It is a reunion of sorts for those connected to the witless cop caper Spenser Confidential. First, the film’s star, Mark Wahlberg, returns home to his beloved Boston as the famed native son struts his reckless stuff around Beantown. Second, the film’s director, Peter Berg, reunites with Wahlberg, his “Mile 22,” “Patriots Games,” “Deepwater Horizon,”…
Obey lays out its elements early on, declaring its setting, its interest and its milieu from the opening shot. Yet, within this shot and throughout the film, writer-director Jamie Jones also defies expectation. In the opening sequence before the titles, a deep focus long take captures six young people work towards the camera, discussing the…
From its opening shots of a city by night to its final image of a teenage boy entering an apartment block, La Granja (English title: “The Farm”) declares its interconnectivity and sociological credentials for all to see. Set in the Barrio La Esperanza area of Puerto Rico, writer-director Angel Manuel Soto’s film presents three narrative…
In the past calendar year (or thereabouts), there have been at least four major boxing films, “Creed,” “Southpaw,” “Hands of Stone” and now Bleed for This. Written and directed by Ben Younger (“Prime”), his first effort in more than a decade, and produced by Martin Scorsese, it tells the story of Vinny Pazienza, professional boxer…
Following the well-laid plans of just about every pugilistic biopic ever made (with the exception of “Raging Bull” and “The Fighter”), director Jonathan Jakubowicz with Hands of Stone, plods along (just like his subject’s boxing style) in this familiar telling of the rise of a famous boxer, in this case, Roberto Durán (Edgar Ramírez, “The…
Sports movies are very predictable. Both cautionary tales and underdog stories end in almost surefire victory. Given their foolproof game plans, the only way to decide whether one of these movies is good or not is by how pumped-up you get watching it. Without any notable competition, Antoine Fuqua’s summer boxing drama “Southpaw” has become…
Has the tap finally run dry on boxing movies? It goes without saying that there have been a number of great and enduring contenders in this category with genre clichés modern audiences are instinctively ingrained with, but is there anything else to be expressed within this set-up? If Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw is any indicator, we…
