WHERE WERE YOU IN ’62? Years ago, when I wrote my review for Falkenberg Farewell (2006), an internationally little-known Swedish film that did very well among Swedish critics but perhaps not anywhere else, I made plenty of references to my own life as a teenager in my hometown. But I failed to mention American Graffiti, … Continue reading American Graffiti: One Last Night
A MURDERED WIFE. A ONE-ARMED MAN. AN OBSESSED DETECTIVE. THE CHASE BEGINS. If you ever come to Sylva, North Carolina, there is at least one must-see tourist attraction – the train wreck from The Fugitive (1993). After shooting this expensive action scene that had a bus colliding with a train, the crew left the wrecks … Continue reading The Fugitive: Doc on the Run
30 years after the events in the first movie, K (Ryan Gosling) is a new replicant model who’s working for the LAPD as a blade runner; his latest mission leads to a startling discovery. There really was no need for a new Blade Runner, and the slow-moving, drawn-out story doesn’t take us anywhere new. The … Continue reading Blade Runner 2049
EVERY GENERATION HAS A STORY. There are some people out there who call themselves fans of Star Wars but still prefer to pretend like the trilogy of prequels that George Lucas created in 1999-2005 never happened, even though they were as excited about them before the premiere as they are now when the saga continues … Continue reading The Force Awakens: Saving Another Franchise
NEW TEAM. NEW ATTITUDE. NEW MISSION. When the CIA learns that one of the original Expendables (Mel Gibson), who went rogue and was presumed dead, has resurfaced, Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) assembles a new team to capture him. The first film in the series to get a PG-13 rating, which to the disappointment of many … Continue reading The Expendables 3
IT’S KIND OF A BIG DEAL. After getting kicked out of a prestigious news job in NYC, Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) is offered to join the world’s first 24-hour news channel, and gets the old gang back together. Getting this sequel off the ground took its sweet time, and once again it seems impossible to … Continue reading Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
8 YEAR OLD SAMUEL: SOLE WITNESS TO A MURDER. THREE KILLERS WHO’LL STOP AT NOTHING TO SILENCE HIM. ONE HONEST COP WHO’LL GIVE HIS LIFE TO SAVE HIM… The original title of the screenplay was “Called Home” and it devoted a lot of time to Amish customs. Producer Edward S. Feldman still believed in the … Continue reading Witness: Book in Hiding
IN A GAME DIVIDED BY COLOR, HE MADE US SEE GREATNESS. In 1945, talented baseball player Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) is recruited by the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American in Major League Baseball. Although the icon was memorably portrayed in The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), this bio has the benefit of historical distance where … Continue reading 42
THIS IS NOT A GAME. Years into the future, after an alien attack on Earth that left millions dead, young Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is among the bright teenagers recruited to fight a decisive, future war. This adaptation of the classic novel suffers from the same problems as The Host and After Earth, two other … Continue reading Ender’s Game
THE ODDS AGAINST THEM WERE 10,000 TO 1… BUT WHAT THE HELL! After the mission that destroyed the guns of Navarone, Keith Mallory and John Miller (Robert Shaw, Edward Fox) are asked to find a spy who may have infiltrated the Yugoslav Partisans. This sequel to The Guns of Navarone (1961) is no match for … Continue reading Force 10 From Navarone
ATTRACTION. DESIRE. DECEPTION. MURDER. NO ONE IS EVER COMPLETELY INNOCENT. When a prosecutor (Greta Scacchi) is found raped and murdered in her apartment, a colleague (Harrison Ford) takes charge of the investigation… even though he had an affair with her. Alan J. Pakula’s first thriller since the 1970s is reminiscent of those films, with an … Continue reading Presumed Innocent
FIRST CONTACT. LAST STAND. In 1873, Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig) wanders into a small Arizona town, unable to remember what he’s been through… and then aliens attack. There’s nothing wrong with the visual effects or the cast in this spectacular summer blockbuster; Craig is even trying to channel his inner Clint Eastwood. But one has … Continue reading Cowboys & Aliens
Borat was so 2006. In this followup to Borat (2006), we’re introduced to another character from Sacha Baron Cohen’s Da Ali G Show (2003), the Austrian fashion reporter Brüno who journeys to America in a brave attempt to find superstardom; his cartoonishly absurd in-your-face homosexuality may cause a roadblock or two. Just like in Borat, … Continue reading Brüno
