Reviews 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE. Apparently 300 (2006), Zack Snyder’s misbegotten, highly stylized adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel, made enough money and fans to drive the studio back to the well. Even though there is ostensibly a bigger story being told here, clearly profit, rather than art or narrative, is the motivating factor. […]
John J. Bennett
Posted inArts + Scene
Non-Stop Takes Off
Reviews NON-STOP. I bashfully admit that this marks my first experience with the recently reminted Liam Neeson as action hero. My impression is that he has thrown himself into this late-career badass period to combat his grief at the tragic death of his wife Natasha Richardson in 2009. I’m not sure whether it’s the workmanlike […]
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Lego Blocked
Reviews THE LEGO MOVIE. My childhood was littered with Legos. They were a constant fixture, as well as a sort of passively administered personality test for pre-adolescents. Some preferred their construction sets impeccably organized, either still in the original packaging or carefully assembled to match the example on the box. Others took a less clinical […]
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Growing Boys
Reviews LABOR DAY. At first it seemed odd that a movie by Jason Reitman (Young Adult, Up in the Air) would be relegated to the dumping ground of mid-winter release. Reitman’s become something of a prestige director in recent years, gathering up commercial success, critical accolades and major award nominations along the way. But as […]
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Franken-fail
Reviews I, FRANKENSTEIN. It would be a deliciously nasty irony if this movie were as horrendous, as cobbled together a monstrosity as its famous protagonist. But alas, it isn’t even bad enough to be enjoyable. Instead, it’s bad in a cold, dully familiar, unremarkable way: the white noise of crappy graphic novel adaptations. This extrapolation […]
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Intelligence
Reviews HER. Almost 15 years are gone since Spike Jonze brought his sweetly cracked sensibility to the big screen with Being John Malkovich in 1999. In the intervening period, Jonze directed a second Charlie Kaufman screenplay (Adaptation, 2002) and adapted Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (2009). This is the first time he’s directed […]
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Highlight Reel
Reviews The only new release this past weekend, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones, struck me as a depressing way to ring in a new year. Had I not closed out 2013 laid low by pig flu or whatever it was, I might have had the energy to have fun with a bad movie. Instead, I’ve […]
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Wolf is a Howl
Reviews THE WOLF OF WALL STREET. It’s a remarkable thing that Martin Scorsese, 40-odd years in, should come out with the most youthful, exuberant, hilarious movie of his career. It’s an epic drug comedy with a lavish late-’80s Wall Street backdrop, and I love it. Based on the autobiography of penny-stock and pharmaceuticals enthusiast Jordan […]
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Fine Burgundy
Reviews ANCHORMAN 2: THE LEGEND CONTINUES. Since the first Anchorman, Will Ferrell has become the biggest comedy star of his generation, maybe of all time, and his writing/producing partner Adam McKay has refined his directing skills and sense of style and nuance with slept-on classics like Stepbrothers (2008) and The Other Guys (2010). This sequel […]
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Fire Beats Paper
Reviews THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG. I’m as shocked as anyone else that I legitimately enjoyed this second installment in Peter Jackson’s tripartite adaptation of the Tolkien novel. An Unexpected Journey managed to both leave me cold and stoke the fires of my indignation. But where it felt meandering, dull and largely pointless, Smaug […]
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American Underbelly
Reviews OUT OF THE FURNACE. As with his last feature, Crazy Heart (2009), co-writer/director Scott Cooper explores classic themes of America’s underbelly. Last time out, he directed Jeff Bridges to a well-deserved Oscar as Bad Blake, an alcoholic outlaw country singer sliding down the backside of a storied career. Thanks mostly to Bridges’ fearless, barely […]
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All is Not Lost
Reviews ALL IS LOST. Robert Redford doesn’t have anything to prove. He made his bones in the business nearly half a century ago and, a few minor artistic missteps aside, has earned the right to just hang out in Utah — maybe attend the occasional film festival that he created. I certainly wouldn’t ask him […]