UNCHARTED is like the first pitch meeting to potential financiers, which is odd since it’s been in development for almost a decade. What we have here is the broad outline of a plot full of twists, turns, and aerial stunts. What we don’t have is any sense of order or logic, even that of the… Read More »
JOE BELL
A key moment in the fact-based JOE BELL comes early one as the titular character (Mark Wahlberg), a working-class man from a small town in Oregon, is told by his adolescent son, Jadin (Reid Miller) that he is being bullied at school for being gay. It’s two revelations, and Joe doesn’t miss a beat telling… Read More »
ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD
The rich, as the oft-quoted saw goes, are different. That is the central premise of ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD, a cautionary tale of money and family. The moving force, though only a supporting player in the proceedings, J. Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer), who at one point reminisces about a book he wrote entitled… Read More »
DEEPWATER HORIZON
Peter Berg’s DEEPWATER HORIZON does not mince cinematic words when it comes to telling the story of the worst off-shore oil rig disaster in history. It can be summed up in three words. Profit over people. It’s a screed, alright, but a compelling, and beautifully crafted one about ordinary people facing the unimaginable with courage… Read More »
DADDY’S HOME
After the magic of THE OTHER GUYS, a film that makes me laugh even at its most ridiculous, seeing co-stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg in DADDY’S HOME is particularly dispiriting. Once again, the former is a straight-laced, slightly priggish good guy, and the latter is the hot-headed epitome of cool thrown together due to… Read More »
THE HAPPENING
THE HAPPENING can be most charitably described as clumsy and moribund. Clumsy in the way the premise of how exactly it is that nature is taking its revenge on humankind is presented, and moribund in its determined hushed and whispering tone. Now, the hushed whispering tone is very effective in a well done mood piece.… Read More »
MAX PAYNE
MAX PAYNE begins laudably enough. Based on the video game of the same name, it reproduces the graytone pen-and-ink world with appropriate shadows, stark lighting, and a hard-boiled protagonist that would make Sam Spade look like a cream puff. This is a man who literally crawls on broken glass without much noticing. Most of the… Read More »
LOVELY BONES, THE
THE LOVELY BONES, based on the novel of the same name by Alice Sebold, is a somber tale told with vivid imagination about coping with death from both sides of the eternal divide. It’s very much a film of mood where emotions run deep and devastating, and those emotions are the most potent special effect… Read More »
DATE NIGHT
One tiny slip from the straight and narrow can have devastating long-term consequences. That’s the lesson that the Fosters (Steve Carrel and Tina Fey) learn during the light-hearted yet deadly escapades involved in DATE NIGHT. The material itself isn’t the most substantial, and there are distinct echoes other flicks, think THE OUT OF TOWNERS, or… Read More »
CONTRABAND
CONTRABAND is based on the award-winning Icelandic flick REYKJAVIC-ROTTERDAM, and it is directed by the star of that film, Baltasar Kormakur. The setting has been changed from the cold North Atlantic to the sultry climes of New Orleans and Panama. The lead is now played by Mark Wahlberg. Yet the reason for the remake is… Read More »