Diesel and Walker Hear London Calling

I think by now we know how these movies work, which may account for why we like them so much. Fast & Furious 6, like every Fast & Furious film that came before it, is a full-on, pedal-to-the-metal thrill ride that goes through its brainless plot with such energetic heedlessness that it rams through every mental roadblock we set up. Or maybe we don’t set them up at this point. Maybe we’ve become so accustomed to these movies that we know to drop our defenses before entering the theater.

A Miniature World Hiding in Plain Sight

Epic doesn’t quite live up to its title, but it’s nevertheless a fun-filled animated fantasy adventure, one that’s enlivened by an engaging cast of characters, a talented voice ensemble, highly imaginative visuals, and a reliable plot founded on the battle between good and evil. Although its vivid color scheme is dimmed by the 3D process – a side effect I wasn’t at all surprised by, and you shouldn’t be either at this point – it still proves that animation is generally a better medium for 3D than live action.

It's Chow Time

It’s being perceived as a bad thing that The Hangover Part III isn’t as debaucherous as its predecessors, that a hangover doesn’t factor into the main plot, and that the Wolfpack isn’t forced to retrace its steps after slipping into a drug-induced blackout and waking up in an unfamiliar location. I have to admit, I don’t understand this mindset at all. Can we at least give director Todd Phillips credit for not making the same horrendous mistake he made with The Hangover Part II, namely making a virtual clone of the original film?

A Franchise Gets Compromised

With Star Trek Into Darkness, director J.J. Abrams not only saddles his film with a terrible title, he also makes the same dreaded mistake he made with its 2009 predecessor, namely to twist Gene Roddenberry’s original vision into meaningless summer popcorn thrills. What was once an exciting and idealistic philosophy has now been reduced to the level of mindless action and flashy special effects; there’s plenty of technique, but there’s very little heart.

Luhrmann Makes Fitzgerald's Intentions Known

To watch Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby is to witness the intentions of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original novel finally making themselves known. In the process of adapting the novel, Luhrmann and his co-writer Craig Pearce have not only made the best cinematic version of the story, they have actually made something better than the story itself; although the basic plot has been left virtually untouched, the weight of Fitzgerald’s literariness has at last been lifted, and we, the audience, can now see the emotions and thematic subtexts that had previously been kept hidden.

Don't Think the Mandarin is a Significant Character

I admit that my concern over the future of the Marvel Cinematic Film universe has steadily been growing. Here is a mythos that has now expanded into seven feature films, all of which are so deeply intertwined that the only conceivable way of making sense of it all at this point is to have become intimately familiar with every feature film and every title character. Without that knowledge, insider references, character appearances, and even entire plot points are liable to go over audience’s heads.

Bay Muscles Through a New Low

Sitting through Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, I was, in all honesty, utterly stupefied. I cannot recall the last time filmmakers exhibited a more profound lack of respect and sensitivity in their depiction of actual crimes, namely the kidnapping, torturing, and murdering of innocent people at the hands of Miami-based bodybuilders in the mid 1990s.

A Soap Opera Filtered Through a Screwball Comedy

The Big Wedding answers the question, assuming anyone ever asked it, of what would happen if a soap opera were to be filtered through a screwball comedy. Here is a film in which every conceivable dramatic relationship cliché – divorce, infidelity, pregnancy, prejudice, long-buried secrets, miserable children – is not only forced into being funny but are also collectively the foundation of a plot so contrived, so strained, so completely insincere that turning it into the pilot of a second-rate sitcom might have been an improvement.

Modern-Day Twain

As reported by Rebecca Leffler of The Hollywood Reporter, director Jeff Nichols deeply admires Mark Twain, so much so that, during the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, he hyperbolically referred to Twain as “the greatest American writer to have lived.” You can see the author’s influence in Nichols’ newest film, Mud, which not only competed for the Palme d’Or a year ago but is also one of the most engrossing and resonant coming-of-age dramas of recent memory.