20 Years Ago I saw The Fugitive with a bunch of friends for my twelfth birthday in September of 1993. This is a pivotal time in one’s movie-going life. By age twelve you’re tired of kiddie movies. You’re ready for the big time. No more cartoons and after-school special nonsense;… 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
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
Skyfall is certainly one of the better Bond films of the past twenty years, though it’s not as if competition has been stiff. Appearing in his third film of the series, Daniel Craig has pretty much turned into an embodiment of the action icon, even if the series continues to… Continue reading
“Argo f*ck yourself!” That’s the punch line to the “knock knock” joke that inspired the fake sci-fi film at the heart of Argo, actor/director Ben Affleck’s outstanding film about what has to be one of the strangest CIA missions in the history of the United States. Working from a fantastic… Continue reading
Flight marks director Robert Zemeckis’ first foray (and second ever) into the R-rated landscape since 1980’s hilarious and underrated Used Cars. Just to cover all the bases, we have full frontal nudity, binge drinking, and hard drug use before the film’s doomed plane even takes off. Zemeckis is trying to… Continue reading
Consider the tagline “Don’t ever cross Alex Cross” a fair warning: creativity is at a premium here. A warmed-over relic from the 90’s incompetently directed by Rob Cohen, Alex Cross is a mess from top to bottom. It’s bad enough that the villain and story are preposterous, but we get… Continue reading
Billed as a high-concept actioner, Looper is really more a high-concept drama. It works on both levels, but still runs into many of the same plot-hole traps that other time-traveling films encounter. At the same time, there’s something to be said for a pretty original story (remember those?) that poses… Continue reading
Safe House is the kind of well-made, exciting action film that delivers the goods fans are looking for. It never aspires to be anything more, as evidenced by the run-of-the-mill corrupt government story at its core. You’ve seen it all before, but it doesn’t matter. This flick is more about… Continue reading
The Woman in Black should satiate those looking to see Daniel Radcliffe wandering down dark hallways for an hour and a half, but that’s about it. This is one unimaginative, largely scare-free experience that exploits every haunted house cliché known to man, down to boo scares with random animals and… Continue reading