Traitor is a serviceable thriller with a couple of nice twists and some amazing locations, but it never really decides what it wants to be. As an action/suspense film, it misses the mark by being too talky. As a drama and commentary on current geopolitical and religious themes, it’s too… Continue reading
I suppose it was only a matter of time until the stoner comedy collided with the action film. Pineapple Express attacks the notion full-throttle, and the results are largely a success. The film reunites the screenwriting team of Superbad and adds renowned Independent director David Gordon Green to the mix.… Continue reading
The Dark Knight is an unbridled masterpiece; a dark and gloomy commentary on the state of our country today. Filmed in blacks and dark blues, there are only occasional rays of hope as Batman takes on Gotham’s latest batch of evil. Yet there is a feeling of giddiness as you… Continue reading
It’s going to take a mound of evidence to convince me that Street Kings isn’t a parody. The film is entertaining, yes, but that often comes with police dramas laced with over-the-top tough-guy dialogue, brute violence, and a penchant for implausible plot twists. We know that director David Ayer and… Continue reading
Vantage Point is, unapologetically, a gimmick movie, and on that level it works. It’s refreshing to see a film based around politics that isn’t preachy, doesn’t have an agenda, and instead just goes for straight-up frenetic action. That’s not to say it doesn’t become maddening repetitive at times (only about… Continue reading
A SNL skit stretched out by about eighty-five minutes, First Sunday is a comedy of the most desperate type. It goes for slapstick. When that doesn’t work it tries one-liners. When that doesn’t work it goes for sentimentality. Stuck in the middle are Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan, two occasionally… Continue reading
Hitman, based upon the hit video game franchise of the same name, contains just about everything you’d expect in a film with that title. Targets are picked off from afar, stabbed, strangled, and beaten to death. On the surface the film is a serviceable action diversion, but it suffers and… Continue reading
No Country for Old Men is a true original, and that’s virtually impossible to come by these days. Smart, taut, suspenseful, and ever-so-weirdly funny, the film manages to attempt and succeed at nearly every genre under the sun. The Coen brothers have always been uniquely skilled filmmakers, but No Country… Continue reading
American Gangster is a formidable piece of work, not to mention director Ridley Scott’s finest effort since 2001’s Black Hawk Down. It personifies the genre that many feared extinct in this era of CGI – the gritty cops and gangsters thriller. Stuck in development hell since 2004 and even dropped… Continue reading
Gone Baby Gone is a sterling thriller, the kind of raw cinematic power that you tell your friends about as if you’ve just been put through the spin cycle. Helmed by first-time director Ben Affleck, and starring his brother, Casey, the film scorches a raw nerve from frame one and… Continue reading