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…
Even with two traditionally bankable stars in Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, writer-director Shane Black’s last film, “The Nice Guys,” a dark 70’s buddy-cop movie, was an underwhelming box office release in 2017. For 21st Century Fox, the more recent staples of their lineup has been the “X-Men” and “Planet of the Apes” series (and…
Video game movies have sucked for decades, so when a kind of good one comes along, it arrives with the benefit of basement-dwelling expectations. This could be the explanation for why Roar Uthaug’s lean, lithe reboot Tomb Raider is so clearly silly and yet strangely satisfying at the same time. Or perhaps the movie works…
Prior to Kong: Skull Island, there have been at least a half dozen feature films based on the monstrous King Kong character, including the original 1933 classic, 1962’s campy “King Kong vs. Godzilla,” the Dino De Laurentiis 1976 budget-breaker and Peter Jackson’s overlong and ambitious 2005 edition, among others. Despite the various incarnations, the plot…
While watching the newest remake/reboot, this time of the classic 1984 comedy, “Ghostbusters,” I could not help but think that the lead stars of the first film (including Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts, Sigourney Weaver and Ernie Hudson), who all make cameo appearances, could have been put to better use. Each plays a different…
It’s taken 30 years for the ghosts in Manhattan to regroup enough to be a concern so large that some had to call for the Ghostbusters again. Venkman, Spengler and Stantz have long since retired (although I’m sure they’ll make a surprise visit) so in this updated Ghostbusters, four women have accepted the call to…
Films inspired by video games usually fall into two categories: Bad (“Doom,” “Super Mario Bros.,” “Tomb Raider”) or terrible: (“Mortal Kombat,” “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li,” “Max Payne”). Hitman: Agent 47 (a remake of the 2007 picture starring Timothy Olyphant) neatly fits into that last category. There are many reasons for this, including poor…
