Michael Bay: evil genius. Example: subject a 17-year-old hottie to all manner of sexual shenanigans - camera shots between her thighs, guns thrust menacingly at her face, monster tongues wrapped around her leg, and then take the curse off it by giving us an overprotective daddy-hero (Mark Wahlberg) who tells …
What if Casablanca was set in Marseilles, and Rick was a famous writer and also dead, but a fugitive Jew (Franz Rogowski, a remarkable blend of Woody Harrelson and Joaquin Phoenix) had assumed his identity? Why fugitive? Why else? the story is set near-ish the modern day, but there are …
A Romanian tidbit from director Corneliu Porumboiu that unfolds with all the slow assurance of a fable. Regular guy Costi gets a visit from Adrian, a neighbor who’s down on his luck and desperate for help. He thinks maybe there’s buried treasure out behind his grandfather’s house, buried there just …
For the first time in its history, women’s boxing became an officially sanctioned event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. A determined 17-year-old from Michigan named Claressa “T-Rex” Shields wanted to be a part of that history. With confidence in her corner, filmmakers Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper document the young …
For the first time in its history, women’s boxing became an officially sanctioned event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. A determined 17-year-old from Michigan named Claressa “T-Rex” Shields wanted to be a part of that history. With confidence in her corner, filmmakers Zackary Canepari and Drea Cooper document the young …
The story here is swift, simple, and straightforward: a young man arrives at a magnificently unpretty Ukranian boarding school for the deaf, and quickly discovers that the place is run by a brutal gang of student-criminals. Luckily(?), he's tough enough to join, and soon finds himself promoted from muscle to …
What’s the point of white privilege if it doesn’t protect you from disaster and despair? Brendan and Emmett Malloy’s adaptation of Karen Croner’s novel (she also scripted) about familial trouble in paradise doesn’t quite work: the booky voiceovers are too precious and too present, the philandering dad is too clueless …
Brit comics Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon scored a surprise hit with their documentary-style comedy about touring northern English restaurants, so naturally, there must be a sequel, and naturally, it must go bigger. Italy should do nicely: the food, the wine, the ancient architecture, and oh mercy, the coastal views. …
Once more with (a bit less) feeling. English comics Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon head off on a third Tour de Food, this time to Spain. The dishes and vistas are as sumptuous as ever, even if the food and wine could stand a little more time in the spotlight. …
At last, a film devoted to the concept of wabi-sabi. So if you feel the urge to complain about how Tron: Legacy bites on the style of Star Wars, Batman Begins, The Matrix: Reloaded, Christianity, Buddhism, and even The Big Lebowski, remind yourself: perfection is unknowable, man. Besides, you’re watching …
An issue-based documentary like this one about big-game trophy hunting from Shaul Schwarz and Christina Clusiau lives or dies by its level of access. (Yes, you're going to have your talking heads making their nuanced observations and your statistical graphics evincing the direness of things, but you also need to …
A film based on a true story about stories that aren't entirely true. Namely, the one told by disgraced journalist Mike Finkel (Jonah Hill) — fired by the New York Times after making a composite out of multiple abused Africans — and the one told by Christian Longo (James Franco) …
Was blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston, enjoying himself) a self-serving, self-righteous Type A who confused the cause of social justice with his own desire to live well? Or was he a brilliant, pro-worker Good American who figured out how to keep the S.S. Good Conscience afloat during the Red …
If this horror spoof is not quite Shaun of the Dead, it’s because Friday the 13th is not quite Night of the Living Dead — you have to consider the source material. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk star as a pair of genuinely good good ol’ boys who accidentally run …