Looking backward, there are more reasons than not to expect disappointment from Iron Man 3. For one, history shows that the third entry tends to be the worst in many franchises, a la Return of the Jedi, The Godfather III, Infernal Affairs III, The Dark Knight Rises; for another, Shane Black’s contribution to the story of … Continue reading
Inky slime, metallic ampoules, body horror, androids, and questions about creation make up the DNA of Ridley Scott’s much-anticipated Prometheus. Does the film live up to its hype and serve as a worthy entry in the Alien franchise? Continue reading
Part 2 of my 2011 preview commences…now! (Part 1 can be perused here, at your leisure.) X-Men: First Class— By happy coincidence, the first trailer for Matthew Vaughn’s period prequel to the X-Men franchise hit just last week, and guess what? It looks really good. Focusing specifically on the relationship between Erik Lehnsherr, the man … Continue reading
Early America was a remarkable place, unique as the one nation where people from all around the world could come together and be called equal. The color of one’s skin, one’s native language, and one’s economic status didn’t matter. Once you arrived in America, it made no difference, because in America everyone was treated the … Continue reading
If there existed a “Best Debut” category at any of the self-aggrandizing awards shows which infect popular consciousness during the winter months of the year, then David Michôd would be a shoe-in. His very first feature, Animal Kingdom, isn’t ostentatious or glitzy; it’s far too self-assured to rely on gimmicks, adroitly made with the confidence … Continue reading
Tom Hooper’s critical darling The King’s Speech could have been made strictly as a breezy piece of crowd-pleasing art house entertainment, light, airy, and ultimately forgettable, and it still would have been worth seeing. Alternately it could have been approached explicitly as a period drama intent on examining the speech impediment of the man who … Continue reading
Christopher Nolan is a man obsessed with heroes who choose fantasy over reality. This proclivity didn’t only begin when he took on the task of rehabilitating the ailing Batman franchise by wrapping it with thick layers of realism, though it’s easily the most obvious place to start in this particular analysis: Nolan’s characters, beginning with … Continue reading
A Constant Visual Feast 