Eventually I'll put something nifty here. Until then, know that I'm watching you. Closely.
In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage) often speeds down roadways like a bat out of hell. However, in this case, the idiom should be taken literally. Following a pact with Satan, this once renowned stunt motorcyclist becomes tormented by a demonic entity which, on a mission to punish and consume the…
Although I got a review out of it (making the experience a humanitarian effort), I take great pride in knowing I’m one of the few men comfortable enough with my masculinity to see a movie like The Vow. If its premise — the “true (at least by Hollywood’s standards) story” of love and the lengths…
Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson) is uncharitable, misogynistic, nihilistic, a racist, a chain-smoker, a raging alcoholic, and a bad father, but Rampart, the movie he’s thrust into, is astonishingly dull. Helmed by Oren Moverman, it explores the state of the LAPD circa the late ’90s but, despite what its title suggests, the film isn’t about the…
Daniel Espinosa’s Safe House is a lesson in “Filmmaking with Parkinson’s.” The choppily edited actions sequences — onslaughts of bright colors and enough “shaky-camera” to make Jason Bourne nauseous — are hard to endure. Moreover, they’re built on clichés: Coincidental protests (allowing the protagonists some cover), accidental assassinations, and a handful of close calls. Because…
In Chronicle, Josh Trank’s (who’s previously worked on TV’s “The Kill Point”) theatrical debut, we learn that, much like how it is with young love, when high school students are confronted with superpowers, things can quickly escalate from skipping stones and playing aeronautical football to committing crimes of passion and bouts of melodrama. Yet, despite…
It took two viewings for me to appreciate We Need to Talk About Kevin, the neo-surrealist drama helmed by Lynne Ramsay. Based on a book of the same name, the film, scribed by the director alongside Rory Kinnear, explores the theme of “nature versus nurture” through the eyes of Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton), a disenchanted…
Recently, as per my friend’s request, I skimmed through a snuff film he’d found online. “You know, the fact that I don’t bat an eye at this, but have to hold back tears during ASPCA infomercials is sick in and of itself.” “Congratulations, you’ve been desensitized to human violence,” he shot back. It’s true, like…
