Glass Tries – and Fails – to Make a Case for an M. Night Cinematic Universe
A standard superhero showdown isn’t what Shyamalan has in mind for Glass.
State of the Action: Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Spy Who Dumped Me and Action Cinema in 2018
In 2018, action is as strong as ever. But the boundaries of the genre have been redefined in the wake of the superhero genre’s dominance over the box office.
Hellsing Ultimate
It is, by definition, impossible to give an “objective” review of art (though this review of Citizen Kane provides a hilarious example of what it might look like). Having a bad day can make an okay movie terrible; a great night with friends can make a mediocre movie seem a lot better than it is.…
Alpha Dog (2003)
A decade on, Alpha Dog is most notable for establishing both Justin Timberlake and Anton Yelchin as respectable actors. This plucked-from-the-headlines crime picture put Timberlake in the role of a charismatic kidnapper and Yelchin as his fifteen-year-old abductee, and they both do great work. It’s worth remembering, though, that Alpha Dog also stands as a…
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
Halfway into Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Joseph Gordon-Levitt – battered and bloodied – ascends a fire escape, consumed by trepidation. We know this because he continues to grimly intone his fears on the narration track, and because there’s a woman waiting for him in the hotel room at the top of the…
The Raid: Redemption (2011)
Gareth Evans’ Indonesian action movie The Raid: Redemption (original title Serbuan maut) opens on a static shot of a wristwatch and a gun. It’s an important opening shot because it tells us two things about the film: it’s going to be precise, and it’s going to be violent. The Raid, as you’d expected, revolves around…
Looper (2012) and the “Rules” of Time-Travel
Looper seems to upset dedicated nerds; people who’ve read The Silmarillion from cover-to-cover, people who like “hard sci-fi” – think Roman from Party Down. Rian Johnson’s time-travel flick annoys these people because it doesn’t play fair with the rules of time-travel, and isn’t interested in explaining or caring about those rules. I’m also a gigantic…
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