Suncoast has such sunny appeal for a movie about death. Maybe it’s the Floridian setting, maybe it’s because this dramedy skims the surface of its morose material. A case could also be made that Laura Chinn’s filmmaking debut is supposed to mirror the disconnected feelings of the story’s lead character, Doris.
Triangle of Sadness pitches itself as a sophisticated comedy with “biting” satire about elitist attitudes during class wars. However, the jabs made by writer/director Ruben Östlund are nothing more than the filmmaker taking swings at low-hanging fruit for a ridiculously long runtime; intercut occasionally by tired attempts to be outrageous to offset an arthouse reputation.
By: Jessica Goddard Full disclosure: I am bad at watching war movies. I watch war movies out of some (likely misdirected) sense of duty – if actual human beings lived these horrors, I should be able to stomach cinematic recreations of them, is my thinking. But, I find it very hard to watch people die (which I’ve chosen to attribute to a smug overabundance of empathy) even if it’s only a performance. For this reason,…
Woody Harrelson, James Marsden, Jessica Biel, Milla Jovovich, Rob Reiner, and Tommy Lee Jones. These actors all play key parts in Shock and Awe, a political drama Reiner directs. Unfortunately, they’re all overqualified for this generic vehicle.
By: Nick van Dinther The title Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri tells you exactly what the movie is about. If you peek behind that literal title, you’ll find one of the best films of the year.
By: Nick Ferwerda Wilson (Woody Harrelson) is a lonely man who is maybe a bit too honest. He struggles to adapt to the modern-age of communication, which only irritates his lack of social awareness, but he’s truly shook up when his father passes away – the only family member Wilson had left in his life.
It’s been three years since audiences flocked to the largely forgettable yet surprising box office hit Now You See Me, a crime thriller about a Robin Hood-esque band of highly skilled magicians who perform elaborate cons to rob the rich of their money. After taking in roughly $350 million worldwide, the film has apparently merited a sequel – the equally forgettable Now You See Me 2.
By: Addison Wylie The Hunger Games series has been particularly strong with its film adaptations. However, something always appears to be slightly off key. Not always a detail that greatly affects the film as a whole, but an attribute that hampers the film from being great. The Hunger Games was a powerful introduction to dystopian District 12 and all the have-nots that inhabited such a mucky home. Audiences also received a brutal – yet PG-13…
By: Addison Wylie Why is it that Out of the Furnace has so many accomplishments going for it, yet it’s an impossible recommendation? Telling someone to watch Out of the Furnace would be like telling someone to hold a bunch of wild snakes and assuring them they won’t get bit. Scott Cooper’s thriller is one of those movies you appreciate a few hours after having watched it. Viewing Out of the Furnace for the first…
By: Addison Wylie It was nice to see a young adult book series stick to its gritty tone and not feel the need to make it lighter for a mainstream audience. That’s exactly what The Hunger Games did with its first venture to the big screen. It did, however, succumb to attributes that felt reminiscent to other franchises with a widespread teen audience. One of these beats being complications with affection between two strapping young…