8 years ago
All posts by Andy Crump
“Annabelle”
Here’s a lesson in basic box office science: horror movies make money. When horror movies make money, they tend to beget horror movie sequels and prequels, hence the mercifully defunct Saw series’ long-overstayed welcome. So the rare horror movie that’s both w...
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“Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart” Review
If there's one thing Jack and the Cuckoo-Clock Heart isn't short on, it's imagination. The film, produced by Luc Besson, France's mad scientist of commercial filmmaking, is a lovingly madcap bricolage of ideas run rampant; it borrows from countless genres, nic...
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“A Walk Among the Tombstones” Review
From a distance, A Walk Among the Tombstones looks an awful lot like "generic Liam Neeson actioner #1,075", but that's only a half-accurate first impression. Oh, Neeson grumbles and sneers, dispassionate to the world around him and ambivalent about his mortali...
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“The Zero Theorem” Waltzes Through Disconnection
The Zero Theorem's first 20 minutes or so are an endurance test. If you can withstand the film's introductory sensory assault, then you can reasonably withstand the rest of it. But the ride remains jarring even when the edges smooth on Terry Gilliam's latest t...
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In “Frontera,” Border Crisis Blends With Melodrama
It's 2014, and there's still an immigration crisis brewing on America's borders. Considering that ours is a nation of immigrants, the ongoing dispute over illegal immigration and paths to citizenship is sort of mind-boggling. So kudos to Michael Berry for havi...
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“As Above, So Below” Will Make You Wish You Were In Hell
The great worth of horror cinema lies in the lessons it teaches us: don’t have underage sex, don’t have casual sex, don’t have casual underage sex, and don’t go wandering around in dark, forbidding places. Ever. This last one feels especially important because...
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“A Letter to Momo” Aims Right For The Feels
Mom's out all day, and the house is haunted by goblins; guess that means we're learning valuable lessons about family and loss. That's A Letter to Momo in a nutshell, a bit of light lifting that wraps a morality tale up in all the ghostly accoutrements of supe...
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“14 Blades” Could Use Some Sharpening
Whether he's beating up bad guys with his fists, beating up bad guys with his feet, or beating up bad guys with an umbrella, Donnie Yen is one of the most endlessly watchable martial arts performers of his time. Throw him in any era and he fits right in; put a...
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“Life After Beth”: Brains, Brains, & No Brains
Watching Life After Beth feels an awful lot like watching square pegs being jammed into round holes. On paper, all of the film's bits and pieces make sense: a dead girlfriend, her insufferably pining boyfriend, shady parents, a case of inexplicable resurrectio...
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Somber “Heli” Trafficks In Misery
Around Heli's halfway mark, you may begin to feel alienated by its frank depictions of violence. The film slow-burns its way through the mundane comings and goings of an ordinary life that's primarily defined by economic struggle (with a side of marital strife...
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