Well, the sixty-something iconic martial arts wonder Jackie Chan certainly has not entirely lost his cinematic A-game when it comes to his trademark kinetic-style kicks and punches that worldwide movie audiences have come to embrace in the legendary performer’s adventurous chop-socky film career. Sure, Chan’s acrobatic skills in comically kicking butt and taking numbers may…
Observance is a difficult film to figure out, the kind that makes you wonder not what its creators are intentionally hiding from its characters and viewers, but what they have not yet figured out themselves. While it has more than its fair share of beautiful shots, dramatic hard cuts, and impressive performances, how unclear the…
Whether or not space-time is an actual reality or simply an illusion, a convenient concept of the mind to get us through the day, is not relevant here. The Spierig Brothers (“Daybreakers”) mesmerizing film Predestination postulates that it is real, but that is only the starting point of a film that challenges us at every…
I’ll be the first to say the 2012 Tom Cruise actioner, “Jack Reacher” was a pleasant surprise. So much so that I wouldn’t have minded a sequel. Well, Paramount Pictures has delivered that sequel with Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. In the first trailer (provided by Paramount Pictures), Reacher’s (Tom Cruise reprising) tough guy bravado…
Weiner, a documentary about the 2013 New York City mayoral campaign of Anthony Weiner, is very funny and very painful. It’s also one of the most engaging and insightful political movies I’ve seen. Co-directors Elyse Steinberg and former Weiner chief of staff Josh Kriegman were given extraordinary access to Anthony Weiner as he attempted to…
No one has been a bigger critic of films based on video games than this author, but on the other hand, no one is as appreciative of a decent product than him, as well. And while Angry Birds (directed by Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly, both longtime graphic artists, but each making their directorial debuts)…
Writer/director Shane Black certainly knows how to make a good buddy-cop movie. He chalked a first Hollywood kill with 1987’s “Lethal Weapon,” the tale of two trigger-happy LAPD detectives, now considered a cornerstone of the cannon. His partner on that project was producer (now super-producer) Joel Silver, with the pair continuing to collaborate in the…
