An old-school screen biography (or hagiography) of the English abolitionist, William Wilberforce, who spearheaded the anti-slavery movement in Parliament from the late 18th Century to the early 19th, a long, slow struggle against the forces of entrenched economics. On the virtuous side of every issue -- in favor of free …
Johnny Depp disappears into the role of real-life gangster Whitey Bulger — receding hairline and icy blue eyes abetted by vocal fry and a sour sneer compounded from equal parts rodent and snake. But the real story here is FBI agent John Connolly (a beefy Joel Edgerton), who gets the …
Dr. Strange, General Zod, Spider-Man, and Beast join forces to play real-life superheroes Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch), George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), Samuel Insull, (Tom Holland), and Nikola Tesla (Nicolas Hoult) in a race to introduce electricity to the civilized world. Vigilantly designed and lit, if not photographed; director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s …
As a Christian allegory, director Scott Derrickson’s entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is impressively thorough. Proud and worldly neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, cockily joking even as he fumbles with his accent) is cast down from his throne, seeks healing from a keeper of ancient spiritual wisdom and …
Not only does this mark Sam Raimi’s return to the screen since The Great and Powerful Oz failed to live up to its title, it’s his first comic book movie in 15 years. It’s as good a cast as any Marvel’s assembled (Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Elizabeth Olsen, Rachel McAdams, …
When an environmental crisis sees London submerged by flood waters, a young family is torn apart in the chaos. As a woman (Jodie Comer) and her newborn try and find their way home, the profound novelty of motherhood is brought into sharp focus in this intimate and poetic portrayal of …
Director Bill Condon sets out to answer the question, "What would Benedict Cumberbatch look like as a blond?" He also sets out to dramatize the story of document dump site Wikileaks, when Wikileaks would much rather he dramatize the story of the stuff they leaked. Question for discussion: was Wikileaks …
Peter Jackson continues his mad quest to transform a ripping children's book into an all-encompassing epic. The result is a road movie with entirely too much baggage, a slog through the mires of exposition and special effects. With all the dwarves, wizards, hobbits, orcs, wargs, elves, spiders, dragons, man-bears, enchanted …
Or, If it Hadn't Been for Schoolboy Bullying, We Might Have Lost the Second World War. Alan Turing famously invented something like the world's first computer as part of the British effort to crack the code employed by Germany's Enigma machine. And this is the story of that, told with …
‘This is a true story.” The presence of this disclaimer (or a reasonable variation thereof) at the outset of a picture suggests a license to speak truth to power. But a corking yarn without a storyteller to spin it is a recipe for a flat soufflé. On paper, The Mauritanian …
Captured live in 2011 from the National Theatre stage in London, this thrilling, sold-out production became an international sensation, experienced by almost half a million people in cinemas around the world. Directed by Danny Boyle and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternating between the roles of Victor Frankenstein …
Two calves butt heads just long enough for momma cow to move in and drive them apart. Even Hitchcock couldn’t have directed cattle to perform with such unrehearsed ease, yet it’s a wise director who sees in this happy accident a foreboding preamble for the tension to come. Montana, 1925. …
Deduce, you say? Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman solve the mystery in the Season 4 capper.
Douglas Mackinnon directs Benedict Cumberbatch as the famous detective.