“Fist Fight” is easily one of the most tasteless and worthless movies ever made. For starters, the concept is absolutely ridiculous: raged high school teacher Mr. Strickland (played by Ice Cube) loses his job (after he snaps in class) and he decides to challenge fellow teacher Mr. Campbell (Charlie Day) to fight him in the parking lot at […]
What a way to kick-off 2017. “Sleepless”, which should’ve been called “Senseless”, is easily one of the most messed-up movies I’ve seen in a long time. This is a remake of the 2011 French film “Sleepless Night”. Jamie Foxx (who we haven’t seen onscreen since 2014 “Annie” reboot) plays Vincent, a Las Vegas cop. But […]
Ben Affleck’s directorial follow-up to 2012’s Best Picture, “Argo”, is a 1920s gangster action crime romance thriller drama, and while obviously ambitious, “Live By Night” plays-out in straightforward, uninspired fashion. The biggest mistake Affleck made was casting himself in the lead role. Affleck was perfectly acceptable as the lead in both “Argo” and “The Accountant” because […]
Following 2013’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “99 Homes”, and “The Big Short” in 2015, comes this year’s rags to riches finance movie. Set in the 80s, “Gold” is similarly inspired by a true story. Matthew McConaughey stars as Kenny Wells – the son of a very successful precious metals broker, who inherits the family […]
Four-time Academy Award nominee Annette Bening stars in this dysfunctional family indie. “20th Century Women” is writer/director Mike Mills’ follow-up to 2010’s “Beginners”, the film that earned Christopher Plummer a (honorary) Best Supporting Actor award from nearly every association on the planet. From the little bit I’d seen and read about “20th Century Women”, I […]
Less than three months after the release of their collaboration on the disaster aboard the “Deepwater Horizon”, director Peter Berg and star Mark Wahlberg’s depiction of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing – “Patriots Day” – is set to hit theaters. While not the emotional gut-wrencher I was expecting, this is a quality manhunt/investigation drama that […]
At 73, Robert De Niro is showing no signs of slowing down. Recently he’s had some big highs (“Silver Linings Playbook”, “The Intern”) and tremendous lows (“Dirty Grandpa”), and some notable work in between (“Hands of Stone”, “Joy”, “Grudge Match”, “The Family”). Now comes “The Comedian” – a rare movie that, following the end credits, […]
From “The Help” and “The Tree of Life” to “Zero Dark Thirty” and “A Most Violent Year”, Jessica Chastain has consistently delivered fiery performances. You can add her latest effort in “Miss Sloane” to that list. Chastain dominates every scene she’s in (which is most of them) as a fast-talking, win at all cost, DC political […]
Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” and Kathryn Bigelow’s double-header of “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty” all all examined the effects of the brutality, intensity and devastation of war on the modern American soldier (and Mel Gibson also did it masterfully in the recent “Hacksaw Ridge”). In “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk”, two-time Oscar-winning Best […]
Say what you will about Mel Gibson – the guy can really tell a story on screen. “Hacksaw Ridge” is the first film Gibson has directed in a decade. As an actor, all of his recent comeback projects, including roles in “Edge of Darkness”, “The Beaver” and “The Expendables 3”, have been major failures. But […]