While Cruella de Vil is an iconic Disney villain, is there much potential in showing the origin story of a character whose fashion sense leads to her wanting to skin 101 Dalmatians? The answer is a yes as prominent as the eponymous character’s bi-colored hair, as director Craig Gillespie and screenwriters Dana Fox and Tony…
The serial killer narrative has been done to death, in TV series and movies. Within this sub-genre — that combines thriller and horror — there are masterpieces, there are turkeys and there’s the rest, that lack brilliance but offer some enjoyment. More specifically, homicide detective narratives set in small town or rural America veer from…
In recent years, Hollywood has taken a renewed interest in Russia, specifically as a threat to the US. The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) continues this pattern, following the trend of such films as “The Sum of All Fears,” “The Bourne Supremacy,” “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Salt” and the TV series…
2018’s “A Quiet Place” is a terrifically focused and tightly wound horror film, which uses silence interspersed with jump scares to create a thoroughly thrilling experience. How then to follow it up with a “Part II?” Writer-director John Krasinski does so by expanding the world of the first film while also maintaining the focus on…
Megan Fox gets knocked down but gets up again (and again) in Till Death, a hyperactive thriller that eschews the slow-burn approach of the similarly themed “Gerald’s Game” for higher-octane action. The plot is a perhaps a little too telegraphic, with the outcome never really in doubt and multiple predictable scenes, but it’s anchored by…
Ben Wheatley is a prominent and potent voice in British cinema. His sophisticated use of practical limitations such as small casts and contained environments have created strong impressions such as the constant menace and discomfort of “Kill List” and the black humor of “Sightseers.” His distinctive use of space in “High-Rise” and “Free Fire” are…
Someone at Warner Bros. needs to learn the value of taking time. Since the halcyon (and pre-published) days of the Wizarding World, the studio has demonstrated a tendency to rush their franchises. Despite 2014’s superb “Godzilla” and 2017’s impressive “Kong: Skull Island,” the subsequent installments, 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and now Godzilla vs….
