It’s as though Guy Ritchie binge-watched Game of Thrones and then thought to himself, “Hey, I can do that!” and made KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD. To which I reply, “No, Guy. No you can’t.” What we have here is a chaotic script that attempts several, mutually exclusive tones and genres, with poor Charlie… Read More »
THE LOST CITY OF Z
THE LOST CITY OF Z opens in the darkness of the jungle. Natives stand in silhouette outlined against fires burning in warning or in welcome. It’s a fitting start to James Gray’s suitably literate adaptation of David Grann’s book of the same name, telling the true story of the obsessions that drove British Major Percy… Read More »
CRIMSON PEAK
If CRIMSON PEAK offered nothing more than the creepiest bathtub specter since THE SHINING, it would still qualify as a monstrously entertaining film. But this is Guillermo del Toro directing and co-writing, and so the lushness of subtext mirrors the classically Gothic idiom of the story. The paranormal is the least disturbing of the elements… Read More »
PACIFIC RIM
PACIFIC RIM is a blockbuster of a curiosity. A film top-heavy with plot, but one that plods along at a oddly pedestrian pace as it charts the end of the world as we know it. It is also oddly populated with leads that are wafer-thin characters, and supporting players that, while not necessarily deep, are… Read More »
NICHOLAS NICKELBY
NICHOLAS NICKELBY is a perfect entertainment. Its got comedy, drama, romance and a moral. Enacted by a sterling cast from a literate script, it captures the spirit of Dickens without a misstep in its 108 minute running time. The eponymous hero of the piece is the noble but impoverished Nicholas. He is left an orphan… Read More »