Gary Oldman’s Worst Movie? Not so long ago, a movie with Gary Oldman and Jessica Alba would have meant something. Then Oldman started getting older and Alba went into …
Sloppy Start The first act of Batman Begins creates a perfect billionaire. The idea is to make the audience empathetic to rich, powerful people. That’s key. Bruce Wayne’s father …
Decent Men in an Indecent Time The masterstroke of The Dark Knight is disrupting Batman fandom. He’s not a good guy. He’s not a hero. The Dark Knight redirects …
Rising Above Recession Bane was born of the recession. He’s a villain looking to reshape society, shifting things away from the rich. Setting a siege in the stock exchange, …
Okey-dokey Hannibal idolizes its killer. Lecter is surrounded by elegance and seductive cinematography, sweeping through lush Italian locations. It’s high class, swelling with mournful violins and coated in operatic …
Hunting for Friends Times were different when Hunter Killer’s source material, novel Firing Point, was first optioned in 2011. Eight years of political discourse later, Hunter Killer is a …
Get Off My Plane As the studio logos roll, Jerry Goldsmith’s score opens Air Force One. It’s bright and patriotic, honorable, with a high brass section and commanding drums. …
Churchill’s Lead Both Darkest Hour and Dunkirk came up with Oscar nominations in 2017. It’s coincidence, but surely someone considered a supercut of the two movies, as they deal …
Bada Boom Bthankful for director Luc Besson. The Fifth Element doesn’t look like a corporate movie studio’s product. It’s too idiosyncratic, too bizarre, too outrageous to fit into a …
Hit It Expect little else than mindless, profane entertainment from Hitman’s Bodyguard. It hardly offers a plot, the action barely rises above predictable, and the location scenery across Amsterdam …