ReelViews for R movies

Based on a perusal of reviews for Cloud Atlas, one might be convinced that the sprawling, ambitious, epic adaptation of David Mitchell's 2004 novel is either a masterpiece or an unmitigated disaster. The reality is somewhere in between. It's hard t...

Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers related to a plot point that occurs late in the film. You have been warned. Thematically, The Clouds of Sils Maria is a close cousin to Birdman, although the former is weaker in both narrative thrust an...

It's the nature of our society to put people on pedestals. Some wear the title of "hero" like a mantle; to others, it is an albatross. You need look no further than the O.J. Simpson story to see this. So what defines greatness? This question, i...

The “so bad it’s good” tag often applied to co-called “cult classics” is as elusive a categorization as there is in cinema. Most of the time, it evolves organically from the failure of a movie. Planning campiness is more apt to result in...

Over the years, I have come to expect great things from Michael Winterbottom. I haven't loved everything he has done, but he has made some powerful movies and even his least inspired films have been watchable. So Code 46 broadsided me, provoking an...

It's not often that, when the primary thread of a movie fails, the secondary storylines are compelling enough to make the overall experience a positive one. However, that occurs with Cold Mountain, a Civil War era romance where the love affair fiz...

Those going to Cold Pursuit expecting a typical early-year Liam Neeson action thriller may be disconcerted by what Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland delivers. On the surface, this is a standard-order revenge movie: a snow-plow driver, Nels...

From its pristine black-and-white cinematography to the austere hopelessness of its doomed love story, Cold War is indeed cold. Set against the backdrop of Europe between 1949 and 1964, the movie details a romance as bleak as the surroundings. ...

Colette, a U.S./U.K. collaborative bio-pic from director Wash Westmoreland (The Fluffer), presents a chronology of the celebrated French author during her Belle Epoque formative years. Transpiring across a span of nearly 20 years, the movie fa...

Collateral is a classic example of how casting against type can sometimes result in a remarkable success. Here we have Tom Cruise, who has spent the majority of his career playing the good-looking, likeable, action/romantic lead, placed into the r...