Movies starring Michael Shannon

The best things – or at least the most memorable ones – in The Flash are rooted in fan service and nostalgia. The movie, although too long by about 45 minutes, is enjoyable on that level. With a tone that skews closer to that of Shazam! than M...

With its whiplash-inducing tonal inconsistencies and sloppily assembled narrative, Amsterdam often feels like a pastiche of (take your pick) Monty Python, The Coen Brothers, or Wes Anderson grafted onto a crime caper/espionage thriller with a ...

There’s a time and a place for mayhem, and that’s essentially what Bullet Train is: two hours of fights, carnage, and witty repartee. Oh, it’s too long, to be sure – probably at least by 20 minutes. And its puzzle-like structure is too com...

Moody and brooding, Scott Teems’ The Quarry falls loosely within a genre that has been dubbed “Western noir” by some critics. Undoubtedly a serious work that attempts to address immigration tensions and personal redemption, the film suff...

There are reasons why Hollywood rarely backs a murder mystery.  With its various narrative complexities, double dealings, and mandatory twists, the genre is generally unsuited for the constrictions demanded by a two-hour timeslot. As the PBS ...

You may have seen a trailer for The Current War a couple of years ago – that’s because, in its original incarnation, it was expected to reach theaters during the 2017 Oscar Season. One of the planned year-end releases of the now-defunct Th...

12 Strong represents a recent war as depicted on screen in an old-fashioned way. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, war movies followed an established template that pitted the “good guys” (often Americans) against the “bad guys.” Such fi...

Although Guillermo del Toro was never given the opportunity to bring his vision of The Hobbit to the screen, movie-goers over the years have not been deprived of his brand of horror-tinged fantasy. With his latest, the story is a variation on ...

Nocturnal Animals employs one of the most inventive uses of neo noir tropes and techniques I have seen in recent years. Intense, insightful, and strangely powerful, Tom Ford’s adaptation of Austin Wright’s novel, Tony and Susan, assumes a...

As straightforward “based on a true story” movies go, Loving is a strong account of the key factual events that led to the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision overturning anti-miscegenation laws. Effectively acted and occasionally moving...