Roland Emmerich makes disaster movies. And he’s pretty good at it. “Independence Day”. “The Day After Tomorrow”. “2012”. “Independence Day: Resurgence” (which was an actual disaster of a movie). He also set Washington D.C. ablaze in “White House Down”, gave us an action-packed depiction of the Battle of Midway and even let Godzilla unleash his […]
I really wanted to like “Belfast”. But it’s difficult to get past the numerous odd technical elements in writer/director Kenneth Branagh’s ode to his days growing-up in Northern Ireland in the late ’60s. The film opens with a contemporary shot of Belfast, in color. Then the flashback saga begins and the chroma shifts to black […]
Zack Snyder’s new zombie flick “Army of the Dead” opens with a grand, highly self-aware and mildly entertaining first 15-minutes. With a rendition of “Viva Las Vegas” blaring over an elaborate montage, we get an idea of what’s to come — at least we think we do. Zombies have taken over Sin City. Tens of […]
1984. 1884. 2084. It doesn’t matter the century. Never — EVER — should Kristen Wiig (or any other actress) have more screen time for extended periods of time than Gal Gadot in a “Wonder Woman” movie. That’s just one of many huge problems with this sequel to 2017’s groundbreaking, transformative original of the franchise. “Wonder […]
Here we go again: “Synchronic” is yet another 2020 time travel movie. Unfortunately, it’s not a good one. Directors Justin Benson (who also penned it) and Aaron Moorhead needed a “Total Rewrite”. The set-up is fairly tolerable. Following a bizarre but memorable open, we meet New Orleans paramedics Steve (Anthony Mackie) and Dennis (Jamie Dornan). […]
In “The Last Shift”, Richard Jenkins plays Stanley. He’s worked at the same Dearborn, Michigan fast food restaurant for the past 38 years. But Stanley’s finally ready to move on. He’s made plans to head down to Florida to care for his elderly mother. But that’s easier said than done. Less than a week before […]
Bruce Dern is the artist and fellow Oscar nominee Lena Olin is his wife in the simply titled, “The Artist’s Wife”. This isn’t a follow-up to the 2011 silent, black-and-white Oscar winner, but it comes close to being as unnecessary as that film would be. Art is subjective. But I’d be surprised if anyone outside […]
“End of Watch”, “Fury”, “Suicide Squad” and “Bright” director David Ayer steps away from big studio features for his latest, “The Tax Collector”. Ayer is also screenwriter, a fact he probably doesn’t want to admit out loud. Bobby Soto gives one of the weakest lead character performances of the year as David. He’s the son […]
Knock-Knock. Who’s There? That’s some of the mystery of the new thriller, “The Rental”. It’s the directorial debut of actor Dave Franco, who also co-wrote the screenplay. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough here to make it a worthy At Home rental. That’s because it adds nothing new to the genre, while leaving one important element […]
“Spaceship Earth” is not an inside look at the popular Disney World EPCOT attraction. Instead, it’s a documentary on the ground-breaking human science experiment called Biosphere 2. If you lived during the early ‘90s, you may remember Biosphere 2: eight people were quarantined for two years inside a research structure — built in the Arizona […]