Dallas Buyers Club represents that breed of Oscar contender where the performances are far better than the movie. Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto turn in career-defining work, but the film as a whole is pretty standard underdog fare and surprisingly cold and distant emotionally. You can’t help but feel like you… Continue reading
You pretty much know what you’re getting into with any movie dealing realistically with slavery. You’re going to be mad, you’re going to be sad, and you’re going to be ashamed that this was ever considered okay in our humanity’s history. 12 Years a Slave doesn’t contain any groundbreaking revelations… Continue reading
Humans in peril has been a big theme at the movies this year, and the most bare-bones and frustrating survival story comes in the form of All Is Lost. Featuring virtually no dialogue other than a few guttural swear words and a character that we know very little about, All… Continue reading
Gravity is unlike anything you’ve ever seen, and in today’s Hollywood that really resonates. Most movies I have seen before, and most movies you have seen before. There’s no doubt that variations of the film’s bare-bones story have been done before, but writer/director Alfonso Cuaron, in his first directorial effort… Continue reading
Gangster Squad is an absolutely bananas shoot ’em up that seems plenty content being just that. The story, wearing the “based on true events” tag with a permanent wink, couldn’t be simpler and it’s all basically a coat hook for bloody shootouts, of which there are many. Those expecting a… Continue reading
We all have our own image of Abraham Lincoln in our head. One of the most beloved presidents in U.S. history, his legend has reached mythical levels. Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln brings the popular image of the man to life, flaws and all. Rather than creating a convoluted whole-life biopic, Spielberg… Continue reading
For the second time in the past month we have a film where the outcome is known. And for the second time, the tension couldn’t be higher. Everyone, even young kids, know who Osama bin Laden was. We know what he did, we know what he financed and carried out.… Continue reading
Hitchcock is a breezy and fairly entertaining biopic about the events surrounding Alfred Hitchcock’s life leading up to and during the filming of Psycho. The title might lead one to believe this is an all-encompassing film about his whole life, but the movie takes place over a matter of tumultuous… Continue reading
Safety Not Guaranteed is a charming Indie project with an original story and plenty of laughs. If it has a flaw, it’s that it’s actually so charming that it never truly dives into the heavier themes that it presents. Nevertheless, it leaves you thinking about the consequences of our actions… Continue reading
Emerging as the lead candidate of the 2012 Oscar bait sweepstakes, Hyde Park on Hudson is a disappointingly bland mix of drama and comedy that never comes close to gelling. It also paints a pretty unflattering picture of everyone involved, from Franklin D. Roosevelt on down. Whether this was intentional… Continue reading