For the Tibetan Mastiffs living on Snow Mountain, a dog’s life has a simple riff; Guard a peaceful village of wool-making sheep from the thuggish wolf Linnux (Lewis Black; Inside Out, The Aristocrats) and his rabid pack. To avoid distractions, Mastiff leader Khampa (J.K Simmons; Whiplash, Spider-Man) forbids all music from the mountain. But when…
Stephen King is one of modern American literature’s most adept writers who gets prolific and at times rather mediocre adaptations of his most seminal works. More times than not, King’s works are best adapted to the long form of television. Think Tobe Hooper’s Salem’s Lot, The Stand, and the original miniseries event of IT directed…
It’s true that Francis Ford Coppola had a rough time after the first two Godfather films and Apocalypse Now, but that’s not to say that the films that would follow would all be without merit or importance. 1988’s deeply underrated Tucker: The Man and His Dream deserved to do better than it did at the…
Tom Cruise joins forces with director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) for their second collaboration in American Made. Cruise plays Barry Seal, paycheque former TWA pilot who is recruited by the CIA for reconnaissance missions over Central America. Fed up with the pay cheque and not by choice, Seal starts to sideline in smuggling drugs…
Damn. Shot Caller is a piece of hard-as-nails cinema. I’d love to see the expression on Walter Hill’s face after viewing this testosterone drenched display of movie machismo; the fact that it’s basically air-tight from a conceptual level only helps to make the film feel all the more spectacular overall. Written and directed by Ric…
When I was handed yet another found footage movie to review I judged it before I even pressed play. So many of these found footage movies play like replicas of one another with no emotional connection to the character. The films get so dull and tedious you try to guess what kind of camera’s they’re…
Trainspotting 2 (I simply refuse to refer to this film as T2 as there is only ONE T2) works way better than I ever expected. I am very wary of long-lead sequels, especially sequels to masterworks, so this one had a lot to prove. The story is really good, the performances are all excellent, it’s…
Boobs, beach and Baywatch. The movie adaptation of the 1990’s TV series certainly brings home a modern comedic touch, cheesy over the top (heavy on the CGI) action scenes and bromance comedy between our leads Mitch (Dwayne Johnson) and Brody (Zac Efron). These guys have great chemistry on-screen and help the plot to drive along…
When Las Vegas cop Vincent Downs (Foxx) and his crooked partner steal a cocaine shipment bound for a drug dealing casino boss. The desperate businessman retaliates by kidnapping Vincent’s son. Pursued by an idealistic fellow cop and a drug kingpin, Vincent must rely on his street smarts and sheer force of will as he tries…
Tonight’s feature presentation is one of my all-time favourites from childhood, the 1986 family movie SpaceCamp, which is finally hitting Blu-ray later this year courtesy of those wonderful people at Kino Lorber. I watched this movie 8,458 times while growing up, endlessly hoping that somehow, someday, I’d end up in a space ship. It was…
The charming, offbeat indie Dave Made a Maze is one of those efforts that truly feels hand-made and the product of a filmmaker who had a very specific vision and a very specific way of realizing that vision. Directed by Bill Watterson from a script he co-wrote with Steven Sears, this quirky and unconventional piece…
I can remember seeing Steven Soderbergh’s sad, romantic, and often times thought provoking science fiction film Solaris on opening weekend at the Arclight in Hollywood back in 2002, and as I recall, I seemed to be one of the only people in that theater who enjoyed what they’d seen. I’m not sure what people were…
A neon art collector seduces a lone drifter into killing her abusive husband. Death Waits For No Man is directed and written by Armin Siljkovic. The movie starts off on a slow burn with the opening sequence failing to suck me in via the usual personalities of those involved on screen. The opening scene alone…
File this one under “IT WOULD NEVER BE MADE TODAY.” Totally awesome and completely irresponsible, the 1984 children’s fantasy action film Cloak & Dagger was a staple item of my HBO-watching youth, and I can remember literally exhausting the family VHS copy after my mom taped it off the movie channel. Directed by Richard Franklin…
A Brilliant Monster is a study into the stressful depths of the creative mind, the lengths that one goes through for success, and the anxiety to keep on producing while on top. Is it mental instability? Or the pressures of a society built to reward the selfish? This uber low independent movie takes an abstract…
Wind River is masterful, utterly immaculate filmmaking, almost suffocating in its greatness by the time its powerful conclusion unfolds. Written and directed by the extremely talented storyteller Taylor Sheridan, who in the past few years has scripted the one-two punch of Sicario (for Denis Villeneuve) and Hell or High Water (for David Mackenzie); I’m happy…
