“Blockers” Runs Interference on its Comedy with Maudlin Moves
There is a moment in the new film “Blockers” where you can visualize what the comedy could have been if it wanted to be smarter. Spying mother Lisa (Leslie Mann) finds herself stuck under the hotel bed where her daughter Julie (Kathryn Newton) is about to loses her virginity to her boyfriend Austin (Graham Phillips). […]
Claire Foy plays smarter than the rest of Steven Soderbergh’s UNSANE
Sometimes the right actor can make slight horror material work like gangbusters. Think how Vincent Price so often made lesser cuts of the genre seem like prime filet. Such is the case with Claire Foy and the new horror/thriller UNSANE. She elevates the clichés in this material that moviegoers have seen a thousand times before, […]
“The Death Of Stalin” Presents Russian History Through the Lens of Farce
How absurd is our current political climate these days? So ridiculous that a porn star pay-off feels like just another day at the Oval Office? Increasingly crazy, enough so that the HBO comedy series VEEP now plays like a documentary? Risible to the point that watching cable news is almost sadomasochistic? Well, if so…boy, have […]
The New “TOMB RAIDER” Feels Old but Has a Fresh and Game Lead Lara in Alicia Vikander
Is this excavation necessary? That’s the question regarding the new reboot of TOMB RAIDER starring Alicia Vikander. Previous leady lady Angelina Jolie’s two outings as the archeologist/adventurer Lara Croft in LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER from 2001 and LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE in 2003 were reasonable successes, but never quite the […]
“Thoroughbreds” Tells a Dark and Twisted Tale of Friendship
Cory Finley’s THOROUGHBREDS is one of the slyest new thrillers to come down the pike in some time. The darkly comic character piece about two dangerous teen girls who are toxic together also gives two of the best young actresses working today – Olivia Cooke and Anya Taylor-Joy – a chance to shine in a […]
