Director F. Gary Gray calls back to his days as an acton-thriller filmmaker with Lift, a heist movie that aspires to be an airborne version of Gray’s remake of The Italian Job. However, that former influence was an entertaining and accessible thrill ride with enough charisma to boot. Lift , the complete opposite, is an expensive-looking, self-serious knockoff; hampered by a convoluted plot and absent camaraderie among the cast. The only thing this empty-headed flick…
The Bad Guys is a big screen adaptation of a popular book series for kids, perhaps to tide over the Diary of a Wimpy Kid crowd. But even as someone who was completely unfamiliar with the series, I thought its feature-length debut was great. It’s one of the coolest and most exciting films of the year.
Wrath of Man is a good example of a movie exceeding expectations. Even if it’s just a slight change in elevation, it still counts in the long run.
“Soapy” is usually a word with a negative connotation, but The Burnt Orange Heresy seems to challenge that. The film is a to-do list of soapy thematic tropes, such as using sex, deception, and even murder to drive its story, yet director Giuseppe Capotondi, screenwriter Scott B. Smith, and a great cast get away with it because the central drama is so interesting and the characters are so beguiling.
The Whistlers is a good thriller, but what’s really interesting about Corneliu Porumboiu’s movie is that it rivals similar blockbusters – even though both films are much different in scale.
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: Addison Wylie When audiences aren’t following the documentary’s main court case involving 83-year-old jewel thief Doris Payne, Payne is telling us about her wild history. It’s during these stretches where The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne has all the snazziness of a grand scale heist movie bundled up within a teeny, tiny doc. We get great amusement watching Payne recollect about past “jobs” and how she got away with it. However, it looks…
By: Addison Wylie Suitably enough, Now You See Me knows how to handle an audience that’s skeptical to its tricks. But the production has to admit, when you pitch “bank robbing magicians”, it’s hard for audiences not to hide an eye roll. Director Louis Leterrier, however, pulls off a movie that knows how to disarm movie goers of cynicism and delight us with boxes full of double crosses and twists. Unlock one of the hidden…