Search for Sean

The pen may be mightier than the sword but, as related in Michael Cuesta's Kill the Messenger, whispered innuendo is more deadly than both. Imagine, if you will, All the President's Men with Robert Redford's Bob Woodward brought down by attacks on ...

Calling a movie a “fairy tale” and having Julie Andrews provide “Once Upon a Time…” bookend narration are not sufficient reasons to abandon things like intelligent plotting and compelling character development. For years, various Disney ...

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a quiet, non-judgmental character study that takes us into the mind and heart of a cult survivor. By flashing back and forth in time periods between the "present" and the "recent past," the film builds a picture of the t...

The Marvels is so poorly conceived and ineptly executed that it not only makes this a front-runner for the dubious honor of worst movie of the MCU but a contender for the worst superhero movie of all time (although I’d argue that Catwoman retain...

To call The Nest an unhappy movie would be to understate the matter. There’s not a single cheerful, well-adjusted character in the production – not the venal, overreaching father, Rory O’Hara (Jude Law), or his wife, Allison (Carrie Coon...

Sometimes I don't understand the Hollywood mindset. Who thought remaking Park Chan-wook's 2003 cult classic, Oldboy, was a good idea? Because of the story's sheer perversity, there's no possible mainstream appeal in this new interpretation. The mov...

True-life stories of heroism and sacrifice are commonplace; good movies about those stories aren’t. Only the Brave recounts the tale of The Granite Mountain Hotshots and the challenges they faced when fighting wildfires during the years leadi...

By turns powerful and frustrating, The Place Beyond the Pines is a three act tale about the sins of the fathers being visited upon the sons. It uses coincidence to emphasize consequence and ably applies karmic lifestyle interpretation to the text. ...

Sign #1 that there might be something wrong with a film: its release date has been pushed back twice. Sign #2 that there might be something wrong with a film: the final release date is in January. With those two strikes against it, The Rhythm ...