This doesn’t happen too often – two films of the same specific sub-genre being released so closely to each other. In this case, the genre is the “home invasion thriller”. One’s really good, the other is really bad. Becky, the really good one, did a great job entertaining audiences with lots of inventive action. Its comparable evil twin, Survive the Night, takes us to the upside-down. It’s boring, illogical and its most famous star, Bruce…
Curiosity is a quality that keeps on giving. M. Night Shyamalan, for instance, is a filmmaker who is eager to explore his own craft. And while his back catalogue has included projects that have snowballed out of his own range, he’s at least owning his ambition and finding original stories to tell audiences. His latest collaborations with indie empire Blumhouse Productions have been great vehicles to anchor his passion projects and visual filmmaking. Such is…
By: Nick van Dinther Bruce Willis is at his best when he’s playing the sarcastic, one-lining ass kicker. In Eli Roth’s Death Wish, that’s exactly who audiences get.
I don’t know who bothers me more: indifferent Bruce Willis or cocky Bruce Willis. Precious Cargo and Marauders gave audiences more of the former, featuring the actor barely showing effort in his performances. Cop Out and his latest action flick Once Upon a Time in Venice shows more of the latter Willis as he smirks and sleepwalks through his role. The actor, who has been great and charismatic in the past, seems to be uninspired lately. Then…
Earlier this year, audiences witnessed Bruce Willis being a lazy actor in Precious Cargo – he talked on a cell phone and barely moved out of his seat. In Marauders, the action star is at least doing more with his role (hey, walking counts), but the film itself receives the same faint praise I halfheartedly awarded Precious Cargo in April.
Precious Cargo, a cheesy caper directed/co-written by Max Adams, is simultaneously occupying theatres and on Demand. It was also released a day after my birthday, which is fitting since it made me feel my age.
By Parker Mott Sin City: A Dame to Kill For seems to almost prey on our memories (and, for some, admiration) of 2005’s first Sin City by reintroducing many of the same shadowy characters in the same grim, gutless city and not providing a narrative motor to make the return worth it. The film not only wastes the audience’s time, but the characters’s as well. Without injecting urgency to each plodding minute, A Dame to…