8 years ago
Theatrical (10 posts found)
Coming to a theater near you
“Breathe In”: Tepid Romance From Drake Doremus
Director Drake Doremus showed early signs of promise with Like Crazy, the 2011 Sundance Grand Jury prize winner that offered glimpses of a new age no-holds barred love story, but ended up registering as a dopey romance that failed to burrow deep into its chara...
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“Cesar Chavez” – No, No Puede
There are thousands - nay, tens of thousands - of true stories out there that are more than prime for being made into a feature film, but still haven't primarily because they are about people with more melanin than Hollywood is comfortable with. One such story...
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“The Raid 2: Berandal”: Character Through Action, Action Through Drama
Self-congratulatory types may observe The Raid 2: Berandal in terms of its smorgasbord of cinematic influences, and pat themselves on the back for catching its touchstones: the A Better Tomorrow and Infernal Affairs trilogies, the filmography of Johnnie To, Th...
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“Cheap Thrills”: The Savage One-Upsmanship of the Desperate
Cheap Thrills begins with the sounds of sex -- or, rather, sex interrupted. Craig (Pat Healy) is entering the throes of passion with his wife Audrey (Amanda Fuller) one morning, when the alarm clock suddenly goes off. Craig hits the snooze button, delaying the...
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“Sabotage”: A Promising Return to Form For Arnold Schwarzenegger
Sabotage begins with low-fi footage of a woman in close-up being tortured as she wails for help that will never come, and it never gets any more pleasant from there. Following in the wake of End of Watch, the film only deepens co-writer/director David Ayer’s c...
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Two by Sion Sono: “Himizu” and “Guilty of Romance”
These two movies, both directed by Japanese provocateur Sion Sono, were originally released back in 2011. Now, they're finally getting simultaneous theatrical runs here in the states. Much of what could be said about Himizu could also be said about Guilty of R...
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“Maladies” is Harmlessly Worthless
Maladies furthers my conviction that filmmakers who go by one name are to be given little benefit of the doubt. I'll hazard a guess that "Carter," who wrote and directed this movie, is a friend of James Franco, given that his only previous IMDb credit is for a...
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Review: “The Missing Picture”
In the mid-1970s, the forces of Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, took over Cambodia. Their vicious, autocratic reign initiated a four-year national genocide that exterminated about a quarter of the country’s entire population. In the regime's Utopia, no Cambodian ...
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“Nymph()maniac: Vol. I”: Lars Von Trier Waves His Freak Flag
Reviewing Danish troublemaker Lars von Trier's latest film, Nymph()maniac feels like nothing more than a fool's errand. That's partially because the movie opening in theaters this Friday is just the first half of the entire production, whose second entry relea...
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“Divergent”: Derivative Dystopia
Not all Young Adult (YA) adaptations are made the same. Don’t tell that to Hollywood executives, of course. Over the last decade, practically every YA novel with a supernatural or science fiction bent has been scooped up for adaptation, regardless of the under...
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