As a recap to bring readers up to speed: As “Divergent” came to a close, Tris Prior (Shailene Woodley, “The Spectacular Now”) and her friends were embroiled in a violent battle as the once-balanced faction system came crashing down around them. Caught up in a simulation ordered by Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet, “Carnage”),…
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…
In case you didn’t know it — Kenneth Branagh is a director who really grasps the magic of the screen. Whether it’s through Shakespearean adaptations like “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Hamlet,” or one of the larger tent-poles like “Thor” and “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit,” viewers can be sure of one thing: They’re in for…
As the case itself boasts in a rather tasteless red banner across its top, Something Wicked was the last movie in which the late Brittany Murphy appeared. If this uncomfortably poor attempt at a cerebral horror film will be remembered for anything, it will be that. Well, that and the fact that Murphy probably deserved…
Science fiction has long explored the question of what it is to be human. This philosophical topic has involved different non-human figures, such as extra-terrestrials in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Avatar,” clones in “Never Let Me Go” and “The Island” and perhaps most frequently, artificial intelligence. Films such as “Metropolis,” “2001: A Space…
War is hell even under optimal conditions, but when you do not know who your friends are or even who you can and cannot trust, it gets even darker. Just ask Private Gary Hook (Jack O’Connell, “Unbroken”), a raw recruit in the British Army who, contrary to his expectations of being sent to Germany, winds…
Jaume Collet-Serra’s new action thriller Run All Night stars Liam Neeson as a once notorious hit man named Jimmy Conlon. Jimmy’s nickname was “The Gravedigger,” so you know just what kind of person we’re dealing with here. However, these days Jimmy is just a shadow of his former self, relying heavily on his long standing…
