Mark Barber

Reviews

The Lazarus Effect

By: Mark Barber David Gelb’s The Lazarus Effect offers an intriguing concept, but gets bogged down by convention. Despite its compelling concept, the premise is familiar: a group of researchers led by Frank (Mark Duplass) and his fiancée Zoe (Olivia Wilde) create the “Lazarus” serum, a formula that brings the recently deceased back to life.  This God-like power to cheat death causes things to go awry very quickly.  Zoe is killed in a laboratory accident…

Reviews

Fifty Shades of Grey

By: Mark Barber Like its source material, the film adaptation of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey has taken quite a bit of flak for its tantalizing portrayal of abusive relationships.  The film reeks of misogyny, but that’s only half the problem.  While Sam Taylor-Johnson’s film resists some of the moral haziness of the book’s gender politics, it does so half-heartedly. Given the book’s start as Twilight fan-fiction, it’s not surprising how the film’s narrative…