A Brooklyn bartender (Tom Hardy) tries to stay away from trouble, which isn’t easy when his bar is a well-known place for mobsters to drop illegal takings. The Bullhead (2011) director’s first American film is a crime drama set in Brooklyn’s dirtier neighborhoods. Hardy is solid in the lead as the low-key Bob who takes … Continue reading The Drop
The evil First Order is now in control of the galaxy, but Rey (Daisy Ridley) is trying to convince Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) to come out of retirement and help the Resistance. The second chapter in the third Star Wars trilogy is ambitious, the mythology beautifully developed by Rian Johnson, and one of the most … Continue reading Star Wars: The Last Jedi
HOW DO YOU FIND A KILLER WHO DOESN’T EXIST? Moscow, 1953; as state security agent Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) realizes that a man killing children is on the loose, he and his wife (Noomi Rapace) find themselves exiled… The novel, which combined an Andrei Chikatilo-inspired serial killer story with a portrait of people who are … Continue reading Child 44
AT THE POINT OF CRISIS, AT THE POINT OF ANNIHILATION, SURVIVAL IS VICTORY. About 25 years ago, Christopher Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas were crossing the English Channel together with a friend. They were in a small sailing yacht headed for the northeastern French town of Dunkirk, but what initially looked like a pleasant … Continue reading Dunkirk: Surviving the Beach
BLOOD LOST. LIFE FOUND. The movie business is full of strange rumors, exaggerations and lies. As a journalist it is sometimes difficult to navigate around them, especially when they seem highly likely to be true. However, one of the things said about The Revenant after the release of a trailer showing a bear attacking the … Continue reading The Revenant: Back from the Dead
ONLY THE MAD SURVIVE. Who in their right mind believed in a fourth Mad Max? Most fans and critics agree that the first two films were classics and the third one not so much. In the early 2000s, when it seemed as if director George Miller had moved on, he started preparing for a fourth … Continue reading Mad Max Fury Road: We Did Need Another Hero
IT’S SPY AGAINST SPY. CIA agents and best friends FDR Foster and Tuck Hansen (Chris Pine, Tom Hardy) start dating the same woman (Reese Witherspoon) without realizing it and soon turn it into a mindless contest. McG returns to Charlie’s Angels territory with this romantic action-comedy, but he should have moved on. The cartoonish shootouts, … Continue reading This Means War
FAMILY IS WORTH FIGHTING FOR. Estranged brothers Brendan and Tommy Conlon (Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy) compete in a mixed martial arts tournament, one of them trained by their dad (Nick Nolte), a recovering alcoholic. Miracle (2004) director Gavin O’Connor has a knack for making formulaic sports movies work surprisingly well; bringing a lot of energy and … Continue reading Warrior
WHEN THE LAW BECAME CORRUPT, OUTLAWS BECAME HEROES. Three brothers (Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke), who run a small bootlegging operation in Virginia during Prohibition, are targeted by a corrupt District Attorney and his ruthless enforcer (Guy Pearce). Based on a real-life story, which was chronicled by Jack Bondurant’s grandson Matt in a novel, … Continue reading Lawless
A FIRE WILL RISE. On the night of this film’s intensely anticipated premiere, a 24-year-old man attacked a midnight screening in Aurora, Colorado and murdered 12 people. The horrendous act caused the studio to remove ads for the The Dark Knight Rises and director Christopher Nolan released a statement where he called the movie theater … Continue reading Dark Knight Rises: The Bat vs. Bane
YOUR MIND IS THE SCENE OF THE CRIME. One of the most exciting things we can experience in our lives takes place when we sleep. Scenarios play out in our dreams that are genuinely unpredictable and emotional. Regardless of whether they happen in a large-scale setting or in more intimate situations, dreams remind us of … Continue reading Inception: Dream Warriors
TRUST NO ONE. SUSPECT EVERYONE. I prefer my spies dapper. I want to see them sip martinis and seduce women in one breath, and in the next kill enemy agents in cold blood. I want to see nifty little toys, fast cars and insane supervillains hiding in lairs that could only be designed by Ken … Continue reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: Return of the Ringmaster
A STORY OF SEX, THUGS & ROCK ‘N’ ROLL. I tried to write a recap of the story but gave up. After all, why bother trying to sort out who did what to whom when director Guy Ritchie’s script should be the last thing on anyone’s mind. Suffice it to say that it’s a tale … Continue reading RocknRolla
