Crimson Peak, for all director Guillermo del Toro’s earnest embrace of gothic romances and haunted house films, can’t help but avoid the modern meta-age of stories commenting on themselves. As heroine and aspiring novelist Edith Cushing (Mis Wasikowska) tells a prospective publisher about her novel, “It’s not so much a…
There are three kinds of films prolific and beloved director Ridley Scott, who will turn 78 next month, makes: tense dramas (Thelma & Louise, The Counselor) grandiose epics (Gladiator, Exodus: Gods and Kings), and sci-fi extravaganzas (Blade Runner, Prometheus, its upcoming sequel Alien: Paradise Lost). As the title plainly states,…
It’s a pity what M. Night Shyamalan’s been reduced to. But it’s hard to defend a guy that has done all he could in the last decade to sully and degrade himself as a brand with movies like Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender and After Earth.…
JURASSIC WORLD June 12, 2015 I remember, like a lot of Millenials do, seeing Jurassic Park for the first time. It was a seminal moment. The build-up, the reveals, the wonder, the awe . . . followed by the adrenaline, excitement, and fear. Spielberg’s 1993 original is, bar none, one…
You can’t go into Mad Max: Fury Road and not come out of the cinema like you’ve been birthed again (well, some can, but, seriously, fuck those insanely stupid misogynists). It is a transcendent experience. Rotten Tomatoes can barely handle the critical adoration at 98%. Hell, even the ghost of…
Ex Machina is the Die Hard of artificial intelligence movies. Now that’s not exactly an obvious comparison, it is apt. Stay with me. Every single location, single man thriller that has aped the Die Hard formula (Under Siege, Speed, Air Force One, Olympus Has Fallen, White House Down, etc.) is…
Avengers: Age of Ultron (May 1 , 2015) If you’re playing music, turn down the volume. Steady your breathing. Can you hear it? That’s the sound of Ultron breaking box office records like he breaks buildings in the superhero sequel. It’s already racked up $200 million overseas and it poises…