Someone at Warner Bros. needs to learn the value of taking time. Since the halcyon (and pre-published) days of the Wizarding World, the studio has demonstrated a tendency to rush their franchises. Despite 2014’s superb “Godzilla” and 2017’s impressive “Kong: Skull Island,” the subsequent installments, 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and now Godzilla vs….
There is a scene in Zack Snyder’s Justice League when one of the central superhero figures uses his superpowers for good. This may sound obvious, but it is notable that such use usually translates into beating up bad people, whether they be muggers, megalomaniacal crime bosses or genocidal aliens. This scene, however, involves helping someone…
In filmmaker Erik Nelson’s unfiltered new World War II documentary, Apocalypse ’45, viewers are thrust into the final days of merciless war in the Pacific Theater, a small-gain, island-by-island approach against a dogged Japanese enemy that viewed surrender as weakness. As an often overlooked facet of World War II, the Pacific killed or wounded some…
A nominal sequel to Mel Gibson’s 1995 epic “Braveheart” sounds thrilling all around — bringing viewers back to Scotland’s bloody medieval war cry against the brute, Edward Longshanks of England. Enter Robert the Bruce. In it, Angus Macfadyen (“The Lost City of Z”) also reprises his role as Scottish freedom fighter, Robert the Bruce. Yes,…
No doubt, Disney and Lucasfilm were faced with a monumental task by ending the Skywalker saga — the ninth film in a franchise that changed the course of filmmaking and introduced generations of viewers to freewheeling, space-opera arcs and settings. Inherent in that task: The risk of polarizing a temperamental fan base and bookending “Star…
In the opening minutes of The Kill Team, we see brief glimpses of optimism, national pride, and infantry brotherhood from our titular platoon of soldiers — all of which ends up shattered well before the ten-minute mark as the horrors of wartime and their effect on those involved make themselves abruptly known. Nat Wolff (“Home…
The special forces sub-genre combines elements of the cop, spy and soldier film, and is characterized by jargon, hardware, institutionalized yet independent characters and almost-but-not-quite overwhelming odds. Notable examples include “Tears of the Sun,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Triple Frontier” and “The Expendables” franchise. Given their practice of taking established generic traditions and infusing them with…
