It was hoped that Captain America: Civil War and Mad Max: Fury Road had each shone a spotlight on the correct path for superhero and action which would come after to follow. So that those films could learn from the mistakes of the past, see how it could be done differently, and to make the necessary changes to stop being so crappy. Civil War was an amazing superhero movie, the best Marvel had created, and Fury Road was a perfect adventure film, giving fans everything they d...Read the entire review

White Boy Rick is painfully mediocre, and anyone who says differently is selling something. This is a true story, and it's hard to believe, so that's an immediate boon to the film, a plot that's so outrageous it must be true. Throw in Matthew McConaughey for good measure and you've got our attention, but our attention isn't enough. You need to get our approval as well, and that can't be earned without some hard work and some real talent. The story is there for the telling, but it lacks the punch needed to surprise us. The setting is as desolate as you can imagine, but we need the action therein to be more than predictable. And ...Read the entire review

You'd have to run a poll to get anything near some accurate statistics, but the number of those who see the Dark Tower movie has got to be exponentially higher than the number who have also read the entire Dark Tower series. And of course, that's not counting the connected side stories, the extra book written into the sequence, and the literal dozens of Stephen King books that tie in; Hearts in Atlantis, The Stand, 'Salem's Lot, Insomnia, etc. My point being, only an extremely small number of audience members will be up on the magnum opus and all its connected plots that is King's masterwork. I just happen to be both a f...Read the entire review

I hate to be labelled as a contrarian, but I didn't like Spider-Man: Homecoming as much as the majority of America did, and I'll try my best over the course of this review to explain why. So you know, in the past I would have claimed that I didn't like "comic book movies", that they were poorly-made and far too focused on money over quality. Through the years, I've learned to enjoy the genre for what it is, and Marvel movies specifically have won me over, partially because they are getting better and better. The Avengers Universe is improving with each addition, and I especially appreciate the Captain America films (Read the entire review

While Life isn't quite Interstellar, it's also no Fantastic Four, falling somewhere in the middle as far as overall ranking and even genre. It's not as cerebral as a sci-fi thinker, it's not as action-packed as a comic book thriller, but it has elements of both that it uses as it sees fit. Ultimately, Life will be compared to Alien, a creature feature set in outer space, and although it won't quite live up to those standards, it also won't do them an injustice. Where you...Read the entire review

Director Antoine Fuqua started his career off with a bang in 2001 with Training Day, a film in which Denzel Washington won Best Actor and Ethan Hawke was nominated for Best Supporting. Since then, Fuqua's choices have gone from bad to worse, until his moderate success with Southpaw last year. With The Magnificent Seven, he looks to redeem himself, teaming up with Washington & Hawke once again in an effort to recapture the magic. Adding in Chris Pratt for good measure isn't a bad idea either, since the hot-ticket actor is currently turning everything he touc...Read the entire review

Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy, and now Ghostbusters; Paul Feig has an obsession with Melissa McCarthy that can't be healthy, especially to those who don't find her funny in the slightest. But in case you don't like Mike & Molly, the Ghostbusters female remake that no one asked for also features SNL comediennes like Wiig & McKinnon, with Cecily Strong waiting in the wings with a bit part. Don't like modern SNL either? Well then you might be out of luck. This reboot relies very heavily on A) our love of the original series but 2) our ability to find these women & their styles of c...Read the entire review

The surprisingly must-see horror film of the year is here, and it's The Shallows. Last year, that honor went to It Follows, which hopefully sparked a movement toward simplistic horror filmmaking, leaving the ghosts behind & focusing on the pure terror of death. Well, if you're looking for death, look no further than this blood-in-the-water fright fest, and just in time for your trip to the beach too. If you watched the trailer back in April, you could see that there was a possibility of something special here, though I doubt a...Read the entire review

Will Smith hasn't been in a good movie since Men in Black in 1997. There, I said it, and it's mostly true. Since then, he's done a lot of fun fluff, but nothing that stands out as great: Wild Wild West, Men in Black II, Bad Boys II, I Robot, Hitch, I Am Legend, Hancock, Men in Black 3, After Earth, Focus. And even his serious stuff has been more cheesy than quality: Enemy of the State, Bagger Vance, Ali, The Pursuit of Happyness, Seven Pounds. My point is, Will Smith is an actor who we fell in love wit...Read the entire review

The evolution of the Daniel Craig James Bond has been darkly compelling since its inception, drawing audience back into a world that we seemed ready to let slip away after four goofy Pierce Brosnan portrayals nearly tanked the franchise. Now Craig has four of his own Bond films under his belt, completely changing the tenor and cementing himself as the deepest James to date. Casino Royale shocked audiences with its blonde hero, its gruesome nature, and its lack of standard quips, but we loved it for those exact reasons. Unfortunately, Quantum of Solace was a complete letdown, muddling everything, confusing everyone, a...Read the entire review

It took balls to make Chappie. In a genre that already pushes the envelope of believability, here is a sci-fi film that goes even further down the road of cinematic experimentation than most. It's not the base story that's so original, that of an intelligent robot that melts our hearts with his surprising humanism. We've seen that theme done very well in Short Circuit, a comedy classic that also brings about a few tears. No, it's the surroundings that make Chappie a dangerous film, one that could go too far and burn every bridge in the process. Set in South Africa, featuring rappers as actors, bringing an Alien vibe bac...Read the entire review

What's not to like, right? We all love a good WWII story; the 2nd World War kicks the 1st World War's ass, as far as on-screen appeal goes. It was a time on the verge between modern & archaic, a war against a solid evil, a "glorious" American-led fight that left the trenches behind and exposed itself in the open field of battle. If that doesn't get your red-blooded heart pumping I don't know what will. The point is, WWII made for good cinema, regardless of how terrible being on the front lines actually was. As an audience, we love to watch the USA fight Nazi Germany; it feels very one-sided, good vs bad, like we were destined to win. And would we l...Read the entire review

Before seeing 22 Jump Street, you had better see 21. Often the sequel isn't exactly reliant on the original, but in this series the second plays heavily off the first. And it's worth your time to go back, to check out the one that started the franchise, the film that launched itself off the classic TV series. It's a funny movie; not too much more can be said about it. It's not wonderful, but it gets plenty of laughs, relying on two pretty hilarious guys and some cool side characters to keep you chuckling throughout. So watch the first one; I'd recommend it to anyone who likes slapstick, drug use, easy comedy. But don...Read the entire review

I guess it was just too good to be true. When I first saw the trailer for The Monuments Men I was sure it would be a home run. How could it fail, right? One of the best cast lists I've ever seen, an incredibly captivating setting, a little humor to lighten the heavy mood. The film had Oscar written all over it, until people starting seeing it. Then the wide release was pushed back, the buzz surrounding the project started sounding more like boos, and every trailer I saw for it, other than the initial teaser, make the movie look worse and worse. But I was already pot-committed, a...Read the entire review

George Clooney has long been considered the last great movie star, the true heir to the suave mantle of classic Hollywood actors like Cary Grant and William Holden. It should be no surprise then, that as a director, he has increasingly gravitated toward projects that hearken back to the Golden Age of moviemaking. Clooney is consistently bold in his acting choices, including extended relationships with both Steven Soderbergh and the Coen Bros.--and even there, he participated in Soderberg's Casablanca-riff The Good German and worked with the Coens on the Preston SturgesRead the entire review

This was the movie that I was the most excited about the entire year. After all, it had all the parts in place to be a phenomenal film. David O. Russell has proven that he is a great director with movies like The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook. They were Oscar caliber, audience favorites, and strong all-around. The actors are a mix of proven veterans and up-and-coming talent: Bale & Adams having worked together in The Fighter, Cooper & Lawrence the dramatic duo of Silver Linings Playbook. Add Jeremy Renner to the mix, an awesome 70s soundtrack, a cool con vibe, and ...Read the entire review

There are two ways in which we generally use the word "hustle" these days. In one sense, to hustle someone is to trick or con them; in the other sense, it is to give it a lot of effort, to keep moving, and make things happen. Luckily, a third meaning, a dance from the disco era, has mostly disappeared--though, it does make for a pretty impressive scene in David O. Russell's newest movie, American Hustle. The disco perennial actually makes this movie three for three, meaning the director's follow-up to Silver Linings Playbook is a wily creature, one that moves swiftly and goes all over the place to tell a big story about some genuine United States hucksters.

Christian Bale, who was also i...Read the entire review

What Gravity was to being lost in space, Captain Phillips is to being lost at sea. Or, at least, hijacked. (That upcoming Robert Redford movie, All is Lost, is the one about really being lost at sea.)

It's not an entirely facetious comparison. If you've yet to recover from the intensity of Alfonso Cuarón's astro thriller, you might want to consult a doctor before seeing Paul Greengrass' clenched-tight Tom Hanks vehicle.

Captain Phillips is based on a true story from 2009 about an American cargo ship being taken over by Somali pirates. Hanks leads the picture as the Captain, and outside of a couple of character actors with very small roles, is the only recognizable face in...Read the entire review

You can't talk about Elysium without first talking about District 9. Done four years ago, it was Neill Blomkamp's first feature film, and it was an amazing success. It got great reviews from both critics & audiences, and I really liked it. It was such an original way to make a point, using aliens to represent apartheid in South Africa, forcing the main character to physically transform, making audiences watch some horrible reality. Sound familiar? If you've heard much about Elysium you'll recognize a very similar plot and message; class warfare, metamorphosis, sci-fi action. The two movies have a ton in common, which...Read the entire review

When the trailer for This Is the End first came out I thought it looked pretty funny. I figured if you liked Superbad, which I did, you'd like this one as well. It has some of the same actors (Rogen, Hill, Cera) and the same style of raunchy comedy that revolves around bodily fluids and recreational drugs. However, a major difference would be that in this movie the actors play themselves, with a ton of cameos thrown in for good measure. So while I assumed that I'd find it funny, I also thought that it would fall short of better movies because it would lack that emotional base that we don't always notice but we usually need...Read the entire review

THE FILM:

It took director Troy Duffy ten years to make a sequel to his cult hit The Boondock Saints, which hardly saw a theatrical release in 1999 but made over $50 million in video sales and rentals. The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day is only the director's second film; the direct result of the explosive backlash to Duffy's obnoxious behavior after scoring a high-profile deal with M...Read the entire review

It all started with Jaden Smith narrating with a Southern accent. I'm not kidding. I wish I was, because it was perhaps the worst fake accent I've ever heard, with Will Smith's being a close second. I have no idea why they decided to try something so stupid; perhaps it had something to do with the Ranger Corps that saved humanity in the story, but it doesn't matter. Whatever the reason, it was a bad idea, as was almost ever single idea in the entire movie. When I first saw the trailer I was excited. I wanted Shyamalan to get back to directing good movies, I wanted Will Smith to be cool like he used to be, and I wanted an awesome sci-fi movie about evolut...Read the entire review