Anyone who has read my reviews with any sense of regularity will know that when confronted with a remake or a reboot (which seems to be the norm and not the exception in Hollywood today), I always return to the source film for guidance. These projects usually fall into two categories, a) an improvement upon…
The survival and rescue of a group of Chileans trapped in a gold mine in 2010 is certainly a compelling enough story for the big screen, unfortunately, it’s the telling of this tale that falls short in The 33, the newest Warner Bros. release directed by Patricia Riggen (“Girl in Progress”). Just the title alone…
When distilled down to its basest elements, con drama Focus is a light and airy attempt to hearken back to the days of movie star vehicles that require nothing more than mega movie star wattage and a smooth smile to keep their exploits afloat. Even when viewed at surface level, there’s nothing more to the…
For eight years, fans of “300” have been wondering how the film would be followed up — could the heroic sacrifice of King Leonidas and his brave 300 Spartans be outdone? With his sophomore effort, Noam Murro (“Smart People”) says, “yeah, kinda,” with his fairly praisable sequel 300: Rise of an Empire. Keeping with the…
Women can be a force to be reckoned with too. In the second trailer for 300: Rise of an Empire that concept is driven home as on both sides of the coin women play a more prominent role. On the side of the Greeks, Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) again rouses her countrymen to unite and…
The first taste to the visually stylistic 300: Rise of an Empire, is now available thanks to Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures. In it, Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro again), fresh from his victory against Leonidas in “300,” turns his attention to making the rest of Greece bow to his will. Helping him in this lofty goal…
Love is blind and fucking stupid. It can make a person do extreme things — endanger their well-being or make extraordinarily bad decisions — to find it and keep it. I Love You Phillip Morris, a film purported to be based on real life events, chronicles the adult life of Steven Russell, a con man…
