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‘The Great Wall’ Review: Big Dumb Monster Fun

Philip Brown — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 20:00:31 +0000

With China now the second largest market for Hollywood blockbusters and the country’s own industry cranking out massive spectacles that tend to be huge hits everywhere other than North America, it was only a matter of time before we got a grand Chinese/Hollywood co-production. Now it’s here, it’s called ‘The Great Wall’, and it’s a...

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‘Doctor Strange’ Review: Marvel Embraces Stranger Things

Philip Brown — Thu, 03 Nov 2016 12:00:04 +0000

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands exponentially, Kevin Feige and the gang have reached a point where they need to start throwing wrenches into their works. The movies are feeling increasingly familiar. The heroes are increasingly similar. It’s all getting a bit samey. Thankfully, here’s comes ‘Doctor Strange’, a movie that might not reinvent the...

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‘The Jungle Book’ (2016) Review: Unexpectedly Remarkable

Philip Brown — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 19:00:24 +0000

Disney’s recent trend of digging into its vaults and remaking its animated classics in live action has mostly been a frustrating endeavor. Movies like ‘Maleficent’ and ‘Cinderella’ felt forced and woefully inferior to their predecessors. The prospect of a live action ‘Jungle Book’ seemed particularly dire. Not only does the 1967 animated version hold up...

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‘Gods of Egypt’ Review: Visually Stunning, Otherwise Vapid

Philip Brown — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 14:00:43 +0000

Alex Proyas’ career started so well. Things kicked off with the stylistically iconic (if deeply tragic) ‘The Crow’ and then Proyas seemed to find depth to match his style with the delightful mindfuck ‘Dark City’. After that, it’s been a series of mind-numbing choices that make the filmmaker increasingly difficult to defend. Now we have...

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‘Every Thing Will Be Fine’ Review: No, It Won’t

Philip Brown — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 15:00:26 +0000

If nothing else, Wim Wenders deserves credit for his experimentations in contradiction at the center of ‘Every Thing Will Be Fine’. The film is an attempt to make a subdued melodrama. That’s tough enough to pull off (just ask Atom Egoyan 90% of the time). However, on top of that nearly insurmountable challenge, Wenders also...

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‘In the Heart of the Sea’ Review: Troubled Waters

Philip Brown — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 20:00:18 +0000

Some 3D movies would benefit from an alternative screening option that allows audiences to see a highlight reel of the set-pieces in IMAX for $10 instead of the entire film. The ‘Transformers’ movies certainly qualify, as did Robert Zemeckis’ unfortunate ‘The Walk’, and now Ron Howard’s ‘In the Heart of the Sea’. The whaling action...

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‘Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension’ Review: A Convoluted Conclusion

Philip Brown — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Five sequels later, it’s still hard to believe that ‘Paranormal Activity’ became the second most successful horror franchise of the decade. Over the last eight years, it’s become an endlessly extended series repeating the same jump scare tricks and somehow making mucho money every time. Now we’ve been given ‘Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension’, a...

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‘The Walk’ Review: An Epic Stumble

Philip Brown — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 19:00:01 +0000

James Marsh’s remarkable ‘Man on Wire’ was such a purely enjoyable and crowd-pleasing documentary that it was likely inevitable that someone would make a super-powered Hollywood version. After all, the tale of Philippe Petit walking a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center is a strange, funny, moving and inspiring story, and...

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TIFF Journal: ‘Love’

Philip Brown — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:00:04 +0000

After a few years away getting up to god knows what (presumably debauchery of some sort), bad boy filmmaker Gaspar Noé has returned. For over a decade, the director has hyped up a dream of making an X-rated entertainment for the art house. As the title of his latest feature suggests, he’s finally done it,...

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‘San Andreas’ Review: The Rock Punches an Earthquake in the Face

Philip Brown — Thu, 28 May 2015 19:00:45 +0000

One of the last pure action stars, Dwayne “Always the Rock” Johnson towers over every co-star he’s ever been assigned. In a world where few mere mortals can hope to win in a battle against the biggest badass named Dwayne in history, the only appropriate foe that Hollywood can serve up is Mother Nature. Thus...

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‘The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet’ Review: An Overload of Whimsy

Philip Brown — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 19:00:24 +0000

Few tones in all of filmmaking are more difficult to pull off than whimsy. One of the few directors who has managed to master that cutesy craft is Jean-Pierre Jeunet. (His ‘Amélie’ is the cinematic equivalent of a warm embrace.) Unfortunately, even major talents have bad days, and Jeunet’s long overdue ‘The Young and Prodigious...

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Blu-ray Highlights: Week of September 28th, 2014 – Less Than Meets the Eye

Josh Zyber — Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:00:52 +0000

This week is all about those Robots in Disguise as Michael Bay’s latest rock ’em sock ’em sequel hits Blu-ray, and everything else moves out of its way. New Releases ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction‘ – I seem to recall Michael Bay swearing that he was done with his ‘Transformers’ “trilogy” after ‘Dark of the Moon’...

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