Search for 2015

Against all odds, The Big Short works. In fact, “works” is an understatement for what director Adam McKay has achieved with his improbable adaptation of Michael Lewis’ nonfiction book about the 2008 global financial crisis. Writing ...

Is it A Bigger Splash or A Bigger Bore?  Despite a strong cast, gorgeous cinematography, and a suffocating sense of sexual tension, this movie takes far too long to get off the ground. When it finally does - more than an hour into the 120+ minut...

For Black Mass, Johnny Depp has dusted off his A-game, which has lain dormant for far too long. The actor's transformative portrayal of Whitey Bulger reminds us that Depp, when motivated, can do impressive work. By inhabiting the character rather...

The best thing to be said about The Blackcoat’s Daughter is that it’s unconventional. The worst thing is that, for a horror film, it’s neither scary nor creepy. Writer/director Osgood (Oz) Perkins (the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins), ma...

Blackhat (a slang term used to designate a hacker) represents Michael Mann's attempt to put a new spin on an old genre by adding "cyber" to "crime thriller." Blackhat uses the foggy world of hackers and cybercrime much as he might use background mu...

Note: If anyone cares, there's a reference in the next-to-last paragraph that enters spoiler territory. As in end-of-the-movie spoiler territory. For the laughably bad debacle that is The Boy Next Door, I won't necessarily blame credited w...

With names like Spielberg, Hanks, and the Coen Brothers, it's hard not to be excited about a project like Bridge of Spies. Yet, although the workmanlike production is solidly engaging, it falls short of the loftiest expectations. It's worth s...

Brooklyn is a beautifully crafted, deeply moving motion picture - a more personal story than is typically told in movies that transplant Europeans into the fertile soil of early 20th century America. Brooklyn explores the pain of leaving loved ones a...

Carol is a haunting motion picture - the kind of film that stays with the viewer long after the multiplex’s neon signage has disappeared from the rear-view mirror. Despite having a deceptively simple storyline, the film is entirely unlike any o...

Chappie, the latest science fiction endeavor from South African director Neill Blomkamp, isn't just a disappointment; it represents a misfire. It's as if the filmmaker took a number of recognizable science fiction tropes, tossed them into a b...