The Man Who Killed Don Quixote is a film three decades in the making, and it is not shy about highlighting this fact to the viewer. Beginning with a caption that informs the viewer of the length of time it took to bring this adaptation of Miguel de Cervantes’ novel to the big screen, The…
The continued effort to update and bring “live-action” realism to their classics (e.g., “Dumbo,” “The Jungle Book,” “Beauty and the Beast,”) continues for Disney with The Lion King. It follows the same premise as the 1994 animated feature (as well as “Kimba the White Lion” from which it was lifted) in which a young lion…
The special forces sub-genre combines elements of the cop, spy and soldier film, and is characterized by jargon, hardware, institutionalized yet independent characters and almost-but-not-quite overwhelming odds. Notable examples include “Tears of the Sun,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Triple Frontier” and “The Expendables” franchise. Given their practice of taking established generic traditions and infusing them with…
Much like the immediate outlook of its unlucky characters, the details are stark in Arctic. In Joe Penna’s pulls-no-punches survivalist drama, the seemingly skyscraper-sized “SOS” carved out in deep snow; the remains of a grounded, battered plane that looks like it’s flown through hell and back; and the pop of red of a winter coat…
After nearly three weeks since my press screening, I have been secretly dreading composing a review for James Cameron’s latest production, Alita: Battle Angel. Even more so than dreading it, I was truly unsure of how to approach it, since the experience has almost completely been wiped from my memory (for the better, incidentally). But…
B-movies are a dime a dozen nowadays, thanks to the increasingly strengthening stream of easier distribution paths and the prolificacy of cut-rate digital effects solutions, so it’s tough to sift through the rubble of bargain bin trash to find any gems anymore. The label simply isn’t what it used to be, now sullied by the…
With a title like The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot, there are only so many paths a movie can take. At some point, the titular man is going to have to kill Hitler and then he’s going to have to kill the Bigfoot. There’ll be some blanks to fill, but that’s going…
