It begins with rapid titles. “WB,” “DC,” The Batman, all flash up on screen quickly, before an opening point-of-view shot through binoculars takes in a well-dressed man in an opulent mansion. Watching, observing, planning and judging, this extended shot is unsettling in its voyeurism, especially as the viewer shares the perspective of this watcher, who…
Quoting the statistic that 152 million children in the world are forced to work to support their families, Iranian director Majid Majidi’s Sun Children focuses on the street kids of Tehran — children of absent, addicted, or unemployed refugee parents, forced to sell trinkets on trains or buses, work in jobs that require manual labor…
While Cruella de Vil is an iconic Disney villain, is there much potential in showing the origin story of a character whose fashion sense leads to her wanting to skin 101 Dalmatians? The answer is a yes as prominent as the eponymous character’s bi-colored hair, as director Craig Gillespie and screenwriters Dana Fox and Tony…
The gangster movie is a genre with a long and distinguished history. From “The Public Enemy” to “The Godfather” to “Infernal Affairs” to “Black Mass,” the exploits of gangsters around the world have delighted audiences and encouraged filmmakers to produce works that are familiar yet innovative. The British gangster film includes some prominent and memorable…
“My mother died when I was seven years old — car accident. I saw it two months before it happened.” — Jimmy, “Volition” Writer/director Tony Dean Smith introduces us to Jimmy (Adrian Glynn McMorran, “Warcraft”), a small-time criminal blessed with supernatural clairvoyance. Jimmy foresees fragments of his future as a series of acid flashbacks —…
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Kevin James, Mr. Paul Blart himself, decided to take on a serious role? What if that role were that of a jacked-up neo-Nazi who terrorizes a family at their lakeside home? Boy and howdy, wonder no more, for here comes Becky, a solid, exciting, jarring,…
Beggars can’t be choosers during the global lock-down. Cinemas are closed, blockbuster movies and their smaller brethren delayed, and Netflix’s back catalogue has been squeezed drier than a tube of antibacterial hand gel. So when the streaming platform serves up a new release, written and produced by the all-conquering Russo brothers no less, audiences were…
