Danny Wolf’s three-part documentary sets itself a tall order. Identify, present and discuss a set of cult films, all the while trying to define what a cult film is and why. For the most part, director Wolf and his co-writers Paul Fishbein and Irv Slifkin succeed in this convoluted and potentially confusing task as, with…
With a title like The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot, there are only so many paths a movie can take. At some point, the titular man is going to have to kill Hitler and then he’s going to have to kill the Bigfoot. There’ll be some blanks to fill, but that’s going…
Each time that screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman team up, they create a singular female character that walks onscreen feeling fully formed and armed with lots to say. First it was Ellen Page’s precocious pregnant teen in “Juno,” then it was Charlize Theron’s perpetually perturbed author Mavis Gary in “Young Adult,” and now…
“I miss the Cassie I was. I wonder what that Cassie would think of me now — the Cassie who kills.” The introductory voiceover for The 5th Wave is certainly not typical of your run-of-the-mill PG-13 fare, but unfortunately, that’s where the non-similarities end. The first act of the film introduces Cassie Sullivan (Chloë Grace…
So, say you start a conversation, a very good conversation. How so? Why is it so good? Is it the other with whom you converse? Is it the topic? Is it the commonalities slowly weaving a lasting bond between both interlocutors? Or between speeches? What is it that makes for a good conversation? Maybe it…
When it comes to films about relationships, whether they are platonic or romantic, we’re all going to have different takes on them. Naturally, how we view any film has a lot to do with our own experiences, but with such a personal topic, the influence of our feelings on the issues at hand are bound…
Every now and then, there comes a film that reaffirms our quelling desire to be at the movies, or to watch as we sit back on the couch with an addictive bag of popcorn. The Conjuring is one of those films. With old-school scares, stellar camerawork and commendable acting, this film — though formulaic —…
