During World War II, the Nazis plundered an estimated 750,000 artworks from European countries including priceless paintings by Van Gogh, Degas, Vermeer, and Michelangelo. Though many paintings and other significant cultural artifacts were recovered by the “Monuments Men,” many were destroyed or auctioned off at extremely low prices. Today, there are well over 100,000 items…
There’s plenty to like about director Daniel Espinosa’s (“Safe House”) latest politically-driven crime thriller, Child 44. There’s a strict hierarchy of Iron Curtain power, no holds barred bloodshed, costumes that rival the best period pieces and, most importantly, a mesmerizing story (based off of Tom Rob Smith’s novel bearing the same name). There’s plenty of…
Judas Ghost, an indie British horror/fantasy inspired by Simon R. Green’s “Ghost Finders” series, feels more like a sequel than a standalone piece. This is to say, while watching it, one feels like what they are seeing would make far more sense — and have far higher stakes — if significantly more background information had…
The Barber is a B-movie’s B-movie. While many of the tropes those well-acquainted with this type of film have come to know are present, several of them are approached uniquely or service the plot in ways far less tired than the tropes themselves. Truer to form still is the ridiculously overdone ending, another familiar element…
From its opening images of our planet illuminated by technology, to a remarkable long take that takes the viewer through the inner operation and impact of computer processing, Blackhat hooks the viewer both emotionally and intellectually. The film delivers an enthralling rendering of both the macro and micro scale of our interconnected digital world, offering…
There’s walking in circles and then there’s walking in circles the Paul Thomas Anderson way. Whatever that means. Not that it matters. Who cares, anyway? A flippant attitude for a flippant movie. Except that Inherent Vice, Anderson’s latest and possibly his worst, is 150 minutes of flippancy, a wacky stumble into safe, though awfully off-putting…
When Kylie Bucknell is sentenced to house arrest for her part in the robbery of an ATM, she thinks that living with her estranged, overbearing mother will be her biggest problems. The noncorporeal resident of the house, however, has other plans in this horror comedy from New Zealand, Housebound. Kylie (Morgana O’Reilly, “We Feel Fine”)…
