The dog days of the summer schlockbusters are upon us and soon we will be inundated with mediocre and below average films such as the new “Ghostbusters,” another “Ice Age” installment and the dismal “Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates,” among others. Trying to fight this deluge, though, is the animated feature from Universal Pictures…
What is it about “Movie-That-Never-Was” stories that endlessly fascinate us? You’d think we’re better off not knowing what could have been. From “Lost in La Mancha” to “Jodorowsky’s Dune” there’s always that stinging compulsion to know what sank the ship. And given the continually escalating popularity of the superhero genre, I find it appropriate to…
With The Legend of Tarzan, Tarzan meets the cast of “Planet of the Apes” and no one comes out looking good. To this reporter’s count, there have been more than 30 screen adaptations of the semi-classic Edgar Rice Burroughs tale of “Tarzan, King of the Apes,” from the first appearance in 1918 (with silent star…
Shakespeare is synonymous with adaptation. His work has produced mutations that continue to adapt to the most dissimilar environments. The bard has shown in the last four hundred years that no matter the medium, the channel, the period, the era, the genre, the generation, the technology, his work keeps fitting all conditions, even the most…
Years ago, during the annual Purge — a 12-hour event held on March 21 during which all crime, including murder, is legal — a teenager survived the brutal slaughter of her entire family. She endured an unimaginable night of terror and torture, and now, as an adult in The Purge: Election Year, Senator Charlie Roan…
Looking through the windshield of a vehicle that gives the impression of being at rest, parked — no noise there, no movement; it is only the outside that moves: Other cars, people who stare, people who don’t give a damn, bicycles, motorcycles, and a red light at a distance tell us what we have been…
I was not alive to experience the impact “Jaws” had when it came out, but I am certainly aware of its influence and have seen it many times. So, going into The Shallows, I kept hearing from various outlets that it was “just like ‘Jaws’” or “the best shark movie since ‘Jaws’.” Granted, that isn’t…
