solely because of a cool idea. That speaks to the biggest problem with “Vanquish”, the new crime thriller directed and co-written by George Gallo. The movie’s snappy premise is action movie junk food, the perfect scenario […]
Some science-fiction junkies like me might be tempted to approach the new film “Voyagers” with a touch of caution. The movie’s first trailer showed off a fairly interesting premise and a cast rich with sparkling young talent. And then you have the description going around calling it “Lord of the Flies in space” which only […]
MY CALL: It may run a bit too long, but this remains a strong recommendation for fans of hard-R graphic violence in their Sci-Fi. Plus the action effects of these robots is excellent! MORE MOVIES LIKE Monsters of Man: For more smartly written Sci-Fi killer robots, go for Chappie (2015), Black Mirror S4 segment ‘Metalhead’ […]
Two first-year students (Sam Claflin, Max Irons) at Oxford University join a secret society – loosely based on the real life Bullingdon Club – and learn that their reputations can be made or destroyed over the course of one evening. This is another of those films where the premise sounded interesting. I also noticed they […]
Part of me wants to sit back and just enjoy Godzilla versus Kong, but the other part of me wants to really think about what it’s doing. First of all, it’s a fun movie. It’s entertaining. There’s action and drama and comedy and all the other crap you need to have a successful movie. The […]
The changing origins of Godzilla and Kong
Wasn’t I just saying there has been no shortage of horror movies in 2021? Now Searchlight Pictures is adding one to your watchlist. “The Night House” comes from horror director and fan David Bruckner. It premiered way back at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. With Covid-19 (hopefully) in our rear view the film is finally […]
First Glance: “The Night House”
Casey Affleck stars as a psychiatrist protecting his family from the unhinged brother of a patient in the new thriller “Every Breath You Take”. It’s directed by Vaughn Stein who did last year’s relatively fun but wacky “Inheritance”. This time Stein doesn’t have that kind of outlandish plot angle to play around with. Instead he’s […]
REVIEW: “Every Breath You Take” (2021)
Sometimes a movie’s title says it all. That’s definitely the case with “Godzilla vs. Kong”, the fourth film in Legendary Entertainment’s MonsterVerse following two “Godzilla” movies and 2017’s “Kong: Skull Island”. It should go without saying, but you don’t enter into something called “Godzilla vs. Kong” with expectations of an emotionally layered and deeply nuanced […]
REVIEW: “Godzilla vs Kong” (2021)
“Six Minutes to Midnight” is the sort of high gloss “programmer” Hollywood and Pinewood (and Shepperton, etc.) used to turn out by the dozens. The plot has Nazis, spies, action and preposterous coincidences and improbabilities, a “talks too much” villain, cheap thrills and sentimental sop. But thanks to a game cast and a clever and […]
Movie Review: On the eve of war, it’s “Six Minutes to Midnight”
“The Courier” is an engrossing espionage thriller set, as so many of them are, at that one point when the Cold War seemed most likely to turn nuclear hot. Well-acted and early ’60s period perfect, about the worst you can say about it is that it’s a washed-out copy of “Bridge of Spies,” which is […]
Movie Review: “The Courier” plays his part in Preventing WWIII
In “Voyagers” Colin Farrell chaperones a group of young people specially engineered for obedience and intellect as they embark on a journey into deep space to colonize a far away planet. Sounds pretty familiar, right? Well this seemingly straightforward mission begins to unravel when the young voyagers discover the blue soda they’ve been drinking is […]
In the upcoming horror thriller “The Devil Below” from director Brad Parker an abandoned Appalachian mining town holds a dark and deadly secret. Back in the 1970s the tight community of Shookum Hills was decimated by what was ruled an “environmental disaster”. As a result the town burned to the ground and as many as […]
REVIEW: “The Devil Below” (2021)
In the upcoming indie chiller “The Vigil” a troubled young man encounters a malevolent spirit while watching over the body of deceased man from his Jewish community in Brooklyn. It’s a religious ritual where the person watching (called a shomer if male, a shomeret if female) both protects and comforts the deceased’s soul until time […]
Synchronic is the latest from Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, and it’s a strange fever dream of a film. We start with a couple taking a drug that appears to transport them into an alternative universe, before shifting to a pair of paramedics, Steve Denube, played by Anthony Mackie, and Dennis Dannelly, played by Jamie […]
Benson & Moorhead: Synchronic (2021)
Earlier today, The Nevada Film Critics Society announced their picks for the best of 2020–early 2021 and what’s interesting is that Nomadland didn’t win a thing. Instead, Promising Young Woman took the awards for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Meanwhile, in the supporting races, Daniel Kaluuya picked up another win […]
The Nevada Film Critics Society Honors Promising Young Woman
The Little Things (2021) Director – John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) Cast – Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, Jared Leto, Chris Bauer Plot – Grizzled detective turned small town deputy Joe “Deke” Deacon (Washington) finds himself back in LA and teaming up with upstart detective Jim Baxter (Malek) to hunt down a serial […]
Film Review – The Little Things (2021)
What is the movie about? :: Georgekutty (Mohanlal) and Rani (Meena), along with their daughters Anju (Ansiba Hassan) and Anu (Esther Anil) have become richer after those earlier incidents, as the former has now bought some land, and started a film theatre by the name Rani. Their neighbour Saritha (Anjali Nair) is a victim of […]
Showtime’s latest legal crime thriller (with a twinge of horror) starring Bryan Cranston and executive produced by showrunner Peter Moffat, concluded this past Sunday with record-breaking highs for the ViacomCBS-owned television network. The 10-episode miniseries is on track to be the biggest debut season in Showtime Networks’ history, Variety confirmed in an exclusive interview with Kim Lemon, executive vice president of research, program planning & scheduling.
https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/showtime-your-honor-bryan-cranston-1234909606/
It’s the end of the world as we know it and Gerard Butler isn’t going to take it lying down. A planet killing comet is head for Earth and John’s family has been selected for relocation to a safe haven in Greenland. Unfortunately, it’s a little rough going and things don’t happen the easy way. […]
Shawn Linden’s “Hunter Hunter” wasn’t at all what I expected. Its crafty advertising sells a deep woods thriller about a wolf terrorizing a wilderness family. To be fair that is a big part of the movie. But as the film sets your eyes in one direction it then broadsides you with a story full of […]
REVIEW: “Hunter Hunter” (2020)