At one point in MAXXXINE, a character says that it’s all about money. But that’s not true, at least not in this story of Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), born Miller, who has reached the top of the adult film industry, but at 33, knows that the clock is ticking on her career in porn. And… Read More »
PATRIOT’S DAY
PATRIOT’S DAY is two films, one perfectly competent, the other one a skillful blend of character study and taut suspense. Perhaps this is why the studio’s rep in San Francisco scheduled and cancelled not one, but two, For Your Consideration screenings for critics groups last month). Based on the events leading up to, during, and… Read More »
PIXELS System Crash
If I had to single one thing out as being the saddest moment in PIXELS, it would have to be when Michelle Monaghan, as a newly dumped wife is forced to find solace from Adam Sandler as she is weeping and drinking chardonnay from a sippy cup on the floor of her closet.
JOHN WICK
JOHN WICK is a sleek and unrepentant film about revenge and redemption. Set in a parallel world to ours, one populated by criminals who live by a strict set of rules, conventions, and etiquette, it is a dark fantasy of violence in which the hero isn’t the pacifist, it’s the guy who really loves his… Read More »
EAGLE EYE
EAGLE EYE exploits paranoia about the invasion of personal privacy by technology with an entertaining action fantasy that pushes all the right buttons. It’s not when the hero, Jerry Shaw (Shia LeBeouf) is presented with his driver’s license, past-due bills, or even video of himself outplaying his pals at poker in the back room of the… Read More »
SOURCE CODE
THE SOURCE CODE is an action thriller in which the action is strictly incidental, there to ratchet up the level of tension that superbly pervades the film. It advances the point of the story, rather than being the point of same. As for the point, its a divinely complex consideration of right and wrong, justice… Read More »
KISS KISS BANG BANG
Films detailing the dark side of Hollywood have been around for a long time and for a long time they’ve suffered from the excesses of hack films that approach the subject with a taste for the lurid and the seamy. Shane Black’s KISS KISS BANG BANG certainly doesn’t skimp on the lurid stuff nor on that… Read More »
HEARTBREAK KID, THE
It takes chutzpah of a particularly flagrant sort to update the Neil Simon/Elaine May classic, THE HEARTBREAK KID. The Farrelly Brothers obviously pack that sort of gumption, taking the droll but deadly humor of the original and rethinking it with their trademark penchant for slapstick and silliness. It may not have the same wry weltschmertz… Read More »
MADE OF HONOR
Yes, MADE OF HONOR is a variation on MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING, with gender reversal and no gay best pal. Alas, it’s not as sharp, not as dark, and just not as much fun, starting well, but going south with alarming haste. The likable stars, Patrick Dempsey and Michelle Monaghan, generate real chemistry and have the… Read More »