I haven’t kept up with Gerard Butler’s action vehicles since being disappointed by 2013’s Olympus Has Fallen. A grudge hadn’t kept me away from Butler. In fact, his action flicks have looked appealing by the promotional material as I find myself distracted with other titles. After missing this year’s Plane, I didn’t want to miss the boat on his second outing of the year. I sat down for Mission Kandahar with excitement running through my…
Showing little regard for the intelligence of its audience, One True Loves stretches the suspension of disbelief until its final fray.
By: Jolie Featherstone Marlowe, Neil Jordan’s adaptation of John Banville’s (a.k.a. Benjamin Black) novel The Black-Eyed Blonde, brings Philip Marlowe (a character created by novelist Raymond Chandler) to life in a sunny noir set in a luscious, pre-WWII Californian town where everyone is trying to climb the ladder of success – no matter the cost.
Orphan: First Kill, to an extent, pulls off its ambitious goal of being a prequel to a 13-year-old movie using the same leading actor.
I’m not afraid of heights. However, as I watched Fall with bated breath, I felt chills and quivers in my back and my legs which I’ve never felt before. Watching the movie’s climb-savvy leads (wayward friends played by Grace Fulton and Virginia Gardner) scale a 2,000 radio tower in the middle of the desert was enough for me to clasp my armrest. Watching them dangle from the tower after being stranded at the top was…
By: Jolie Featherstone John Michael McDonagh’s grim social drama, The Forgiven, explores the intersections of class, race, and culture. Based on the 2012 novel of the same name by author Lawrence Osborne, the film constructs a world beyond time. Indeed, the story feels as if it could be set today or many decades ago and it would still be just as relevant.
Dual is a nifty near-future sci-fi that starts with an interesting and obviously satirical premise and elevates it to make comments on the dire state of personal interactivity. It’s well-trodden territory for this genre, but writer/director Riley Stearns (The Art of Self-Defense) still finds original ways to keep his audience laughing, entertained, and on their toes.
Each action headliner brings their own qualities to a movie and, unless we’re squaring them off in a fantasy match, movie goers really shouldn’t be comparing these movie stars against each other. But exceptions can be made when the conditions call for it and, since we’re talking about Blacklight and why it fails, let’s blend fantasy with reality.
