Eventually I'll put something nifty here. Until then, know that I'm watching you. Closely.
Mad Max: Fury Road has an eclectic collection of keywords listed on its main IMDb page like: “desert,” “feminism,” “pregnant woman,” “exploding car,” “peak oil,” and “dark future.” Oddly enough, they’re all fairly accurate. The film, marking the fourth installment in George Miller’s “Mad Max” series (and the first without Mel Gibson), follows Max (now…
American Sniper is more intent on creating a hero out of Chris Kyle, reportedly the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history, than it is on being an unbiased character study; to be fair, the film was based on Kyle’s eponymous memoir, which wasn’t the most objective of the Iraq War either. So obviously it…
The cliché nowadays is not showing a film’s title characters until the better half of its second act. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continues that trend by focusing more on April O’Neil (Megan Fox, “Passion Play”), a good-looking New York reporter reduced to covering fluff pieces. Eager for a break that’d set her apart from her…
The Purge: Anarchy opens hours before the Annual Purge: The one night when all crime — including murder — is temporarily decriminalized. Americans all over the country either barricade themselves indoors to hide from the violence, or stockpile weapons in preparation of “purging the beast.” The film’s focal character Sergeant (Frank Grillo) falls into the…
Everyone’s invited to Disney’s PG pity-party Maleficent. Directed in the cadence of a Lana Del Rey song (who, coincidentally, shows up during the credits with a closing track), this live-action re-imagining of the 1959 animated classic “Sleeping Beauty” has enough gothic romance, leather gowns, and teen gloominess to attract a substantial summer audience. Surprisingly, however,…
Crime’s hit an all-time low in The Purge, but the neighbors of James Sandin (Ethan Hawke, “Sinister”) are still scrambling for one of his signature security systems, which promises to turn any home into an impenetrable fortress. That’s because, to keep these rates so minimal, the United States has instituted the annual “Purge,” a 12-hour…
In my high school days, I wrote a script about a hitman who does drugs with Jesus. I thought it was edgy. Fortunately, you’ll never see it to know otherwise. Occasionally though, juvenile ideas like that land on the desks of eager producers. In rarer cases, they’re blessed with a million dollars and a distribution…
