‘Atomic Blonde’ Review: Chilly Neon Noir
Cold War spy angst and goofy old-school physical action don’t exactly sound like comfortable bedfellows, but ‘John Wick’ co-director and future ‘Deadpool 2’ director David Leitch thought he’d gi...
Tag Archives: John Goodman
‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’ Review:
There used to be a thriving market of European filmmakers who made trashy exploitation movies for a global market. Sadly, Luc Besson is essentially the last man standing in this genre movie tradition. But he’s also one of th...
‘Kong: Skull Island’ Review: Apeocalypse Now
After a bloated three-hour Peter Jackson epic failed to revive the monkey’s fortunes, the mighty King Kong has returned in the big, silly, popcorn-munching epic ‘Kong: Skull Island’. It’s certainly one of t...
‘Patriots Day’ Review: Docu-phony
Peter Berg’s latest feature, ‘Patriots Day’, does enough right that its flaws are easy enough to ignore, if not excuse. It’s likely as good a mainstream film about the Boston Marathon bombing as was likely ...
The Best of the Best in Film in 2016, Part 1
All right, 2016. Yer done. At long last. Yesterday I looked back inside of you and pulled out the worst of the worst of the cinematic garbage that you shoved into my eye sockets and out my butthole. I didn’t appreciate that,...
’10 Cloverfield Lane’ Review: Twilight Zoned
The worst thing about ’10 Cloverfield Lane’ is the title. It’s not just awkward; it’s a spoiler. Sadly, the realities of contemporary Hollywood filmmaking mean that the movie has to be marketed as a franchi...
‘Trumbo’ Review: Entertaining Bio-Swill
‘Trumbo’ attempts to dive into the complicated life of an important figure in Hollywood history, while also serving up easy-to-swallow drama for the award-bait crowd and qualifying as a comedy too. That’s quite a...
‘Love the Coopers’ Review: Crap, Actually
The holiday season wouldn’t be complete with some sort of maudlin family special at the multiplex. This year, that pile of Christmas crap arrives in ‘Love the Coopers’, one of the most tediously dull and frustrat...
TIFF Journal: ‘Trumbo’
Hey! Here’s a 2015 bio-pic about Hollywood overcoming adversity, so I guess we’re officially in awards season! Fortunately, this is actually a decent one thanks to a deft sense of humor from all involved. You just have...
‘The Gambler’ Review: Know When to Fold ‘Em
Coming off the unexpected mass global success of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’, director Rupert Wyatt could have done pretty much anything he wanted. For some reason, he decided to use that freedom to helm a remake ...
Now Playing: A Monumental Waste of Time
It’s always a bad sign when a movie gets bumped from a prestigious awards-gobbling fall release into the January/February dumping ground. It’s an even worse sign when that movie is a Hollywood superstar packed affair a...
Now Playing: Deep ‘Inside’
I was recently speaking with a friend of mine who criticized the Coen brothers’ films for being too “on the nose.” “So what?” I said. “That’s the whole point!” Their new ‘Insid...