Shane Black makes movies people either love or hate. There never seems to be any middle ground. His filmography is filled with smash hits or financial disappointments, nary a mild success to be found. In his early ’20s he sold the script for “Lethal Weapon.” Over the next few years he had his fingers in […]
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Summer Movie Previews—Part Two
Welcome back to Part Two of the Summer Movie preview, in which the month of July is covered. There are a ton of exciting releases not covered here, so look at this as a guide for the huge stuff. Enjoy. July 1 “The BFG” What it’s about: It’s an adaptation of the lovely Roald Dahl […]
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Summer Movie Lineup
Mandatory Fun, Part I: May & June releases
Welcome to the Summer Movie Preview. Last weekend’s arrival of “Captain America: Civil War” was the early dawn of 2016’s summer movie season. There will be big actors, enormous explosions and the largest budgets the American film industry has ever seen this year. The following mandatory fun list includes the bigger flicks of May and […]
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Marvel Swings For The Fences
“Captain America: Civil War” is an ideological trip to the MCU
Captain America debuted in Marvel Comics in March of 1941, based on the character of Steve Rogers, a young man whose parents have died, who grew up during the Great Depression. Trying to enlist for World War II to fight the Nazis, he fails to pass the physical requirements, but is invited to take part […]
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Punks vs. Skinheads
“Green Room” paints Portland in a violent light
Jeremy Saulnier’s modern classic, “Green Room,” viscerally punches the audience in the face with every death. The script gives each character at least one moment to be human, even those who wouldn’t deserve it in a lesser film. Nothing is easy here, every choice is fraught with dire consequences and repercussions. There aren’t very many […]
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Hazed and Confused
Linklater sets his sights on college life
If there were a running theme to the films of Richard Linklater, it would have to be the search for meaning. Each entry in his filmography spends at least a little time on the idea that as humans live through defining moments, they tend to miss the true import until either retrospect or nostalgia kick […]
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Life in the Remake Jungle
“The Jungle Book” amazes with a new twist on Kipling’s classic
The story is already well known. “The Jungle Book” is about Mowgli, a man cub (human boy) raised by a family of wolves in a jungle. When an angry tiger decides Mowgli must die, the boy begins an epic journey through the dangerous and deceptively beautiful jungle to live with the rest of the humans. […]
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Drone Warfare Sets Stage for Magnificent Morality Tale
“Eye in the Sky” is an intense thriller for adults
“Eye in the Sky” is a film of ideas. Big ones that will create magnificent discussions and possible arguments with friends and lovers. This time of the year is sometimes seen as the dumping ground for movies that studios don’t think will generate much of a profit, but it’s almost certain that if this was […]
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Hank Williams Biopic
“I Saw the Light” cheats on heart
“I Saw the Light” tells the story of Hank Williams. Not the right-wing second one or the gutter punk third one, but the original, hillbilly country music icon (and winner of a posthumous 2010 Pulitzer Prize). The really complicated thing about making a film based on someone’s life is deciding which part to tell. Should […]
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Whoever Wins, We Lose
Batman and Superman together save nothing
“Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” is not a movie. It might look like a movie and its 151-minute run time suggests that things of importance happen, but not really. “BvS” is actually a two-and-a-half-hour trailer for the upcoming “Justice League” movie, packaged so viewers who are expecting something fun and entertaining might drop $20. […]