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‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ Review: The Apocalypse Has Been Uncanceled

Luke Hickman — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 17:00:36 +0000

The original ‘Pacific Rim’ had no right to be any good, but in the hands of a strong filmmaker (who now has an Oscar to back him up), it ended up being a very satisfying and all-around entertaining blockbuster. With trailers that look just as unappealing as those for the first movie did, I hoped...

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‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Review: Rian Strikes Back

Philip Brown — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 13:00:32 +0000

The new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy has finally found its own voice and identity. After the nostalgia-fueled tears and cheers of J.J. Abrams’ relentlessly crowd-pleasing (and pandering?) ‘The Force Awakens’, oddball genre mashup artist Rian Johnson (‘Brick’, ‘Looper’) cracked the code and found a new direction for those adventures in a galaxy far, far away. Yes,...

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‘Detroit’ Review: Hard History

Philip Brown — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 15:00:47 +0000

Kathryn Bigelow’s ongoing collaboration with journalist-turned-screenwriter Mark Boal previously gave us the searing history lessons of ‘The Hurt Locker’ and ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, uncompromising visions of war that played in the icky morality of reality. Now they’ve turned their attention to the 1967 Detroit riots, a particularly troubled moment in America’s history of racial strife....

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‘The Circle’ Review: A Tech-No-No Thriller

Philip Brown — Fri, 28 Apr 2017 15:00:04 +0000

‘The Circle’ is one of those 10-minutes-in-the-future satirical thrillers that can cause queasy unease with their prescient commentary (i.e. the ‘Black Mirror’ effect). Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly good one. There are great ideas at the core, some fantastic sequences, and committed movie star performances that suggest everyone sincerely wanted this to work. But it...

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‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Review: Thrilling Fan Service

Philip Brown — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 16:00:44 +0000

I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but there’s a ‘Star Wars’ movie opening this weekend. A new one too. Not a Special Edition. Not even a prequel. In fact, George Lucas isn’t involved for reasons that even he understands. It’s called ‘The Force Awakens’. You might have heard about it, briefly. Out of...

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‘The Force’ Examined: Dissecting the ‘Star Wars’ Teaser

Shannon Nutt — Mon, 08 Dec 2014 20:00:33 +0000

Although it only runs about 90 seconds (including a number of fade-to-blacks between segments), the new teaser trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ might turn out be the most examined piece of footage since the Zapruder film. I’ve cataloged some of the most interesting shots to provide my take on each of them. While...

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