The original version of THE EVIL DEAD was such a perfect little horror film. Written and directed by Sam Raimi in 1981, it simultaneously sent up the conventions of horror films while also unleashing the sort of nightmares that originate in the id, and then become progressively more terrifying as they percolate up to consciousness.… Read More »
IRON MAN 3
The important thing to know about IRON MAN 3 is that after an iffy start, it zooms into the stratosphere as easily and as dynamically as Tony Stark himself does in the latest incarnations of his Iron Man suit. The past, however, haunts the present, with the trauma of wormholes and aliens vying with demons… Read More »
STAR TREK –INTO DARKNESS
The best speculative fiction is rooted firmly in reality. Though set in faraway lands, planets or time, it speaks, nonetheless, directly to the issues and emotions of its audience. Smart writers know that, and this is why the continuing re-boot of the Star Trek franchise is so wildly successful. Set in an alternate timeline from… Read More »
THE GREAT GATSBY
The Jazz Age was a time of excess and self-indulgence across class distinctions that was unprecedented. The scribe of that age, F. Scott Fitzgerald, poured all of that into his writing, along with a generous dollop of angst about what it all meant. His successor, at least as far as depicting that ci-mentioned excess and… Read More »
ICEMAN, THE
That THE ICEMAN is a film eminently worth seeing is a tribute to Michael Shannon. The true story of Richard Kuklinski, aka The Iceman, is a conventionally told tale of organized crime, but Shannon, as the cold-blooded hitman with a schizophrenic tenderness for his family is riveting. Through the film is a lesser light, as… Read More »
HANGOVER III, THE
In this age of sequels and sequels to sequels there has come to be a standard clause in many contracts. If a film is a hit, the principals involved are obligated to take part in further installments of the story. Hence THE HANGOVER II, which substituted high-stages tomfoolery for the endearing character-driven nonsense of the… Read More »
NOW YOU SEE ME
NOW YOU SEE ME begins with a giddy sense of mischief and ends with a contrivance that bespeaks the desperation of failing to plan for a proper ending. In between, it quietly devolves from slam-bang fun to barely coherent as four magicians lead the FBI and a debunker on a merry chase through ancient mysticism… Read More »
AFTER EARTH
AFTER EARTH is a solemn, self-congratulatory flick showing all the symptoms of a vanity piece run amok. Based on a story devised by star Will Smith as a vehicle to launch 14-year-old son Jaden as an action star, it shows little internal logic while never giving the audience a reason to care about anything that… Read More »
FILL THE VOID (Lemale et ha’halal)
Nora Burshsteins FILL THE VOID has already been compared to a Jane Austen novel, and the observation, while counter-intuitive at first glance, is highly astute. While Austens world of Regency England may not seem to have much in common with a community of modern Hassids in Israel, the delicate but strict play of custom and… Read More »
THE INTERNSHIP
Google is a company for which innovation and original thinking are integral. THE INTERNSHIP, set at Google, is the exact opposite. A good-natured enough flick, it is, nonetheless, obvious, predictable, and painfully low on actual laughs. That last wouldnt be such a problem if it werent putatively a comedy. It gets worse. Starring and co-written… Read More »
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