Search for Cien

Tomorrowland is an interesting collage of moments and ideas in search of a strong narrative and a coherent ending. For a while, it doesn't matter that the plot meanders. The story seems like a jigsaw puzzle inviting us to solve it. That's the...

Total Recall is not a typical Arnold Schwarzenegger shoot-'em-up. Yeah, there are a lot of explosions and gun fights, but the storyline eschews the direct route, preferring a more interesting path. This is one of those futuristic action films tha...

It's a hard thing for a filmmaker, even an accomplished one, to make a project "his own" when the original is well remembered as a vehicle for a star as big as Arnold Schwarzenegger. A mere 22 years have passed since the Schwarzenegger/Paul Vehoeve...

Trance is a member of the movie category defined by the likes of Shutter Island and Inception - films in which the concept of "reality" is flexible and the reliability of the narrative is indeterminate. Even at the end, once all has been explained ...

To be fair, Transcendence contains its share of "big ideas" - science fiction tropes that have fascinated readers and viewers for decades, ever since the concept of computer sentience became fodder for stories and movies. Unfortunately, it takes mo...

When it comes to Transformers, I have no ax to grind, pro or con. For me, it's just another loud, plot-deficient summer motion picture. In this case, nostalgia doesn't grip me - I'm too old to have played with the gadgets or watched the cartoon. ...

In the wake of widespread criticism of the second live action Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen, director Michael Bay admitted dissatisfaction with the screenplay and blamed it on the writers' strike. So what's the excuse this time? If any...

Michael Bay has often said how he loves to "blow things up real good." Well, if that's his desire in life, there's little doubt that he tops himself in Transformers: Age of Extinction. This is as excruciating a movie as is likely to be experienced ...

Call me old fashioned, but I like a little side story and character to go along with my order of big, loud special effects. Apparently, I'm in the minority, though, because the original Transformers made more money than I'd see in 300 lifetimes. ...

In all fairness, I think I might have enjoyed this film if I was nine years old. As a much older man, however, “enjoyment” is far from what I experienced while enduring the two-hour slog of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. “Boredom” and �...