GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S FRANKENSTEIN
This is the movie Guillermo del Toro was born to make. He first read Mary Shelley’s novel as a boy and it has informed everything he has done since then. Del Toro admits that he only started working on…
HOUSE OF DYNAMITE
By sheer coincidence, I watched the 1964 movie Fail-Safe just a few weeks ago, and it’s extraordinary how closely it resembles Kathryn Bigelow’s House of Dynamite. I’m not talking about plagiarism. The 51-year-old film is very much of its time, along with Seven…
CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD
I just watched CAPTAIN AMERICA: BRAVE NEW WORLD for the second time, as producer Kevin Feige and director Julius Onah came to my class at USC for a q&a following the screening… and you know what? I enjoyed it…
UNSTOPPABLE
Unstoppable is a mashup of an underdog sports movie and a domestic drama about a family terrorized by an abusive father. The worst thing I can say about it is that it is conventional, but since when is that a…
I’M STILL HERE: AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY
I admire Walter Salles’ work, and I’m especially fond of his acclaimed features Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries. He has returned to his Brazilian roots for another exceptional narrative, I’m Still Here…but he hastens to explain that it’s not the story, or…
THE LAST SHOWGIRL
The first feature film directed by Gia Coppola, Eleanor and Francis’s granddaughter, is a respectable but unmemorable vehicle for former Baywatch and Playboy pin-up Pamela Anderson. The script has been custom-tailored for her and she comes off well, but the film has only…
THE BRUTALIST
Every rare now and then, a performance comes along that is so organic and natural that even though one is familiar with the actor all memories of his other work recede. That’s how I felt watching Adrien Brody in The…
