A small Midwestern town finds itself at the mercy of several catastrophic tornadoes in Into the Storm. Silverton High School is preparing for the graduation of its latest senior class. For the moment, the skies are clear, but rain looms on the horizon, threatening to dampen both the ground and the festive audience. Meanwhile, two […]
It has been an interesting summer for the major superhero movies. Things started off strong with Captain America: The Winter Soldier because it went beyond its superhero origin. I was disappointed by The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which felt more like a romance to me than a film centered on a comic book character. X-Men: Days […]
A group of outcast misfits bands together in an attempt to save us all in Guardians of the Galaxy. In 1988, a young Earth child was abducted and raised by a group of space pirates known as the Ravagers. Now grown, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) sets his sights on a small, highly-coveted orb that the Ravagers have […]
A reluctant drug mule gains incredible superpowers when she’s inadvertently exposed to the effects of a new drug in Lucy. An American woman living in Taiwan runs into an exasperated recent acquaintance. He implores Lucy (Scarlett Johansson) to deliver a mysterious briefcase to a third party at a nearby hotel. The hand off goes horribly wrong, ending with her abduction […]
Four hapless citizens try to survive a single night of government-sanctioned lawlessness in The Purge: Anarchy. In the near future, the weight of a growing population threatens the stability of the United States and its capacity to provide services to its citizens. In response, its leaders approved an annual 12-hour period of complete mayhem where anything goes, […]
Whenever I think of “talking monkeys,” I immediately call to mind the 1995 movie The Prophecy in which Christopher Walken and Viggo Mortensen used that term to disparagingly refer to human beings. (I often find that stupid or annoying people whom I encounter are no better than talking monkeys.) This term takes on an entirely […]
As humanity struggles for survival, simians take the first steps toward dominance in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It’s 10 years after mankind infected itself with a fatal virus that was initially designed as a wonder drug for all manner of brain disorders. Instead, it quickly spread across the globe, taking humans to the brink of extinction. Now, […]
The poorest survivors of a global meltdown fight an oppressive class system aboard a perpetual-motion train in Snowpiercer. The year is 2031. With global warming growing worse 17 years ago, the people of Earth conceived a grand plan to restore the world’s climate. They sprayed the atmosphere with a chemical that, instead of solving the […]
A variation of a popular saying is “nothing exceeds like excess.” In the case of summer blockbusters, it almost seems like a game for directors to see how much they can cram into the running time to please the eyes and ears if not the mind as well. When I saw the trailer for Transformers: […]
An adolescent viking and his pet dragon encounter a disturbing clan that threatens the peace in How to Train Your Dragon 2. 2010’s animated film How to Train Your Dragon was one of my five best for the year. It introduced us to the story of young Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), the awkward but inventive son […]
Wait a minute! Didn’t I just see and review a movie about time travel?! Yes, it was X-Men: Days of Future Past, yet here I am again with another review about a plot that jumps in time. Maybe I’m in a time loop, so I’d better try harder to get it right this time and […]
A noncombatant Army officer is compelled to take part in a final offensive against invading aliens, only to relive the battle countless times, in Edge of Tomorrow. Earth’s been invaded by an alien race that’s suddenly stalled after nearly eradicating much of Europe. The commander leading the unified fighting forces, General Brigham (Brendan Gleeson), decides on an […]